If Betrayal were a Cocktail... [Chapter 2]
Title: If Betrayal were a Cocktail… [2/3]
Pairing: Ryan/Colin
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Sex, swearing and plenty of angst.
Summary: You can’t expect to embark on a relationship in Hollywood without being noticed…
Author’s Notes: This isn't my most favourite chapter ever, so please be nice. xD
Three days later, I received an odd call from Dan saying that he was calling the cast and crew back for an important meeting and that I had to be there no matter what. The summoning had created a dent in my plans for the day, but it seemed that I had no choice. It did mean that I got to see Ryan, so I smiled in the face of that knowledge at least.
Dan hadn’t explained what the meeting was going to be about, but I still had a bad feeling - it was a shiver that started in my gut but then ran up my spine and buzzed around in my uncertain head. I was unable to shake it off for the whole drive to the studio.
The negative sense only worsened as I walked the short distance from my parked car to the studio doors. A gust of chilled wind blew my way and I had to wrap my arms around myself in reflex. I was probably being over-reactive, but I knew a gut-feeling when I felt it.
“Colin!”
I heard Ryan’s voice and smiled instantly, turning to see him running to catch me up.
“Hey,” he said softly, his arm curling around my waist briefly before pulling away. I wanted so badly for us to embrace and for him to kiss my fears away.
“Hi,” I replied quietly, resisting the urge to reach out and grasp his hand.
I think he knew something was up, too. He looked resigned and somehow saddened as we both entered the building side-by-side.
“Ah, there you both are.” Dan looked almost as though he’d been waiting to greet us, which worried me. “C’mon, all the guys are already here.”
The corridor we proceeded to walk down seemed to stretch on forever and I heard Ryan sigh heavily as we walked. I knew him more than I knew myself and I could tell he suspected something.
When we arrived we realised that Dan had led us to the editing room of all places, several monitors lined the walls like all-seeing eyes. They displayed nothing but static, just like my grasp of the situation. In front of the monitors were two chairs alongside each other, I heard him close the door behind us as we both stood there, dumbfounded at the sight.
“What the hell are we in here for?” Ryan asked, cutting off the same question I was about to ask myself.
“Sit down. I need to show you boys something,” Dan said, moving past us to pick up a typical videotape. Something was scribbled on the label, but it was far too small for me to make out clearly. “I’m not sure what it means, so I’m wondering if you could help me make sense of it.”
I never did trust that snide British accent of his. I could tell that he was anything but sincere in his words. I gave him a look as I sat down, Ryan sitting naturally to my left.
As he slipped the tape in, the innocent whirr and click of the VCR shouldn’t have been as sinister as it sounded to me. “Tell me what you think…” he smiled, which I always thought was impossible for him to do.
One of the monitors crackled for a bit before displaying a picture in blaring, outrageous technicolor. I had to squint and blink a bit before I finally realised what was happening, my heart and breath coming to an abrupt halt.
The footage on screen was from an ordinary home video camera and the picture was of the bedroom that adjoined to my dressing room. From where the camera was placed, seemingly on one of my high shelves, I could see pretty much the whole bed plus the door leading to my dressing room.
It felt like my heart had sunk to the centre of the earth.
I felt Ryan instantly grasp my hand and heard his breath quicken - he knew what was coming, as did I.
On screen, I was pacing about the room lighting some candles, humming softly to myself. I recognised the tune as The Way You Look Tonight, the song I long to sing to Ryan one day. It was crystal clear through the surround sound we had in the editing room.
It wasn’t long before Ryan entered on the film, his hand squeezing mine a little harder as we sat silent in uncontrollable curiosity.
“Oh, Colin. Thank God we’re finally alone.”
I could almost feel my lover flinch beside me, and I listened as we both made sounds of laughter and happiness on the tape, which now seemed fairly unfortunate. Ryan could clearly be seen kissing at my neck as I sighed in submission.
“All the guys probably noticed. What if they find out? Like Dan, what if he suspects? Or what if…”
“If Dan can’t accept the fact that I’m in love with you then he can suck my dick for all I care.”
“I have to admit, I laughed at that one.” Dan’s voice cut through us in the harshest reality I’d ever known. I winced at the knowledge that the man in question was right behind us, probably eyeing us like a hungry, warty vulture. Beside me, Ryan let out a long breath through his nose, his lips pressed together in utter rage.
“I’m going to fuck you now…”
“Okay then.”
Those words brought me roaring back to the video as I watched our past selves lay together on the bed, kissing passionately and sharing moans and whimpers of pleasure. I felt sick - not because of what I was watching, but because someone had had the evil and disturbing idea of putting a goddamn camera into my bedroom.
It was at that moment, just as Ryan’s clothes began to come off, that Dan snapped off the monitor using the remote. The room was then plunged into a flickering darkness with myself nearly in tears and Ryan on the verge of losing it. Talk about drama.
“I think we all know what happens next,” Dan snickered and I clenched my eyes shut against a burst of angry tears. “Although, your wives don’t. Oh dear, what would they say?”
Ryan stood in a heartbeat, his chair knocked carelessly to the floor in a wooden rattle that sounded almost like an evil laughter.
“You mother fucking son of a bitch!” he yelled, thrusting the weasely man against the wall so hard I swear I heard the plaster crack. His fingers were wound so tightly into his jacket that the knuckles were a ghostly white - I had never seen Ryan so angry before. Then again, he had a perfectly legitimate reason to be.
“What gives you the fucking right to invade our privacy like that?”
Patterson seemed to be entirely unfazed. “I have the right to know what my cast get up to.”
“By spying on us!? I didn’t think that even you could sink that low!”
There was an unnerving lull wherein Dan smiled. He just… smiled. And that was enough to make me swallow hard, biting back the thick pain in my throat.
“Now, you’re gonna destroy that tape right now, or I can shove it down your throat. Your choice.” Ryan fumed.
“What a pickle,” Dan went on to say, continuing to look Ryan straight in the eyes, enjoying it, “because that’s not the only copy I have. I’m not as dumb as you think.”
Ryan looked about ready to let loose - I stood up shakily when I sensed that any minute, Dan would’ve been tending to a black eye, or maybe a broken nose.
“Ryan,” I said firmly and placed a determined hand on his shoulder, the other on his bicep and he turned his head slightly to look at me. “This isn’t helping anything.”
I could see he knew I was right but I also knew that, like myself, his anger at what Dan had done was over-powering. I just harboured it a lot better than he did. Reluctantly, he let the man go and I sent a grateful look his way - I didn’t want this turning ugly.
Dan straightened his jacket casually and eyed Ryan carefully, dangerously, before turning to me. “I can make this very simple for you both: If you agree to stop this frankly dead-end relationship and just get on with the damn show then I will destroy the footage, every copy, and it never gets mentioned again.”
His smirk during that last sentence wasn’t pleasant.
“Otherwise if you refuse, which you are both more than welcome to do, then you will be asked to ‘formally resign’ and I can’t be held responsible if that tape gets into the wrong hands.”
My jaw tightened impulsively. “Blackmail?”
“Business,” he replied. “But hey, I’m a reasonable guy. So I’m going to give you a bit of time to think it over.” He moved silently over to the VCR and removed the tape, waving it in his hand in the same way he might wave a ball to an excited puppy. “Call this a freebie. Do whatever you want with it.”
I’m pretty sure Ryan had a good idea on what he wanted to do with it - his eyes were flicking between the tape and Patterson. But I took it from him casually, my other hand finding Ryan’s and entwining the fingers. “You’re seriously asking us to choose between our jobs and each other?”
He nodded slowly and then pulled that unnerving smirk once more. “I trust you’ll make the right decision.”
To be continued...
Pairing: Ryan/Colin
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Sex, swearing and plenty of angst.
Summary: You can’t expect to embark on a relationship in Hollywood without being noticed…
Author’s Notes: This isn't my most favourite chapter ever, so please be nice. xD
Three days later, I received an odd call from Dan saying that he was calling the cast and crew back for an important meeting and that I had to be there no matter what. The summoning had created a dent in my plans for the day, but it seemed that I had no choice. It did mean that I got to see Ryan, so I smiled in the face of that knowledge at least.
Dan hadn’t explained what the meeting was going to be about, but I still had a bad feeling - it was a shiver that started in my gut but then ran up my spine and buzzed around in my uncertain head. I was unable to shake it off for the whole drive to the studio.
The negative sense only worsened as I walked the short distance from my parked car to the studio doors. A gust of chilled wind blew my way and I had to wrap my arms around myself in reflex. I was probably being over-reactive, but I knew a gut-feeling when I felt it.
“Colin!”
I heard Ryan’s voice and smiled instantly, turning to see him running to catch me up.
“Hey,” he said softly, his arm curling around my waist briefly before pulling away. I wanted so badly for us to embrace and for him to kiss my fears away.
“Hi,” I replied quietly, resisting the urge to reach out and grasp his hand.
I think he knew something was up, too. He looked resigned and somehow saddened as we both entered the building side-by-side.
“Ah, there you both are.” Dan looked almost as though he’d been waiting to greet us, which worried me. “C’mon, all the guys are already here.”
The corridor we proceeded to walk down seemed to stretch on forever and I heard Ryan sigh heavily as we walked. I knew him more than I knew myself and I could tell he suspected something.
When we arrived we realised that Dan had led us to the editing room of all places, several monitors lined the walls like all-seeing eyes. They displayed nothing but static, just like my grasp of the situation. In front of the monitors were two chairs alongside each other, I heard him close the door behind us as we both stood there, dumbfounded at the sight.
“What the hell are we in here for?” Ryan asked, cutting off the same question I was about to ask myself.
“Sit down. I need to show you boys something,” Dan said, moving past us to pick up a typical videotape. Something was scribbled on the label, but it was far too small for me to make out clearly. “I’m not sure what it means, so I’m wondering if you could help me make sense of it.”
I never did trust that snide British accent of his. I could tell that he was anything but sincere in his words. I gave him a look as I sat down, Ryan sitting naturally to my left.
As he slipped the tape in, the innocent whirr and click of the VCR shouldn’t have been as sinister as it sounded to me. “Tell me what you think…” he smiled, which I always thought was impossible for him to do.
One of the monitors crackled for a bit before displaying a picture in blaring, outrageous technicolor. I had to squint and blink a bit before I finally realised what was happening, my heart and breath coming to an abrupt halt.
The footage on screen was from an ordinary home video camera and the picture was of the bedroom that adjoined to my dressing room. From where the camera was placed, seemingly on one of my high shelves, I could see pretty much the whole bed plus the door leading to my dressing room.
It felt like my heart had sunk to the centre of the earth.
I felt Ryan instantly grasp my hand and heard his breath quicken - he knew what was coming, as did I.
On screen, I was pacing about the room lighting some candles, humming softly to myself. I recognised the tune as The Way You Look Tonight, the song I long to sing to Ryan one day. It was crystal clear through the surround sound we had in the editing room.
It wasn’t long before Ryan entered on the film, his hand squeezing mine a little harder as we sat silent in uncontrollable curiosity.
“Oh, Colin. Thank God we’re finally alone.”
I could almost feel my lover flinch beside me, and I listened as we both made sounds of laughter and happiness on the tape, which now seemed fairly unfortunate. Ryan could clearly be seen kissing at my neck as I sighed in submission.
“All the guys probably noticed. What if they find out? Like Dan, what if he suspects? Or what if…”
“If Dan can’t accept the fact that I’m in love with you then he can suck my dick for all I care.”
“I have to admit, I laughed at that one.” Dan’s voice cut through us in the harshest reality I’d ever known. I winced at the knowledge that the man in question was right behind us, probably eyeing us like a hungry, warty vulture. Beside me, Ryan let out a long breath through his nose, his lips pressed together in utter rage.
“I’m going to fuck you now…”
“Okay then.”
Those words brought me roaring back to the video as I watched our past selves lay together on the bed, kissing passionately and sharing moans and whimpers of pleasure. I felt sick - not because of what I was watching, but because someone had had the evil and disturbing idea of putting a goddamn camera into my bedroom.
It was at that moment, just as Ryan’s clothes began to come off, that Dan snapped off the monitor using the remote. The room was then plunged into a flickering darkness with myself nearly in tears and Ryan on the verge of losing it. Talk about drama.
“I think we all know what happens next,” Dan snickered and I clenched my eyes shut against a burst of angry tears. “Although, your wives don’t. Oh dear, what would they say?”
Ryan stood in a heartbeat, his chair knocked carelessly to the floor in a wooden rattle that sounded almost like an evil laughter.
“You mother fucking son of a bitch!” he yelled, thrusting the weasely man against the wall so hard I swear I heard the plaster crack. His fingers were wound so tightly into his jacket that the knuckles were a ghostly white - I had never seen Ryan so angry before. Then again, he had a perfectly legitimate reason to be.
“What gives you the fucking right to invade our privacy like that?”
Patterson seemed to be entirely unfazed. “I have the right to know what my cast get up to.”
“By spying on us!? I didn’t think that even you could sink that low!”
There was an unnerving lull wherein Dan smiled. He just… smiled. And that was enough to make me swallow hard, biting back the thick pain in my throat.
“Now, you’re gonna destroy that tape right now, or I can shove it down your throat. Your choice.” Ryan fumed.
“What a pickle,” Dan went on to say, continuing to look Ryan straight in the eyes, enjoying it, “because that’s not the only copy I have. I’m not as dumb as you think.”
Ryan looked about ready to let loose - I stood up shakily when I sensed that any minute, Dan would’ve been tending to a black eye, or maybe a broken nose.
“Ryan,” I said firmly and placed a determined hand on his shoulder, the other on his bicep and he turned his head slightly to look at me. “This isn’t helping anything.”
I could see he knew I was right but I also knew that, like myself, his anger at what Dan had done was over-powering. I just harboured it a lot better than he did. Reluctantly, he let the man go and I sent a grateful look his way - I didn’t want this turning ugly.
Dan straightened his jacket casually and eyed Ryan carefully, dangerously, before turning to me. “I can make this very simple for you both: If you agree to stop this frankly dead-end relationship and just get on with the damn show then I will destroy the footage, every copy, and it never gets mentioned again.”
His smirk during that last sentence wasn’t pleasant.
“Otherwise if you refuse, which you are both more than welcome to do, then you will be asked to ‘formally resign’ and I can’t be held responsible if that tape gets into the wrong hands.”
My jaw tightened impulsively. “Blackmail?”
“Business,” he replied. “But hey, I’m a reasonable guy. So I’m going to give you a bit of time to think it over.” He moved silently over to the VCR and removed the tape, waving it in his hand in the same way he might wave a ball to an excited puppy. “Call this a freebie. Do whatever you want with it.”
I’m pretty sure Ryan had a good idea on what he wanted to do with it - his eyes were flicking between the tape and Patterson. But I took it from him casually, my other hand finding Ryan’s and entwining the fingers. “You’re seriously asking us to choose between our jobs and each other?”
He nodded slowly and then pulled that unnerving smirk once more. “I trust you’ll make the right decision.”
To be continued...