Simon's pov
"That was bloody awful" I said to one of the male contestant after yet another shit audition in New York, "Excuse me?" The contestant, Max, my brain provides, "your rendition of that song was awful, you know bad" I said and felt Paula kicking my leg under the table as I said this, "Ignore him honey, he is in a bad mood" Paula said, "No I'm not, that was horrible, it was like he got hit by a car while he was singing" I said, "you better watch your back Simon, you just messed with the wrong guy" Max said walking out the room in a huff, "Simon, dawg you need to be careful with who you are rude too" Randy said once Max left the room, "He isn't going to do anything, plus I've got my bodyguard just incase" I said shrugging not really taking his threat seriously as it was the third one I heard that day and probably the millionth since we started the auditions process this year about 2 weeks ago and so far nothing had happened so far, "one of these days someone is going to act on their threats and you are going to regret it" Paula said frowning at me, "Nothing will happen, it's been 2 years since we've started and the closest we have come is someone throwing my cup of water on me" I said as the next contestant came in.
3 hours later
"That's a wrap" Nigel said once the last contestant run out the room with a golden ticket in hand, "thank god" I sighed leaning back in my chair and massaged my temple to ease the headache forming there, "dinner tonight guys?" Ryan asked bustling into the room before Paula and Randy could comment, "I'm down" Randy said "Great Paula?" Ryan asked smiling excitedly, "Sure" Paula smiled, "Cowell?" Ryan asked that same stupid smile on his face, "No mate, not tonight" I said, "Come on Si, don't be an old man!" Ryan said, "Seaweed I have a headache and I just want to go to bed so please just leave me alone" I said getting up, "What if we all meet in an hour, then would you come?" Ryan asked, "no" I said walking to the doors, "Please" Ryan begged, "Simon please it won't be fine without you" Paula begged now, "Ugh fine, but give me an hour" I sighed walking out the room, "Yay!" I heard Ryan shout as I walked down the hallways to get to my limo and back to the hotel, "Simon" I heard a man say as soon as I walked outside, I turned around and saw 5 of the contestant from earlier standing there 4 of them were holding baseball bats and the last one was holding a metal softball bat, "Fuck" I whispered to myself before two of them grabbed my arms and dragged me to the ally, I struggled trying to get away but just got hit in the stomach by one of the men, "Not so talkative now that you aren't behind your desk" The one holding the metal bat said as they threw me to the ground, "It's 5 against 1, and all 5 of you have baseball bats, so why would even try to talk right now" I said trying to stand up but my comment seemed to piss them off because they started pummeling me with the bats everywhere as I cried out in pain and crawled into a ball to try and protect myself but they carried on hitting my ribs, my arms that now covered my bloody face, my legs and my stomach. Just when I thought they stopped the one with the metal bat hit me in the back of the head as hard as he could and then everything went dark.
Paula's pov
As we walked down the hallways I got a sick feeling at the bottom of my stomach that something wasn't right, "PJ why are you walking so slow today?" Randy asked as him and Ryan stopped so I could catch up, "Sorry. Do you think Simon is okay?" I asked walking with them now, "He just has a headache" Ryan said, "I know that but what if someone like Max was actually serious with their threat" I said, "You heard him he has his bodyguard with him and I don't think Nigel, Fuller and Kenny would let him leave if people were going to hurt him" Ryan said touching my back softly, "But Tony didn't go with Simon and Nigel, Fuller and Kenny didn't even pay attention to him leaving" I said as we walked outside, "He will be fine" Ryan said right as 5 of the contestants that Simon insulted ran out of an alleyway with baseball bats, one of which had blood, "oh shit" Randy whispered running to the where they came from with us, when we got there we saw someone lying on the floor in a pool of their own blood so we walked closer hoping it wasn't Simon, "oh god" Ryan said turning towards me and away from the man lying on the floor, "who is it man?" Randy asked, "Simon" I whispered noticing the clothes for the first time, "I'm going to call an ambulance, Randy you go get Fuller and the others" Ryan said getting out his phone while Randy ran to go get the producers, I walked closer to Simon and kneeled down next to him, I touched his neck and looked for a pulse there as Ryan talked to the emergency service operator, "Does he have a pulse?" Ryan asked me moving the phone from his ear to ask me this, "Yes, but its weak" I said on the verge of tears, "Okay" Ryan said before telling the operator.
