Notes: Thanks to Sparklyme for the feedback!

Ruby Truth - Valentine Michel Smith

before Lex arrived -

barely in time to latch onto the bulky man's wrists -

as the man groped desperately with one good hand -

grasping for the patio's edge.

He continued screaming.

Pain could do that.

Reduce even the strongest to whimpers and tears.

If Lex let go -

the man -

The man would die.

If Lex held on -

Holding on seemed an impossibility.

Impossibility was only possibility unrealized.

Or so Lex convinced himself.

If Lex let go -

The man scrambled -

feet slipping -

goddamned glazed pebble surface -

yielding no traction.

Lex grasped his jacket -

pulling -

straining -

hauling up -

hauling over -

until -

The two fell to the patio floor, spent, surprised, elated -

panting -

The man saved from -

certain -

death.

"Shit." The word escaped through clenched teeth sans immediate awareness, the petite expulsion of air compelling Lex's return to the present.

Kentworld - twister fucked.

Lex retrieved his cell. "Toby. Yeah. The penthouse."

In a quiet corner, beyond the party's remnant din, Toby tended the break as Lex spoke. "I want you," Lex began, "to forget tonight ever happened." He removed his wallet, handing the man a thick stack of bills as he folded them crisply. "If I find your memory engaged, what you experienced tonight will seem like a cordial Sunday outing by comparison. I am not someone you want to piss off. Do we have an understanding?"

The man nodded and left hastily. Toby glanced Lex's way. "Get you something?"

Lex inhaled deeply, counted to ten, and exhaled. "What would you suggest?"

"Valium, maybe Xanax."

Exasperation, good natured and welcomed, tainted Lex's features. "Those days -"

" - Gone. Then. Now. Blah, blah, blah." Toby seemed unconvinced in spite of multiple previous lectures on the very subject.

The good natured expression dissolved. "I don't need anything," Lex stated emphatically.

"Are you positive?" Toby eyed Lex curiously. "From what I've seen, it's been quite an evening. Not up to your typical -

" - Old. As in ancient. As in 'history' -"

" - standards though."

"Not my party."

Toby cocked his head. "That explains it."

Lex proffered a large wad of cash to the patch man. Toby accepted the money, fanned the bills, then folded them, tucking then into an inside jacket pocket. "I could stick around. You know, in case things take a turn."

"If things take a turn," Lex said dolefully, "your services will be the least of my worries."