Strangelove

Chapter 6

(Author's Note: Thanks! You all are sure showing me the "love" for this one! Seriously, I really do appreciate the comments and ideas. Despite my promise to try to update more often- it's hard! I'm trying... but it's a tough story to write... That's where you all come in- with your support and suggestions. The trouble I'm having is that there are simply too many delicious possibilities... but hearing what you guys think really helps me choose! So, if you want to see more of this story, keep the help coming, please! Otherwise, it could take me weeks... and I don't think anyone wants that... I sure don't!)

Chapter 6

"Here's what you're going to do..." Darius repeated, pausing dramatically as he stared directly into Tommy's frozen blue eyes.

Tommy easily met his nemesis's stare and did not waver.

"I'm not a kid anymore... Boyz Attack is long over! He shouldn't intimidate me! He won't..." he tried to convince himself.

A satisfied grin stretched across Darius's mouth.

"Quincy's still weak... Still puts himself first... This is gonna be too easy..."

The older man let his former protegee and current employee sweat for a few minutes. Finally, he deigned to answer Tommy.

"You're leaving Toronto. Today. Get your stuff together, or at least what you'll need now. I'll take care of whatever business you can't finish today."

"I'm doing what?" Tommy snapped.

"He won't hurt us Jude... I won't let him..." he thought, already feeling his resolve weakening.

"I want you out of here. Away from my business. Which includes Jude!" Darius commanded

"And I go where?"

"That really isn't my problem!" Darius laughed. "I personally don't give a damm what happens to you! I don't owe you squat! Not after you made it with Jude Harrison. But, as usual, I'll cover your stupid ass! You go to LA. I've arranged for you to have a house and even a job at one of the studios there. Of course, it's not as prestigious as what you had here. Less money. Less status. Less power. But considering everything that happened, you ain't exactly in a position to be choosy, are you, boy?"

"What makes you think I'm gonna do that? That you can just order me around!" Tommy spit back at him.

"Cause if you don't, me and Sadie will just tell everyone about your little affair. That includes the press, Jude's parents, the police... The world. You'll go to jail, boy. Forget about working in this business again. Not to mention that pretty guys like you don't do well in prison... a little too popular, if you know what I mean."

"You're disgusting!"

"Just telling the truth, boy! You gonna be cleaning someone else's house in jail..."

Frightened, Tommy quickly changed tactics.

"What about Jude? You'd do that to her? Expose her that way?" Tommy screamed desperately.

"Why the hell not?" Darius said calmly.

"There's no such thing as bad publicity. She'll get everyone's sympathy, poor girl, abused by her pedophile of a producer..."

"But it wasn't anything like that!" Tommy screamed again, desperate.

"So what? No one cares!" Darius intoned evilly. "People will buy it if Sadie and I say so. Why not? You do have a dirty reputation, boy. It's completely believable..."

Consternation filled Tommy, as he struggled for an escape.

"I can't just leave her... There's gotta be... another way."

Darius smiled again, as always completely able to read him.

"Like I said, there's no choice here, boy. Start packing. Oh- and one more thing. Naturally, you are not to ever write, talk or communicate with Jude ever again..."

"Why? Why are you doing all this?" Tommy burst out, helplessly, knowing Darius had outmaneuvered him.

"Why not! You're not good for her. You'll destroy her career!"

"Can't have that! What kind of a manager would I be if I let that happen? She's a good little earner... Like I'd ever give up that kind of money..."

"She's doing great!" Tommy retorted, trying to use the truth against Darius.

"Yeah... All cause of me... My stellar management... My record label... She's doing everything I say... Now, she really will... Cause if she doesn't, I'll just leak your dirty little secret..."

"You bastard!"

"Watch that language boy...You are so outta here. You screwed up your own career. I won't let you hurt hers... Cause that's messing with me! Get out!" Darius coldly commanded.

Defeated, Tommy took a bag from his closet and began filling it.

As instructed, Jude drove straight back to the Harrison residence; she had no choice. Sadie tailed her ass all the way; there was simply no way to escape or anywhere else to go if there had been.

Now a prisoner, she forlornly climbed her front steps. Sadie at her heels, her own sister, turned sadistic jailer.

"Schadenfreude" Jude thought bitterly, hurrying to her own room and closing the door.

Rummaging frantically through a dresser drawer, she found the enamel pillbox she hid there months ago, right after her birthday. Jude had buried it, knowing she wouldn't need it then, but not discarded it. She had known that its time would come again...

Now, she opened it and swallowed two white tablets. She sat quietly, waiting, letting the pills effect their magic, impart their strength to her broken self.

Only then did she rise and go to confront Sadie.

(Author's Note: In case people don't know this, the word "schadenfreude" means to take pleasure in someone else's pain... Also, in case anyone is wondering (and some of you have already asked!), there are more reasons why Darius and Sadie are so nasty... and they will be revealed in due time... So... keep reading...)