Chapter One A Little Help From Your Friend

Chapter One

A Little Help From Your Friend

"I need your help."

Lee had heard those words from Rupert before. He'd also seen those worry lines wrinkling his brow far too often and hated how they'd become a permanent fixture on his oldest friend's otherwise handsome face. But neither the words, nor Rupert's sincere and pleading eyes, were about to spell anything good. For him, mostly.

Surely, they'd been through it all by now?

"Sounds ominous, mate." Lee opened the door wider, allowing Rupert to step into the cramped hallway of his poky high-rise flat. He then tripped over a bursting at the seams bin liner, palming the wall to prevent his splat on the floor. That would ruin his pristine navy suit. "Excuse the mess." Lee closed the door and shoved more of the boxes and filled to the brim bags lining the bare walls out of the way. "Not had time to unpack. "

A sympathetic smile replaced Rupert's troubled frown, and he tugged down the sleeves on his suit jacket, not making eye contact as he asked the inevitable. "How are things?"

Lee shrugged. He didn't want to go into all the ins and outs of how he was a forty-nine-year-old retired—aka unemployed— divorcé, having had to move out of his mortgaged three-bed semi-detached in Chigwell, to this high-rise tower block rental on the rougher side of Stratford. Not with Rupert. Not when he grimaced at Lee's bin liners whilst in his suave suit bought on Saville Row, salt and pepper hair styled at an upmarket boutique, and his expensive cologne wafting over the stagnant dust settling on cardboard. Rupert's ultimate success story was enough of a reminder of his own fall from grace.

Besides, it was obvious how things were by looking around.

Shit .

"I've had better days." Lee ushered Rupert along the narrow hallway to the living space at the end.

Rupert had too, of course. He had to remember that. As much as his life had crashed and burned, Rupert had been through the wringer himself. Far, far worse than he had. And no amount of money and social standing had saved him from the worst to have possibly happened.

"Beer?" he asked as Rupert glanced around the sparse living space, nothing unpacked except a fold-out table that had once belonged on the patio in his forty-foot garden and two fraying fabric armchairs he'd inherited from his parents.

Rupert wiped something nasty from the armrest of the recliner and sat. "Yeah. That'd be good. "

Lee meandered over to the adjacent kitchen, the size of a shoe box compared to where he'd been preparing his meals for the last twelve years. In his old place, he'd had a Rangemaster, a Qettle tap pouring instant boiled and chilled filtered water, and an island ! The only thing he'd kept from his country-style kitchen in the house his wife now occupied was the air fryer.

He didn't even know how to use an air fryer.

Yanking open the fridge, he avoided showing the contents to Rupert. Ready meals for one and a six-pack of beer were depressing enough for him to see, let alone the man who wanted a favour from him. Rupert would have organic delicacies in his fridge, along with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot for when guests dropped by. He hated how he kept comparing. Rupert wouldn't care. Never had cared about the differences in their social standing and income. Brought up on the same street, educated at the same school, they had the same upbringing. Rupert had the brains though, and he the brawn. But Rupert had chosen the prestigious London based university rather than the Cambridge place offered to study law, to remain in spitting distance of Lee going through the ranks of the Met police. Their friendship was based on mutual interests and longevity. Not on what they brought to a dinner party.

"Bud okay?" Lee called over to him.

"Whatever you have."

Lee collected two bottles of Budweiser, cracked open the tops, then made his way back to Rupert by stepping over boxes and suitcases to hand him the lager.

"Thanks." Rupert smiled at the label with melancholic fondness. "Still go for the American style beer, eh?"

"It was on offer." Lee winced. He should have gone for a different brand. Anything that wouldn't remind Rupert of American things. But Rupert swigged back the beer without fuss. Meaning there were more pressing things on his mind than memories. Which called for Lee to slouch into the chair opposite, rock back and ask, "So, what's up? Need me to go pound some guy who's been cheating on Olivia?"

Rupert shook his head. "No, no. She's…er, she's not the problem this time."

Lee furrowed his brow. Rupert's daughter had become quite the teen tearaway. Going through a rebellious stage was her way of coping. And dating morons had become her MO. But it was her way of forcing her father's attention onto her, because she'd been in the dark for too long. But if it wasn't her he was concerned about, what was it? Rupert looked pained. Anxious . As though whatever reason he'd left work early to travel over to the rough side of town and ask a favour from a deadbeat like him had taken its toll.

Rupert fiddled with the label on his Bud, nail scratching off the paper while he peeked at Lee as if assessing his reaction thus far.

"Spit it out, Ru."

Rupert inhaled. Heavily. Wearily. "I've had a threat."

Lee raised his eyebrows. "A threat?"

"Yes."

"How serious?"

"Serious enough for me to take notice. Not serious enough for the Met. Nor the Ministry of Defence."

Lee rolled his eyes. "My old employer not taking care of their citizens, even those who work for the CPS? Shock, horror."

Rupert, being a prosecuting lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, was technically a government employee. And as such, should have protection if deemed necessary. If it wasn't, well, fuck him. Prince Harry didn't even get security, why would a random civilian who put the bad guys away get any?

"Yes, well, I can appreciate they are stretched," Rupert said. "And normally, as you know, I wouldn't make a fuss. Threats are usually just that."

"But?"

"But…I'm not concerned for me this time."

Lee downed more of his beer, interest piqued. It'd been a while since he'd been in the thick of anything. Other than a long-standing custody battle for a cockapoo.

She won.

"It's Eddie."

Lee swallowed the beer, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Eddie?"

Lee hadn't seen Eddie in…well, a long time. Not in the flesh, anyway. He'd seen him on the tele when Cora had been watching that Channel 4 soap opera where they cast only beautiful people, but Lee had a hard time connecting the actor on screen with his best mate's son. The baby he'd once held in his arms.

"He's landed a rather good role." Rupert rolled the bottle around between his hands. "Got an agent in the US and auditioned for a lead in a film over there, and it looks as though he's got the part."

"That's great. But what's this got to do with the threat to you?"

"I'm prosecuting a man with links to some particularly bad actors in America. And not the ones Eddie will be mingling with, if you catch my drift."

Lee did catch it. A little too well. "Ah."

"Without indulging too much in what I shouldn't, the fellow isn't an all-round glowing citizen. He's one tiny cog in an organised crime ring. Both the US and UK have been tracking him for years. We finally got him."

"Congrats." Lee held up his bottle in cheers. "One less arsehole on the street."

"Yes. Indeed. And we have enough on him, but he has a good defence and this could be a lengthy trial. But his counterparts across the pond have taken unkindly to me prosecuting him at all."

"Standard."

"Yes."

Rupert had experienced multiple threats during his career as a senior crown prosecutor and even when he'd practiced on the other side of the courtroom in defence. Even when he'd defended Lee. Threats were part and parcel of being a criminal lawyer. And a copper. Despite their jobs being very different, they'd always overlapped. Like their lives had. Because they'd made them.

Best Friends Forever and all that.

"But they have somehow discovered about Eddie and his intentions of going to America."

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh ." Rupert swigged back the remainder left in his bottle, then dumped it on the floor by his feet to fish out his mobile phone from his inside jacket pocket. He scrolled a few times, opening apps before handing it across to Lee. "Whilst I know they won't be able to track him down when he's over there filming and the production company has their own security, I'm still concerned for his safety." Rupert met his gaze and hidden beneath those brown eyes lay the question he feared to ask.

"You want me to check the source of the threat?" Lee read the email on Rupert's phone sent to his personal address. They'd done their homework, then. This wasn't a standard email sent to Rupert's CPS address, which was easy to find. This was the email he kept hidden. Private. Like his family. "Because you know I've lost my privilege to do that."

"No. I know. This isn't…I'm not going…official with this."

"Why not?"

"I don't want them to know they've spooked me."

"But they have." Lee handed back the phone to Rupert, and he tucked it into his inside pocket.

"Yes. Especially as Eddie uses Lori's maiden name for his acting gigs. They've traced him to me."

Lee drew in a breath. Although he wasn't a father himself, any threat to Rupert's kids was a threat to him. Especially after all they'd been through.

"I want Eddie to go. To take this opportunity." Rupert picked up his Bud, hands trembling as he checked to see if there was anything left in the bottom. There wasn't. He put the bottle back down. "Because Lori would have wanted this for him."

Lee's chest rose with his inhalation. "So, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to accompany him to America. To watch over him. To be his…protection."

A hushed silence settled over the room, Rupert allowing him to mull over the request. He did, whilst drinking. He'd do anything for Rupert. Owed it to him. Not only because of their close friendship having spanned decades. Or because he'd once saved him from falling off a rock face during one of their more adventurous climbs. And not because the man had lost his wife to a debilitating illness, left to raise two teenagers by himself. But because he'd once put his career on the line for him .

"Are you hiring me for my certain set of skills?" Lee said in jest, flexing his biceps.

This wasn't the first time Rupert had asked Lee to use his brawn for his gain. Lee had used Rupert's brain for his gain occasionally too. It was how he'd bagged Cora. A corporate manslaughter lawyer wouldn't have looked twice at a copper if Rupert hadn't introduced them. No matter how large his firearm was.

It also didn't matter that it hadn't lasted between them. Only that he'd had a chance at happiness because of Rupert.

"You're my oldest friend." Rupert was dead serious. "And I trust you implicitly. I know you will ensure Eddie's safety. Even if the Met believed this to be a reputable threat and found the budget down the back of the sofa, or if the production offered their own security, I would still rather it be you."

Lee met Rupert's fractured gaze. This had shaken him up. Threats were words on a piece of paper or typed on a screen. Not followed through with. They were nothing more than an attempt to scare him away from doing his job. The job he'd been trained to do. Excelled in. And Lee doubted anyone would pose any harm to him or his family. But there was always a risk.

Rupert had lost too much already.

Lee slapped a hand on the armrest of his chair. "I guess I have nothing else to do anymore."

Rupert broke into a relieved smile. "For which I am both deeply sorry and also rather appreciative about right now."

"Changing careers to a babysitter. Who said my life was over?"

Rupert knitted his eyebrows. "Your life isn't over, Lee. "

Lee gestured to the poky flat. The unopened boxes. The suitcases hiding the contents of his broken life. From his job and his marriage. "I beg to differ."

"It will work itself out. We both know the suspension would have happened, regardless. But they should have supported your return to service."

"Maybe."

"And Cora is a fool to let you go." Rupert held his bottle up to him. "You're a fine man, Lee. If she doesn't want you, there will be plenty who do. I could only wish to have your body at our age."

Lee glanced down at himself. Tatty T-shirt paired with grey joggers wasn't anything to be proud of, despite the bulky body he'd worked hard to achieve beneath. And the covering of tattoos he'd collected in his youth now felt out of place on him. As though he was trying to recapture the time when he'd been confident. When he'd had to fight off the admirers. When he and Rupert had the pick of the talent in the clubs, with Rupert's suave sophistication meshed with an adventurous spirit and his rough-and-ready impulsivity that kept everyone guessing.

" You're the catch, Ru." Lee pointed the spout of his bottle at Rupert. "You have your looks. The suit. The cash ."

"And you have a hearty and toughened body defaced with ink. Women would choose you over me, any day. Even with the now almost full mound of grey hair you sport. I believe they'll call you a silver fox."

Lee snorted with all the self-deprecation he'd been indulging in. Once, back in his twenties, he'd have thought himself a catch. At six-four, built like a brick shithouse, an adventurer and thrill seeker, he'd had his fair share of women on their knees for him. Rupert had been the one to keep the long-standing girlfriend, though, and had created a family with her. Lee hadn't been able to achieve that. At forty-nine, the novelty of a man who only had a past wasn't exciting anymore. Women wanted stability in middle age. They didn't want a bruised ego, a damaged soul and a life buried in cardboard boxes, despite how rugged and tattooed he was.

"How are things in that area with you?" Lee asked, fingers itching to get another Bud and chew the fat about sex, drugs, and rock and roll with his best mate.

"Still too soon."

Lee nodded, biting on his lip. Six years was too soon for Rupert, but ten months was enough for Lee to find someone else. He knew why it was different, but the irony hit heavy.

"You want another?" He pointed at Rupert's now empty bottle.

"No." Rupert wiped his mouth. "I have to get back home. I haven't told Eddie any of this."

"Ah. Okay. So, what's the plan?"

"The flight leaves tomorrow." Rupert glanced around. "I hope that gives you enough time to pack."

"I'll choose a bag." Lee gestured to the mounds of bin liners containing his clothes.

"I'm sure you won't need much. It's summer. In California. Lori lived in bikinis."

"Better check mine still fits, then."

Rupert chuckled. "I'll send you the details when I get back. I'll pay all your expenses and anything else you need while you're out there. If you'd rather a flat fee—"

"I'm not doing this for a wage, Ru. I'm doing it for you. For your kid."

"I know, but I will compensate you. You could find another job. "

"All I'd get is bouncer work at a nightclub. You're saving me from drunk freshers and the blokes who follow them around with their tongues hanging out."

"Could be a good place for you to pick up someone?"

"They're half my age, Ru."

"Don't knock it. The young ones are all into tattooed beefcakes. Even silver fox ones." Rupert stood, then frowned. "As Olivia will concur."

"I remember when Liv was into squeaky clean boy bands." Lee stood and took Rupert's empty bottle from him.

"Times change. Kids grow up."

Lee rubbed his brow. "So, how old is Eddie now?" He probably needed to look up what teenagers were into if he was going to spend time with one. "Seventeen? Eighteen?"

Rupert laughed. "Twenty-three, Lee."

"Oh. Shit. How did that happen?"

"I know, right? He's no longer a child I can control. Which is why I'm unsure of his reaction to me throwing you at him. But he won't be going otherwise."

"Not sure you can demand that if he's twenty-three. Remember us at that age? We got told not to climb the Stolen at Glen Nevis."

"Yet we did, and we nailed it." Rupert held up his palm and Lee slapped his on it for a high five. Like old times. "We should do it again."

"You still climb?"

"I could climb."

"In that?" Lee nodded to his suit.

"I'll leave the suit at home." Rupert ruffled his shoulders. "Might be good. To get back out there. After everything. Remember who we once were. "

"Then let's do it. When I get back, let's throw the tent in the boot and go to Malham Cove. Conquer the Raindog."

Rupert winced. "Better get back to the gym then."

Lee clamped a hand on his shoulder. "First, put the bad guy in prison."

"I plan to. And thank you." Rupert held out his hand and Lee shook it with more professionalism that time. "I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to this. I've been having nightmares about what could happen to him." Rupert tightened his grip and his voice dropped as it filled up with the emotions he couldn't keep in. "I can't lose him, Lee. I can't go through it all again."

"You won't." Lee tugged on his hand and drew Rupert in for a hug, squeezing his neck. "Trust me. I'll guard him like he's my own."

Rupert stepped out of his embrace. Smiled. And the melancholy in his eyes had Lee's chest tightening. He wished he could take Rupert's pain away. If there was any man on the planet who deserved the world, it was Rupert Brownlee. But he could only offer himself in any way Rupert needed him. And if that was to babysit his kid to America, then he'd do it.

What else did he have to do?

He saw Rupert to the door, kicking away stray bags and boxes to pull it open for him, and Rupert stepped onto the communal walkway, turning to face him. "I'm sorry," he said. "For everything that happened to you. For not being able to fix it."

"It's not down to you to fix my marriage, Ru."

"No. But I could have fixed your career and she might not have left you."

"She would have. I couldn't give her what she wanted. "

"It isn't your fault you couldn't give her a baby."

Lee drew in a breath. "It wasn't just the baby thing. I'm…not an easy bloke to love."

"I beg to differ. And, hey, you know the Americans swoon over a British accent." Rupert winked, then sauntered off toward the end of the walkway. He then swivelled around in an afterthought. "By the way, um…Eddie's gay."

Lee folded his arms, leaning on his doorframe. "Oh. Right."

"He's, uh, out to us. His family. Friends. Etcetera. But not publicly."

"Okay."

"Yet."

"Right."

"He thinks it might hinder his chances of getting leading roles."

"Huh." Lee nodded, unsure what to say. What should he say? Congratulations? Commiserations? What was the appropriate response to someone when their son comes out as gay? He wouldn't know. But there was an uncomfortable tightening in his chest.

"I take it that doesn't change things?" Rupert stared at him through lowered lashes, the way he'd cross examine a witness.

"Of course not. Why would it?"

"For some people, it would."

"I'm not some people."

"I know. And that's why I love ya." Rupert winked.

Lee breathed through a laugh. "And you."

Rupert nodded with finality, spun and disappeared, braving the lift that would take him down to ground level.

Lee sighed, gazing out at the view of the London skyline comprising housing estates. He then shut the door and glanced at his life in bags. New career role then. Babysitter. He chuckled. When he'd been sixteen, Joanna Maskell had invited him on one of her babysitting gigs. He'd had his first feel of boobs over her bra while the kids were asleep.

Maybe this babysitting gig would come with such perks?

Lee doubted it and trudged over his life to grab another Bud from the fridge.