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They were several months into shooting Metalstorm and Tom was ready to be home already. He was enjoying the work and thought this film had a chance to be something special, but he just missed Ryland so damn bad. And there was the adoption process which would be so much easier to work on if he was home. They had gotten a lot of the paperwork and whatnot started, but it was hard to coordinate this shit from two separate continents. For the first time ever it felt like his career was holding him back from his life, and it was so frustrating.
When it was time to call home, Tom enjoyed hearing the sound of Ryland’s voice again. It seemed that their schedules were determined to keep them from being able to connect these days. He was not doing well without his husband and he was afraid of disappointing him if he admitted how bad these past few months had been without him.
“So I won’t be able to make it out there until the semester break, but that’s only another week, and we’ll be able to spend Christmas together at least.” Ryland was saying.
Tom sighed, “ Yeah, but I had really hoped to see you on your birthday. After last year, I promised this year would be better and I wanted to make sure that happens in person.”
“It’s okay,” Ryland reassured him. “I’m not fighting with Colt, so that’s a big step in the right direction. I’m okay with celebrating a bit late.”
“I know.” Tom said. ”I just really wanted to see you sooner rather than later.”
“Oh, I agree with you there. It’s been a long several months, love.” Ryland said. “How are things going with the movie?”
“Fantastic, really.” Tom replied. “Jody is an excellent director. It feels like a real collaboration working with her. The only real issue I’m having is my new stunt double. Henry is such a douche and he really makes me wish Colt was here. Don’t tell him I said that, though.”
“Too late, already texted.” Ryland joked.
“Nooo, I’ll never hear the end of it!” Tom whined.
**********
Tom had promised himself no more partying no matter how lonely he was without Ryland, and yet here he was again. This time was so much worse than a bad trip, though. Henry was dead and he had killed him. It was an accident, but that wouldn’t bring the stuntman back to life. He’d made some dumb comment about Tom not doing any of his own stunts, a stupid thing that always pissed him off, but he let Colt get away with it because he was family. Henry though was just an asshole. He’d lashed out and swung at him and next thing he knew, Henry had fallen and hit his head and then he was just gone. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?
His first instinct was to call Ryland. But he couldn’t remember the time zone shit like this and he was pretty sure Ryland would be asleep. Or teaching class. Or something. He wasn’t going to be able to help regardless, he was in California, not Australia. So he called Gail. She could help him figure this shit out.
After he explained the situation, he told Gail, “I’m gonna call the cops. I’ll explain it was an accident. There’s video, they can see I didn’t mean for him to die. It’ll be okay, right?”
“What?! No it won’t be okay! This will tank the movie and your reputation. You’ll do time in prison for involuntary manslaughter at the very least. We have to cover this up. Pin it on someone else.” Gail said, sounding a little frantic to his ears.
“How?” Tom asked. “There’s video! It’s going to be obvious it wasn’t someone else.”
“How do you think they replace your stunt double’s faces with your own in the movies, Tom? That’s easy. We’ll just get Seavers here and get him to take the fall for it. He’s been out of the business for over a year, we’ll say he was desperate for work and blamed Henry for him not having a job and there you go.” Gail made it sound easy.
“No, no, no! I am not going to make my brother-in-law take the blame for this! He’s innocent and besides, it would kill Ryland. This is not an option, Gail.” Tom said, putting his foot down to Gail for once.
“Listen to me, Tom.” Gail said firmly. “I know about your plans to adopt with Ryland. Do you think you are going to pass a background check for that if you have a criminal record for killing a person? Don’t you think that would devastate Ryland as well? All your plans for your perfect little family right down the drain because you couldn’t stay sober while away from him for a few months.”
Shit. She had a point. But still, this was Colt they were talking about. He could never agree to this. “Absolutely not, this is 100% non-negotiable.”
“Tom, you are mistaken if you think any of this is a negotiation.” Gail said menacingly. “I have made your career what it is and I will not have my career fall apart because you are an idiot. You will do what I say, when I say, how I say. If you don’t, I will make sure that recording is found showing your guilt, and I’ll make sure there are witnesses and more evidence to make it look premeditated. You will keep your mouth shut if you know what is good for you and that precious husband of yours.”
Gail went on to tell Tom that she was sending security to take him to another location and he was not to contact anyone, including Ryland, until she told him otherwise. She claimed that Colt would not be harmed, but that he would be taking the blame for this. She further threatened that if he tried to tell anyone the truth of the situation, she would personally make sure that Tom and Ryland would never have an opportunity to adopt.
Tom had never thought he’d want to be a dad, but now that he had Ryland, he wanted them to have more together. Ryland would be a fantastic father, and he figured he would be able to learn from him. They could give a kid or kids a good life. And yet now all those hopes and dreams were in jeopardy because he was a fucking idiot.
**********
Gail was incensed. How could Tom have screwed everything up this badly? He had always been a bit dim and hard to work with, but he had the sex appeal that brought the ladies (and a fair bit of men) to the movies. She had worried that dating a man would bring down his image, but honestly it had seemed to improve it. He had gone from being a well known slut to a doting boyfriend and now husband and the ladies ate it up. He had even brought in a new gay audience that he hadn’t really had before. She couldn’t afford for him to throw that all away by admitting that he’d fucking killed his stunt double. On camera, no less!
As usual it was up to her to fix his mess. She started by getting Colt here so they could start the frame job. She thought he’d leap at the opportunity to work on a movie again, but apparently that fall had made him a bit wary. She sweetened the deal by making it seem like Jody had asked for him personally, leaving the implication that she wanted him personally unsaid.
Phase two was to get Ryland here as well. She wasn’t confident that threats about their future plans would be enough to keep Tom in line, so she would need some physical leverage in the form of one husband. She told Ryland a partial truth, that Tom had been partying too hard and really needed Ryland there to help him get a handle on things. She made it seem like he was on the verge of being unable to work and at risk of ruining Jody’s movie as a result. It was helpful to her that Ryland and Jody had become such good friends because it gave her another point of leverage over him as well.
That being done, she contacted Tom’s security team and reminded them that they ultimately worked for her. She promised large bonuses if they got the results she needed. And then she waited for it all to play out the way she planned,