Kyle bit his lip, and then let Adam go, laying back against the pillows. He unbuckled the leather cuff he had been wearing, letting it fall to the bed and showing the handprint bruise beneath. “I don’t know Jeffrey,” he said, looking Adam in the eye as he pretty much put himself on display. “You don’t know Harry. But we both know how you reacted when you saw these for the first time,” he said, indicating the bruising across his skin. “That – that’s how I feel, when you tell me that your best friend is insane, that his family’s insane. That you’re only safe because you do what he wants.” He could feel the alcohol in his veins now, loosening his jaw and making him say things he otherwise wouldn’t. “I always did what Harry wanted. Even if I didn’t really want to. Sometimes he was nice about it, like he knew best and he just wanted the best for me and it felt really good, y’know, knowing someone was there to take care of me. Other times he would get so pissed at me and I hated upsetting him, so I just did it.”
Adam's eyes ticked to the bruises and this time it was his turn to reach for Kyle's hand, turning it over so he could see the handprint there. "How could he think this was okay? How could he say he cared about you and hurt you?" He looked up at Kyle and shook his head. "It's not...he wouldn't hurt me. I don't think. Not like this. We're in too deep together. He knows all my secrets and I know his and I've seen him turn on others before. I don't want that. I don't want to lose him." There was one secret that Jeffrey didn't know about though, one that Adam had kept strictly to himself, but he didn't bring that up. Kyle might not enjoy that that Adam had lied about him to Jeffrey, telling his friend that the random person he'd met in the diner was a girl to avoid suspicion.
“He was angry. He got really, really angry. We were meant to be going out with some of his friends. They had this really big night planned and I had to be there. And… I couldn’t do it. He thought it was ridiculous. My friend, Nelson, had died weeks ago and I’d been dealing with it just fine. And then it was like it hit me all at once, and I couldn’t stop crying and I was this total mess. Harry and I had this huge fight and for the first time in what felt like forever, I told him no – because I physically couldn’t tell him yes. Not and be the person he wanted me to be. He wanted the me you don’t really seem to like all that much. The perfect me, with the hair and the clothes and the poise that says I’m better than everyone else. He wanted me on his arm, because if I’m better than everyone else, and I’m his, then he’s better than everyone else too. Harry knew exactly what he wanted, always, and he didn’t like it when things didn’t go his way.” Kyle rolled over to the edge of the bed and hooked his shirt, pulling it on to cover the bruises and snapping the cuff back into place. “What makes you different? If Jeffrey’ll turn on others. Why are you different?”