Noah's blood ran cold as he watched Oliver turn and head down the passageway.
"I'll be back soon…"
For a while Noah had been silent, the drug swarming like mist through his head, his mouth utterly dry. But as Oliver left the room he found, from somewhere deep inside himself, the power to shout, "Luke! No! Leave him alone! Luke!" and then quieter as all the air flew from his lungs, "Luke… please…"
For a while his head hung down as he sobbed and then, images of Oliver with Luke flashing through his mind, mingling with memories of his own, caused a surge of adrenaline he'd never thought possible and he struggled violently in the chair, heaving, yanking, pulling at the ropes until the skin broke and bled.
His movements were so aggressive that eventually he caused the chair to topple sideways and he landed with a loud "Oof!", facing the front door, his eyes falling level with the shattered telephone Luke had thrown across the room only hours before. If not for the situation, he would have laughed at Luke's timing.
Suddenly he had to close his eyes as a wave of nausea hit him. Head down, breathing deeply, he told himself, "You are not going to pass out! Damn it!" And he fought back control, only the thought of what was going on in the bedroom keeping him conscious.
But eventually he had to accept his helplessness and the despair dragged at him like an anchor, pulling him down. He kept his eyes closed and tried to retreat to some dim place within, where there was nothing but an aching grey blankness and where Oliver's muffled voice, as he spoke to Luke, was no more then a faint drum. He had to do that… to cope…
...
Maddie and Jonathan pulled up to the house utterly depleted! They didn't even have the strength to remove their luggage from the car, deciding they would do that after a good nights sleep.
It was Jonathan that first caught the look of warning on Noah's face as Maddie unlocked and then opened the door; and he was fast enough to place a hand over her mouth to stifle her scream, as her eyes took in the terrible sight before her.
Hope rose at the sight of help. Noah wheezed and swallowed and then, trying to calm himself, his fear for Luke consuming him, made eye contact with Jonathan and gestured for him to approach, which of course he was already in the process of doing.
"He's in the bedroom…" Noah whispered as Jonathan struggled with his bonds. Noah watched Maddie as she stood by the door; eyes wide, her hands covering her mouth. "Get Maddie out of here… it's not safe for her… and call the police…"
As Jonathan removed Noah's bonds and helped him up he nodded and watched briefly as Noah crept towards the passageway before turning to shove a reluctant Maddie back outside.
...
Terry couldn't remove her amazed gaze from the discovery they had made on the inside of the second cupboard door. As well as photographs from his night with Noah, Oliver had pictures of Noah from newspaper clippings, nights out and from the studio. In some of them they even smiled together arm in arm like old friends. And some of them had clearly been taken from a distance. Most were of Noah in his swimsuit lying on the beach or swimming in the ocean…
"Guys gone from one offs to stalking…" she said to Lewis as he came back to stand next to her.
"I've put an arrest warrant out for him." He informed her.
"Good, better send someone over to keep an eye on Noah Mayer. I think he might be in danger."
"I'll get right on it."
...
"Get… your filthy hands… off of him!"
Oliver froze over Luke's body for a second, as though unable to believe his ears. As his head turned slowly towards Noah's direction, his right hand, shielded from Noah's view, left Luke's chest, sliding stealthily towards the knife he had earlier placed on the bedside table.
"Hello Noah," he said calmly, smiling as his hand fastened on the handle, "Welcome to the party."
Oliver moved his partly turned body so that the knife, now turned outward to point at Luke's pulsing throat, came into Noah's horrified view. "You might want to take a step back, Noah, unless of course you've had enough of this one?"
Luke's weak and fearful eyes locked with Noah's and Noah let out a long sigh of resignation taking one step back as instructed.
As the knife relaxed slightly off his throat Luke tried to sit up, but Oliver placed a hand on his chest and shoved him flat again, quickly replacing the blade.
"Luke!" And Noah held out both hands to let Oliver know he was playing by his rules, as well as to communicate to Luke so stay down.
Oliver gestured towards a bag near the door, "There are some handcuffs in the front pocket. I suggest you very slowly take them out and cuff yourself to the bedpost. Nicely does it…" and he pressed the knife a little harder into Luke's neck to solidify his point.
The smile had not left Oliver's features since Noah's appearance. Now it broadened, enough to show one gold tooth as Noah bent, unsteadily, to lift the cuffs from the bag.
"Well now, that's better." And his eyes followed Noah as he crossed the room. In the meantime he knelt up, his pressing hand leaving Luke's chest to undo the button and zip of his jeans, "I was busy when you arrived, honey. I hope you don't mind while I finish up here before I attend to you?"
Noah's face was red with a fury that even Luke felt he should shy away from. His temples seemed to pulsate and his hands shook as he struggled to control the bubbling emotions within.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, a strange ginger haired man arrived huffing in the doorway and his unexpected appearance startled Oliver, giving Luke time to drive his knee viciously into Oliver's chest, eliciting a bizarre yelp. At the same time Noah launched himself at him, driving his fist hard into Oliver's stomach.
Luke screamed slightly, to stop him, fearful of the knife still in Oliver's hand.
But Oliver didn't stand a chance. As he made a blind swipe at Noah with the knife, Noah simply jumped back, the blade missing him by inches. There was a dull crunching sound as Noah's other fist splintered the shocked Italian's nose and a fine spray of blood spattered Luke's chest and face. Oliver's eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor on the other side of the bed like a stone.
As fast as a flash Noah was over him, raining fist after fuming fist down on him, lost in hysteria. He felt someone try to pull him off, but he pushed back hard and didn't even look as something loud crashed behind him. He thought he would never be able to stop, the rage all consuming, but a desperate and plea full voice was calling his name and eventually it entered his consciousness, "Noah stop! Stop baby! Noah!" and as he turned his head, the look in Luke's petrified eyes, the abject terror at how Noah was behaving, immediately stalled him and he dropped heavily to the floor, letting out a wail of gut wrenching pain.
They all sat in a shocked silence for a few minutes, until Noah finally turned his head and noticed Jonathan on the floor, half covered in books that had fallen from the shelf, as he was thrown into it.
"Sorry…" Noah said with earnestness and then, eyes clearing, he crawled across the floor to grab the knife before stumbling up onto the bed to cut Luke loose of the ropes.
He pulled Luke up onto his knees and Luke tried to throw his shaky arms around him, but Noah pushed him back to look him over; checking every part of him, wiping Oliver's blood from his cheeks; until Luke grabbed his shoulders saying, "I'm not hurt! I'm not!" and Noah let out a sob and a shudder of breaths before grabbing hold of him and finally allowing his limbs to relax.
In the distance they could hear the sound of approaching police sirens.
...
They took the rest of the week off but on Wednesday Luke was called in for an emergency meeting and he reluctantly agreed to attend. Of course, as he had expected, the meeting ran over and he didn't return home until late that night.
The house was dark and empty. He assumed that Maddie must have taken Jonathan out for a night on the town. He knew Noah hadn't gone with them or he would have let Luke know. But he wasn't worried… Luke knew exactly where he was.
The night air was slightly chilled, so he quickly grabbed a light blanket from the linen closet before leaving the house. He walked the few miles downhill and removed his shoes at the edge of the sand, carrying them onto the beach, scanning the distance until he found the lone figure sitting in the darkness.
The air was wet and salty as the breeze blew soft droplets of water off the waves, and he was glad he brought the blanket when he noticed how Noah hugged his arms into himself and shivered slightly.
Noah sensed his presence and turned his neck just as Luke was laying the blanket around his shoulders, "Hey…" Noah said with a smile.
"Thought I'd find you here…"
"Sorry. I didn't realise how long I'd been out here for."
Luke sat sideways and waited for him to flatten his legs out so that he could lie on his back with his head in Noah's lap. Noah leaned back on one arm and briefly used the other to play with Luke's hair as it blew softly in the wind, before bending over to kiss him lightly on the forehead.
"You okay?" Luke asked.
"Yes," he replied, "You?" And he pressed the other hand back down into the sand.
Luke smiled up at him in answer.
"You look so sexy in that suit, you know? But not entirely beach appropriate!"
Luke chortled, "I was too impatient to change…"
"Impatient for what?"
"To see you of course! What else?"
Noah laughed, "I missed you too…" and he bent his head back down again, this time to place a probing kiss slightly upside down on his mouth, prompting Luke to move up onto his knees, so that their kiss turned the right way up and they could place their arms around each other. He skirted forward and crossed his legs over Noah's thighs so they were holding each other up in the seated position, all the while never once disconnecting their lips.
When they pulled apart Noah threw his head back for a moment and when he returned his gaze to Luke's he felt rather than saw the tears through the dimness.
"Hey," Luke said softly, pulling their foreheads together, "why did you tell me you're okay when you're not? Hmm?" And he cupped Noah's ears in his hands.
"I'm sorry I just… This whole thing has me really freaked."
"Well Noah it's understandable…"
"No! Not just because of what he did… I mean… that was bad yes but, I'm more afraid of what it means for us." And he pulled back to say, "I'm so afraid of losing you again… These things keep happening and I'm so scared that one day something will cause us to drift apart. And we won't even know its happening! Like we did before…"
"Noah! Even after that bastard…"and he paused not wanting to spoil the moment with talk of Oliver, "… we are still right here! Nothing has changed. I'm not going anywhere and I really hope you aren't planning to check out anytime soon…"
"No way..." Noah replied shaking his head.
"I love you. I always did, even back then when you thought I didn't. I'm sorry if I every made you think otherwise."
Noah hugged him and Luke continued, "We can't live the rest of our lives afraid Noah. Okay?"
Noah nodded and he clutched Luke in for warmth. Luke felt how Noah's breathing was uneven, and he knew his trembling was from fear as much as from cold.
"God you're warm." Noah snuggled closer, sighing, "It feels so good to hold you…" and his right hand spread out flat against Luke's back, caressing him slowly, feeling its way in the dark, the skin under the shirt answering with small vibrations.
And Luke felt as the fear began to vanish, bit by bit, and he smiled into Noah's neck.
...
"You guys! This colour is so gay!" Maddie announced.
They were all dressed in identical white jumpsuits, busily running paint rollers up and down three corners of the lounge room.
"It's not gay!" Luke exclaimed, "Its metallic sky blue…"
"It is kind of gay Luke!" Noah agreed.
"Oh come ON!" Luke exclaimed. "Anyway what does it matter? After all…" and he ran a hand down in front of himself clearly reminding them both that he was in fact, gay and it was therefore a mute point.
"Okay, okay!" Maddie relented. "So long as you like the colour, that's all that matters. You're the ones who have to live with it!"
"Oh yeah?" Luke asked and he quickly darted over to dab a spot of paint on her cheek, "Now so do you!"
She squealed and then chased after him around the room until he took shelter behind Noah's larger frame, laughing while he held Noah's sides and moved him from side to side to block Maddie out of the way..
"Hey!" Noah said, "You guys leave me out of this one! I'm getting enough of this stuff on me all by myself, thanks very much!"
"Okay truce!" Luke yelled.
"Fine! But behave yourself!" And she returned to her wall with mock annoyance.
Luke stretched up to kiss Noah on his nose, "Thanks for saving me babe…"
Noah smiled, "Anytime!"
"Hey guys?" Jonathan said from the doorway, wiping his hands on a yellow cloth, "I've fixed the leaky pipe in the kitchen and you had a small one in the bathroom. I've sorted that too."
"Thanks so much Jonathan, it's really nice of you." said Noah.
"It's no problem." He was just about to leave the room again when he said, "Oh, and I fixed your bathroom door too. Looks like it was kicked in or… something…" and his words cut off awkwardly as he noticed the look that past between to two guys.
But Luke smiled at him and said, "You're really handy to have around, you know? Are you sure you don't want to move in?"
"Thanks for the offer, but…" And Jonathan smiled as he left to find another job to do.
Remaining by Noah's side to help him paint his wall Luke asked, "So Maddie… What's with this Jonathan guy? I thought you were living with a Bruce?"
"Oh," said Maddie, "Jonathan's not my boyfriend… he's my son."
Of course both Luke and Noah completely froze mid-stroke at that, turning at the same time to stare at her until Noah said, "Okay! Now THIS is a story I've got to hear!"
And Luke, standing mouth agape could do nothing but agree, "Same here!"