Chapter 13 #2
“I need to go,” he said, pushing his chair back, grabbing his phone again, and standing. “I need to charge this thing and see if I can figure out what’s wrong with it.”
“If you must,” Laura said.
“Do you need any help or advice with your young beau?” Maggie asked, grinning.
Harry rubbed his stubbly chin, not in a grinning mood. “I’m not sure,” he said. “If I do, I’ll let you know.”
He said goodbye and headed across the hall to his flat.
As soon as he was inside, he put his phone down on the kitchen counter and stared at it like it might explode.
It could be a simple technical malfunction.
Phones were just machines, after all. They ran out of charge sometimes. It could have some sort of fault.
Or he could have picked up a virus that left the whole thing wide open.
Thank fuck he’d deleted the video.
Whether something was wrong with his phone or not, he needed to change all his passwords immediately.
Living off the royalties of a single commercial hit that was now used to hawk train tickets might have been embarrassing, but it was his primary source of income.
Having his bank accounts drained would be a nightmare.
Having his social media hacked would be even worse.
Unknown eyes looking at his photo and video library would be catastrophic.
He was halfway through the process of changing everything when there was a frantic knock at his door. The intensity of the knock matched the tight feeling in his gut, so he got up quickly and rushed to answer the door.
He was surprised—no, alarmed—to find a panicked-looking Nikky on the other side.
“Hey,” he said, joy and worry slamming into his own concerns at the sight of his young lover. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out with your friends.”
Nikky sucked in an uneasy breath and launched himself into the flat. Not just the flat, he threw his arms around Harry and hugged him so tightly that Harry forgot every one of his own worries.
He shut the door and reached over to lock it with one hand, then embraced Nikky fully.
“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, hugging Nikky and rubbing his back.
Instead of answering, Nikky let out a shaky breath and buried his face against Harry’s neck.
That action seemed to calm Nikky without Harry having to do anything but stand there and be his rock. It was flattering to think Nikky trusted him that much and felt that kind of comfort with him, but Harry was desperate to do something.
“Let’s sit down,” he said, nudging Nikky to let go so they could walk to the sofa. “Do you need a glass of water or something? Tea?”
Nikky shook his head. “I just need to be here for a second.”
They sat, and despite the awkwardness of Nikky’s tall, fit body folding into the position, Nikky wrapped himself around Harry and held on tightly.
“Something happened,” Harry said. It wasn’t a question. He didn’t need to ask to know. “Were you mobbed by fans?”
Nikky shook his head, took in a deep breath, then straightened enough to look Harry in the eyes. “There’s something I haven’t told you,” he said, his voice flat and miserable. “Something I haven’t told anyone, not even Drew.”
“Okay,” Harry said, rubbing Nikky’s tense arm. “You can tell me anything.”
Nikky nodded, but it took him several more seconds to gather his courage. He stared at Harry’s chin, and his breathing turned short and sharp. Then he swallowed before he dragged his eyes up to meet Harry’s and said, “I have a stalker.”
Harry sucked in a breath and tightened his hold on Nikky. He knew better than to laugh off Nikky’s statement. It was farfetched for most people, but celebrities had stalkers and overly avid fans all the time. Some of them were dangerous.
“Do you know who it is?” he asked. “Have you gone to the authorities about this?”
Nikky shook his head, then said, “I know who it is, but I haven’t said anything to anyone about it.”
Harry frowned, and his protective instinct kicked into high gear. “We’ll talk to the police right away, tonight.” He blinked, then backed up a step and asked, “Who is it?”
The guilty look that washed over Nikky’s beautiful face, causing him to look down again, told Harry there was more to the story than just an excitable fan.
“His name is Stuart Holberg,” he said. “He’s an entertainment journalist. Not one of the well-known ones.
He’s more like the sort who digs up dirt on famous people and either sells it to the highest bidder so people’s careers can be destroyed, or he blackmails celebs into paying huge amounts to keep him quiet. ”
Harry nodded slowly, feeling sick to his stomach. “Yeah,” he said. “I know the type.” If someone like that was after Nikky, the man might be in more danger than even he knew. “Have you given him anything to use against you already or is he just following you hoping to catch you out.”
As soon as Nikky’s mouth turned down and his eyes went glassy, he knew the answer.
“I didn’t know who he was when I met him at a party.
We made out. I was flattered that someone as handsome and well-connected as him would be interested in me.
I’ve, well, I’ve kind of always liked older men.
” He blushed up a storm, which Harry would have thought was hot under any other circumstances.
“Okay, so you made out at a party,” Harry said, rubbing Nikky’s arm more gently. “That’s not super unusual.”
“It’s not?” Nikky’s eyes went wide.
Harry fought not to wince. He knew Nikky well enough now to guess at a few things.
The man was unusually na?ve, even now, after fame had found him and rocketed him to the stratosphere.
How green and inexperienced had he been at that party, when this Holberg arsehole had approached him and probably manipulated him into the kiss?
“Did anything else happen?” he asked, worried about the answer.
Nikky shrugged uncomfortably. “It almost happened. For maybe a week, I thought Holberg was actually interested in me. We went out a few times. We did some…stuff, but I didn’t sleep with him.”
It was almost cute how eager Nikky was to make sure Harry knew that. Again, if things had been different, he would have teased Nikky about it and flirted and tried to change the moment into something more.