Tainted -- Chapter 6
“Adam… if there’s anything you need, man. Anything. I am here for you, okay?” Kris promised, reaching up a gentle hand to push back a lock of dark hair that had fallen across Adam’s forehead.
His heart clenched inside when Adam flinched slightly, then grimaced, shaking his head in obvious embarrassment at his own reaction. Kris had never seen Adam like this - and he didn’t like it. His usually confident, unshakable friend was trembling in his arms, eyes wide and shell-shocked, flinching at every unexpected touch and fighting to keep from breaking down in tears.
Kris didn’t know the details of what had happened to Adam, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know. But regardless of how difficult it would be, he was willing to know it, if Adam wanted to tell him. He wanted to make sure Adam knew that no matter what happened, he didn’t have to go through this alone.
“You don’t have to talk about any of it, Adam,” Kris repeated gently, waiting until Adam met his eyes again to conclude, “But if you do want to… I’m here, okay?”
Adam gave him a shaky nod in response, biting his lower lip uncertainly and looking away for a moment before he ventured to speak in an apologetic voice that wavered on the edge of a sob.
“Okay… um… could I just… be alone for a little bit? Please? I’m sorry, I just…”
“No, no, don’t apologize.” Kris was disappointed, but he kept his tone reassuring. “Whatever you need, Adam.” He rose from the bed, reaching down to give his friend one more brief hug before straightening again. “Um… your family is here. They’ve been here almost… the whole time…”
His voice trailed off slightly when he saw the startled, almost trapped expression on Adam’s face.
“You were sleeping, so they went down to get something to eat… I didn’t know if you knew they were here. Um… do you want me to… to tell them you’re awake?”
Adam hesitated, then gave a halting nod. “Yeah. But… in about an hour or so, okay? Please? I just need… I just need a little…”
“I get it.” Kris gave him an understanding smile. “Okay. I’ll come back later.” He hesitated before adding, “Everything’s going to be okay, all right? There’s a lot of people here who love you and are here for you. I want you to know that I’m on your side in this, Adam, no matter what.”
Adam held his gaze intently for a long moment, looking almost as if there was something he wanted to say. Then, abruptly, he looked away toward Larissa as she stood and approached Kris, silently placing her hand in his. It was a quiet signal reminding him that Adam had just asked him to go. Kris accepted it, leading his girlfriend to the door and leaving his best friend to his thoughts.
They were nearly to the waiting room when Larissa turned to face Kris, frowning.
“Oh, baby, I left my purse in the room. I’ll be right back, okay?”
Kris nodded, distant, his thoughts still focused on Adam and what he could do to help him, and how he was going to distract the Lamberts for the next hour or so, as he continued on toward the waiting area.
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Adam stared at the door through which Kris had left, hand in hand with Larissa, for a very long time, just trying to process the horrifying revelation that had struck him when his eyes had met hers.
Larissa? Would she really…? God, Kris would be devastated… and… does she really hate me that much? Was I just imagining it? That hatred in her eyes? Maybe it didn’t mean what I thought it meant…
But Adam couldn’t erase the image from his mind, the intensity of jealous, seething hate he had seen there. There was no trace of sympathy, or sorrow, even for Kris’s sake, on her face - none of the normal reactions he might have expected from someone with even a normal human compassion for what had happened to him.
Someone wants you out of the way, Adam… someone thinks you’re encroaching on their territory… wants the late night, intimate talks, the closeness between you two… to stop…
No one outside their little circle even knew about such details of his relationship with Kris; and Adam highly doubted that any of their fellow Idols or the other tour staff would have any cause to orchestrate something like this. Larissa was the only logical conclusion.
No… I saw it on her face. She did this. I know she did. And judging by the look she gave me when they left, she probably knows that I know, too...
Adam had never really liked Larissa. Hearing Kris talk about his ex-fiance Katy and all that had transpired surrounding their breakup, it was not difficult to figure out that Kris was only with Larissa because she’d happened to be the one who was there and supportive and kind to him when he was in the midst of that painful breakup. Kris talked about Katy far more frequently and glowingly than Adam had ever heard him talk about Larissa.
The more he got to know her, the more Adam saw a side of her personality that she never really showed to Kris. She was petty and possessive, and often disliked people just because Kris showed that he cared about them. For his part, Kris always seemed to try to find the best in people, and never seemed to notice the darker side of his girlfriend’s personality - probably because she did a fairly good job of concealing it from him.
Nevertheless, Adam had known for a long time that the relationship would probably not last.
Kris probably knew, too; he just didn’t want to hurt Larissa.
But Larissa wants to hurt me…
Adam’s heart clenched with a cold, tightening panic as he tried to process the implications of this new knowledge. However, he hardly had time to do so before the door to his room opened again, and Larissa strode purposefully inside - alone. His stomach lurched as she gave him a falsely sweet smile and crossed the room to the seat she’d occupied a few minutes earlier, picking up her purse from beside it.
“Forgot this,” she explained unnecessarily.
Adam hardly dared to feel relieved, just nodding once in acknowledgement, his heart racing with sudden, inexplicable panic. He knew she was much smaller than him and could certainly do him very little physical damage. That was why she’d had to hire someone to do it for her. Still, knowing what she’d had done to him, he absolutely did not want to be alone with her. He wanted her out, now.
To his dismay, Larissa paused at the door, as if considering. Then, she slowly set down her purse before very deliberately locking the door and turning toward the bed, eyes narrowed and lips twisted into a cruel smirk.
Oh, God… if she knows that I know…
Alarmed, Adam reached toward the hand held call button at his side, but Larissa was there, snatching it away from him before he could push the button. He flinched as she leaned in close to him, her face inches from his, and snarled venomously in his face, biting off the words with open disgust and hatred.
“You had better keep you fucking mouth shut, Adam. If you think this is bad, just imagine what could happen to you if you cross me again.”
Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Adam struggled to find the words to respond, his eyes darting desperately between the door and the useless call button in her hand, out of his reach.
“You… y-you…”
She smiled coldly, eyes glittering with malicious satisfaction at the way his breath had quickened and he was unconsciously pressing back against the elevated mattress behind him. She lowered her voice, pressing one hand against the mattress to support herself as she edged in even nearer to his face, shaking her head slowly.
“You can’t prove anything. You have nothing on me - not a shred of evidence to connect me to this. You can’t even identify the guy that did it.”
Adam’s voice was weak and trembling as he tried to argue. “The… the cops… I’ll tell them, and they’ll believe me… and Kris…” He hesitated, his voice carrying a note of desperate defiance when he added, “… you’re worried about keeping him now? He won’t want anything to do with you if…”
“Please,” she sneered, cutting him off with contempt in her voice. “You think Kris would believe such a crazy story? Especially about me? Everybody knows you’re jealous of me, Adam. You want Kris - and you can’t have him. Then, when something like this happens, and you’re all wounded and traumatized and emotionally unstable…” The false, exaggerated sympathy in her voice made him cringe away from her in shame. “… well, naturally, you’re going to latch onto the person you consider to be your enemy as the culprit. It only makes sense.” She laughed cruelly. “But there’s not a shred of actual evidence - so it must be all in your head, Adam. Any fool will be able to see that.”
Her voice lowered to a hushed, suggestive whisper, a nasty, smug smile on her lips. “No, no one will be able to prove anything. No one will believe you. If you say anything - to Kris, or anyone - I’ll make sure you look like you’re absolutely insane, Adam. No one will be on your side - especially not Kris. And before you can find a way to back up your ridiculous claims - you’ll find yourself back in that abandoned building… alone and chained up and helpless… with everything you’ve experienced over the last three days happening over… and over… again. I won’t be finished with you nearly so quickly next time. And when I am - you’ll be dead.”
Adam shook his head slowly, eyes closed, trying desperately to shut out the horrifically vivid images her words called to his memory. She hadn’t touched him, hadn’t been there when he’d been tortured and brutalized; yet the knowing, derisive way in which she spoke of the entire affair, knowing that she was the one who had ordered the attack, and he was here alone with her, helpless to defend himself - it all made him feel as if he was being violated all over again.
He flinched when he felt her hand on the back of his head, drawing him closer to her so she could whisper in his ear. Each word was clear and deliberate, menacing in its very softness and control.
“If there’s one thing you should have learned from this, Adam, it’s this. Do not. Fuck with me.”
Every muscle in his body was taut and trembling with fear, and his eyes were tightly closed, so he didn’t notice when she stood up straight again. He jumped when he felt something against his hand, then looked down with confusion to see the call button pressed into his grasp. Still smiling and smug, Larissa very deliberately pressed the button to call the nurse’s station, then met Adam’s startled gaze with her eyebrows raised in a challenge.
“What can I get for you, Mr. Lambert? Is everything all right?” The tinny voice over the small speaker in the side of the bed was polite and concerned.
Adam stared back at Larissa, swallowing slowly as he wrestled with his own fears.
She’s wrong, they’d believe me, they have to believe me, she’s lying…
His voice was quiet - defeated - as he answered with careful calm. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m sorry, I accidentally hit the button.”
Larissa’s smile widened with satisfaction and she nodded once in silent approval, before turning to go, closing the door forcefully behind her.
As soon as she was gone, a violent tremor shook through Adam, a reaction to the relief of her leaving, and the dread that the entire encounter had inspired. He lowered his head to rest in his trembling hands, drawing in several deep draughts of air as he struggled to keep a suddenly overwhelming sense of panic at bay.
Can’t say anything… can’t tell anyone… no one would believe me, and she’d know, and she’d call that guy, and he’d… he’d… God, she wouldn’t actually do that to Kris, would she? But… if she thinks she can’t have him… if she thinks she’s going to lose him…
Larissa had already proven herself to be willing to go to horrific lengths to defend what she thought was hers, and there was no way to predict just how dangerous she might be to Kris if he tried to leave her.
If I just keep quiet about it, and stay away from him…
But Adam knew that even if he could manage to keep the secret, it would only protect Kris for a time. He had known for a long time that Larissa was not the one Kris would stay with for the long haul. Whether or not he found out about what she had done, eventually - Kris would break up with her.
And what happens when he does?
TBC...