Page 106 of Strut

The soft knock came again. I dropped the chain and slid the deadbolt free, then opened the door and—

Son of a bitch.My knees buckled and Hunter’s arm slid around my waist as I stared in disbelief at the man waiting nervously in the hallway.

“Hi.” An anxious gaze skipped over my face to Hunter and then back to me. It was closely followed by a weighty sigh. “So, I um, I guess I’m choosing to be on the right side of this.” Gary’s pale face, messy brown hair, creased shirt, and weary tightness around those pretty blue eyes was a far cry from the immaculate and sophisticated young man who’d carried out Darcy’s instructions with intimidating efficiency.

“Oh.” I stared at him for a minute, not believing my eyes. What the fuck was going on? “Well, I guess you’d better come in then.” I glanced at Hunter, whose wary expression no doubt matched mine, and we both followed Gary into the lounge.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

Hunter

Gary pickedat a loose thread on his jeans and avoided Alec’s gaze. I offered him coffee, beer, water, but he just shook his head. So be it. I took a seat on the couch, wrapped Alec’s hand in mine, and simply waited. This was Gary’s show.

His gaze landed on our hands and he visibly deflated. “I hope you don’t mind me just turning up,” he began, looking at Alec properly for the first time. “Neither of you were answering your phones or messages, and... well, I can guess why, so I called around and finally tried the model apartment. Tim grilled me first, and then he gave me this address under threat of dire bodily harm if I fucked up.”

I checked my phone and swore. “Sorry, I had the volume almost off.”

“Why are you here, Gary?” Alec’s expression remained guarded and cool.

Gary squirmed at the irritated edge to Alec’s tone, then he sighed. “Ray never got a callback for Friday, Alec. It was only ever you. Darcy lied to you.”

“What?” Alec’s gaze shot to mine, then back to Gary. “But he told me Ray had been there that morning.”

“He lied,” Gary repeated. “Ray was never called back, just you. At the time, I briefly wondered why Darcy didn’t ask me to be there for your re-shoot, but sometimes he preferred to work alone and so I didn’t think anything more about it. Now, I’m wondering if all those other times he didn’t want me there were because…” His cheeks pinked and he trailed off. “Anyway, I didn’t know at the time, I swear.” He swallowed hard. “Darcy completely lost it after you left him at the lake. He tore into everyone who came within a few feet, and that’s not like him. He’s always in control.”

Confusion clouded Alec’s eyes and I felt it too. Nothing made sense. “So, how does that bring you here?” Alec pressed. “Darcy obviously fed you his version of the story, which you appeared to believe at the time.”

Gary fidgeted. “You have to understand, I’ve only worked for him for a little over a year. I didn’t know about… that he….” He sighed. “I mean, I knew he could behandsyat times with some of the models, but most of what I’d seen, seemed kind of harmless, more flirty than anything else, and the models just seemed to laugh it off. And you know this industry, it was nothing both of us wouldn’t have seen a million times before.”

“But you saw me that day, didn’t you?” Alec’s eyes flashed with anger. “That first shoot. That fucking red jockstrap. You saw him touch me, and it wasn’tjustflirty.”

I shot Alec a glance. I knew nothing about any red jockstrap. Alec answered with apology in his eyes. I figured it could keep.

Gary’s cheeks bled crimson. “At the time I wasn’t sure what I’d seen. He was standing in front of you. And since I was right there, I figured it couldn’t have been anything bad. I guess I thought it was harmless, again.” He dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

Alec’s eyes bulged. “Harmless?”

“Alec.” I squeezed his arm to remind him I was there and that Gary showing up was a good thing. The last thing we wanted was to scare the guy off. “How about we let Gary finish his story?”

Alec opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it again.

I nodded to Gary. “Go on. You still haven’t explained why you’re here.”

Gary gave his lips a nervous lick and then sighed. “I saw the photos Darcy posted, or someone posted, but I guess it was him. I knew right away where they’d been taken.”

“In the dressing area,” Alec answered for him. “He had a camera in there, didn’t he?”

Gary nodded. “Darcy had business meetings all day. He never came into the studio, so I went looking.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “There are two cameras. The one that took the photos, which are actually stills off a video with no sound, is embedded into the mirror frame. That’s why it seems like you’re looking straight at it.”

“Holy shit.” Alec fell back and dragged a hand over his mouth. He shot me a devastated look. “Video? He was filming meeveryfucking time I changed? Every time I adjusted myself. Every time... fuck.”

I watched as the realisation hit him about what all that footage might be used for. I hauled him into my arms.

Gary looked desperate. “I’m so sorry. It was way out of line.”

“Out of line?” I barked. “He broke the fucking law, Gary. He illegally filmed Alec,thenhe sexually assaulted him. After that, he tried to blame Alec, fuck with his job, and then spewed the photos all over social media to try and shut Alec up.”

Gary flinched. “I know. I know. I didn’t mean how it sounded.”

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