Tainted -- Chapter 15
Allison was all sullen, reluctant suspicion as she stepped back and allowed Kris into her room. Despite her youth, Kris felt ironically like the child in this scenario - a misbehaving child who was walking into the principal’s office. He briefly considered telling Allison about that rather twisted imagery in the hopes that it might at least draw a laugh from her.
He wisely thought better of that idea.
“So what’s your problem?” she demanded as soon as she had sat down at the foot of her bed, her arms crossed over her chest. “Why won’t you even look at Adam? Don’t you think he’s been through enough without you suddenly deciding to abandon him?”
“Yes, I do,” Kris insisted with a weary sigh, sinking down in the chair across from her. “But it’s not up to me, Allie. I swear, I have tried and tried to get him to talk to me - to even be in the same room with me - but he won’t.” He paused, meeting her eyes as he explained in a quiet, dejected voice. “He’s the one who doesn’t want to have anything to do with me… and I have no idea why.”
Allison frowned, shaking her head in confusion. “What? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Kris agreed. “But it’s the truth. He told me at the hospital to stay away from him… so that’s what I’ve done. He wouldn’t tell me why, and I totally don’t get it… but… I think I have to do what he wants, don’t you? I mean… this entire situation is all about… him… right? So… if he wants me to stay away…”
Allison nodded slowly, eyes wide and distracted as she stared at the wall just beyond Kris, thinking. “Why would he want you to stay away?” she wondered aloud. “He needs his friends more than ever right now. He’s… he’s been through so much…”
“I know,” Kris sighed. “It doesn’t make any sense. I asked him if I did something, and he said no, I didn’t. I asked him why, and he wouldn’t tell me. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure it out, but I can’t think of any reason why he’d… why he wouldn’t want…” He shook his head, lowering it into his hands and running them through his hair in agitation before looking up to meet her eyes again. “I’m trying to figure it out. I’m hoping I’ll be able to while we’re all on tour together. But, in the mean time…”
“I can try to figure it out, too!” Allison offered eagerly. “I can help! Maybe he’ll talk to me about why…”
“No,” Kris softly objected, holding up a halting hand. “No, you can’t do that, Allie. Because… he probably really needs a friend right now. He won’t let me be there for him, so… that just means he needs you to be there, more than ever. You wanna ask him about what happened tonight? Fine. In fact, he’d probably think it was weird if you didn’t. But… he probably won’t tell you. If he doesn’t, you need to accept that and just be there for him anyway, and… if he does… you can’t tell me.”
Allison’s eyes widened as she considered that, and Kris continued with quiet resignation.
“Whatever his reasons are… if he wanted me to know, he’d tell me. Obviously… he doesn’t. I just… needed you to understand that, Allie. I don’t want you to hate me…”
“No, Kris, I don’t hate you,” she insisted, rising from the bed impulsively to give him a warm, reassuring hug. “I just… I didn’t get it… I’m still not sure I do, but… but I’ll talk to him. I’ll be there for him, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Good.” Kris let out a shaky sigh of relief, reaching one arm around her to return her hug and giving her a half-hearted smile. “Because as much as I want to, I can’t be.”
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Adam flinched back in the chair in which he was trapped, as Larissa placed her hands on the arms of it and leaned into his face with a cold smile. His heart raced with fear, his eyes rolling wildly toward the door as he desperately sought some means of rescue or escape.
"Look at me!” Larissa snapped threateningly, and his eyes darted back to hers, his mouth dry, his entire body trembling. “Don’t even think about calling for help. You just shut up and listen to me, Adam," she snarled softly, a cruel gleam in her eyes as she took in his obvious terror. "If you try to tell anyone about this, I don't care if I'm arrested or not. I'll use my one phone call if that’s all I’ve got, to make sure you're taken within twenty-four hours.” A cruel smirk touched her lips as she added, “But don’t worry. I won't let them kill you for at least a few days."
Adam closed his eyes, biting his lower lip to keep from crying out, and turning his face away from her as she edged in even nearer. This only allowed her to take advantage of his position, to lean in so close that her lips brushed his ear as she continued in a voice of deceptively gentle menace.
"You’re a lot bigger and stronger than I am, Adam. We both know you could stop me in a heartbeat if you wanted to... but you won't. Because if you touch me... same rules apply. I'll make you wish you'd never been born. You already know I have some very dangerous connections. It might be the same guy who took you before. It might be someone else; but either way, you'll die... slowly... in shame... and in agony."
Her voice was barely over a whisper by this point, and the stillness in the room was oppressive, stifling. Adam felt as if he couldn’t draw breath, couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on anything but the panic inspired by her dark words. He was trembling violently, shaking his head in a silent, desperate plea, not daring to make a sound.
"This tour isn't going to be easy for you," Larissa continued with false sympathy, running the back of her hand lightly across his cheek, her smile widening when he flinched. "You're not going to tell anyone any more about what happened to you than they already know. And I know it'll be hard, on tour buses and doing shows together... but you're going to stay away from Kris. Oh, you can talk to him as much as you'd talk to the others - say hi, make small talk, that sort of thing - but nothing more than that."
She laughed with cold triumph, trailing her hand down from his face to his jaw, turning his head and forcing him to face her. Her eyes were filled with vicious pleasure as she held his wide, frightened gaze and continued.
"Trust me, Adam. Kris tells me everything. And you'll be being watched. If I find out that the two of you are ever alone together -- ever -- I'll make those three days you spent with my friend feel like a trip to a fucking day spa. Do you understand me?"
Adam swallowed back a sob, nodding hurriedly, closing his eyes against the ugly images that began to fill his mind with her threats. Larissa's head tilted slightly as she took in his reaction -- and fed on it. She gripped his jaw with harsh, grasping fingers, holding his head in place as she leaned in to whisper in his ear again. Adam wanted to pull away, wanted to shove her away from him, but didn't dare. His hands were white where they gripped the arms of the chair in a desperate bid to control his own instincts.
Have to do what she says, can't afford to piss her off, if she gets mad at me, oh God, please don't let her...
"You remember the things he did to you, Adam?" she murmured, her warm breath against his skin making him shudder in revulsion, though not as much as her words. "Remember the way he touched you? How bad it hurt? How dirty and pathetic and worthless… it made you feel?"
Larissa rested her free hand at Adam's side, sliding it slowly down to his hip, relishing the way he jerked slightly, but didn't allow himself to pull away from her touch. She edged in nearer, her voice barely audible in his ear.
"Like what you are, Adam... like a filthy... useless... little... whore..."
"Please," Adam choked out at last, hating himself for the whimpering sob that his voice was reduced to. "Please, stop... please..."
Larissa's hands and voice hardened as she drew back to meet his eyes again.
"Shut up," she ordered coldly. "You will do exactly what I've just said. Won't you?"
"Yes," Adam whispered, nodding miserably, the tears that slid from his eyes only adding to his shame. "Yes. Please..."
"Don't forget," she warned him softly as she finally released him and stood up straight. "Or I swear you'll regret it."
With that, she spun on her heel and walked to the door, stepping out into the hallway. Adam shook with mingled dread and relief, resting his face in one hand as he listened to her speaking cheerfully to the security guard who was once again outside his door, in the moments before she closed it behind her.
"... yeah, I thought I'd just go on in and keep him company while I waited... No problem, have a good night."
Despair filled Adam’s heart with the knowledge that he had not yet escaped the nightmare that had happened to him a few weeks earlier - and he couldn’t foresee a time when he would.
There was no way out.
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Once Kris left her room, Allison changed into her pajamas and got comfortable for the night before heading down the hall toward Adam’s room. He was a night owl like her, so he was probably still awake. She didn’t want to put off until tomorrow talking to him about the strange incident at the restaurant that night.
She only hoped that he’d be willing to talk back.
She frowned, puzzled, when she saw Kris’s girlfriend walking away from Adam’s door. She nodded and smiled in passing as Larissa walked on toward the room she was sharing with Kris for the night. Out of the corner of her eye, Allison watched Larissa disappear into the room as she spoke quietly to Adam’s security guard.
“Is he still awake?”
“I think so. He just had company a minute ago, so…”
“Great. I’ll just…”
Allison allowed her voice to trail off, raising a loose fist and nodding toward the door before stepping forward and knocking. There was no response, so after a few moments she knocked again. She was about to give up and go back to her own room for the night when she heard the soft sound of the deadbolt being turned, and the door opened just a crack, allowing her to see just a little bit of Adam’s face.
It was enough for her to see that he had been crying.
“Adam. What…?”
He waved a dismissive hand, rolling his red-rimmed, glistening eyes. “I’m okay,” he insisted - but the hoarse crack in his voice gave him away.
Allison frowned, pushing past him into the room and carefully closing the door before responding softly. “No, you’re not. What is it?”
“I’m okay, really,” Adam’s voice rose slightly, edging out of his control as he turned away from her and swiped angrily at his smoke-smudged eyes.
“Adam. Come on.”
Allison followed his movement, reaching out to touch his arm, surprised when he flinched away from her. Her voice softened as she moved around to face him fully, reaching out to take his hands in hers as she looked up into his face. She waited patiently until he reluctantly met her eyes.
“What is it?” she gently urged him as she sat down on the edge of the bed and tugged him down to sit beside her. “Come on. Talk to me.”
“I c-can’t.”
His voice caught in his throat, barely over a whisper, full of a deep despair that tore at Allison’s heart. She remembered what Kris had told her, and fought against her instincts to push harder, to demand that he give her something she could work with.
“Okay,” she softly replied instead, sliding in close to his side and wrapping her arms around him in a gentle hug. “You don’t have to talk, then. But… I’m not going anywhere. I can just… be here.”
Adam tensed in her embrace for a few moments… before relaxing gratefully into it at last, wrapping his arms around her and allowing his head to fall onto her shoulder as his own shook with silent sobs.
TBC...