A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

Absolution

Since Louis couldn't spend the night at Harry's house, even platonically, without causing a storm of local gossip on top of the gossip about his aborted relationship with Malik, he'd started staying at Ted and Katherine's new apartment at their insistence when he came to Keaton.

The front door was unlocked when he got there after taking Harry home, and Ted was sitting in the living room, obviously waiting to talk to him. "This thing between Harry and Malik has to be brought to a head," Ted said as soon as Louis sat down across from him. "Personally, I wish he'd drop off the face of the earth, but Katherine thinks that until Harry makes some sort of peace with him, he's not ever going to find peace with himself. Or with you, if that's what you're hoping for. Is it?"

Surprised and momentarily irritated by Ted's prying, Louis hesitated, then nodded curtly. "I'm in love with him."

"Katherine said as much. She also said that Harry's conscience is tearing him to pieces, though if anyone deserves to feel guilty it's that bastard, Malik. All Harry did was offer him a ride because he thought he'd fixed his tire. As a result, there are 200 million people in this country who've seen that film of him being beaten in Mexico City, and now they blame Harry for it. The same people who applauded him courage for turning Zayn in now think of him as some sort of scheming faggot bitch who brought an innocent man down on his knees. At least the people around here don't feel that way, and that's something. Not much, but something. The press still hounds him, trying to get him to talk, and their questions are vicious."

Katherine walked out of the bedroom in a robe and slippers, obviously determined to join the discussion, and sat on the arm of Ted's chair. Disregarding the subject of public opinion, which she felt was a trivial problem, she brought up the main issue. "Harry wrote letters to him when he was in prison, and he returned them unopened. Since he got out, he's written to Zayn in care of his attorneys—simple, polite letters, this time asking him how to return the car he gave Harry. He won't answer those either. Until he does—until Harry or someone else can make him understand that he did not lie about wanting to join him in Mexico so that Harry could spring your trap, Harry's not going to let himself care for you or anyone else. Nor will he let any man care for him. Among other things, he's punishing himself."

Louis stared at her in frowning surprise. "That's all that's stopping him from going on with me ... with his life? He needs absolution from Malik?"

"As far as I know for certain," Katherine hedged.

"Fine," he said curtly after a moment. "If that's what it takes, I can get it for him, and he won't have to wait another six weeks or even six days." He stood up looking like a man with a mission. "I'll get it for him within forty-eight hours. Tell Harry something came up and I had to cut our weekend short."

Twisting around, Katherine watched him walk toward the guest bedroom. "But he won't even talk to Harry, Louis."

"He'll talk to me!" Louis said over his shoulder.

"What makes you think he'll talk to you?" Ted said when Louis emerged from the guest bedroom a few minutes later carrying his overnight bag.

"This," Louis said, flipping his identification badge into Ted's lap and getting his suit coat from the closet.

"That may get you into his house, but it's not going to make him believe you."

"The son of a bitch doesn't have to believe me. Who has the letter that Harry was going to leave for you when he ran away with him?"

"I do," Katherine said, getting up to look for it, "but that's not going to convince him either. You can't prove to him Harry didn't write this yesterday," she added when she returned from the bedroom with the letter and gave it to him. "Remember, he's rich and famous now; he'll be doubly suspicious of anything that looks like an attempted reconciliation on Harry's part."

"Maybe so. But I have something in my office in Dallas that he'll have to believe!"

"What?"

"Videotapes," he said shortly, holding out his hand to Ted for his ID badge. "A videotape of that press conference Harry gave when he was trying to sway the world to Zayn's side."

"That won't do it either. He'll presume it was all part of Harry's grand scheme to trap him for you."

"And," Louis added, shoving his tie into his coat pocket and picking up his overnight bag, "a confiscated videotape of what really took place in Mexico City—the part showing Harry's reactions when Malik was being taken into custody. Any man who can watch him in that film without feeling torn up has a stronger stomach than I do. In case you haven't already figured it out," he added wryly, reaching for the door, "I'm driving to Dallas to pick up what I need, then I'll fly to L.A. in the morning. We'll have his California address somewhere in our files."

Ted grinned sardonically. "Surely you aren't going to crash his party?"

"Screw his party. He's fouled up my life and Harry's for months, and I'm fed up with it. And if this fails," he added to Ted, "if he still won't listen to me or look at the evidence I give him, then I suggest you file a civil suit against him for kidnapping Harry and for the mental torment he's been under as a result of that. If Malik won't listen to me, he can listen to you in court and pay up with a nice, fat check!"

"Thank you, Louis," Katherine said, kissing him after he shook hands with Ted. "Good-bye," she added with a catch in her voice. "Call us after you've seen him." She watched him walk down the sidewalk for a moment, then she closed the door and found Ted watching her with an odd, speculative look. "You sounded very sad when you said goodbye—like you were telling him good-bye forever. Why?"

"Because," she said with a guilty look, "I am a truly terrible person who does not deserve to be loved by a man as wonderful as you."

"Translation?" he asked with a wary smile.

"There's something I didn't mention to you or Louis," she admitted. "You see, Harry may think all he wants is Zayn's forgiveness, but what he really wants is the man. He always did. Even when he was a hunted fugitive. If Louis accomplishes his goal, Harry will get more than peace. He'll get Zayn Malik,"

"The guy's a hotshot movie star again. You saw him on television tonight with women hanging all over him. You saw the mansion he lives in. He doesn't have to settle for a guy named Harry Mathison."

"I read the letter he wrote Harry," Katherine said with absolute conviction as she blandly studied her manicure. "That was love, the real thing. At least I think it was." Looking up, she added with a smile, "And if he did love Harry, then he'd better hope 'that a guy, Harry Mathison' is still willing to settle for him after what he's put him through. Harry's angry, Ted. Deep down inside, he is furious, really furious at the injustice done to himself. He blames himself for losing faith in Zayn, but he blames Zayn for everything he's deliberately put him through, starting with taking him captive and lying to him about how his brother died and refusing to read his letters or see him when he went to talk to him in prison."

"He laughs all the time and most of it's real," Ted argued, because it worried him to think otherwise. "He had us in stitches tonight, telling us that story about accidentally dumping glue down the principal's suit."

"He's angry," Katherine insisted, "and he has every right to be. In fact, I rather hope I'm around when he gives Zayn what he deserves. It'll be a test of his merit if he can take it and overcome it."

"And if he can't or doesn't want to bother?"

"Then he'll have gotten it out of his system, made his peace with Zayn, and he can still have Louis."

Standing up and turning out the lamp, he asked, "Who are you rooting for, Tomlinson or Malik?"

"Harry."