Chapter Seventeen #2
“What? Oh.” Newt felt his cheeks flush as he figured out what they were holding. “I can’t wear a harness. What if I have an accident? If they have to cut my clothes off in A&E, I’ll be thinking—let me die now.”
River growled. “Put it all on. Max knows I’ll think about you wearing it. It will… distract me.”
Newt tsked. “Go and do something while I get changed.”
“Def…intely not.” River sat on the stairs. “This is today’s fun.”
Newt rolled his eyes, but stripped and put on the jockstrap. “Feels weird.”
“Looks great.” River put out his tongue and panted.
The trousers fit perfectly. Newt hadn’t worn trousers like this since he’d been at school, and they weren’t really like this. The shoes were a perfect fit too. But the harness… He didn’t know where to start.
“Help me?” Newt asked.
River caressed and stroked and teased and did everything he could to drive Newt mad while he helped him fasten the straps. “You look so good. Sexy. Very James B…Bond but b-better. I could eat you. I want to eat you. Wear this all the time.”
The result of being touched and talked to like that was inevitable. River was in the same state.
“Fuck,” Newt muttered shakily. “Don’t talk to me.
Don’t touch me. Don’t breathe on me. I know what will happen and I’ll make you take the suit into the drycleaners and tell them exactly what the stain is and why it’s there.
Go and sit on the stairs. And don’t laugh either.
” He glanced at River and groaned. River sat on the second step with his zip down and his hand inside his jeans.
“Need a hand,” River said.
“You said no once, that’s it.”
River pouted.
The shirt buttons were fiddly but Newt did them all up. The bow tie was impossible. River sat on the stairs staring at him.
“Fine. I need help again. Please.”
River came up behind him and tied it while he pressed his cock against Newt’s arse.
“Back on the stairs. No more touching. The cufflinks don’t matter.”
“I’d only touch your wrists.”
“I’m not fooled by that look.”
River blinked.
“Nor that look.”
The harness could be detected under the shirt but not when he had the jacket on.
Newt was shocked that he felt good wearing it.
It didn’t make sense that it made him feel more confident and powerful, but it did.
River had gone quiet. Newt looked into the full-length mirror near the cloakroom and gulped.
This guy in the smart suit didn’t look like him. He looked…more grown up.
“Fuuuck.” River exhaled the word. “Take everything off again. You can’t go to the prem…premiere with me. I’ll come in my trousers.”
Newt snorted.
“It’s not fff…funny.”
Newt stripped down to the harness and jock strap, then hung the clothes and bowtie on the coat hanger, and put the rest in the box.
“That’s not everything,” River said.
“I know.”
“Run!”
Newt ran but he let River catch him. The harness came in useful.
The morning of the day they were due to go to the premiere, they took turns to role-play star and bodyguard.
When Newt was pretending to be River, he was a gormless twit, which made River laugh.
While River wandered around the house in star mode, Newt looked out for potential ambush points.
Then River pounced on him and they played a different game for a while.
Ever since he’d been with River, Newt had done his best to protect him, looking for anything out of the ordinary, people who seemed suspicious. They might be treating this as a bit of joke, but Newt wasn’t forgetting the potential threat to River.
The car collected them after lunch. As they travelled towards London, River quietly practised his responses to the questions they were expecting.
Newt made up a few more that he might get asked.
What’s your favourite thing to do? Newt – was not an acceptable answer.
They’d had limited success learning the script for Kaden’s Monster.
River could just about read it, but wasn’t yet able to remember much.
But recovery from a serious brain injury would always have its ups and downs.
The important thing was to keep River optimistic.
Newt was glued to the window once they were travelling through London.
He’d visited the city once with Phelan and they’d gone on an open-topped bus tour for Newt’s birthday.
He took a picture of one of the red tour buses as they crossed the Thames and sent it to Phelan with message Remember when we did this in the rain?
When the driver called Max to tell them they were a few minutes away from the hotel, River squeezed Newt’s fingers.
“Remember to stay standing when I sit down,” River whispered. “But if you get hurt…I’ll kill you,” River continued.
Newt chuckled. He needed to stay observant.
And hope like fuck nothing kicked off. He put in the earpiece, a clear, coiled acoustic tube, though there was no speaker attached so it was purely cosmetic.
Yet strangely enough, it did make him feel more legitimate.
He was relieved bodyguards weren’t allowed to carry guns in the UK, unless they were looking after someone very important like heads of state or royalty.
River didn’t qualify though he was very important to Newt.
His heart thumped hard. Please don’t let anything happen.
When the car pulled up, they put on their suit jackets.
A liveried doorman stepped forward to open the door of the car on River’s side, and Newt leapt out to take the doorman’s place while remembering to check who was nearby.
He felt more on edge than he’d thought he’d be.
No way would he want to do this for a living.
Oh yeah, I am doing it for a living. He allowed himself a small smile as he followed River up the steps into the hotel.
Max was waiting in the lobby and looked them up and down. “Very nice. You scrub up well, Newt.”
“We were a bit puzzled by the dog leads,” Newt said. “Especially when we don’t have a dog.”
River smirked.
Max laughed. “Hope you found a use for them. Dila and her crew are waiting in the room. Let’s go up.”
Newt had known she was going to the premiere with River but he still felt a pang of jealousy.
Still, he’d be close behind in bodyguard mode.
Although, apart from throwing himself in front of a bullet, assuming he’d be quick enough and that was unlikely, he wasn’t sure what use he’d be apart from being able to whisk River away if the conversation became tricky.
Andy let them into the room. Dila waved at River as Xander styled her hair.
“Hi,” Newt said to everyone.
Andy pointed to his earpiece. “Are you linked to anything?”
“No, are you?”
“No. There’s plenty of security around and to be honest, if anything kicks off, it would too late to call for help. We can be each other’s backup, right?”
Newt nodded. “Except you stand in front of me.”
Newt was relieved when Andy smiled.
“There’s a limo booked for four this afternoon,” Andy said.
“Max wants as late an entrance as possible. River and Dila will walk the red carpet, go inside, mingle in the lobby, possibly listen to the producer or director make a speech and then we’ll sneak off.
The car will be waiting at the rear. Not many actors sit and watch themselves in the screening room. ”
“Have you done one of these before?” Newt asked.
“A couple. How’s River doing?”
“He’s good. We have a signal for if he needs help. He’ll drag his fingers through his hair. Worst case scenario, I’ll create a diversion.”
“Such as?”
“We couldn’t agree.” Newt smiled. “But I have a yoyo in my pocket and River has one in his. We’re both very good.”
“Show me.”
Newt did a couple of tricks.
“Wow, you are good.”
“I’ll just mesmerise anyone looking for trouble.”
“You probably could.”
By the time they were ready to leave, Dila looked stunning in a long silver dress, her hair done in a complex style that defied wisdom and gravity.
There was a lot of spray involved. Newt briefly wondered how flammable she was.
Only four of them went in the limo: Dila, River, Newt and Andy. Max had gone earlier with Jesse.
Newt’s heart thundered the moment they left the hotel room.
He really didn’t think anything bad was going to happen, but the responsibility of keeping River safe was weighing on him.
When their limo joined the queue of cars waiting to drop off guests, Newt pushed his foot between River’s and nudged his ankle.
“Don’t try the Horizontal 360 seasick,” Newt said. It was one of the very difficult yoyo moves.
“You think I can’t do it?”
“Remember the broken vase.”
When it was their turn and they finally pulled up next to the red carpet, Newt was so on edge he felt sick.
People were crammed together behind barriers, all of them holding up phones.
Press photographers were on the other side of the red carpet.
Newt and Andy slipped out of the car and came round to open the door for River and Dila.
As River and Dila headed away from the car, Andy pulled Newt back. “Give them space for photos. You’re too close.”
River had a bright smile on his face, Dila was clinging to his arm and waving to fans.
People held out autograph books and River stepped forward to sign them—something he and Newt had practised—and to pose for photos and selfies.
The crowd was making so much noise there was little chance of River having a conversation with anyone but further along, the press waited.
Newt knew this drama and excitement was important because it hyped anticipation and conversation about the film.
He was a little disappointed he wouldn’t get to see it, but River had asked Max to get him a copy.
Newt’s gaze flicked constantly between River, who was now giving an interview to a woman in a white coat, and the crowd.
There were several policemen keeping fans behind the barrier, though Newt thought if they all rushed at once, there was nothing anyone could do.
It was pure chance that Newt happened to be looking in the direction of one section of the crowd standing close to where the barrier met the building, when he spotted someone jumping over.
“Three o’clock,” he called to Andy and moved between River and Dila, and the man who was wearing a dark jacket and a dark beanie.
Newt blocked his access and a moment later, found himself facing a large knife.
Oh shit. Acting on pure adrenaline, Newt palmed the yo-yo, flicking it out, hitting the guy on the cheekbone.
The man reeled back, disorientated, but still lunged sideways to get past him.
Andy was trying to restrain him as Newt brought his fist down hard on the hand holding the knife.
He wrapped the string of the yoyo around the guy’s wrist and yanked.
Newt was dimly aware of people screaming as he struggled with the knifeman.
They both fell to the ground. Andy kicked the knife away, the police waded in and to Newt’s relief, they took over.
The whole episode had taken only moments but felt like forever. Newt pushed to his feet and stepped away, pushing the yoyo back into his pocket. When he looked around, he could see no sign of River or Dila but people were taking his picture. Shit.
“You all right?” Andy patted him on the back.
“Yes.”
“Inside. Now. I can’t believe you did that with a yoyo!”
Newt kept his head down and followed him. Not everyone inside the lobby was aware of what had happened but those nearest the entrance were. River came rushing over and Newt put out his hand to stop River doing something stupid like hug him, even though that was exactly what he wanted to happen.
He could see River was shaken, so Newt pulled himself together. “It’s okay,” he said quickly. “The police have him.”
“Are both of you all right?”
Newt nodded.
“Yes,” Andy said. “Amazing ninja skill with that yoyo!”
River widened his eyes.
“I took a picture of the guy once the cops had got him cuffed.” Andy showed River his phone.
River shook his head. “Never seen him before.”
“Maybe Dila knows him. I don’t know which of you he was going for.” Andy exhaled.
Max came over and clapped both Newt and Andy on the shoulders. “Well done, both of you. River, go back to Dila and charm everyone you talk to. The pair of you stay close to them.”
Newt’s heart continued to race. Thank God the police had the man restrained.
When everyone began to file into the auditorium, Newt and Andy guided their charges out of a side door. They weren’t the only ones making an escape. River walked out talking to a good-looking guy in his twenties. Newt guessed he was the one playing the character from the Middle East.
The sooner they were all in the car, the better he’d feel.