Authors: Tessa Dayne
~*~
“You mustab bin worrid ‘bout me….to send Johnnie on a pane…..” Jonas slurred, lifting the last of his drink to his lips.
Oliver cast a worried glance at John, who waved it off with a flick of his hand. “Why would you think that, old man?”
“Ya’ hate t’ fly….” Jonas slurred once again.
“We were worried about you, Jonas. And from what you’ve told us about Paige, we had a right to be,” Oliver answered, reaching over to grab the glass from his hand just as he drifted off to sleep.
“You shouldn’t have given him so much, John,” Ollie scolded.
“He’ll be feeling it in the morning, that’s for sure.”
“It is the morning, John,” Ollie said, reaching for a blanket, covering Jonas.
John glanced at the clock on the mantle. “Guess it is morning’. Should we head to bed? He won’t be stirring for a while.”
Oliver yawned, and then nodded. “Yeah, maybe we should. I’m sure he’s going to want to talk more later.”
“I doubt that, boyo. I think we’ve heard all we’re going to about one Miss Paige Joanne Harper.”
Ollie looked at John and grinned. He had breached the floodgates and he wasn’t going to let Jonas rebuild those walls.
~*~
The smell of fresh brewed coffee wafted through the living room, causing Jonas to groan and roll over. The smells made his stomach turn and his head throb. Opening one eye ever so slowly, he realized he was on the couch in the living room, a blanket slung over his shoulder.
“Welcome to the land of the living. I made some coffee. Want some?” John asked.
“God, I feel like I have cotton in my mouth, a bell choir in my head and butterflies in my stomach.”
“Maybe after a shower,” John suggested, pointing toward the bathroom.
“You’re the devil,” Jonas growled.
“And we both love him,”
Ollie said, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his slender hips. “I left you some hot water. You’ll feel better.”
“Did I go on too much last night?” Jonas asked, slowly easing to a sitting position.
“No…and I’m sure there is a lot more,” Ollie said.
“But…” Jonas protested.
“But we can talk about all that after you get a shower and some fresh air,” John finished.
Jonas groaned and pulled himself from the couch. His head was throbbing and he felt awful. Maybe he didn’t have the self-control he thought he did. Then again, he had allowed John to pour the drinks and he was sure he had drunk at least twice as much as the other two men.
“I don’t remember much…” Jonas said.
“Shower, JD. We will fill you in on what you told us,” Ollie said softly.
Jonas began to nod, and then thought better of it. He needed a shower, coffee and aspirin. Then maybe he would begin to feel human again.
~*~
Jonas sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee between his hands. John and Ollie were sitting across from him, watching him with worried eyes.
“So, that’s all we know,” Ollie said, filling Jonas in on what he had told them last night.
“Well, that’s mostly all of it. Except that I have no idea what the witnesses meant when they said they thought someone pushed her.”
“Could it have been her ex? You said you didn’t trust him,” John asked, raising his own coffee mug to his lips.
“It’s possible, John. He’s done nothing since I’ve known her to give me any reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. But so far the police haven’t been able to pin anything on him.”
“And the baby she was carrying was his, although the tabloids say it’s yours?” Ollie asked, still confused how anyone with half a brain could believe that story when there was no kind of proof Jonas was anywhere near Chicago at the time Paige had gotten pregnant.
“You know what they are like, Ollie. The paparazzi will write and photograph what they want to, whether it’s true or not,” Jonas replied.
“I know, but still….”
“We told the reporters what we wanted leaked, to protect Paige and the baby,” Jonas clarified.
Ollie nodded. It was something Jonas would do. He cared more for his family and friends than he did his own reputation. Something that got him into trouble sometimes. But they were friends, and if this was the story that he wanted the world to know, then who were they to say otherwise.
~*~
Ollie did his best to draw information from Jonas about his mystery woman over the next two days. He asked about her, gleaning as much about her as he could in the limited time they had together. He found out all the basics: her hair color, eye color, likes and dislikes, her family, her career. He could tell just from how Jonas talked about her, that he was head over heels in love. He had never really heard Jonas talk about Marilyn the same way he spoke about Paige.
When he caught Jonas drawing one day out on the balcony, he was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Paige Harper was the soul mate Jonas had been waiting for. The sketch was the most beautiful piece he had ever seen Jonas do.
Whether the drawing was truly what Paige looked like or if it was more how Jonas perceived her, he didn’t know. What he did know was that the portrait was exquisite.
~*~
The final day of Jonas’s visit dawned gloomy and overcast. Nothing out of the ordinary for London. A light drizzle had just started falling when Jonas slipped out of bed, drawn from slumber by the smells wafting from the kitchen.
When he walked into the kitchen, he found Oliver at the stove, making bacon. Sitting at the table, Jonas watched as Ollie poured a mug of coffee. He placed it in front of him and as he started to move away, Jonas grabbed his hand.
“Thank you,” JD whispered, softly.
“For what?” Oliver asked.
“Giving me the push I needed to talk to you and John about Paige. I have kept what happened to her and the baby locked inside, hoping that it would all go away and I would find it was a horrible dream. But it’s not and you gave me the chance to talk about it, to get it all out. To face the nightmare my life has become.”
“You’re my best friend, Jonas. I’m always going to be here for you.”
Jonas felt the tender squeeze of
Oliver’s fingers on his and then the soft pressure of lips against his temple. With a soft sigh, Jonas released Ollie’s hand, allowing him to return to the stove.
“Smells good, love. You have been spoiling the Yank. When he leaves I expect the same,” John drawled, coming into the kitchen.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Ollie said. “I’m leaving in a few days to go back to the set.”
“Aye, I know. Malta. When will you be finished with that film? I am getting tired of being scratched by that scraggly beard of yours.”
Ollie pulled his head away from the hand that gripped his chin. “That’s not what you said last night….”
“There’s a lot that was said last night, love. And the pampering had best not stop yet.”
Jonas coughed discreetly. “I am still here, you know.”
“Sorry mate. I forget myself sometimes.”
“It’s okay. I understand completely. You just feel like there’s no one else in the room. You’re so focused on each other that no one else matters.”
“Sounds like you know firsthand,” Ollie said.
“Still,” John said, “it was rude of me. When’s your flight out?” he asked sitting at the table with his own mug of coffee.
“You don’t remember? You made the reservations,” Jonas laughed.
“I’m an old man,” John retorted.
“You’re the same age,” Ollie laughed.
“I need to be at the airport by 3 pm,” Jonas said, laughing at the antics of Ollie and John, who were once again tussling in the middle of the kitchen.
“You’re going to make me burn the bacon!” Ollie laughed, pulling out of the bear hug.
“We can’t have that! JD doesn’t like his bacon burnt,” John said, allowing Ollie to ease out of his embrace.
“Neither do you, smart ass,” Jonas laughed.
John scratched the spot behind his ear and grinned. “That I don’t, come to think of it.”
~*~
Jonas stood in the guest room, the phone pressed to his ear, a grim expression on his face.
“I wish you had called earlier, Darcy. I would’ve come straight away. As it is, I’m headed back to the set. I doubt I could get away again for several weeks.”
Ollie stood in the doorway, watching JD, the pain in his expression almost more than he could bear. He wanted to go to him, wrap him in his arms and hold him tight. He wanted to offer him the same kind of comfort that he had offered him in Scotland when John had left the country and he had thought he would never get a chance to tell the man how he felt.
“I’ll call you with the next time frame I have free as soon as I get back to Madrid, Darcy. No, that’s okay. It’s not your fault. No one could have known what was going to happen. I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye.”
Jonas clicked the phone closed and sank to the mattress, tears slipping down his cheeks.
“JD? What’s happened?”
Ollie asked, easing to the bed beside him.
“Paige had a minor setback two days ago. She’s slipped further into the coma. The doctor’s don’t know why or what could have caused it. I’m losing her,” JD sobbed, turning into the strong set of arms that wrapped around him fiercely.
~*~
John found them ten minutes later, Ollie holding Jonas tightly against his chest as Jonas’s tears soaked through his shirt. If he had been a jealous man, a scene as tender as this would have set him off. Had in fact, several years ago.
A scene much the same as the one before him now. Only JD had been comforting Ollie. He had returned to Scotland for some extra scenes to find the man that had haunted his dreams in the arms of another.
To say he hadn’t taken it well was an understatement. He had exploded with a jealous rage. When all was said and done, Jonas had a busted lip and a black eye and he had a broken nose and a lot of explaining to do.
Ollie had forgiven him after nearly a week of ignoring him, extracting a promise from him that he had kept every day since then.
“Keep your cool until you know the full story.”
Oliver heard John and looked up to find him standing in the doorway, a concerned look on his face.
“Bad news?” John asked.
Ollie nodded, his arms tightening around Jonas’s shoulders. John crossed the room and clapped JD on the shoulder, his strong fingers gentle on the trembling man.
“I’m sorry, JD. Is there anything we can do?”
Jonas shook his head, trying to compose himself. He hadn’t meant to break down in front of either of them like this. But when the younger man had wrapped his arms around him, the dam had broken.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have broken down like that,” JD said, pulling from Ollie’s embrace.
“Nonsense!” Ollie cried. “You’re my best friend. You’ve been there for me in the past. Where else would I be?”