Jack leaned forward and raised the privacy panel in the car, then turned to Kelsey.

"I'm sorry," he began. "I know I wasn't supposed to do anything that would draw negative attention to you--"

"Jack, stop." Kelsey said. "First, you shouldn't try to talk, your lip is bleeding and it splits more every time you move your mouth.

"Second, if you dare try to apologize for defending me to that animal, I'll punch you myself," she continued, tears glimmering in her eyes. "And I'm a big girl, pretty strong, I'll have you know." She tried to smile, but it was a travesty of her usual, sunny, glowing, upturned mouth, and it hurt Jack to look at it.

"Oh, Jack," Kelsey continued, gently stroking the side of his face. "You've really done it now, haven't you?"

He took a breath, but Kelsey shook her head, and he held his tongue. She found a towel and wrapped a cold water bottle from the car's mini fridge in it so she could hold it to the side of his eye, which was starting to swell.

Kelsey's phone was almost too hot to touch before they even got home from the flood of texts and notifications regarding what had happened at the hotel. Raymond, who was in New York again, was already on his way back, and her publicist had left two scorching voicemails already. She shut her phone off as they went to Jack's cottage so she could take care of her man.

"Oh, no, look at the suit," Jack said when he saw himself in the bathroom mirror. It was covered with dirt, grass stains, and of course, blood.

"Shut up about the fucking suit," Kelsey said as she brought the medicine kit from the kitchen. She had Jack strip down to his underwear, noticing in passing that he had a few bruises on his torso, presumably from where Don's fists had connected. Most of the damage was to his hands, though, with his face coming in a close second. His knuckles were pretty torn up, looking like they were split down to the bone in a couple of places, and he was going to have a big bruise on and under his left eye, in addition to the split lip.

"Jack, maybe I should take you to a doctor," she said as she ran his hands under the tap.

"No," he said, shaking his head, though it hurt.

"You could be really hurt, though," she said. "You could have a cracked rib, or a punctured lung or something? Or a fractured jaw?" She looked at his reflection with concern as he winced from the water running over his knuckles.

He shook his head, whether to indicate he was fine, or to reiterate that he didn't want to go she wasn't sure.

"Been hurt worse in polo," he said carefully, using one hand to hold his lip together.

"Yeah, yeah, the only sport with a brutality foul," Kelsey said. "I know, I know."

She cleaned him up as best she could, dabbing at his cuts and spraying the same stuff he'd sprayed on her back. The only response she could see that it hurt was a hardening of his abs, a tensing of his body when she depressed the nozzle.

She helped Jack into bed, after convincing him to take half of one of her Vicodin. Jack wasn't much for taking pills, so something must really have hurt for him to agree, and Kelsey was a little worried.

She called Ray, but it went straight to voicemail, which meant he must already be on a plane, then. She told him what happened, and she told him to come back to the cottage when he arrived. She also told him, in no uncertain terms, that Jack was not to be reprimanded for what he'd done, that he'd been prepared and willing to remain quiet until he'd been provoked by Don's horrible, disgusting words to her at the party.

"This was not his fault, Ray," Kelsey said. "We can talk about damage control or whatever, but don't you dare yell at him, I mean it."

Next she called her publicist, Courtney, and told her what happened, leaving nothing out, then asked what was out there.

"Of course, video of the whole fight is out there, but luckily or not none of the ones I've seen caught what Don said to you," Courtney answered. "I mean, him calling you what he called you would give a good explanation for why Jack did what he did, but it would also raise a lot of uncomfortable questions, too, you know? So we'll have to see what the fallout for all of this is going to be."

Apparently Don had been taken to a hospital for treatment, and was going to give a statement in the morning.

Wonderful.

People at the party were being interviewed right now, and would probably be all over the morning news shows and entertainment shows, not to mention the online tabloids.

This was not going to make the studio very happy.

As Kelsey was getting into bed she saw Jack's phone in the charger, and the screen was full as it lit up. She went to turn it over so the light wouldn't bother him, and she glanced at the screen as she did, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Dude, wtf happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"Son? We've been getting calls and texts from people about something that happened at a party? Are you okay? Please call us as soon as you can."

"Hey, little bro! What's going on? Are you okay? Is Kelsey okay? Tap back, man"

One of the texts really worried her, and made her feel worse than the others, even the ones from his mother:

"Is this going to affect your scholarship, man? I mean, you're not arrested or anything, but this isn't good, you know? I keep thinking about those guys who got suspended and xpelled last year...Text me, let us know you're okay"

Kelsey turned his phone over and got in bed, leaving the bedroom door open a little bit so the light from the living room lamp would illuminate the room slightly in case Jack needed anything in the night.

As she settled down to sleep, she felt his warm hand reach for her. She moved toward him, being careful not to jostle his injured hands. She didn't want to aggravate his bruised chest, either, but he pulled her firmly into his body, completely disregarding his injuries.

"You okay?" he murmured, words barely discernible as speech through the drugs he'd taken.

"I'm fine," she replied, surprised. Surely, tonight of all nights, she should be asking him that?

"Good, good," he breathed. He stroked her back, moving back into deep sleep. "I'll always take care of you," he sighed. "Love you so much, so much..."

Moved beyond words, Kelsey closed her eyes.

What felt like a few minutes later, she opened them to bright sunshine, and the sound of the shower. She looked at her phone and saw that it was already after ten.

Jack was out by the time she was ready to get in, and Ray had arrived by the time she was finished. Kelsey could hear the murmur of voices from the living room as she was getting dressed. Kelsey recognized Ray's tone of voice, the no-nonsense intonation.

What was Ray saying to Jack?

"You know that you can't talk about what happened publicly?"

"Can I tell my family? They need to know. I've never done anything like this, been involved in anything like this. They're really freaking out right now. I mean, of course I'll do whatever you say, but please tell me I can tell my family?"

"Yes, talk to them. I'm just saying you can't talk to the media. No going on Oprah, okay? Or to The New York Times?"

Kelsey quickly pulled on a shirt. She wanted to be a part of this discussion.

"It seems like Don's spinning a story that's heavy on bullshit, that doesn't paint you in a very good light, son. Can you live with that?"

"As long as Kelsey's not hurt, I can."

Kelsey paused, brush in hand, contemplating Jack's words before pulling her hair into a quick pony tail and going out to join them.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Jack said, rising to hug and kiss her with his damaged mouth.

Raymond, too, pecked her mouth before sitting again.

Kelsey sat next to Jack, who took her hand in his before turning to Ray again. Apparently, the two men didn't realize she'd heard their conversation before she entered the room.

"So I guess you two haven't heard what that asshole's saying happened last night?" Raymond asked.

Kelsey and Jack shook their heads.

"What?" Kelsey asked, swallowing.

"Shh, don't worry, Kels, don't get all tense, we'll be fine," Jack soothed, putting a comforting arm around her.

"I'm sure all the morning shows are going to carry it, but it's online already," Ray said, gesturing toward Jack's laptop, which was sitting on the coffee table.

Jack opened it, and googled Don's name. He'd given some kind of interview, early this morning, apparently, from his hospital bed. He looked terrible, Jack thought with vicious satisfaction. His face was a mess, with cuts and bruises everywhere, stitches above his eye and on his cheek. He was also wearing some kind of sling for his shoulder.

"I'm surprised the police haven't been here to arrest me," Jack remarked.

"I think Don doesn't want the police just as much as we don't," Raymond said. "Once the police get involved, the entire truth is bound to come out, and he really doesn't want that, you know?" He looked from Kelsey to Jack, then back at the laptop.

Don was talking to Jazzy Holiday, a British tabloid reporter. When Kelsey heard his voice coming through the laptop, she leaned into Jack, holding his hand tighter.

"Well, as you know, Kelsey and I were together for a couple of years. She's a lovely girl, and we had a good time," Don was saying in his silky, oily accent. "Then, things just didn't work out, and I broke things off with her." He shrugged. "She didn't take it very well, you know how women can be, right?"

Jazzy, who was notoriously gay, said something about how he didn't really know, and the two of them laughed before Don continued.

"So, we had this publicity appearance arranged from a long time ago, this club opening or whatever. I think she was dating this Jack person by now, I know she'd already met him to train for her movie. So it was arranged for us to go to this club opening, and I figured why not, I mean, we were over, but there was no reason we couldn't be civil, right? So I went. Maybe it was a mistake, I don't know," he said regretfully. "She was all over me, all night, ask anyone at the club. She told me Jack was violent, you know, typical jock personality and temperament or whatever. At the end of the evening, she said she didn't want to go home, that Jack lived on her property, and she was afraid of what he might do after knowing she'd been out with me, and she asked if she could come home with me."

He looked at Jazzy, one eye normal, one eye a ruined slit, and shrugged again. "I felt sorry for her. She was drunk, and high, too, I think she'd been doing coke at the club, I don't know for sure, Jazzy, but she used to have quite a habit, you know?

"We get back to my house, and she's all over me, one thing leads to another, and well, I'm a gentleman, I'll leave the rest to your imagination." Don smiled at Jazzy.

Kelsey swallowed, and Jack kissed her cheek, squeezing her hand.

"I took her home the next morning and didn't give it another thought, but I tell you, this isn't the first time generosity and pity have gotten me in trouble, you know?"

Jazzy nodded sympathetically.

"I guess this LaGuardia person found out about that night, about what happened between us, and what happened last night is the result," Don concluded. "There may already have been repercussions for poor Kelsey before this, too. I believe a doctor was seen leaving her house in the days following that night we spent together--" he let the sentence dangle.

Raymond sighed.

"Who knows what he's done to poor Kelsey, or what he might be doing to her right now?" Don was asking. "We know he has a temper. I mean, look at me."

"What action are you going to take now, Don?" Jazzy asked, putting a hand on Don's arm. "Have the police been involved? Are you going to have him arrested and file criminal charges?"

Don shook his head. "No. I wouldn't do that to Kelsey. However, my vision might be permanently impaired because of the beating I sustained at the hands of that gorilla last night. If this is the case, I would definitely consider a civil suit, because that could affect my career, you know?"

Jack felt Kelsey tense next to him.

Jack knew from his classes that, even without criminal charges, Don would have a strong civil case against him, especially with all the video of the assault and the hospital report.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, he's way richer than me," Jack joked. "What could he sue me for?"

"What about school?" Kelsey worried, remembering the text from last night. "What if you get expelled?"

Jack was silent, having no answer for this.

On the laptop, Jazzy was thanking Don for the interview, saying, "I know you must be in so much pain right now, so thank you for taking time speak to us."

Don waved the thanks away. "Don't be ridiculous. My worry at this point is for poor Kelsey, honestly. I hope she knows that I'm here for her and that she doesn't have to stay in a dangerous or violent situation."

"Definitely," Jazzy agreed.

Jack turned the laptop off. He was starting to get a headache from how hard he was clenching his jaw.

"I need to talk to my parents right now," he said, keeping his voice even with effort. He rose.

"Jack?" Ray's voice held him where he was. "I'll ask you again, now that you've seen this. Is this something you can live with? It will die down in a couple of weeks. I mean, this is Hollywood, and you're not even in the business, no one even cares about you, but can you live with it?"

Jack looked at Kelsey, sitting on the couch, still holding his hand. She wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Yes." He nodded.

For Kelsey, he could.