Chapter 18 #2
At the same time, he knew he had to keep his own emotions in check.
This wasn’t about him. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t let Nikky walk down the same shitty path Albion had led him down all those years ago.
Nikky was better than him, more talented than him, had more potential than he’d ever had. He couldn’t let history repeat itself.
“I want him to achieve his full potential,” Albion argued.
“His full potential as your cash cow,” Harry snapped back.
Albion shrugged. “Artists are assets,” he said.
“It’s cute that they think they’re all visionary and noble, but at the end of the day, they’re just another line on a ledger.
I’m not the only one who will benefit. Nikky will earn enough in royalties off this album and any others we make for the rest of his life. Sound familiar?”
“A little too familiar,” Harry muttered.
“And he’ll have his acting career, too,” Albion went on like Harry hadn’t said anything.
“Although he’ll need to make better choices about the films he signs onto.
None of this dark, artsy-fartsy shit. I’ve spoken to his team and told them he needs to book blockbusters and crowd favorites.
Cast him as a superhero or the lead in a romantic comedy. Get him into a fucking Disney film.”
Nikky would hate that. He would achieve superstar status, but he would be miserable. He loved the work, not the celebrity, and Harry knew enough to know that the best and most challenging work in the entertainment industry came from smaller studios and meatier roles.
“It isn’t what he wants,” he argued.
“Who cares what he wants?” Albion snorted.
“I do,” Harry practically spat at the man. “Nikky does.”
“This is wasting my time,” Albion huffed.
He zeroed in on Harry and said, “Tell Nikky to play along with what people who know more than him are telling him he should do. You have influence over him, so use it for his own good. Get him to step in line by Monday or the whole world will see a lot more of him than they saw on their small screens last fall.”
“Monday is too long,” Holberg said, shaking his head.
Albion stared at him like he was a worm under his foot. “You get nothing if you’re impatient.”
“But—”
“This discussion is over,” Albion said. He met Harry’s eyes one last time, then turned to march off.
Harry seethed as he watched the man go. Albion was and always had been a snake, but this was a whole new low.
“There’s still time for you to deal with this situation yourself,” Holberg said. The man’s confidence was gone, though.
“Go fuck yourself,” Harry growled, then turned and walked off in a different direction from Albion.
Holberg didn’t follow him, which was a small mercy. The horrific problem did follow him, though. It stalked him like a specter, making him hot and cold as he bounced between helpless thoughts and half-baked plans of how he could best Albion.
There wasn’t any way to best Albion. That was the story of his life. Albion had ruined him, and if he couldn’t think his way out of this situation, he would ruin Nikky’s life, too.
Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe Nikky was already too big a star for Albion to take down.
Music was only part of what Nikky had going for him.
His acting career was going strong, and Albion wasn’t involved in it at all.
Nikky would be disappointed if the music side of his career imploded, but he’d still be a star, and in time, he’d find another avenue to make music.
If he was lucky. God only knew how fickle the entertainment industry was.
It wasn’t just the industry, and it wasn’t even just Albion or Holberg either. Holberg was right. It was his fault. He’d gone along with the idea of recording the two of them having sex, he hadn’t deleted the video right away, and he’d been stupid enough to let his phone get hacked.
By the time he made it back to the flat, he was so angry with himself that he could have punched a hole in the wall.
His anger didn’t diminish when he let himself in only to find Nikky sitting at the table, having tea with Maggie and Laura, chatting away as if the world wasn’t coming down around their ears.
Raw, guilty anger coursed through Harry at the sight, and a whole new idea hit him like a fist in the nose.
He was the problem. Without him, Nikky would still be the golden boy. He would still be a media darling, and any salacious videos that circulated the internet couldn’t possibly be his fault.
Without him, Nikky could survive this storm.
“What the fuck is this?” he demanded, throwing his keys on the end table beside the sofa as he stalked into the room.
All three of the people he cared the most about glanced up at him with startled, wide-eyed looks.
“I beg your pardon?” Laura said, touching a hand to her chest like she was a dowager duchess clutching her pearls in some period drama.
“Harry,” Nikky breathed out in relief and jumped up from the table. “You’re back.”
“Yeah, I’m back,” Harry huffed, feeding his anger and directing it to the horrible task of pushing Nikky away for his own safety. “Now you’re hosting parties in my absence?”
Nikky pulled back just before reaching Harry like he’d been stung. His sweetly gorgeous face went slack with shock.
“For heaven’s sake, Harry. What is the matter with you?” Maggie demanded, scowling at him.
“The matter with me is that I’ve just come home to find the two worst influences in the world being entertained by a man who doesn’t have the good sense of a flea.”
Maggie and Laura gasped in protest, their faces going red with offense.
Nikky, on the other hand, seemed to go paradoxically calm. “You ran into Holberg, didn’t you,” he said. It wasn’t even a question. Nikky somehow knew.
“What does it matter?” Harry stormed on, walking past him into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
“I think it matters a lot,” Nikky said, following him.
Harry had his back to them, but he could feel Maggie and Laura watching him like they had front row seats at the circus.
“What did he say to you?” Nikky asked quietly, standing behind Harry as he filled a glass with water from the tap. “Whatever it was, ignore it.”
Harry turned off the tap with too much force and jerked around to face Nikky. His lover’s expression was so earnest and so trusting. Anyone who would go to the lengths that Albion and Holberg were going to just so they could hurt someone like Nikky and profit off of him were evil.