C'mere (Paul Banks fanfic)

The Call

Rhiannon told all the details of the spoiled meeting to Lydia, who listened with a half amused, half terrified face.

- Jesus Lord. - She commented as her boss finished.

- Went titties up. - Rhi chuckled.

- That lucky woman, though...

Rhi laughed. She had to accept she had thought that, as well.

- He swore he didn't shag her. I  didn't feel prone to believing him at first, but then...

- Then what? - She sat in front of her, all eyes and ears.

- I'm not sure, I have every reason to believe he is a huge womaniser...

- Oh my God, has the tried to make a move on you? - Ly asked, excited.

Rhiannon looked aghast at this idea.

- Of course not, are you mad? What I mean is he's always surrounded by women, you know? And, well, maybe I just WANT to believe him. He had this horrified face when the whole subject came up.

- You want to believe him? How so? - Ly asked suspiciously.

Rhi shrugged.

- I don't know, I generally want to believe my clients are decent human beings, maybe I'm too old-fashioned.

Ly narrowed her eyes, and just when she was about to tell Rhi she thought she wanted to believe him cause she actually fancied him, Rhi spoke.

- Anyway... I need to talk to the ex-bass player. You got his number, right?

Ly's face fell. Rhi was not one for small talk. She never had been.

- Yup. - She searched on her tablet and dialed for Rhi. 

- Thanks... Hello, Mr. Carlos Dengler, please?

Ly sighed and went back to her cubicle

- Yes. This is him speaking. - Carlos D answered on the other side of the line.

- Good afternoon, Mr. Dengler. This is Rhiannon Yeatts, Mr. Paul Banks' attorney.

- Is this about Aiden? - He sounded tired. It had been 2 years since he left the band and he still got calls about it.

- It is, indeed, Mr. Dengler. I won't take much of your time, I just have a question regarding Mr. Wilson and Mr. Banks' relationship. I need to know whether you recall if there was any animosity or rivalry between them, something that might hint Mr. Wilson is just doing this to upset my client.

He thought about it for a second.

- Rivalry? No, we were all friends till one day he started babbling about lawsuits and shit. Nobody understood what his problem was, but apparently, he was serious about it.

- Alright then, so there wasn't any tension... - She hesitated. - Regarding Mr. Wilson's wife...

- Julie? - He said sniggering. There was an awkward silence. Rhi had learnt in her years of being a lawyer, that if she stayed quiet for a long enough time, people spoke more than they had initially intended to. - Well she had the biggest crush on Paul since before she married Aiden, but Paul never corresponded. He knew Aiden was interested so he just tuned her off, know what I mean?

- I think I do.  Now, all four of you, the original members of the band along with known collaborators are the ones credited for every song in the 10th Anniversary release of Bright Lights. Do you support my client's claim that everyone involved is duly credited?

- Yes, of course, Paul is very persnickety about these things, it used to bother me, but now I see maybe that dick was right.

Rhi internally laughed a bit at this last sentence.

- Well, thank you very much for your help, Mr. Dengler. Just a final question: if things got to the point where my client would need you to testify, would you be willing to do it?

He thought about it for some seconds. Rhi waited patiently, he seemed the kind of person who reacted badly to being pushed to decisions.

- Hmm I'd much rather not. But, of course, if it's necessary so justice is served, I will.

- Thanks a lot.

- So you think Aiden is doing it cause he thinks Paul did Julie? - He suddenly asked, he sounded amused.

- Well, yes, he seems to be under that impression.

- Pretty sure it's bullshit, though.  Are we done?

- Yes sir, have a good afternoon. We will call you again, should your testimony be needed.

- Thanks, bye.

Rhi bit on the pen she held in her hand as she hung up. Maybe The Client was not the womaniser she had thought. Dengler didn't seem particularly fond of Paul, but not even he thought he had done what Wilson thought he had.

-

Paul took a big gulp of beer as he remembered his beautiful lawyer showing him her engagement ring. He was aware that he liked her more than he was probably allowed to. This was not just the "I like to be friends with the people I work with" thing anymore. There was a lot more about Rhi. He sighed. She was such a professional person and surely she was crazy in love with her fiancé.

Yet sometimes he could sense there was something more. He'd never dare make a move. They were all kinds of wrong for each other. She was a posh lawyer and he was a hedonistic musician, she was so neat and perfect and he was so messy and uncoordinated. And still, it was always there. The uncomfortable feeling that they'd actually be good together. The pending question mark on whether they would have had a chance if they had met in other circumstances. In another universe, almost. The shadow of the doubt, the what ifs, the unfathomable mystery. That would make for a good movie script, he concluded, with an ironic smile.

The cute blonde he had brought home with him today came to sit on his lap and started kissing his neck. He smirked at her, she was stunning, but her eyes weren't that perfect tint of green, her skin wasn't that pale, porcelain-like tone... she wasn't Rhiannon, the one he really would've liked to be kissing now. 

"She'll have to do for today" he thought, as he stood up, carrying the girl in his arms back to his bedroom.