Tim.

When all was said and done Austin and Rob left again and I felt like a heavy burden was lifted off my shoulders. So that was it, I thought as I went back to Adam and cuddled with him totally content with myself and the world. For some magical reason, I hadn't lost all my friends, the guy I liked, liked me back and yeah, it felt like a happy end, we even had kissed.

Maybe I had forgotten something important during my high but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Well, I only really remembered after Adam had gone home and I was left alone in my apartment until I had to go to work the next day.

Actually, I dreaded going to work the day after I came out to my friends since that meant having to face Sammy without punching him and I felt weirdly possessive over Adam. I wanted him to be completely mine without getting abused by that disgusting excuse of a man. 

But after I arrived he boss stayed in his office and Adam hadn't even showed up so far. Truth to be told, he wasn't late in the normal way, which meant that he would still be able to perform, but no, hours passed and customers came and left, but Adam didn't enter the club.

However, the evening itself was a catastrophe. The dancers were weirdly uncoordinated and only a few customers stayed for let's say a normal amount of time. It was actually sad to witness, but I had no idea what the problem was until a stressed and overall worried Chris stepped into my view.

"Who poisoned our boys? They can barely keep up with the beat," I tried but Chris wouldn't stop running from table to table so he could apologize to every customer personally and take their orders.

"It's not the dancers it's the music that is just a notch too fast, the boss sometimes messes with the system when he is in a bad mood," Chris pressed out and magically let a notepad and a pen appear out of his extremely tight pants. He shivered slightly and rubbed over his bare arms before he turned back to me. "Listen if you see Adam maybe warn him about the music or something, okay? Or better yet, find out where he is."

I blinked in confusion before worry took over, something really was messed up with that Sammy guy, but more importantly and what bothered me the most was Adam's absence. It might've been crazy, but I considered paying Sammy a visit just to see if he knew where Adam was, but I didn't. Slowly, I followed Chris as he took the orders from various annoyed customers and watched in amazement how he put up a fake smile for the customers and a more or less blank expression during the time he moved around.

"What do you mean? Yesterday when he went home -"

"He never showed up, okay. I don't know what's up with you and him - congrats if it is what I think it is - but Adam didn't come home yesterday," Chris interrupted me and removed his cowboy hat as he hurried to the kitchen door behind the bar. 

The poor guy basically had to put up with his boss' shit and still make everything work, whereas the boys failed to adjust their rhythm to the music, but I guessed that was also part of their muscle memory seeing as Adam had mentioned that being a problem for him sometimes too.

With a shudder, I remembered our first almost kiss, just because of Adam's muscle memory and the idea to pay Sammy a visit, just to hurt him for all he had done to Adam, seemed a lot more appealing then. But I didn't leave Chris.

Always cautious and hesitantly, I followed Chris to the kitchen and took his hat with me, but tried to keep some distance so I wouldn't stand in his way all the time. He was all over the place, making sure at least the cooks would do a proper job and gave them the orders of some guest before he hurried back to the bar to fulfill the other customer wishes.

"Do you even care about what is going on with Adam?" I asked him more irritated than angry, but he didn't stop in his tracks and just put the glass down he had just poured a cocktail in before he took a large bottle from the shelf behind him.

"You're asking me if I care about my baby brother?" Chris asked and spoke eerily slow, almost as if he was talking to a retarded child, just a tiny bit colder and angrier. "Are you really asking me whether or not I care that he gets abused on a daily basis by this asshole, just so we can pay the fucking rent?" His grip on the bottle tightened until his knuckles turned white and a muscle in his arm twitched like he was going to lash out at me any second. Needless to say, I regretted existing in that moment.

"I'll tell you what," Chris started and it looked a lot like he had to force himself to act as calmly as possible to not alert the customers. "Adam and I got in a really shitty situation, we asked the wrong people for money and we ended up here to pay the loans we needed to pay other loans. Ridiculous isn't it, almost funny."

Chris didn't laugh, but instead, put the bottle down and dragged a hand across his face. He looked so tired and worn out at that moment, but I couldn't bring myself to pity him, my worry for Adam was still the strongest thing I felt.

"At first, our contracts just said kitchen and/or bar, but Adam can't even make coffee, you know," Chris continued as he squared his shoulders and started to mix another cocktail. "So changes had to be made and believe me, I was fighting for him so he wouldn't get in this situation... and you see what happened. But nowadays I can't do shit except for holding him after a nightmare."

For a whole minute, a heavy silence lay between us and Chris' shoulders gradually sunk down while he continued to work. He never stopped, it was admirable and stupid at the same time. I should've offered him a hug or something, but Chris was up and moving again with his tray and the cocktails and a fake smile that looked somewhat real.

His unspoken words 'I have failed as big brother' followed his every step and hung around him like a disgusting, but invisible cloak that prevented him from walking as straight as his body would allow it and yes, I pitied him, although I didn't want to.

°^°

On another note, please check out my newest Tidam story called 'Borrowed'!

Please vote and/or review if you like this story and THANK YOU for being here!