Tommy

"There's sort of a ban on this story." Cassidy began, his voice deepening further as he started the story. I was nervously swallowing already. "He hasn't said we can't tell, but there's silence enough when the topic is even slightly prodded."

I noticed the others solemnly nodding to what he said and I couldn't say I was damn-surprised. After all, he'd send me away (cough, threw me out) right after I tried to help him, which is way-fucking-further then just 'prodding the subject'.

"A long time ago…"

"In a land far-far away." Giggled Cheeks, though the chuckle was rather dry. I couldn't help but smile softly when Cassidy smacked him over the head, though he did so with a smile.

"As I said, quite some time ago, Adam was, hard as it is to believe, the life of the party. Many said he was one of the most wonderful persons they'd ever met. We knew him…"

"Ahem…" Addison coughed not very tactfully.

"Well, everybody but Addison knew him as a fun and happy person. He had many talents, though he was a little underestimated" Cassidy dismissively waved his hand when both Cheeks and Katy started laughing. "He was easygoing, generous with his friendship and exciting to be around. Always doing stuff and busy with what it was he liked doing. Not as easily distracted as he is now. He was always a bit strange, but I personally think that just added to his personality." Cassidy sat up from his relaxed position besides Cheeks and he leaned more towards me. I noticed I'd done the same. "He wasn't perfect and actually quite the drama-queen, but hey, who of us isn't?" Tommy couldn't deny that one.

"The haters called him over the top, but je was gentle, though yes, a little loud and his smile would make a whole room light up."

"It's true, everyone smiled when he did. And boy, did he laugh loud and hearty." Kris added, an equal soft smile on his face, Katy nodded. "He was so simply himself and yet so extraordinary."

"Your typical Aquarius and yet so out of the box one needed a new one to defy him." Cheeks added, smiling too.
Normally, I didn't like people who did astrology, but it seemed to fit him. As it did the vision they sketched of him now.

"He was one of the best friends I've ever had." Cassidy agreed. "Best thing was he wasn't even aware of how all of those things. It was normal for him to try and help people and he always said he liked mistakes because it taught him not to make them."

I was slightly taken back at how they talked about Adam. Honest and sheer love for that man he'd been. I wondered. Just wondered.

"And his love was all-covering, that was his main personality-trait. No matter who it was, how they looked or how they were oriented. If he liked them, he loved them, no matter what, because…"

"Love is what this world needs, love is blind." Everyone finished the line, even Addison and I guessed she'd heard this lots of times before.

"What happened?" I asked, not sure if I even wanted to know the answer, heck, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to know the story. It was most likely seriously messed up. Or turned fucking inside-out.
I just wanted… I just wanted Adam and that smile I'd gotten. That man I had woken up to this morning.

"Drake happened." Cassidy glowered.

"Who's Drake?" I asked, with what was probably a moronic expression on my face.

Kris sighed and went on where Cassidy'd stopped, drawing my attention to his slightly accented voice. "Drake is Adam's ex-boyfriend."

That stung a little within.

"It was bound to happen eventually, someone taking advantage of him. He was so naïve at that time and I'm still angry at myself for not seeing it before it was too late." Sighed Kris.

"It isn't your fault, honey." Katy said. "Nobody saw it coming. Adam was such a steady factor that no-one expected that something like that could happen to him."

"But we should've." Cassidy said, remorsefully. "We were his friends and we didn't see it."

Cheeks sighed. "I did, a little, but I was a little too caught up with myself to really do something about it."

"Don't hate yourself." Addison said. "I would probably have done the same."

Cheeks smiled at her, though sadly.

I, however, still didn't get a damn thing of what they were saying. "What happened then?"

"Drake happened." Kris said once more and it started to irritate me. Addison saw it.

"From what I've heard." She said. "Though no-one but Adam can be completely sure, he sort of killed Adam. Telling him he was worthless and blaming him for everything that went wrong with both their life and Drake's own. He treated him with no respect by the end of it, seeing him more as a pet then anything. He basically sucked Adam dry of all his happiness, little slurp by little slurp."

I already felt the need to punch the guy for taking that man they described away from then, though I didn't know him. I just knew the Adam now.

"It didn't start that way though." Cheeks said. "In the beginning he was incredibly nice, to everyone, basically. He seemed to adore Adam and I remember being a little taken back by the affection. When I dated Adam…" He stopped there, eyeing me for a second. "And don't worry, I'm the 'dating-your-best-friend-but-finding-out-you're-better-off-as-friends' kind of boyfriend. It was totes fun for as long as it lasted and nothing about it changed our status as friends, really. Not until Drake."

"Not waiting for a cheeky-analysis here, sweet-face." Cassidy remarked.

"Right." Cheeks coughed. "As I said back then, I never knew Adam to be a person that was so… dreamy, really. For a while, Drake was all he could think and talk about. I never expected that he would like all those little gooey things, but he was in love. Desperately, maybe a little unhealthily, but I thought it to be what he wanted. So hey, I wasn't complaining. "

"Nobody was." Katy said. "I only knew him shortly, before he changed, but his happiness was nice. Like said, he radiated of it. The changes were very small. Lithe."

Now, Cassidy continued again. "I don't know what exactly happened, but the gooey things slowly went to submissive things. Drake started dominating him, making choices for Adam."

"He would go all 'I don't think it's good for your health if you'd go out now. You better stay in, you've went out so much lately. I'm starting to think you don't like me that much anymore' When in reality, Adam hadn't gone out and partied like the glam-rocker he was in weeks. And Adam listened it, swallowed all his crap without complaining." Cheeks said bitterly. "We didn't really see it, but the 'You better stay in' part, now that I look back on it, was always a little more emphasised."

I gulped, that was really, really damned pathetic.

"And all the while, Drake would go out partying by himself, didn't he?" Addison said, putting git like a question.

I gaped at this. No way.

"Already cheating on poor Adam, surely." Kris huffed, almost angry, his brown eyes flaring with protectiveness. "Moron, didn't know what a jewel he had in his hands." I could sense he did love Adam a lot, because I didn't think him violent. He seemed very calm, without the flaring eyes. They all seemed so. But hey, I might be fucking biased.

"It got slowly worse, especially when they tried to set up club Glam…" Cassidy once more spoke.

"Drake helped building club Glam?" I asked, dumbstruck.
I'd thought this building screamed 'Adam' from the first time I'd been here. I couldn't imagine that monstrosity being that cool or creative, though I'd never actually met him.

"Well, back then it was still called 'the Dragon'." Cheeks mocked, half laughing. "And everything went wrong because Drake made the wrong decisions, trusted his slimy 'friends' and messed up everything Adam did."

"Even we saw that, unobservant as we were, at the time." Katy remarked, as Cassidy continued. His skin seemed to darken with the story, just like his voice and even his eyes had. It send a shudder up my spine. The story wrenched something inside of me and it was freaking me out.

"He was an idiot when it came to clubbing, no matter how often he did it, he always did something wrong." Cass (oh look, a nick-name) was now staring into space. "And he blamed Adam. He fucking dared to dump all of it on Adam."

"And Adam believed him." Addison shifted on the couch, flicking her hair behind her shoulders. "I know people around here and I know the history of the Glambuilding. Drake paid the wrong people and scolded Adam openly for wasting money and having the wrong friends. They say Adam's wardrobe thinned miraculously after that. Paying for his boyfriends mistakes."

"As did his collection of friends, as he started blocking us out. Due to Drake too, most obviously." Katy had now really started crying and pushed Kris away when he tried to comfort her, so instead, her husband continued. I saw his eyes getting watery too.

"Drake wanted to be huge, to be famous and he was using Adam's talents for that. He was draining Adam of every creative thing he'd ever had and what did he give back?"

"Nothing good, probably." I guessed, swallowing.

"Beatings, that's what he got." Cassidy's voice was sharp like a knife and I shuddered. It was hard to imagine Adam so, so. On his knees. Submissive.
In my eyes, Adam seemed so strong, so composed and in control. It was like they were speaking of someone else. They might even be.

"Poor Adam." Cheeks let his cheek rest on Cassidy's shoulder, as to calm the skin-showing man. "He thought he deserved it. He thought he was never good enough. He tried to be perfect and Drake still treated him like the dirt underneath his expensive shoes."

"That's about when we started noticing, or a little before that." Cassidy said, staring at me with sharp and angry eyes, menacing. "And we tried to help him, we did."

"We really did." Kris agreed. "Bud he wouldn't let us come near. And you know why?"

I had a fairly good guess. "Because of Drake."

"Because Drake made him think we weren't good enough for him and Adam wasn't good enough for us. Do you hear how twisted that is?"

He placed the friends that weren't good enough for him above his own boyfriend. That was a messed-up hierarchy.

"I do." I chocked, now understanding part of the pain I'd felt coursing through the raven, but pale skinned man I'd come to know the last days.
Had it been just 2 days? It seemed like an eternity.

Why was I even here? I didn't know Adam like they did; I didn't love him like they did.
Did I?
Shouldn't they be the ones to help him? They were his friends; they'd stuck with him through this. They wanted to help him, I was sure of that.

"Adam seems though, but boy, he's delicate, you know. So sensitive." Cheeks was almost crying with Katy Allen. "He'd turned into a wreck at the end of it."

"But that's where I came along." Addison said, a little proudly.

"Yes, that's where Addison came along with me." Kris smiled fondly. "Found her somewhere and she stuck, just like she stuck to Adam."

"Usually, Addison's forwardness can be a little uncomfortable. Annoying, to the people who have something to hide." Katy finished her husband's sentence.

"Let's just put it out there; she's really fucking blunt." Cheeks said.

"And don't you love it." Addison and Cheeks smiled at each other and I was surprised at the way the mood had changed when they reached this part of the story. But I needed to hear the end of the story.

"What did you do?" I questioned the red-head next to me, flicking my bangs from my face so I'd see her better.

"I just plainly told him that it was unbelievable how he let Drake treat him, that he was a fucking mess and that what Drake was doing to him was messed up and wrong, though not particularly in those words and very fucking often."

"I remember there being more cussing." Katy said, wiping the remains of her tears, now that she'd stopped.

"Hell yeah and he could use them too!" Addison piped, hopping on the couch. "Drake was a bastard, a cheater, a manipulating creep and I pointed out exactly what this lot just told you."

"And then came the worst beating, the one where Drake nearly killed him and Adam finally realised it was enough." Cassidy finished, but his voice was far from happy. "But the damage was already done and getting rid of Drake cost him the last of his strengths. He was a lifeless wax-doll when it was finally over. Completely drained of his essence. He never joked, he never smiled, he never even really sang anymore."

"And he has such a beautiful voice. Now it's just perfect, no flaw, but no feelings." Cheeks added sadly.

"We tried to get him back; we took care of him for weeks." Cassidy told my, now looking me squarely into my eyes. "But he didn't really trust us anymore, he didn't trust anybody. He was scarred so fucking deep."

"Eventually, we regained that trust, after all those weeks of slowly getting back some life in him, but the smiles didn't return. They turned into smirks." Kris's voice was strained.

"The jokes didn't return, instead he found his fun elsewhere in the only way he remembered from Drake."

"Mindless sex." I added.

"Exactly."

"And his love, then, didn't he believe in that?" I almost didn't dare ask and I thought myself kind of brave.

They all, whether brown, blonde or red-haired, shook their heads.

"He's masquerading; he created that unbreakable mask he's been wearing for the last months now. It's been 2 years and he has become a completely different person. The masked-man I don't know." Cassidy once more told. "Nobody has been able to pry it off him. He goes from one bed-partner to another, has built his club with ice-cold profession and is only interested in things for the shortest of times. If you take a good look at his face, you'll see that his only love now is his goal, entertaining the crowd. It's always what he was best at, but it's wrong now, though few see that. His smile is out of place."

Heck, I didn't see it either, though Lisa warned me.

"He's ice-cold and perfect, all of the time. Nobody has ever been able to even crack that mask of his, or to interest him longer then a night." Cassidy began, trailing off.

Cheeks finished him. "Except for you."

Except for Tommy. Joy.

And what did they expect of him now? That he would miraculously make everything better? That he would somehow punch the mask of the beautiful face?

"I don't know…"

"Of course you don't!" Addison half-screamed into his ear. "We don't even know."

"But Tommy," Kris told him. "You're the only hope we've had in ages. The only hope he's had in 2 years!"

God was I in for it now? Gullible, much? I should've gone away while I could; I was way too deep in now.
But I couldn't just hear this story and walk away; I had to do something now.
Thing is, I wanted to do something too.
Never suspected I would turn out to be so much of a softie.

"Please, Tommy…" Cheeks said my name as 'Twomzie' "Will you help us?"

"How could I possibly help Adam, if you haven't even…? I can't possibly… "

"He's a bit slow, isn't he?" Addison now accused Cassidy. "We just told you you are exceptional and that you can, with a little bit of help from us."

"So you do have a plan?" I questioned. Don't get me wrong, they seemed like a nice bunch of people, but from the looks of this, Adam was in some deep shit.
As in; ten feet above his head. And he was the tall one.

"Not concretely." Kris said slowly, eyeing Cassidy.

"Because we don't really know how you do it." Said man said, scratching underneath his throat-ornaments.

"But we can help you, a lot. If you want to." Cheeks said, slapping Cassidy's wrist.

"And you want that. He needs you." Addison stated.

How annoying did finishing each others' sentences get? Seriously, it was starting to get freaky. So was the fact that Adam might need me.
Did he?
Yes, yes he did.
I knew that, I'd felt that, stupid as it sounds –And I'd rather die right here and now then tell them that— but I did know.

If there was a chance, just a measly chance that I could help Adam. Fix him, or at least re-break him so he could heal the right way…

"Okay, fine. I'll do it, but only if you stop talking like that." I answered.

"Like what?" They all asked in unison.

I sighed.

Adam

I had to almost kick myself back in to gear when the evening fell. It was somehow really hard to do so, since all those feelings had unexpectedly (and un-asked-for) erupted within me.
I really couldn't use that, I had a club to run, I had a persona to be and I had a reputation to uphold.

A part of me screamed; 'Fuck Tommy, just do what you have to do.'
Another part screamed; 'YES, FUCK TOMMY!'
And yet another part didn't scream at all and was even remotely silent as it was just the need to hug him again.

I decided to shove it all in the darkest corner of my mind; that had helped before. Just like what I planned to do tonight had helped.
I was going to fuck it all out of my system.

I would find a hot boy, shove him off his feet and fuck him into oblivion.
The poor fuck-to-be had no idea he wouldn't be walking for a week.

So I kicked myself up, shoved everything away and started to get ready. Even on Monday, club glam did great business and people were expecting me as always, though the Mondays were mostly for the real die-hards only. The ones who were really addicted.
I still had to entertain them, I understood that urge, at least. It was basic, it was old, it was easy.

I'd always been a fucking coward, Drake –wince- had been right about that, too.

I hid myself with make-up and a large amount of guy-liner and put on my favourite zebra-pants. Skin-tight, perfect for what I'd planned.
I kept the shirt simple, but I decorated myself with jewellery. I shone with silver when I walked down my stairs that evening, after having stared into space for a whole day, or so it seemed.

I even shoved the image of Tommy and his heart-breaking brown eyes away. Locked it up and threw it out as far as I could.
I hoped it wouldn't return tonight.

Oh, was I wrong.

As usual, I started on the ground-floor, which was calmer then in the weekends and the dancing now had more skill and technique to it, for only the trained could manage to come today. I moved with them, talented as I was myself and smirked, looking for trouble and for tonight's flavour.

I didn't find it on the ground floor, but I wasn't taken back by that. I had to admit I was a little spoiled; Tommy's beauty had been extraordinary, I'd give the elf-like, complicated boy that one.

I quickly dismissed of him though and walked up the stairs, looking over my crowd again. Seeing the leather, the lace and the skimpy outfits. Seeing the sneakers for the street-crowd, the killer heels for the higher class. Like stripper-heels so high and I made a mental note to organise a more erotic night in the nearby future.

I reached the second floor around midnight, for I was naturally fashionably late. I kindly waved at some of the faces I vaguely recognised, but mainly lost myself in the beat that cursed through the building. I tuned them out, my eyes shined upon by the lights and the neon.
I didn't notice a particular face, except for those of Cassidy and Brad, who were seated in the middle of their own adoring crowd. I smirked; they were really handy when it came to bringing new meat to the club.
I also saw Addison and Katy, on the third terrace, but Kris was no-where to find.

If I'd really been in my game, I'd have been suspicious by now, but I was distracted, distracted by the need, by the confusion.
I needed my composure back.

I didn't get it, for then it was I saw Kris. Or rather, the person next to him. I recognised the deep brown eyes. I'd seen so many of them, glazed over, dark with lust, but mostly, just plainly brown.
His were deep, I drowned.
They were rimmed with liner, with mascara and glitter. I'd thought his eyes couldn't sparkle more then they did, but somehow he accomplished it.

I saw the blonde hair, falling over his left eye as he just looked at me.

What should've caught my attention in the first place, though, did so after that.

My god, my fucking goodness. What in the name of all that was holy was that boy wearing?
Was he deliberately trying to make me hurt him so fucking good? Did he want to be pleasured senseless?
Then that's what he's going to get.

Then I remembered I threw him out this morning, that I promised myself that he'd be out of my mind. How I'd convinced myself he was just another person passing by.

What, I questioned silently, was he doing? Why was he here? Why was he with Kris? Of all people.
What was he doing here, back in my club?
I wished, so hard, at that moment that I didn't want him her as badly as I did.
I think I failed, again.

I am so sorry for the lateness, little creepers, but my beloved internet was CRUELLY taken away from me, my muse has been a little on and off these days, my vicious vampire twin was banned from her computer too and LIFE. Got in. the fucking way.
I hate that, because I WANT do update.

It's also the fact that I'm way too easily distracted and have friends who LOVE to do that to me. Also, when one has internet back after ages, one tends to go do other (mindless) stuff.
But I still love you, endlessly and quite pathetically, so I hope this makes up for it a little.
Don't hate on Drake, please. I do believe he's a kind of nice person in real-life.
(Though if you'd like to hate on him in this story (*cough* Kradamkrazy *cough*)

Okay, now I'm going to go back to my distractions. Keep in mind reviews FUCKING help. :) But I'm not a demanding authoress, so reading is damn fine too.
~Dawn