Collateral Damage -- Chapter 4
“So… what do you think? How do I look?”
Adam smirked, letting out a soft little scoffing sound as Kris stepped out of their bedroom, dressed in a simple black t-shirt with shorter sleeves than he usually wore, paired with a pair of dark-washed jeans that fit him very well. Adam’s appreciative look belied his teasing words as he made his observation.
“You look like Simon Cowell.”
“Shut up.”
Kris’s eyes narrowed, but he was smiling as he sauntered nearer to his boyfriend, swiftly closing the distance between them and placing his hands on Adam’s shoulders. Adam just grinned down at him, his eyes dancing with amusement as he drew Kris in closer to him with an arm around his waist.
“Only, you know… cuter… and buffer…” He ran an appreciative hand slowly over the newly defined bulge exposed by Kris’s short sleeve before smirking and concluding, “… and, well… shorter…”
“Shut up,” Kris repeated, still teasing as he unexpectedly pushed Adam back against the wall, edging in closer until there was virtually no space between them, “before I find a way to shut you up.”
Adam’s eyes widened in surprise at Kris’s aggression, and the unexpected strength behind it - but he laughed softly, a little breathless as he retorted, “Is that a threat or a promise?”
Kris returned his laugh, answering by rising up on his toes to kiss Adam deeply. After a few moments, Adam reluctantly pushed him back a little, rolling his eyes with a sigh of resignation.
“We’d better go or we’ll miss the red carpet, and then we’d never get our publicists to shut up about it.”
The event was a charity dinner for a foundation that helped children with terminal diseases. Many celebrities had signed up for the $500-a-plate meal, and Kris and Adam had agreed to provide the evening’s entertainment for free, for the cause. It was fun in a low-key, relaxed kind of way.
Afterwards, however, Adam was in the mood for a much different kind of fun - and for once, Kris was, too.
He was starting to see visible results from his workouts and medication, as Adam’s appreciative words and looks earlier that night had confirmed. He had deliberately worn this shirt to show it off for whatever press would be present during their evening, wanting to finally take steps to shed his image as the cutest little American Idol ever.
After several hours spent fielding compliments on his new look from reporters and posing for obviously impressed photographers, Kris’s confidence was at an all-time high. He felt incredibly energetic, as if he’d just downed about four Starbucks double-shots. A few hours out at Adam’s favorite club sounded like just the thing to let out a little of that energy and excitement.
It sounded good, in theory.
In reality, Kris had only been at the club a little under an hour when his mood began to shift, and he began to find the crowds and incessant attention more irritating than welcome. Still, he kept a smile on his face, kept nodding graciously as he mingled with the crowd, accepting the compliments and questions of those in the club who knew them - and those who just wished they did.
It was not quite midnight when Kris was ready to leave.
He scanned the room for his absent lover, who seemed to be always stolen away from him for some reason or another. Adam was a hot commodity these days, and it seemed that everywhere they went, everyone wanted to talk to him.
And some people wanted to do more than talk.
Kris’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Adam leaning against the bar across the room. A tall, attractive young man was talking to him, and as Kris watched, Adam threw back his head and laughed at something he’d said. A frown creased Kris’s brow as he watched the intruder lean in close to whisper something into Adam’s ear. The smirk on Adam’s face as he drew back to meet the other man’s eyes, a single brow raised, increased Kris’s apprehension; but when Adam placed a hand at the back of the other man’s neck and drew him in close to speak into his ear, it set Kris’s blood to boiling.
With a purposeful stride, heedless of the people calling out to him as he passed, Kris pressed through the throng to get to Adam’s side.
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Adam half-hoped it was obvious that his laughter was fake as he forced a response to the lame pick-up line with which the stranger at the bar had greeted him. Surely the guy had to be joking. No one would actually think that would work.
Apparently, this guy was utterly clueless.
He smiled, seeming encouraged by Adam’s laughter, and leaned in close to whisper a lewd suggestion into his ear. Adam drew back, giving the guy a look of dubious disbelief, a single brow raised. When the guy still just grinned at him blankly, Adam smirked and beckoned the guy nearer, leaning over to place a hand at the back of his neck and pull him in close enough to hear Adam’s words over the pulse of the music.
“You’re kidding me, right? I’m here with my boyfriend, okay? And I’d really like you to back off.”
He withdrew with a sweet smile, as if nothing had happened, and the guy nodded, seemingly embarrassed but grateful that Adam had spared him the humiliation of a much more public, stinging rejection. At that moment, Adam felt a strong, familiar hand on his elbow, and turned with a pleased smile to see Kris at his side. His smile faded, however, when he saw the dark look Kris was sending in the direction of the retreating man’s back.
“Kris? It’s okay, I got it…”
“I need to talk to you.” Kris cut him off sharply, maintaining his grip on Adam’s elbow and using it to steer him away from the bar and across the room.
“Kris? Hang on a minute…” Adam resisted a little, trying to break Kris’s grip, unwilling to make a scene, especially without knowing what was going on. “What’s the matter?”
“Shut up,” Kris snapped, and Adam blinked, startled - too stunned to remember that he was trying to pull away as Kris continued to lead him across the room and toward a deserted hallway that led to a couple of deserted rooms that were usually used for private parties.
Adam waited to speak until Kris had steered them into one of those rooms and closed the door behind them, not bothering to turn on the light - mostly because it took him that long to get past his shock and indignation enough to speak at all.
“Excuse me, what did you say to me?” Adam demanded, incredulous and warning. He could barely make out Kris’s face in the faint light that filtered through the small square window in the door. “Did you actually just tell me to…?”
“Shut up.”
Kris repeated his previous words, cutting Adam off, one hand rising to roughly fist in his hair, dragging Adam’s shock-parted lips down to crash against his own mouth in a fierce, possessive kiss. Adam resisted for just a moment before surrendering to the kiss, waiting until he was breathless to finally pull away, a slow, knowing smile forming on his lips as he ran his hands slowly up and down the taut muscles of Kris’s arms with an appreciative little hum.
“You are so freakin’ hot like this,” he admitted in a laughing whisper, meeting Kris’s eyes with his own dancing with desire - willing to forget Kris’s harsh words, if they had only been spoken in his haste to get Adam to a place where they could have a little privacy. “If you just wanted some alone time, you could have told me you were ready to go…”
“What was that back there, Adam?”
Adam blinked, confused, searching the shadows of Kris’s face for some explanation. Kris was smiling, too, but Adam slowly realized that it was not a pleasant smile. Kris’s eyes were narrowed and blazing with fury as his hands trailed down Adam’s arms to clutch his wrists in a grip that was almost painful, pinning them against the wall near his shoulders.
“What… what was what?” Adam stammered, shaking his head in bewilderment. “Kris… what…?”
“Damn it, Adam, don’t treat me like I’m stupid!” Kris snarled, raising his voice in anger. “I’m not stupid, Adam, and I saw that guy at the bar flirting with you…” He lowered his voice slightly, and Adam felt a shiver of apprehension at the realization that the lower, slightly more controlled tone was all the more disturbing. “… and I saw you flirting back.”
Adam couldn’t suppress a hoarse, disbelieving laugh. It was all just so surreal. “Are you kidding? That wasn’t what happened at all! I just…”
“Are you laughing at me?” Adam’s words broke off as Kris abruptly jerked him away from the wall and slammed him back into it again, getting right up in his face to demand, “Are you fucking laughing at me, Adam?”
Adam let out a groan of pain, as his stomach lurched with sudden fear at the unbridled rage in Kris’s voice, the glittering madness in his eyes. He tried to remember whether or not he’d ever heard Kris use the word “fuck” before. He twisted his wrists within Kris’s grasp, trying to break his grip - alarmed and concerned when he realized that he couldn’t.
“Kris…” he began, his voice soft and breathless, wide eyes searching Kris’s face for some explanation. “… what is wrong with you?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me, Adam, you’re the one who’s flirting with strangers right in front of me…”
“Have you been drinking?” Adam’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he leaned in to try to catch the scent of Kris’s breath - remembering a moment later that he had kissed Kris and hadn’t tasted alcohol. “Because you know that you can’t hold your…”
Kris shoved him hard into the wall again, and Adam’s breath left his lungs in a rush at the painful impact. Kris grabbed him and got in his face again, his grip on Adam’s arms bruising and punishing so that Adam winced with pain, biting down on the inside of his lip to keep from crying out with fear.
“I am not a child, and I am not an idiot, Adam.” Kris bit off the words with threatening rage in his trembling voice. “And I will not be treated like either.”
He released Adam abruptly, turning on his heel and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Adam flinched at the sound, struggling to catch his breath as he stared in bewilderment at the place where he’d last seen his boyfriend. After a few moments, when he felt a little more composed, Adam straightened himself and ventured out of the room. He scanned the room for Kris, only a little surprised when he did not see him.
Within a few minutes, it became clear that Kris had left the club without him, leaving him to find his own way home.
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“Wake up!”
The sharp, nearly shouted words and the accompanying slam of the door pulled Kris rudely from sleep, and he blinked in confusion, raising his head from his pillow and struggling to sit up. His head felt thick and hazy, as if he’d been sleeping very hard for far too long. It took him a moment to realize that he had been lying on top of his own bed, still fully made - and that Adam was the one who’d yelled at him and slammed the door.
Bits of memory came filtering through to him as he tried to focus on Adam’s furious, tearful - tearful? Why’s he been crying? - face. He remembered the charity dinner, singing by himself and with Adam - he remembered going to the club after…
He didn’t remember coming home.
Kris started to speak, then paused to clear his throat when only a weak, croaking sound came out.
“Wh-what happened? How’d I get home?”
“You drove.” Adam’s smile was tight, cold, like the bitter words that spilled from his lips. “And the fact that you can’t remember it is oh so comforting!”
Kris frowned, shaking his head, utterly confused. “I… I don’t remember…”
“You must have… I don’t know, had too much to drink? Or… taken something?” Adam raised a questioning hand, shaking his head, and this time his trembling voice betrayed his anguished confusion. “I don’t know, Kris. But you definitely should not have been driving, whatever it was, and you… you shouldn’t have… been around people, God, Kris, I don’t know what happened to you!”
Adam’s shoulders were shaking and he raised a hand to angrily cover his face, clearly frustrated with his own emotion.
Kris felt like the worst person on the face of the planet - only he had no idea why.
“Adam, I… I’m sorry,” he confessed softly, at a loss as he looked up pleadingly to meet Adam’s eyes. “I don’t… I don’t remember.”
“You…you flipped out on me and… and shoved me and screamed at me and accused me of… of…” Adam’s voice trailed off, and he looked away for a moment, visibly struggling to bring himself back under control. “And… after you went off on me, you walked out on me and drove off and left me! Do you have any idea how humiliating that was? I didn’t even do anything, Kris!”
“Adam… baby…” Kris whispered, swallowing hard, anguished by the hurt he heard in Adam’s voice, and the fact that he had no idea how to fix it - or even what he’d done to put it there. “I… I didn’t take anything. I don’t take anything, you know? And… I don’t remember drinking… I’m sorry, I wish I could… but I don’t remember…”
Adam was quiet for a long moment, and when he finally spoke his voice was cold, distant, completely composed.
“Well, whatever it is, I think you’d better finish sleeping it off. I’ll be in the guest room tonight.”
Without another word, he turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door with rattling force behind him, leaving a bewildered, dismayed Kris to try to figure out what had happened, and why he couldn’t remember any of it.
TBC...