LP Adommy, chapter 9

[darkdianora]

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Lost Princes, Adommy Version

Chapter 9

The day after the kidnapping Adam stayed at home with Kris, wanting to help him cope with everything, but Kris was quiet and subdued and evaded all of Adam’s attempts to get him to open up. In the end, Adam had to admit defeat. The studio was booked for the next day anyway, so he called his mom and asked her to come over and look after Kris.

When he returned home late that night, he found the villa deserted. There were two letters on the kitchen table, both addressed at him. He opened the first one and read.

‘Adam, I think Kris is right. I’ve taken the keys and Neil and I have helped him move his stuff. Don’t be mad at us. Call you later, Mom’

Frowning, he put the letter down. What the hell--? A bit worried now, he tore the other one open.

‘Adam,
I’m sorry. I think it’s the best for everyone if I leave. Leila tells me you paid the apartment for a year in advance; I hope you don’t mind me moving back in there for a while. I’ll look for something else as soon as I can. Thank you for everything you have done for me; without your help I’d be still a wreck living on the streets. But I think it’s now time for me to try to move on and to stand on my own two feet again. I’ll be in touch.
--Kris’

After putting that letter back on the table, Adam took a few deep breaths, trying to decipher his own very mixed feelings. There was hurt, yes, that Kris had decided to vanish like this, not even telling him in person. And it was difficult to accept that he obviously hadn’t been able to help him this time.

On the other hand, Adam experienced a certain sense of relief. Maybe this development was all for the good. Maybe Kris needed to go on with his own life. He couldn’t very well spend his whole life as Adam’s sidekick anyway.

Slowly Adam registered what this all meant. Kris was gone. So Tommy could come back. Tommy, who for the last days had refused Adam’s calls, and who’d seemed so very standoffish when he’d last seen him. As if it were a real possibility that he might not want Adam anymore. As if he were considering other options.

Adam frowned. He couldn’t let that happen. Not before they’d at least had a chance to patch things up, to try and get to know each other once more. He’d have to try and get him back. With that resolve firmly rooted in his chest he went to bed and slept the sweet sleep of the just. And in the next morning he called Tommy again.

Adjani was the one to take the call. “He says not yet,” were his first words.

Adam’s blood pressure rose. “Not yet, not yet-if I hear that one more time I’m going to combust, dammit. Could you at least tell him that Kris has moved out? Maybe that’ll help him make up his mind.”

“I’ll let him know.”

~~~~~

Adjani put the receiver down with a slight frown on his face. So Kris had moved out, with the help of Adam’s mother and brother. He could understand Kris’ motivation; it was no wonder with the way things were between Adam and Tommy that Kris wanted to get out of their way. He probably thought he’d wrought enough havoc on their lives. Adjani could also understand Leila’s and Neil’s reasons for helping Kris move out. Of course they would want to help Kris, and he seemed to have insisted after all, claiming he was ready for it.

Only, Adjani couldn’t quite believe that. All too well did he remember Kris’ pale face, and how huge and helpless his eyes had been after the officer had pulled the hood from his face. He’d looked ready to collapse, physically and psychically. How could anybody recover in two days from such a shock, especially someone with Kris’ history?

The whole thing bothered him, and wouldn’t leave him alone. It was with a lot of apprehension that he found himself at the apartment building a few days later, finger on the door bell.

Nothing happened. He rang two more times, and then, getting more and more worried, he pushed the other buttons. He could hear a dull crash through a half-open upstairs window, and finally the buzzer sounded. Pushing the door open, he stepped in and ran upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. The wooden steps were creaking loudly under his weight. There was even a thin trickle of dust, indicating that the wood worm had got at the staircase. What a hovel!

The apartment door was closed, of course. Adjani knocked. Nothing happened. Either Kris wasn’t at home, or he didn’t want to see anybody. Or maybe he wasn’t able to open the door, because --. Gritting his teeth Adjani knocked once more, but then he couldn’t wait any longer. Stepping back for a bit of momentum, he took aim and crashed his shoulder into the wooden door. The filling splintered, the frame gave a dull cracking sound and the door sprang open on the first try. And ouch. Even with the deplorable condition the building was in, his shoulder hurt quite a lot. Things like that never were as easy as they looked on TV.

Scowling darkly, the big man stepped into the narrow hallway. Checking the rooms, one after the other, first the kitchen, then the bathroom, he finally found Kris in a bedroom. He was lying on a bare mattress and squinted blearily up at him from under a heap of blankets when Adjani switched on the lights. Adjani wrinkled his nose in disgust. It was clear what Kris had been doing for the last couple of days. The room smelled like a fucking distillery.

Resolutely, Adjani strode toward the window, drew the curtains aside and opened it wide. He couldn’t help inhaling the fresh air greedily, the sick fumes in the room had been noxious! If Kris had been lying here for days, it was no wonder his skin had that greenish hue.

Shuddering, Adjani turned around, making for the living room. When he opened the door, another wave of thick, poisonous air hit him. The room was in even worse condition than the bed room, the floor littered with all kinds of mess, half-eaten, congealed lasagna, shards of glass where bottles had been smashed against the walls, and, strangest of all, there were clumps of light brown hair, looking as if somebody had hacked them off with a dull knife.

Holding his breath, Adjani crouched down and reached for a tuft of the soft strands. Gently feeling the texture with his fingers he had to acknowledge that, yes, this was Kris’ hair. He’d touched it often enough; it had been prone to getting tangled and caught in things when Kris, on the Sultan’s orders, had worn it long and open. Swallowing thickly, Adjani stood up. Carefully navigating the soiled floor, he opened the room’s window, too, so that the air exchange could happen more quickly. Then he hurried back to Kris’ side.

He found him like he had left him. Kris had closed his eyes, but hadn’t moved otherwise. Now, with more light in the room, Adjani could see how badly mangled his hair was. It looked like some sort of rodents had gnawed at it; there were even patches that seemed almost bald. Who did such a thing to themselves? Kris’ condition had to be worse than he’d thought. For a moment Adjani wondered if he wasn’t getting in way over his head here.

Maybe this wasn’t something he could fix. Maybe Kris needed professional help, or at least to get away from them all, away from everything that reminded him of his past. But he could have had that, Adjani reminded himself. Kris would just have had to stay home in Arkansas. Only, from what Adam had told them, Kris didn’t consider that home anymore.

Just then, the man in question lifted himself up on one trembling arm, and proceeded to vomit all over the bed. Immediately, the most awful stench Adjani had ever smelled in his life filled the room. Worse even than the garbage bin Tommy had sat in during his escape from the palace, and that was saying a lot. It smelled thoroughly awful and sick.

And now Kris was looking completely white in the face, and choking on the stuff and just, yuck! Having to suppress his own rising gorge, Adjani took the heaving, retching man and carried him to the bathroom, where he gently lowered him into the tub. With a grim little smile he turned on the faucet, leaving the setting on cold. Then he began to hose the squirming man down, from his head to his feet, soiled clothes and all.

Slowly, the stench became akin to bearable. What made it more so was the shocked expression on Kris’ face, as well as the sputtering, coughing and twitching that was going on in the tub. Kris was babbling incoherently now, vainly lifting his hands to try and diffuse the stream of water that kept hitting him. Only when all the mess was rinsed off, did Adjani stop the flow. Down in the tub, Kris was somewhere between scowling and sobbing, and generally giving the impression of a drowned rat with scabies.

For a while, Adjani just watched the spectacle, but when Kris never looked at him, and in the end even attempted to turn on his side, away from him, he knelt down and took the other man’s hand, not surprised when Kris immediately tried to pull out of his grip.

Holding on tightly, Adjani said, “Relax, Kris. I’m not going to hurt you.”

With another jerk, Kris pulled his hand out of his hold. “Go away. Leave me alone.”

His voice was so weak, barely above a whisper. And the tone so desolate; something in Adjani tightened in empathy.

“Kris, listen. I’m going to take you with me. You can’t stay here alone. And I’ve smashed the front door, anyway.”

“No,” Kris said, “no, please. I don’t wanna-“

But Adjani didn’t stay to listen. He went through the cupboards, gathering whatever of Kris’ stuff looked usable and packed it in a bag. In a jog he carried it downstairs and deposited it in the car. Then he went back for Kris. Lifting him out of the tub proved difficult, if only because of the cramped space. As soon as he had him out, though, he realized that even soaking wet, Kris was quite a lightweight.

Way too light. Way too thin, as the clothes that clung to his bony body, showed. Where had Adam had his eyes, damn him? How could he have not noticed this?

Scowling, the big man carried Kris downstairs and gently put him on the back seat of the car. Kris was squirming, his arms flailing; Adjani couldn’t help noticing how terribly weak the other man was. There was no way that Kris should be living alone. He needed somebody to care for him, and if for the time being that meant Adjani, then so be it.

When they arrived at the shop, he enlisted Tommy’s help, and together they carried Kris upstairs to Adjani’s room. They freed him from his wet clothes and the prince was shocked to realize the state the other man was in.

“I can count his ribs,” he muttered in surprise. “I’d never have thought that he was so thin! His clothes totally concealed it!”

“I don’t think Adam knew, either,” Adjani remarked, “He sure would have done something.” They looked at each other worriedly.

“Need no help,” Kris slurred, coming back to live. “Doing well on my own.”

“You sure are,” Adjani growled, putting him, naked as he was, into his own bed. As soon as the sheets covered him, Kris closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep once more.

They waited a few minutes, but when Kris didn’t stir anymore and began to snore softly, they went downstairs. Tommy had the afternoon off and was heading for a jam session with a couple of guys, and Adjani decided to call Adam. He didn’t want him to find the apartment broken in and empty when he came looking for Kris. And somebody had to get the door fixed, after all.

~~~~~

For the rest of the afternoon he was quite distracted. After every customer he sped upstairs to check up on Kris, only to find him deeply asleep. Toward evening, when all his appointments had been taken care of, he went into the kitchen to fix a light supper. Figuring Kris needed minerals after that drinking bout he heated a can of chicken soup and buttered two slices of toast. Getting a bottle of apple juice spritzer he assembled everything on a tablet and carried it upstairs. Cautiously he pushed the door open and walked in, only to find the bed empty.

Frowning, he set the tablet on the bedside table. Then he sat down on the bed and waited. Probably Kris had only gone to the bathroom, he told himself. But that was strange, ‘cause Adjani hadn’t heard a thing, and their toilet flushed more than noisily. Suddenly worried, he went to reconnoiter. And found the bathroom empty, too.

Fuck. Where was Kris? He would have heard him on the stairs, and he’d kept one eye on the stairway all the time. He had to be up here, somewhere. But where?

First thing Adjani checked was his cupboard. Nope. Then Tommy’s room, under the bed, the wardrobe, everywhere, and no. No Kris. In Shahin and Yasin’s room he came up empty, too.

Racking his brain, he thought for a moment. Then he went through the rooms again, becoming more and more frantic. In the end it was a faint whimper that drew him in the right direction. With hurried steps he approached the window of his own room, from where he’d heard the noise. He leaned over to look outside.

What he saw nearly made his heart freeze. There was Kris, on the fire escape, only dressed in an old shirt of Adjani’s, which was hanging from his bony shoulders like a shroud. His face was white as a sheet and he was trembling all over, and he was trying to pull the metal ladder out with white-knuckled hands. He was too weak, though, or maybe the ladder was stuck somehow, and he was swaying dangerously on unsteady feet while he attempted to loosen it.

Adjani, not wanting to spook him, remained silent, but he must have moved somehow, ‘cause Kris’ eyes turned toward him.

“No,” he shook his head, “go away, Adjani. Let me. I…I need to--” He broke off, slowly retreating until his back hit the railing. Which was very low, and Adjani experienced a moment of shock when Kris almost lost his balance. With lightning speed he clambered out of the window and moved toward him.

Kris’ eyes widened before he turned around and began to climb over the railing. “Stop or I’ll jump,” he screamed, already half on the other side.

He seemed half-crazed, and anyway, Adjani wasn’t going to listen to this. Not stopping a second to think, he threw himself toward Kris, and as soon as he had grabbed hold of him, he pulled the two of them backwards. He crashed down hard on the metal grate, not able to cushion the fall since his hands were full of struggling man. Kris landed on him, all bony knees and elbows, but at least he wasn’t hurt in the process. Adjani thought he could feel every bone in Kris’ body, painfully so. Under their combined weight, the grate creaked and shook, and for a moment Kris was quiet, completely frozen in his grip.

But then he recouped. With narrowed eyes he glared down at Adjani. Obviously the alcohol induced haze was gone, and he had part of his senses back. Such as they were, Adjani thought uncharitably.

“Lemme go, you asshole,” Kris hissed, “you’ve no right to keep me against my will.” He squirmed in Adjani’s grip, and the big man couldn’t help noticing that under the wide shirt, he was completely naked. He had to take a deep breath, and immediately wished he hadn’t.

“Shut that mouth, you smell awful,” he growled. Wrangling them sideways so he could get up, he continued, “I don’t care about rights, you idiot. It’s clear that you can’t be trusted to look out for yourself, so I’m going to do that for you. At least, until you manage to convince me otherwise.” Roughly, he pulled the other man back to his feet and pushed him back into the room, then climbed back in himself.

Eyes trained on Adjani, Kris stumbled backward, until his knees hit the bed and he toppled over backward, landing right where Adjani wanted him to go. He leaned over him, pulling up his most threatening look.

“Stay where you are! I will feed you soup and you’re going to eat it!”

Kris blinked. “Is it chicken, at least?” he muttered finally.

“Yeah,” Adjani replied, somewhat mollified. “Not as hot as it should be, of course. Which is not my fault.”

He sat on the mattress and took up the plate. Slowly he fed Kris the soup, spoon for spoon, alternating with pieces of toast. All too soon, Kris turned his head away.

“What? That wasn’t even half the can! You can’t be serious, Kris.”

Kris scowled. “Want me to puke in your bed? I’ve had enough. Leave me alone.”

Sighing, Adjani set the plate down. Maybe Kris’s stomach was still a bit tender from the drinking bout yesterday. “Okay, then. So what do you want to do now? I’m done working today. You could get up for a bit, I could help you shower, or we can watch TV?”

“What is this-you turning into a mother hen now?” Kris spat. “Forget it. I’m here against my will. I won’t help you calm your conscience, buster. Let me go, or at least get out of my sight!”

Adjani could tell that Kris was angry, only it all came out so pitifully weak that he involuntarily smiled at the prostrate man.

“Okay, I’ll leave you in peace. A bit of rest will do you good, I guess. But you got to promise me that you won’t try to run, okay?”

Instead of answering, Kris just threw him a mutinous glare. Adjani sighed. It was clear that Kris couldn’t be trusted. He’d done a lot of running lately, which Adjani could understand to a certain extent-after years of captivity, being able to get away had to be vital-but at the moment Kris was in no shape to be left alone. Sighing again, Adjani made up his mind and went downstairs.

“I hate to do this to you,” he said to Kris when he returned to his room, “but you leave me no choice.” He threw the golden chains on the bed, and Kris recoiled, an expression of horror on his face.

“No, Adjani. No. Don’t do that. Please, don’t chain me up!”

The tone in Kris’ voice was heartbreaking, and Adjani very nearly didn’t go through with it. But his mind was made up, and did what he thought was best. He put one shackle around Kris’ ankle and fastened another to the bed. Like that, the chain set had a lot of give. Kris had turned away from him, lips pressed together tightly.

“I have to go downstairs now,” Adjani announced, “but I’ll be back to check on you. If something’s amiss, call for me, okay?”

Bt Kris didn’t even look at him; and with a heavy heart Adjani took the tablet and carried it downstairs.

In the kitchen was Tommy, back from his session, already busy fixing a salad for dinner. Just then the doorbell rang. Adjani went to open it and found Adam on the doorstep.

“He doesn’t want to see you,” was the first thing that Adjani said, almost in reflex.

Adam huffed out a laugh. “Who’re you talking ‘bout, Tommy or Kris?”

Adjani had to laugh, too. “Both, I guess. Not that either of them explicitly said that, right now.”

Adam shifted his stance. “Can I come in?”

“Well, why not.” Adjani stepped aside to let him pass. “We’re in the kitchen. Last door on the right. Me and Tommy, I mean.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Adam walked ahead.

Tommy had to have heard them and recognized Adam’s voice, because he was already glaring sullenly when they entered. “What’s he doing here?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

For a second, Adjani saw the hurt on Adam’s face, but the other man recovered fast, walking right up into the prince’s personal space. “So you can’t even talk to me directly now? Tell me, Tommy, what have I done to deserve this?” And when the prince failed to reply, “Nothing, that’s what! You’re behaving like a spoilt child! Like the little prince that you are! Damn, Tommy, get a grip, will you!”

“I don’t need to listen to this,” the prince muttered and pushed past Adam to walk out on them. But not fast enough. Both, Adam and Adjani, had seen the expression of shocked dismay on his face.

“You got him there,” Adjani remarked. Even if he found Adam’s words a bit harsh, the other man was not so far off with what he’d said.

“The waiting drives me mad,” Adam admitted. “I wish I knew what was going on in that thick head of his. I mean, it was not my fault, any of this. So why can’t he even bear the sight of me? Sometimes I’m having doubts he ever loved me.” He rubbed his forehead, seemingly tired.

Adjani pulled him a chair and sat down himself. “That’s for you to find out, I guess. But I can tell you one thing: A lot of his actions of late have their reasons in a feeling of insecurity. He’s having doubts, too.”

Adam seemed intrigued. “What kind of doubts?”

“For one, he wonders how you could ever have forgotten about him, amnesia, or no.”

Adam snorted.

“Secondly, we’ve been here for a while now, and he’s seen how it is here. So many beautiful people, everyone so stylish and suave. He’s wondering why would you choose him, you know.”

“Ha. I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Adam mused, “why would he choose me, of all people? Back, at the palace, yes, I could see how he would fall for me. But now, here…” He broke off.

Adjani couldn’t help shaking his head. “You two need to talk so badly! Don’t wait too long, Adam.”

“I’d talk to him this very minute, you know that! It’s he who doesn’t want to listen!” Adam drew a shaky breath. “But I’m really here because of Kris. How is he?”

Adjani told him how he’d found Kris, totally miserable, drunk out of his mind and unkempt. When he mentioned how thin Kris was, Adam shook his head. “How is it that I didn’t notice that? I mean, he never was one to eat much. And I have been rather busy, lately. But I should have seen something. Of course, those damned plaid shirts of his probably hide a lot.” He sighed. “So what do we do now? My mom says he might need therapy, but I’m not sure if that’s the right thing.”

Therapy? Adjani hadn’t really considered that. Where he came from, there was no such thing, but he had come to realize that the Americans were big on it. Still, the thought of sending Kris away filled him with uneasiness.

“I don’t like it, Adam. Let me try, okay? I’ve known him for a while; maybe he’ll open up to me, once he’s done throwing hissy fits.”

Adam’s eyebrows rose. “Hissy fits? Kris? That’s so not like him! The Kris I know is always quiet and collected.”

“It’s been beaten out of him,” Adjani said, remembering Kris’ first months at the palace. He himself had been new there, too, just one among the many servants in the Sultan’s wing, but he’d kept his eyes open to learn the power dynamics of the place, and he would’ve had to be blind not to notice that, very often, Kris had been in a lot of pain.

Adam looked at him critically. “Did you… I mean, did the Sultan order you to beat him?”

Adjani smiled grimly. “No, never. Your ass was the first one I ever tanned, actually.”

Adam winced, remembering.

“I didn’t like it much,” the big man continued. “When you asked me to stop after the first twenty slaps, I would have, you know. It was clear you’d had enough.”

“I saw Tommy nod at you to go on,” Adam said, almost fondly. “The little bastard. He totally got off on seeing me squirm.”

“That was nothing against what happened to Kris. I even think it’s good that he’s not acting so cowed anymore.”

Adam seemed pensive. “Maybe you’re right. So you’ll keep Kris here, for now. But you need to tell me when there are problems, okay? I want to help, too.” Wearily he rose from his chair.

Adjani got up, too. “I will let you know, Adam. And I’ll see if I can talk some sense into Tommy, okay?”

At the door they exchanged a short hug, and then Adam was off. Yasin and Shahin still were away for their belly-dancing workshop and wouldn’t be back until later, so Adjani had a quiet dinner with a sad-looking Tommy. When he couldn’t bear to watch his misery any longer he said quietly, “You’ll have to talk to him, you know. You’re both unhappy. What are you waiting for, anyway?”

The prince only shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. Adjani could see some inner fight going on, and when Tommy finally looked up he seemed even more unhappy than before. “What good is talking, Adjani? Have you listened to him today, calling me a spoilt child? He doesn’t even want me anymore, if he ever did.”

Adjani could only shake his head at so much thick-headedness, but one look at the prince’s face told him that this was not the moment, so he let the topic rest. He was getting antsy in the kitchen anyway; who knew what Kris had been up to while he’d been downstairs.

He wasn’t even surprised when, stepping into his bedroom, he found Kris busy trying to break the lock of one of the cuffs with Adjani’s nail file. Adjani rolled his eyes, chastising himself for having forgotten to check the bedside table. Then he noticed the dark spots on the bed sheets.

“God, Kris, what have you done?” He hurried to his side.

“Nothing, asshole. Just slipped. Not what you think.”

Right. It dawned on Adjani what more could have gone wrong because of his stupidity. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

Kris shook his head, seeming less hostile for the moment. “No, Adjani. I don’t think so.”

Somehow, Adjani believed him. “I still need to bandage it. And before I do, we really need to get you cleaned up.” Adjani opened the cuff at Kris’ ankle. “Come on, let’s see if you can stand.”

Kris tried, and after a second he had to hold onto Adjani; he was so weak. Nonetheless he protested. “I don’t need your help. I can do this alone,” and tried to pull out of Adjani’s grip.

“The hell you can,” Adjani grated, “and stop struggling! I’m only doing this because I have to sleep in that bed, too, and you smell like a sewer.”

In the end, he even had to help Kris step into the tub before he got in, too. Setting the water as hot as he could stand it he began to scrub the other man clean, starting with his hair and working his way down. Kris bore the procedure silently, his eyes closed the whole time. Only when Adjani’s hands reached the area below his navel he came back to life once more, trying to jerk away, out of the big man’s reach.

“Hands off! I’ll do that myself!”

“As if I was interested in your bony ass;” Adjani huffed, nonetheless feeling a bit piqued.

“Maybe not now,” Kris muttered, “but I’ve seen your eyes on me for years. I know that look, believe me. Just so you know, the last thing I’d do is let another big swarthy oriental brute at me. No matter how-“ He stopped himself, blushing a bit.

It was with a weird feeling that Adjani helped Kris out of the tub afterward, and it stayed with him, when he patched up the cut on his wrist and helped him brush his teeth.

Even hours later when he was lying next to the snoring man Adjani couldn’t get that last remark out of his mind. What the hell had Kris been about to say?