Nick stared at his retreating back as Stephen turned on his heel and walked out. He was still staring at the spot Stephen had vacated a few minutes later when Connor and Ryan poked their heads around the door, looking a little concerned.
"Erm… Nick?" Connor tapped lightly on the doorframe as he spoke.
"Stephen's just left to hustle arse," Ryan said bluntly, making Connor scowl and elbow him.
"What?" Nick stood up.
Ryan and Connor took an almost involuntary step back, "We'll go bring him back."
Ryan shook his head at Connor, "I'll go. You've got a client in twenty minutes."
"Right, right," Connor dropped a kiss on Ryan's cheek and threw Nick a wave before hurrying back down to his room.
Ryan looked back at Nick and threw him a wry smile before hurrying out after Stephen. He found him again at the end of the road and made to call out to him, but something in the way Stephen was moving stopped him. Shoulders hunched and steps rapid, Stephen wasn't moving furtively. He wasn't glancing around like he didn't want to be caught. Ryan tilted his head as he watched him. He looked… scared.
Ryan followed him, making sure he wasn't seen, as Stephen ducked into a small side street. Ryan resisted the urge to pull a face. That… that really did scream streetwalker. Ryan crossed the street and took a seat on a nearby bench so he could see who Stephen was meeting with. He wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying, but at least he'd be able to give Nick a name or a description.
Stephen shifted from foot to foot, pulling a face at the dingy alley. He glanced around quickly, then down at his watch. His mouth thinned into a tight line and a headache started to beat at his temples. This was insane. Why did he do this to himself?
"Hello Stephen."
Stephen just barely stopped himself from flinching, "Helen."
"Aww… No 'hello'? Aren't you pleased to see me?" Helen smirked as she moved to plaster herself against him.
Only Stephen's training stopped him from cringing and pushing her away, "Not at all, really."
"Oh Stephen," Helen clucked her tongue at him, "Naughty, naughty. Customer is always right, remember that."
"Well since you're blackmailing me, not paying me, I don't think you really count as a customer," Stephen snapped back.
Helen pulled back her hand and slapped him hard across the face, making Stephen gasp and take a step back. She all but snarled at him as she looked up into his face, fingers digging into the rapidly reddening handprint.
"You forget, Stephen, I made you what you are."
Then her fingers smoothed over his cheek and the snarl attempted to soften into a smile, "But let's not fight any more. You know I love you, Stephen."
"Sure you do…" the words were out of Stephen's mouth before he could prevent them, earning him a slap across his other cheek.
"I brought you off the streets," Helen's hand stroked across the second handprint, "Doesn't that tell you how much I love you?"
Stephen lost patience, "No. It tells me that you wanted another pretty plaything in your bed," he tried to move past her, "Fuck this. I'm leaving."
"Uh-uh, Stephen. What will Nick say? You've screwed me before. And he didn't like that one bit. What will he do when I tell him you've been screwing me again?" Helen gave him a shark-like grin.
Stephen stared at her, face draining of colour, "I haven't touched you…"
"But I've paid you, lover. And when Nick sees the money, and knows that you were with me…" Helen lifted a shoulder in an elegant shrug.
Stephen's shoulders slumped, making Helen's face break into a smirk that said she knew she had already won, "He'll be furious, probably deck me, maybe fire me," Helen's smirk morphed into a predatory grin, "But I don't care anymore," Helen's smile faded, "I'm not taking this shit."
And Stephen turned and walked away, idly wondering if it was possible to feel so violated without even taking one's clothes off.
He walked rapidly, head down and hands in his pockets, only stopping when he walked into a solid chest. He blinked, stepping back and looking up to mutter an apology. Then he cringed. Ryan. Shit. Ryan raised an eyebrow at him.
"I was sitting over there," he pointed at the bench, "But then when I saw Satan come and feel you up I moved over there," he pointed to a spot within hearing distance of where Helen and Stephen were standing.
"So, you heard…"
"Pretty much everything," Ryan confirmed, "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"You would've told Nick, Nick would've flipped. I don't want to put that on him. Plus…" Stephen shifted uncomfortably, shivering in the wind, "It's Helen."
Ryan sighed, knowing that 'it's Helen' really was an apt way to describe anything to do with that woman, "Right then, knobhead, we're going back to Anomaly. You're going to explain to Nick what just happened, coz he's worrying his left testicle off about it."
Stephen just snorted and allowed Ryan to steer him back down the street.
Stephen slunk into Anomaly and attempted to keep his head down and walk right past Nick's office. But Ryan's hand on his shoulder, made him sigh and stop, before turning inside and sliding through the door. He tried, he really did, to not look like a naughty schoolboy being brought before the principal. But as Nick looked up from the paperwork behind his desk, Stephen couldn't help but feel that that was exactly what it was.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Nick's face creased in a frown.
Stephen snorted, "You have no idea what's going on, Nick."
"No, I don't," Nick shook his head, "You're goin' out on the side. You're addin' money to the Anomaly account through yours. And you won't tell me why!"
"Helen," Stephen said succinctly.
Nick jerked, as though his ex-wife's name was a physical blow, "What? Why… Stephen?" his voice started as a whisper, but rose steadily until he was yelling, "What the hell have you been doing with my ex-wife!?"
Stephen cringed back from the volume of Nick's voice, but stood his ground, "What the hell have I been doing with your ex-wife, Nick? I've been being blackmailed."
"You…" Nick visibly deflated, "You what?"
"She called me," Stephen leaned over and pointed to the first payment that went into Anomaly's account, "The day before I put this in. Said she wanted to talk. I told her where to go, obviously, but she offered me three thousand pounds if I would just come and talk to her for half an hour," Stephen looked at Nick pleadingly, "Three thousand pounds, Nick… it took a chunk off our total debt."
"So you went and spoke to her?" Nick turned to him.
Stephen nodded, "Yeah," he sighed, "She told me she loved me, Nick. She told me she wanted me, and if I'd only come with her, it would all be wonderful. We'd be together forever."
Nick blanched.
Stephen shivered a little and sighed, looking through his lashes at Nick, "All the things she said to get me to Anomaly in the first place."
Nick responded quietly, "Me too. 'Cept she married me."
They both cringed a little at that, before Stephen continued, "The half hour was up not long after that, so I got my money and came home. But then she called," he pointed to the screen again, "Here. Demanded another half hour for three thousand. I went, got the same spiel. Then here, another three thousand."
"It was during the fourth meeting that she started," Stephen looked away, "It went from 'Stephen, I love you, come with me,' to 'Stephen, come with me or I'll tell Nick you're fucking me.' All punctuated by slaps and psychosis."
"So… typical Helen, then?" Nick joked weakly, stroking a hand down Stephen's left cheek, knowing that it was Helen's preferred place to hit.
Stephen snorted, leaning into Nick's hand, "Yeah… pretty much."
"But it's all gonna stop now, right? I mean, I know now, and I know you aren't screwin' her," Nick looked at him, worried hope in his eyes.
"Not yet," Stephen said quietly, shifting away from Nick a little.
Nick blinked, "Stephen…"
Stephen reached into his pocket, pulling out a wad of money, "You'll have to enter this into the Anomaly account first," he placed it next to Nick, "Only fifteen hundred there this time, she did half up front, half as she left. And since I stormed of, I didn't get the other half."
Nick scowled at him, cuffing him upside the head as he grumbled, tapping away at the keys. He separated the money, entering one thousand pounds into the computer and making Stephen frown. Ignoring him for a moment, Nick put the thousand pounds into the desk safe and gathered up the remaining five hundred. He turned back to Stephen.
"You've done enough, I'm not gonna take it all from you, Stephen."
"But…" Stephen gestured to the accounting files.
Nick reached over and tucked the five hundred pounds into the waistband of Stephen's pants, "You had to deal with Helen for three weeks on your own," he stood up and rested his forehead against Stephen's, tapping his hand lightly against the money in his pants, "That doesn't even begin to cover it."
Ryan watched idly from the door. He nodded to himself in approval as Stephen admitted his involvement with Helen and her blackmail against him and Anomaly. He wrinkled his nose slightly as Nick stuck some money in Stephen's pants. How very stripper of you, Stephen. Ryan rolled his eyes and turned away as Stephen pulled Nick in for a kiss. He headed back down the hall towards his and Connor's room, a slight smile on his face as he thought of the newest set of news he could tell his gossip-hungry lover.
He pushed open the door, "I have news," he announced to the room at large, belatedly noticing that Abby was in the room as well.
He grinned as Connor's eyes lit up, "Ooh…"
The grin dimmed a little as Abby smacked Connor's arm, "You're such a gossip-queen."
Ryan snorted as Connor childishly crossed his eyes at her and got up to pull Ryan down onto the sofa with him, "Share. Now."
"I know where Stephen's been going to," Ryan said, deliberately drawing it out.
Connor's eyes widened, "So tell me!"
"Helen," Ryan said succinctly.
"No…" Connor breathed.
"Mmhmm," Ryan held up a hand, but not for what you'd think, "She called him. Paid him three grand upfront for half an hour of talking. Tried to get him to leave Anomaly and run away with her. Did that three times and then started blackmailing him. Saying she'd tell Nick he was screwin' her if he didn't do everything she wanted."
"Shit…" Abby said, "What did he do with the money?"
Ryan snorted, "Paid off a good whack of Anomaly's debt. That's how Nick found out."
"Bloody hell…" Connor shook his head and curled into Ryan a bit more, "Poor Stephen."
Ryan slid an arm around Connor's leather clad hip and nodded. Wait… Ryan looked down. And stared. He shifted back, away from Connor, to see a bit better. Then he nudged Connor away, off the couch, trying to get him to stand up. Connor grumbled a little but stood up.
The younger man looked… edible. If leather clad whores could be eaten, that is. Connor wore leather pants that laced up the outside of each leg, exposing a line of pale skin up to his hip. A black, strategically ripped, wifebeater covered most of his chest, but left a line of skin across his belly and the small of his back exposed. Black combat boots completed the look.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph…" Ryan breathed, eyeing Connor up and down.
Abby snorted into her hand, standing up as well, "And now he notices."
Ryan looked over at Abby, ready for a scathing retort, only to realise that she was all dressed up for a client as well, leather boots and silk dress, "Yeah, now he notices."
Ryan gestured between the two, "So what's going on here?"
Connor rolled his eyes affectionately at Abby, "She finally managed to convince me to steal a few of the she-dragon's more hardcore clients by double-teaming them."
Ryan nodded slowly, "Ah…"
Connor seemed to expect more of an answer than that, so he continued, "Well… it'll pay off the debt quicker, yeah?"
Connor nodded, smiling brightly, "Gotta run or we'll be late," he walked past Ryan, brushing a quick kiss across his cheek as he left, leaving the other man alone in the room.
Connor walked out of the room they'd used with the client next to Abby, "Don't take this the wrong way, Abby, but I don't think I could do that again."
"Too much?" Abby said sympathetically.
"Yeah… plus I've been dealing with the virgins and other clients for so long I don't want to have to switch mentalities with every client. It'll mess with my head."
"Point."
Connor nodded, "So… shall we grab a coffee or something?"
Abby stared at him, "You are joking, right?"
Connor blinked, "… No?"
Abby clipped him lightly upside the head, "Idiot. Did you not see the look on Ryan's face as you left? He wasn't overly pleased with us working together. But because we'd already been booked he wasn't going to get pissy and throw a tantrum about it," her face turned serious, "Connor. If you don't go back to your boyfriend now, you might not have one to go back to later."