Chapter 13
Thirteen
River swam up and down the pool not feeling happy.
He’d been happy until Dila and her crew arrived and now he wasn’t.
Well, he was happy to be in the pool with Newt but he couldn’t stay in there forever.
He was irritated by the way Dila was behaving as if they were a loving couple.
But although Jesse knew the truth, the other three didn’t, except if they were all allowed to know about his speech problems, why couldn’t they be told there was nothing between him and Dila?
They weren’t even sharing bedrooms. Didn’t that say everything?
When Dila had been to see him in hospital, River hadn’t been able to speak or understand her.
He almost wished he’d been able to pretend not to recognise her but since he’d recognised Max, he wouldn’t have got away with that.
The hospital staff had made a lot of fuss of her and she’d lapped it up.
He was irritated that they felt sorry for her when she didn’t really care about him.
Well, he hoped the concern she showed wasn’t entirely pretence, but at that time everything had irritated him.
He’d lain in bed seething for an hour about a piece of paper that had been dropped on the floor and no one picked it up, aggravated by the way a certain nurse would laugh, frustrated because his leg was itching and he couldn’t scratch it…
Oh God. There was a whole list of things that irritated.
River wished he and Dila could break up.
He’d tried to persuade Max, though explaining what he wanted had taken it out of him.
It was frustrating because he thought Max was deliberately not understanding.
Whether he had or not, Max told him it would make Dila look bad if they broke up now and he wasn’t going to let that happen.
River had tried to tell him that he’d take the blame, but he’d not been able to make Max get it. Or accept it.
“That’s enough,” Newt said. “You’re barely swimming. Next step is drowning. Do a few of your exercises holding onto the side and we’ll get out.”
River thought it probably wasn’t good for his brain to have so much confusion and anxiety sloshing around in there. Hopefully, Dila wouldn’t stay long. He wanted it to just be him and Newt again.
Finally, he’d had enough of squatting and stretching and kicking. Newt stayed close behind as he pulled himself out, though River didn’t feel he was at risk of falling. Physically, he was almost back to the condition he was in before the fall. Though his stamina needed work.
“You shower first,” Newt said.
“Come…coffee…hmm…after?”
“All right.”
“Don’t like…this. Like you.” He stroked Newt’s arm and Newt swallowed hard. “Keep…re…re…receiving…no…risking. No! Resk…resking.” He whined.
“You want me to keep rescuing you?”
River grinned.
“Okay. I promise.”
River stood under the torrent of hot water hoping Dila didn’t stay long.
The plan was that she’d post pictures and video clips on social media of the two of them to show River was alive and well.
Rumours had been beginning to circulate that he was paralysed and brain damaged.
River shuddered. That could so easily have been true.
When he emerged, dressed but minus the horrible gel Dila had insisted on putting in his hair, there was no sign of Newt.
Maybe he’d used the shower over the garage.
River made his way back to the main living room to find Newt and everyone else in there.
Newt looked…cold. Oh shit. River had a vague recollection of shutting off the heating for that space after he’d moved in.
There would be no hot water in the bathroom. He wanted Dila gone now!
“Coffee?” Newt smiled at him.
“We’re having champagne,” Dila said.
Newt turned to her. “River’s not allowed alcohol.”
“One glass won’t hurt.” She held it out to him.
River shook his head. “No, thanks.”
“Just hold it for the picture,” Xander said.
River took the glass.
“Does anyone else want a coffee?” Newt asked.
There were no takers. River noticed no one had offered Newt champagne. Or maybe they had before he’d walked in.
“Shall we watch one of your films?” Dila suggested.
“Fine.” River was feeling pleased with the way he was speaking. As long as he didn’t attempt anything complicated.
It was only him and Dila who went up to the media room. He let her pick what she wanted to watch, not one of his films as it turned out, but that was fine. It was some romantic comedy he’d not seen before. She didn’t even watch. She was too busy on her phone.
~~~
By the time Newt had finished his coffee, only Sai and Andy were left in the kitchen.
Sai was cooking and Andy was on his phone.
Newt didn’t want to go and sit in a cold room, so he put on his jacket, hat and gloves, and went out into the garden, taking the leaf blower, the rake and a large rubble bag.
He gathered up as many leaves as he could and dragged the bag to the bottom of the garden.
He’d hoped he’d be able to do the front as well before it was dark, but he didn’t manage it. By the time he was back inside, hanging up his jacket, the light was failing and he was tired. There’d been no text from River so Newt assumed he was coping.
As Newt passed the dining room, he saw the table had been set for two with candles and flowers, ready for more pictures.
When he walked into the kitchen, the other four were eating at the counter.
Some sort of chicken dish. He made himself a peanut butter sandwich, added a piece of Manchego cheese and a tomato to the plate, and was just leaving the kitchen when River came in.
River looked from the four who were eating, to the plate Newt was holding and a muscle twitched in his cheek.
Newt shook his head in warning. “I assume you’re eating with Dila. So you don’t need me to cook for you tonight.”
He was trying to signal with his eyes for River to let this go but the set of River’s jaw told him he wasn’t going to. He could almost see River forming the words in his head.
“Couldn’t feed…Newt too?”
“I just wanted a sandwich.” Newt shook his head and mouthed please.
“Not kind,” River said and left the kitchen.
Newt took his food to the room above the garage.
It was quite possible that Dila’s crew hadn’t known he was staying at the house.
Sai might only have brought enough to feed them.
Newt really didn’t mind. It saved having to make conversation with people with whom he had nothing in common.
He sat curled up under the blankets reading his book about the Romans and hoped River was coping.
Newt felt something touch his face and his eyes flew open. River sat on the floor at his side twirling a tiny feather between his fingers.
“I thought you were a spider. I nearly screamed.”
River grinned.
Newt sat up. His book had fallen to the floor. “You okay? What time is it?”
“One.”
River pulled back the blankets and climbed on top of Newt. “Cold.”
Newt wrapped the blankets over them.
“How was dinner?”
River growled. “Angry.”
Newt slid his hands under River’s T-shirt onto his back. “Don’t be angry. I love peanut butter.”
River snuggled into the crook of Newt’s shoulder. Newt knew he ought to persuade River to go back to bed…and he would…eventually.
“Fffff…fake.”
“What? Fake how happy I am to see you?”
River thumped him.
“Ouch. You and Dila are fake?”
“Yes.”
“I guessed. Terrible acting.”
River elbowed him.
“Ouch. I hadn’t guessed. I wish you’d told me. I’ve been wracked with guilt.”
That earned him another elbow.
“Ouch. Fine. I know it’s fake. I…know. But who else knows?”
“Max, Jesse, you. I told Max…no more.”
“That was why you wanted a word on your own?”
“Yes.”
“And he said no?”
“Not yet. Need to act straight.”
The yet let Newt hope. Though almost immediately, he let that hope fade.
He had a criminal record. River wouldn’t want anything to do with him once he knew.
Though maybe that was being unfair. River might not care but Max would.
Even if River believed Newt had been set up, it was the sort of publicity you really didn’t want.
A guy had died as a result of that robbery.
It had nothing to do with Newt but that was what everyone believed.
“Film…Orc…Or…Arrgh.”
“The film you want to make in the autumn?”
“Yes. Then I come out. Need that film.”
“What’s it called?” Newt drew lazy spirals on River’s back.
“Kay…den’s… Mon…ster.”
“Do you have the script?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you could learn the part now. It’ll help your speech. Even if the script is changed a little, it wouldn’t matter. Still good practice.”
River nodded.
“Aren’t the three who don’t know suspicious of you and Dila not sleeping together?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.” River snuggled deeper.
“You ought to go back. I’m worried we’ll fall asleep.”
“Few…minis…hmm…minutes.”
Newt didn’t want him go, but he knew he had to. So when River slept, Newt stayed awake and an hour later, he persuaded him to go back to his bed.
Newt was outside early the next morning, raking up the leaves at the front of the house.
He’d already dragged one load down the garden and was halfway to filling another bag when he heard the sound of car engines.
Maybe two vehicles. He assumed they’d drive past the house but they stopped at the gates.
When he saw photographers scrambling from the cars, he gulped. Shit!
“Hey!” a guy shouted. “Over here!”
Newt ignored the call. Maybe he could pretend he owned the house and had never heard of River. Yeah, right. More likely they’d think he was the gardener.
“Does River Lawson live here?” a man shouted.
“If he comes out for a photo, we’ll leave,” called another.
“How is he?” yelled the first.
Newt took the rake back to the garage and closed the door. His heart was pounding. He hurried through to the house. Andy and Jesse were in the kitchen.
“The press are outside,” Newt said.