Hot Off the Press by Meredith Taylor

Author:Meredith Taylor [Taylor, Meredith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-18T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Simon knocked on the door to Ian’s flat, barely able to contain his excitement. He was impatient to tell Ian about what Zuko had said, that Ian was right about a pattern similar to the last story they tried to pursue. But Ian was taking long to answer the door. Maybe he wasn’t home. He hadn’t responded to Simon’s texts. Simon debated whether or not to leave a note, to try shouting out, or to just leave and text Ian later.

He was about to turn away when he finally heard movement inside of the flat. “Ian, is that you? It’s Simon. Did you get my messages?” he shouted through the door.

A very disheveled Ian opened the door, his hair a mess and his face looking sunken and tired. He spoke to Simon with a groggy voice, “Hi Simon. Sorry for not answering sooner.”

Simon noticed that Ian was still using a crutch to walk, and it was the first time that Simon had seen him look… anything other than perfectly put together. It was hard to look at, because Simon knew that something must’ve been very wrong. His characteristic charm and smile were gone, and his shoulders drooped like a wounded animal.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I’m okay. Come in. You said you had a breakthrough with the story? Anything concrete?”

Simon was conflicted. He wanted to break through the act of only being colleagues with Ian. He cared about him, more than he could say, and Ian was clearly hurting, but he was trying to act like the boss again. Simon wondered if this was for the best, that he should try and distance himself from Ian who could clearly never feel the same way about him as he felt about Ian. But his heart felt like it was being torn apart at the thought that Ian, his Ian, was hurting for some reason. Despite his concern, Simon knew that he would only hurt himself more if he allowed Ian to see just how much he really cared. He had to stay focused on helping Zuko, anyway. That was the most important thing right now, wasn’t it? Simon wanted to reach out and help Ian walk to the couch when he saw how much he was struggling. But he went back to his safety net of reason and professionalism. At least he could rely on that, rather than getting hurt or hurting someone else.

“I… I went to see Zuko. You were right. They were trying to cover up the way he was being treated in the res. The things they were doing to him... “

Simon described what had happened to Zuko, how Dawid Cornelius was the ringleader, which would look very bad for the University if it ever got out. How Zuko was paid to keep quiet.

“I can’t believe it. I’m so sorry that he had to go through that. But we will make this right. We have to run the story as soon as we can. I’ll speak to our legal consultant about how to get around the gag order they put on Zuko.

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