AN:
A big thank you to the reviewers of the last chapter: mulzypops & weather741!

Music tip:
Jon McLaughlin – We All Need Saving
youtube: watch?v=o0TyhU80kv0

Lovers of Freedom

Chapter 14:
No Fear

"Hey… Mitch?"

He blinked, squeezed his eyes shut against the bright light that filled his room and then groaned. "What?" he asked with a hoarse voice and buried his face into the pillow, about to drift off into sleep again. Someone poked his shoulder and chuckled lightly. Curious about who exactly was interrupting his rest Mitch slowly looked up to check out his surroundings. Jerome sat fully dressed on the edge of his bed and looked down on him with a raised eyebrow.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?"

With a loud yawn Mitch stretched his limbs and checked the time on his phone on the nightstand. "Nearly 11?! Why didn't you wake me up?" he complained with a sleepy voice and rolled over onto his back to look at Jerome again. Something felt off… Mitch glanced down at his own body and saw that he was fully dressed under the blanket. "What the-"

"I figured that you needed some rest after the events yesterday. Do you feel any better?"

Events?
It slowly dawned on him.

"Oh god, no," he murmured and buried his face in his hands."I'm so dead."
Jerome didn't seem to be able to follow his train of thoughts and asked confused, "What are you talking about, Mitch? I told you I will-"

"It's Murphy. I'm sure he'll know by now what I did."
A sudden thought made Mitch's heart stop and with fearful eyes he jumped out of his bed and nearly into the dresser opposite of it. "Mitch? What are you talking about? Hey, stop for a minute. Mitch!"

"Just give me a second, I need to call them to make sure they're-"

He was about to grab his phone from the nightstand with shaking hands, because the thought of Murphy carrying out his threat was unbearable. Before Mitch had the chance though, a figure that was faster than him appeared in front of Mitch and grabbed both of his hands. "Don't."
Jerome's voice was low and had the usual calming effect on him. Slowly his best friend let go of him again and continued, "You haven't called them once since this mess started. Do you really want to talk to them now, all nervous and worried for them and your father's job? They'll notice something is up and you know as well as I do that they're not gonna let you get away without spilling the beans."

He was right. Of course he was.
Letting his shoulders drop Mitch sank down onto the bed and nodded silently. Jerome patted him on the back and opened the door to the balcony to let some fresh air into the room. It felt good and Mitch took a deep breath to clear his head. "You're right, I have to get my head straight."

"Especially when we have to work together with Murphy. If you really don't want the others to know, you can't show how anxious you are in his company – even though I can understand it-"
Jerome didn't have the chance to finish his sentence, as someone knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer. With an apologizing look on his face Quentin pointed in the direction of the stairs.

"Good morning, sorry to disturb you so early, but Murphy is here and wants to speak to us down in the living room immediately."
Thankfully Mitch managed to keep himself together until Quentin had closed the door again, before he bolted for the balcony. "I have to get out of here right now, he knows Jerome, he fucking knows! I'm done, he'll-"

Again Jerome tried to stop him and was successful for the second time. His strong grip around Mitch's wrist stopped the Canadian from climbing off the balcony in a thoughtless moment and pulling him back inside Jerome closed the door. "Breath and think. What did Quentin say?"

"…Murphy wants to talk to us-"

"Exactly. Us. Would he really tell everyone of the team what he has done? Probably not. He would have tried to get you alone and since that's not the case, something else has to be going on. So calm down, Mitch and think for God's sake."
For some seconds it was completely silent, until Mitch started to laugh. Jerome slowly stepped away from him with a skeptical look on his face. "Oh god, that's it, you've lost your mind. Great."

"I haven't, it's just-" Mitch tried to answer, but had to catch his breath first. "Usually it's the other way round, you know? Me being rational and talking some sense into you, I mean." The smile was still plastered on his face, as he looked back up to Jerome, who was shaking his head hopelessly but with a similar grin on his lips. "You're just being stupid. Come on, we shouldn't keep the maniac waiting any longer."

Mitch cleared his throat, followed Jerome out of his room and downstairs to the main floor. If his best friend was right and Murphy didn't know about his betrayal, then telling Jerome had been the best thing Mitch could have done so far. All of the worries and doubts were still there, weighting his spirits down and - as Jerome already had noticed – changing his usual self. But some of the weight on his shoulders had disappeared, now that he had poured his heart out to the American. It was easier to breath and the smiles didn't feel quite as forced anymore. Maybe Jerome was right and there was still hope that everything would turn out alright in the end.

Nonetheless the sight of a smirking Murphy in the living room made Mitch freeze on the spot. Jerome, who was oblivious to the sudden change, went forward and instead of greeting his new boss properly as he had done the day before, he simply nodded in his direction and then sat down on the couch next to Jason and Ty. Mitch still stood in the doorway and couldn't move a limb, while Murphy stopped talking to Ian and turned around, as if he had known that Mitch was there all along.
The coldhearted smirk on his face, which the others easily mistook as a welcoming smile, grew at the sight of a speechless and paralyzed Mitch. Of course he took the opportunity of Ian unknowingly occupying the others and approached Mitch with a few steps.

"Mr. Hughes."
His voice was inscrutable and he placed himself in the line of sight between Mitch and Jerome, who was unaware of how much he was needed at the moment. 'He promised, everything will be alright, just don't let him know what you've done, under no circumstances…'. His thoughts were like a mantra and slowly he nodded his head in a desperate attempt to greet Murphy. The smirk only grew.

"I hope you enjoyed your first night at the house," Murphy began with a two sided comment that made his stomach turn. He knew, didn't he? Or was he just messing with him, trying to make him break under the constant pressure that he was adding onto Mitch's back to eliminate every form of resistance?
Either way he felt incredibly helpless and something else began to stir in the middle of his emotional whirlwind – anger. But he couldn't say anything, not as before when Mitch had to face the very realistic threat Murphy had been confronting him with in his office.

"I really hope that you have finally realized what is at stake for you and your family, Mr. Hughes. It would be a shame, if something-"

"Mitch!"
All talking ceased and every eye in the room focused on Jerome, who had suddenly jumped up from his seat on the couch. He must have finally noticed that Mitch was cornered by Murphy without a way to escape from his dangerous clutches, but instead of an awkward silence he immediately slipped into an act Mitch hadn't seen coming at all. In a second Jerome was at his side, putting an arm between him and Murphy and pulling the Canadian away with a strong and safe clutch.

"Sorry Mr. Murphy, but Mitch you have to try what Quentin did for breakfast for us, it's so delicious! I swear you never want to eat anything else in your whole life once you've tasted it!"
For a tension-filled moment no one said a word as Jerome pushed the silent Canadian down onto the couch where he had sat before and gave him something from a plate. Then someone thankfully began to laugh, others did as well and the tension was gone in the blink of an eye.

Ian continued his conversation with Adam and Quentin, the rest listened to them again and Mitch leaned back against the backrest of the couch with a barely audible sigh. Carefully he glanced up at Jerome, who sat on the armrest, but neither of them dared to say a word about the incident. Not here, where someone could easily listen in on them. Especially Murphy, who approached the happy group and sat down on a free chair across from Mitch and Jerome.

"So gentlemen, may I have your attention please?"
Murphy hadn't raised his voice, but the special tone of it made the rest become silent in an instant. With a grateful smile he put a thick folder onto the coffee table and picked out a paper with some dates and notes on it.

"As you already know, there'll be some events and small jobs you have to attend. We gave you yesterday and this day off, so that you can settle down in your new home properly and start recording videos again. You should have each gotten a list about what is off limits for you while recording videos and what we would like to see in the future on your channels, but we'll have time to talk about the details tomorrow after the photo shooting."

"Wait, a photo shooting..? For what exactly?" Quentin asked and threw a skeptical look into the round. Half of the team looked as confused as he did, but Murphy just laughed out loud. Mitch couldn't refrain himself from flinching and leaned back into the couch again. The more distance between him and Murphy, the safer he felt.

"It's for the official campaign of course. Advertising on websites, in magazines about games, then commercials and so on. Youtuber are the next generation of role models and heroes for the younger ones and Microsoft is one of the first companies to realize the importance of it. Minecraft is just the beginning, we want to expand the range of games and you, gentlemen, will be our number one group of gamers all the way."

Mitch had to admit that Murphy's excitement and passion for the cause were extremely infectious and convincing, but Mitch had seen the other side. His endless greed for power, the desire for more fame, more glory and influence within the company.

The enthusiastic gleam in the eyes of the others made him feel sick and crossing his arms in front of his chest, Mitch looked up.
Thankfully Jerome seemed to be as positive about those prospects as Mitch was.
With an encouraging smile he tried to cheer the Canadian up and grateful for the attempt, Mitch tried to relax his clenched muscles as Jerome put a hand on his shoulder.

At least he wasn't alone in this.