Page 87 of As The Shifter World Turns

87

DOING THE RIGHT THING IS HARD

Neil

I can’t testify. I just can’t. But if I don’t, Xavier will do to someone else what he did to me.

My thoughts were so jumbled, and I was huddled in my apartment and stress-eating. Not a good combination.

Xavier had threatened other people, some of whom were my friends, when they stopped working for him and therefore no longer paid what he skimmed off the top of their earnings. “My fee,” was how Xavier referred to it.

He’d harassed, threatened, cajoled, and even confronted his former employees in public. He was eventually arrested and charged with intimidation but pleaded not guilty.

His trial was tomorrow and I’d been called as a witness for the prosecution. I didn’t want to get up in court and be questioned by Xavier’s defense attorney. Sitting in the witness box with all eyes on me. Nothing would be more terrifying. It was kind of ironic considering what I did for a living because I was always on camera but that was different.

When I was working, I was in a safe environment, either my apartment or in 2A, the office. It was a place of my choosing and the person or persons watching and chatting were my clients, many of whom had become my friends.

I’d watched enough police dramas to know that the opposing side, in this case Xavier’s defense attorney, would pepper me with questions and try to trip me up in order for the jury to reach a not guilty verdict. My stomach was churning and I’d thrown up more than once today.

Knowing how stressed I was, Martin had chosen to work remotely this past week so he was with me 24/7, and Toby being the trooper he was, alternated between my apartment, Ivor’s, and Archer’s house.

I lay in Martin’s arms, my mind picturing Xavier's lawyer skewering me with words and my nerves tripping me up which would lead to me saying the wrong thing. The prosecution was counting on me as some of the other witnesses were too scared to testify, saying their friends and family would find out what they did for a living. And they were worried they’d be targeted with online hate speech.

My Sunshine Manor family had been amazing. They’d brought food, and my besties, Archer and Ivor, had helped me prep for my day in court by doing mock trials where they were the lawyers and I was… well… Neil. Even that was hard and my friends’ questions got me flustered and I blurted out statements that wouldn’t have helped the prosecution’s case.

“Your favorite soap opera is on,” Martin mumbled. “Wanna watch it?”

Normally, following the ups and downs of the characters' lives would take my mind off whatever was bothering me. Archer, Ivor and I used to joke that they reminded them of us, saying, “We could make a soap opera about the manor and everyone who lives or has lived here.”

“No. I’m going to take a shower and try to sleep.” I wouldn’t close my eyes the whole night but I could pretend I’d get much-needed shuteye.

“Do you mind if I check on Toby?”

“That’s fine. But don’t forget to lock the door.”

Toby was downstairs at Ivor’s but tomorrow was a school day and Martin wanted to make sure he had done his homework and was in bed. Ivor and Ryder, along with our other Sunshine Manor family, had showered Toby with love during the pre-trial period. Nate and Daire had taken him to the movies and dinner today along with the kid who enjoyed LARPing.

Toby had returned from seeing the film begging Martin to allow him to participate in the next LARP event. “Once the trial is over, we’ll see,” his dad told him.

When morning dawned, I couldn’t get out of bed. Nate drove Toby to school and Martin got me into the shower and dressed. Micah was the day’s babysitter for both Dyani and Elune—and Patch—and Toby had pleaded to stay home from school and ‘help’ with the babysitting. Translated that meant him playing with Patch all day. But I told him he had to go to school.

Everyone else was coming to court to give me moral support. Daire drove us in the van but as I stared out the window and studied people going about their day, I wanted to scream and beat my fists against the glass. Why me? Why did I have to do the right thing?

When we arrived, I kept my head down while Daire and Nate walked in front, Ryder and Martin at the back, Archer and Ivor either side of me. We arrived at the small chamber where I was to wait until I was called, my hands were shaking uncontrollably and Ivor held my hand and squeezed it.

“Is there a barf bowl?” I groaned .

“Here.” Archer held up a bag. Maybe being a dad prepared you for anything.

The door opened, and I shrieked, “It’s too early. I’m not ready.”

“It’s over, Neil.”

Who said that?

It was the prosecutor. “Xavier was up to a lot more than threats.'' He explained the guy had been using trafficked alphas and omegas, keeping them locked up in apartments he owned and forcing them to work for him. When confronted with the evidence, Xavier caved and pleaded guilty before the trial started. “He’s going to jail for a long time. Thank you for your courage, Neil.” He shook my hand

“I… I can go home?”

Martin hugged me. “Yes. Life can go back to normal.”

Everyone gathered around me for a group hug. I had no idea what normal looked like, but I was ready for it.

Daire

“I don’t understand!” I slumped into a chair in Micah’s back garden. Nate sat beside me and Elune was in her highchair while Micah fed her something he said was strained vegetables but it made my stomach turn. She was enjoying it though. “No one’s interested in our project.”

I’d made use of every contact I had, cold called production and streaming companies, even knocked on a few doors. But as Micah and I had no experience in the reality TV business, no one was willing to invest money in a couple of newbies.

We had advertisements ready to go on our website and social media for the participants’ auditions. That would take a while to weed out the unsuitable ones. But we couldn’t sign anyone up until we were certain the project would go ahead.

“Maybe we should forget about our careers as reality TV moguls and sell.” Micah had never been hugely enthusiastic about the project. “Give the motel a paint job, make the garden out the front look nice, update the pool surroundings and try to make a small profit.”

“There is another way.” That was Nate who’d kept pretty quiet while I’d ranted and raved. Micah had asked me to keep my voice down because Archer, who was pregnant, was napping.

“Oh yeah? Spill.” I’d gone over it a thousand times and hadn’t come up with a solution.”

“You do it yourself. ”

Do what myself? “I’m not interested in renovation. It's a huge pain in the backside.”

Nope. My bear hated being around construction.

“I’m with you there,” Micah nodded and added.

“No. Instead of handing the project over to a production company and you and Micah taking a cut, film it yourselves.”

My mouth dropped. Nate knew me as well as anyone. He was my mate. “Filming with my phone may be fun to keep as memories but hardly professional enough to add to my gardening videos channel.” And the main way to make money like that was to get advertisements. I didn’t see how it’d work.

Nate drummed his fingertips on the table. “Here's the thing. You know a professional videographer. One who wouldn't charge you an exorbitant fee.”

“You?” The icky looking vegetable mess flew off the spoon Micah was holding and landed on the grass. Patch raced over and sniffed it. But even he turned his nose up.

“You’d do that?” I asked my mate.

“I just said I would.”

“But that doesn’t solve the problem of getting people to see the program and being paid for it.”

Micah and I were so new to this, Nate was drip feeding information as if we were kids. But kids were IT savvy. Maybe we should have asked Toby!

“Make the first few episodes free and then put the rest behind a paywall. It’d mean more work for you and Micah and a big learning curve, but all the profits would be yours.” Nate shrugged. “It could be the start of a whole new career.”

I scratched my head. “Do you think we could?”

“We won’t know until we try,” Micah said. But there was a gleam in his eye I hadn’t seen since we sold our original business.

“Perhaps after the baby’s born, Archer might help too.”

Micah’s mate had worked with us in our other company and he was itching to get out of the house and start a new project.

“I’d need an assistant. Maybe a part-time one,” Nate informed us. “I was thinking of asking Neil. He’s an excellent photographer and he knows his way around making videos.”

“Let’s do it.” I hugged Nate and shook hands with Micah.