Jude Kinkade/Zero [Gideon] centric spin on S2E11~'Sudden Death'
Jude walked into the mostly empty Devils Playground and spotted Zero at the bar. He was drinking a beer and watching the 13 KEJM news on the flatscreen. He'd woken up around midnight, with Zero gone. Not that unusual. It wasn't like they were on some kind of schedule. Sometimes he stayed at Jude's all night. Other times they just met at lunch time for a quick fuck in between meetings and practice.
He looked around, noting a blond server, a couple seated in the far corner and Raquel doing work at one of the nearby tables.
Zero had texted him to meet him at the club, and ever the eager agent-and lover, Jude had come. He wasn't 100 percent sure what the other man knew. Zero had given no indication that he had overheard anything about Derek and the coke. Which wasn't helpful. Zero knew how to mask his feelings and intent better than anyone Jude knew, save for himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Game-changer heading into the finals. With so much on the line having one of the Devils'
star players...'intoned the newscaster.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Pretty nasty rumor about Terrence," said Jude staring at the screen.
"Not a rumor."
"You did this. What do you know?" He found it odd that the other man had not run it by him beforehand or at least told him. This maneuver fit right in with their plan.
"Well, let's just say the wall is coming down. Get it?" He grinned and leaned back a little grandly, then lightly tapped Jude's chest.
Jude let out a forced, uncomfortable laugh. "Wouldn't Derek be the better target? If Terrence really is injured?" Jude looked from the flatscreen, to Zero. He searched his face as casually as he could. "Isn't Derek the bigger threat?'
He managed to keep his tone calm and low, definitely not wanting Raquel to overhear.
"I don't have anything on Derek," he replied in an easy manner, a blank look on his face.
At that moment Raquel came over, stood between the two men, reached for the remote and turned up the volume.'For the Devils organization…'At that moment there appeared archival footage of Jelena, Chase, Oscar and a couple of the other Devil Girls at Chase's jersey retirement ceremony.
'More big news out of Los Angeles. This one involves Chase Vincent, who's out of jail and in the clear. Footage of Chase Vincent has surfaced from a traffic camera at the time of Olivia Vincent's murder. With Mr. Vincent no longer a suspect, police are reopening their investigation to find her killer.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of course, Raquel was well aware of Olivia's blackmail, considering she herself had been threatened about her immigration status. He idly wondered how far she would have gone to protect her secret and keep Miguel with her.
A couple of days later Jude headed back out to Malibu. Lionel had called him upset and needed to vent. He wanted to clear his head and get out of the arena, so he'd agreed to come.
Lionel stood reading the trade paper,Variety, in the sitting room. "'Ecstasy's failure at the box office has led the studio to put their next two movies with Lionel Davenport on ice.' Well, this is a nightmare." She then dramatically handed the paper to him.
He was sitting on the couch, where he glanced at it and then set it down next to him.
"What's the matter? Not interesting enough for you?" she said with a sweep of her arm as she sat down.
"Sorry. It's Oscar."
"What about him?" A look of casual disgust crossed her face.
"He called me this morning. Said he thinks there might be a woman targeting him."
"So?"
"So, I know there is. I made a deal to stop it. At least I thought I did."
"So, tell him."
"If I did, it would be bad for me."
"How bad?"
"Prison bad." He sheepishly looked over at the woman to whom he'd been confiding all his secrets to lately.
"Jude." Disappointment and alarm were evident in her voice.
"I can't let him be taken down, Lionel. He's, my father."
"He IS a sperm donor."
The way Lionel spit out the sentence, Jude vaguely suspected there was something else going on, besides her sudden dislike for Oscar. "I need to go think. I'm sorry." He gestured toward the trade magazine as he got up off the couch and hastily left.
Jude stood outside of Oscar's office, staring at the grey placard, '1126 Oscar Kinkade,' affixed to the red door. He'd come straight from Lionel's firm in his decision to let Oscar in on Sloane's and Raquel's efforts. He took a deep, nervous breath as he spotted Derek striding toward him, passing the current star ballers, whose poster sized photos gleamed as they aligned the walls.
"Derek, hey."
"You and Zero."
"What?" He frowned. Shit. Did he know about them?
"What did you promise him to get him to L.A.?"
"Promise?" Jude said with a short, relieved laugh. "He signed a 30 million-"
"-He's been playing me and Terrence against each other since day one! Why would he think he could do that? The only ones who knew how bad things were between me and T were me, T, and you," Derek said pointing at him.
"Derek." Jude swallowed. He supposed it was only a matter of time before he figured it out. Derek wasn't stupid; just often distracted.
The baller circled him threateningly, moving toward him, as Jude backed away. "You went from a desk jockey to his agent. From a bus pass to tooling around in brand-new Porsches with his name on the pink slip!"
"I'm good at my job," Jude stammered. His back hit the wall, with no escape.
"Deny it again! Does he know about the coke?"
"No. Derek, come on. We need each other. You're my alibi for Olivia. I'm yours."
"Screw that." Derek then turned around and began to walk away.
"Derek!" He thanked the construction gods for the soundproofing within the arena.
The other man spun back to him.
"I'm dealing with something right now. If you take away my alibi on top of that, I'm underwater."
Derek paused and whispered, "Drown, bitch." He then strode away.
Damnit. Zero wasn't the only one who'd fucked around and found out…
~~~
Jude sat in his car, outside Oscar's Tudor style mansion. He'd only been here a handful of times. None of them for Sunday dinners. After his run in with Derek, Jude had shrunk back. No alibi. The prospect of the police finding out…but, in the end, why had he wanted to be a part of the Devils Nation? To bond with Oscar. His father. With a deep breath, he informed security, who then opened the gates, and he drove in.
Jude walked to Oscar's office, pausing at the entrance. The Devils had lost their last game to the Boston Cranes, so he expected the owner to be in a worse mood than usual. "Oscar, have a second?"
His father sat at an immaculate desk, reading theLos Angeles Sun.
Jude exhaled and walked into the room, at the look of slight acknowledgment from Oscar. "I agonized over this, but I finally decided I have to tell you something. Something I've known about for a while, and I should have told you sooner. No matter what it costs me."
"I know." Oscar rose and tossed the paper onto his desk.
"You do?"
"Before the groundbreaking, I had Olivia Vincent followed." He walked over to the bar and poured himself a bourbon. "I know she met with you. I assume she was holding something over you trying to get you to turn against me."
"Yeah, but I never would have," Jude said shaking his head.
"The thing is, with Chase exonerated anyone Olivia threatened becomes a suspect in her murder."
"You think I killed Olivia?"
"I don't really know you, Jude. So, I had you checked out. And now I know what she threatened you with."
'Hell,' thought Jude. 'He's always known that I brought dust into the Devils Arena locker room.'
"Your neighbor says you have a regular visitor. A gentleman."
Jude almost let out a laugh of relief.
"Apparently, your walls are thin, and the two of you are rather loud."
'Zero'
"If you thought confessing your secret gay life was going to bond us, then you know me about as well as I know you."
"Your mother was a simple woman who knew her limitations. She was too small for the big life I was making so she gave up and moved on. You've been trying to take after me. You should try to take after her."
'Lisa'
"You will never have my approval." He then turned his back to Jude.
"Dad, I—"
"-I don't have a son. I assume that's all you came to say."
Jude exhaled deeply, swallowed the pain that was rising. "Yeah. That's all." He then turned around and slowly walked out.
On automatic pilot he got into the Porsche and drove to his apartment. He let himself in and promptly sat on the floor, leaned against the couch, and cradled his pounding head in his palms. He wanted to cry, like when he was a kid. But he just felt hollow.
~~~
He was still in the same spot when he heard the front door. It might have been the first time since they'd been sleeping together that Zero had used the front door keys, and not the patio entrance ones. He had been sending him texts and blowing up his cell in the last few hours. Jude had ignored them. Oscar. Zero. Really, what was the point?
He didn't bother to look up, as the other man opened the door, paused before closing it quietly behind him.
"He knows about us," said Jude, finally looking up at Zero.
He was dressed in a simple burgundy pullover and black jeans. My god, he was beautiful. Jude could see a combination of confusion, curiosity and panic cross his face.
"Oscar…well, he knows about me. But he doesn't know it's you."
He'd finally remembered the neighbors' names, Beth and Tiffany. He wondered which one Oscar's investigator had talked to…or maybe both?
"Jude. What the hell is goin' on? I've been trying to get in touch with you. You're not answering your phone, my texts…" Zero still stood by the door, he hadn't moved an inch. Expensive backpack hanging on his sweater clad shoulder.
Jude then proceeded to recount the scene at Oscar's. While he spoke, Zero put down his bag and moved to the large built in, leaned against the desk, and listened intently.
~~~
"…'I don't have a son.' That's how he said it. Just like that. Like nothing. I keep reaching out to people. To you, Oscar. Just once. I want someone to reach back."
In response, Zero reached into the desk drawer, pulled out the red envelope and walked over to him. He dropped it in front of Jude and sat next to him. He didn't look at Jude.
Jude exhaled and picked it up, turning to the other man. "You heard my conversation with Derek about the coke. You could have used it to hurt him, but you didn't. Because it would hurt me."
'I am so in love with you,' thought Jude, simply.
"Don't make a thing out of it," Zero replied with an uncomfortable laugh. "My folks gave me up to foster parents who collected kids to collect the checks. You think I came up with Zero? That's what they called me. Zero. I kept it. I showed them how big Zero could be."
"What's your real name?"
Ignoring the question, he continued, "I'm telling you this for a reason. Just because people are supposed to care about you doesn't mean that they will. The sooner you forget about Oscar, the better-off you'll be."
"You have no idea what I've done for that man."
"C'mere," ordered Zero. He kissed Jude. In a surprisingly gentle way. Parting his lips, his tongue deeply throating him, as he gripped Jude's face in his hands.
"Let's go to bed," one of them said, where they easily discarded a suit jacket, black jeans, socks...they made love. While still as intense as ever, Jude felt and he knew Zero did too, that there was a difference this time. However, Jude thoroughly anticipated this to be goodbye.
No way did he expect Zero to stick around with the specter of Oscar, his boss, in the know. The last thing either of them needed was a queer version of what happened to Derek and Ahsha, a cherry on top to Zero's escort scandal. Add the Olivia Vincent murder case being reopened; it was a shitstorm brewing, just waiting for TMZ to pounce.
Jude woke up to his 6:00 am phone alarm, with Zero breathing low, an arm heavily slung across Jude's chest.