Adam and Steve Ch. 08

"What's the final thing, Babe?" Adam asked.

"We keep getting interrupted. Meaning every time I want to take you somewhere, or even when we did get to my cabin, and soon it will be our cabin. We had to come home. I want to take you on vacation."

"When would you like to do this?"

"I already asked Teddy if they normally have games during spring break, and he said no, that it's the week that families like to take their kids traveling. So I would like to do it then. I understand that spring break for you isn't what it is for colleges."

"No, sometimes it falls in late March or April. Schools like to let it fall on or near Easter." Adam responded.

"So you will let me do that?" Steve stated as Adam hugged him.

"Yes, but that is it, please." Adam kissed the back of Steve's neck. "Let's get up before the boys come back in."

Steve chuckled, "Yeah, we better."

They dressed and went out into the family room. Adam came out to a lot more presents than he and Steve went to bed last night. He looked straight at Steve. "It wasn't me."

Teddy and Jeff laughed. "I went to my grandfather. I wanted to get you two things without going to Steve for the money."

"I'm amazed Dad didn't make you earn it somehow," Steve responded and looked at Teddy. "What did he make you do?"

"No one noticed that I was gone much after Adam and I would come home from school. I drove over to the mansion for a few hours, and Grandfather just wanted to play chess. He taught me the game, and of course, he won, but I'm getting better."

Adam spoke up before Steve, "Teddy, I'm sorry. You're right. Once we came home, I noticed nothing. I need to apologize to you too."

"No, you don't, Adam," Teddy responded. Jeff had never seen this side of Adam before.

"Teddy, I turned in on myself. I was drunk a lot, and I thank you for the times that you drove home from school. I hid the drinking. I knew it wasn't good for me to drive, and I was always glad when you'd take my excuse that I had a headache. I never thought being raped would affect me like this. I've never known of anyone that who had raped. So I didn't know what emotions I was going to have."

"Adam, you don't have to apologize. I know you were going through a lot. If I didn't snoop, I might have still been in the dark, but I'm glad I did because those first few weeks scared me. I thought that Steve and you were on the verge of breaking up again." Teddy looked down and then back up. "But Adam, I think you need to let a few people know. Because there is more

then who's in this room that is worried about you."

Adam nodded, "I know, I need to talk to Marc, Matt, and Sarah." Teddy only nodded himself.

"Okay, can I give you your presents now?" Teddy responded.

"Why don't you hand them all out but stack the ones from you on top," Steve responded.

"Okay." Teddy and Jeff got up, and they started passing around the gifts and sitting them in front of each person.

Adam and Steve had sat on the couch together. So Teddy and Jeff were piling them either on the coffee table or on the floor next to them.

Adam sat back and watched Steve open his from Teddy. "Oh Steve, before you open that one, can I say something?" Teddy asked, and Steve just nodded. "I know you probably won't ever wear it, but I wanted you to have it. Cause you're mine."

Steve looked at Teddy oddly and then finished opening the box. It had a tie in it. Steve smiled and looked at Teddy. "I'll be proud to wear this," Steve said as he pulled the tie out of the box. '#1 Dad.'

He opened other things from Teddy, a new dress shirt, another tie, and a wallet. Then he was done with stuff from Teddy, and it left items from Adam, just two boxes. "Do you want me to open these now or wait until you open Teddy's things?"

"Teddy's decision," Adam responded.

"Can Adam open my things first?" Teddy asked, and Steve nodded.

Adam picked up the first of three boxes. "You've bought too much."

"Well, actually, some of it is for your birthday." Teddy laughed.

"So nothing's a secret, huh?"

"Steve didn't tell me, Adam. I'm sorry, it was in the paperwork." Teddy told him, and Adam nodded, saying no more.

Adam opened a box and pulled out a football, and he noticed that there were tons of signatures on it. Adam looked at Teddy, "I asked Marc to help me. We contacted everyone we could find from the twelve football seasons at Westbridge that you were either the Assistant or Head Coach for and asked them to sign. This football traveled all over the world." Teddy laughed. "Grandfather knows some people in the military. It was great."

Adam was having a hard time keeping tears from forming. He was blinking his eyes a lot. "Thank you, Teddy." Steve smiled at Teddy.

The next box he opened, Teddy didn't have to say anything as soon as he saw it. It would explain itself. Adam pulls out a tie, '#1 Step-Dad'. Both Adam and Steve laugh. "Thanks, Teddy."

The last thing was a new wallet like his old one. "I've noticed that it's getting raggy looking. I don't know when you will change it, but when you do, you will have a replacement."

"Again, thanks." Adam smiled.

"Boys, why don't you open yours?" Steve asked.

"No, we want to see what you two got from one another." Teddy and Jeff both nodded.

Adam spoke up, "Well, this better be clothes from Steve because I don't need anything else." He picked up one box. It was light, too light. "What is this?" Adam turned to Steve.

"Just open it, Babe." Steve smiled.

Adam opened the box, and it had a certificate in it. "A spa day?"

Steve laughed, "Yes, you and I are going to get pampered. For one day, we will get a couples massage, facials, sit in a sauna, maybe a hot tub, have manicures and pedicures. Then I'm going to take you out to a wonderful dinner."

"And when is this supposed to happen?" Adam asked.

"I have it scheduled for Wednesday." Steve smiled, and Adam nodded.

Adam picked up another package and opened it, and it did have clothes in it. It made him happy. There were five new polo shirts for work. "Thank you, Babe." Adam kissed Steve on the cheek.

Steve looked at Adam, "Is there an order?"

"Not for these two. But there is one that Teddy missed." Adam responded, and Teddy looked at Adam. "Look at the branches." Teddy did, and he couldn't believe he missed one that was that big. The three inches tall and six inches square. Teddy jumped up and got it before Adam could.

Steve had to laugh, "Really, Babe, seasonal ties?"

"You lay in bed and say that someone in the office gives you issues when you don't wear something different for the seasons." Adam chuckled. "These are silk from your richy ass stores, and they are subtle." That they were, you would have to look closely at the print to see that they were pumpkins for Halloween or eggs for Easter, and so on.

"You can't buy these as a set. I know what store you got these from."

"No, only throughout the year," Adam responded, and Steve knew that meant Adam went out to the store when he was depressed. That meant a lot to Steve that Adam would finish out a gift to him when he was hurting himself. Steve sat the ties aside, pulled Adam to him, and kissed him.

"Thank you. I will wear them happily."

The next box Steve opened was light. He opened the lid, read what was written inside, closed it, looked at Adam, and smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful new year's plan."

"What just happened?" Teddy asked.

"Adam and I are going to go to the Tahoe cabin for new year's," Steve responded as he picked up the last box from Adam and started unwrapping it. He opened the box and found another box inside. He looked up at Adam. "Is this?" He picked up the box and opened it to two rings. "When did you buy these?"

"Probably about the same time you bought yours. I told you, you will know why I noticed my ring gone when we went out to the other room."

Steve laughed. "You took one of mine."

"I was putting back yours when I noticed my ring missing." Adam took the box out of Steve's hand. "May I?" Steve nodded. "You got to ask me, but I didn't get to ask you." Adam got down on both knees in front of Steve. "Our anniversary sadly was a fucked up day. After that weekend, I had hoped to come home to redeem spending it with a buddy and the afternoon of our anniversary at a football game. And to ask you to marry me." Adam bites his lower lip. "I'm glad you stuck by me Babe, I don't know how you did some days." Tears came to Adam's eyes, but Teddy and Jeff were smiling.

"Steve, I love you, and I want to marry you. I'm glad you want to marry me too." Steve nodded as Adam pulled out the diamond embedded band and placed it on Steve's left ring finger. Adam sat back on the couch, and Steve sat next to him. Steve whispered that yes, he would love to marry him.

They were content in watching Jeff and Teddy tear into their presents. Jeff and Teddy got clothes, games for their systems, and other things. They were happy to leave Adam and Steve alone for the day.

No one knew, not even Steve was Matt, Sarah and Marc had talked, and they decided to stop over on Christmas to talk to Adam and Steve. When they stopped, Adam and Steve were sitting on the deck, and Teddy had told them to go out there.

"Hey, what are you all doing here?" Adam said when he caught sight of the three coming out on the deck.

Sarah, being the spokesperson, spoke up. "Well, Adam, since Steve won't talk to us. We are very worried about you. You haven't been yourself. Marc said he's covered for you at school during November. That you were drunk, Adam, that's not like you. What the hell is going on that you couldn't come to us?"

Adam looked down and then looked at Steve. "You might want to have a seat for this one, and Steve will be glad to serve you something to drink afterward."

"I don't think you need anything to drink, Adam," Marc stated.

Steve rubbed Adam's back as support as Adam took in a few breaths and blew them out. "In October, I spent a night in the hospital because I was raped. I've been in counseling for about six weeks. I didn't go right away. I didn't think I needed it. Steve pushed me."

All three just sat there staring at Adam. Marc was the first one to speak up. "How?" Marc looked at Adam then changed it. "I don't mean how, but I mean how did it happen? You're not a small man."

"Neither was the guy that did it. He was bigger and stronger." Adam said. "I'm not going to give you all the details, but we fought, and he strangled me to the point of passing out."

"All those bruises?" Marc asked, and Adam nodded slowly, thinking he covered them better. "I assumed that you got in a match when you were up with your buddy Kip...." Then it sunk in, Marc realized who raped Adam. He had remembered the news report but didn't even bring it up to Adam. Adam was already spacy that Monday and only got worse, and then the word came out the charges were dropped.

Matt was stunned. He just looked at Adam and didn't say a word. Sarah did speak up, "Were you checked out? For diseases and everything?"

"He tore me if you are wondering. I don't have my first HIV test until next month. But one of the agreed items for dropping the charges was he had to do a full panel of tests to find out what I could be dealing with."

"Did he have any?" Sarah asked.

"One, Chlamydia," Adam responded.

"Then why are you going through with the HIV test?" Marc asked.

"I don't know if he just didn't get recently exposed." Adam snapped back. "And I'm not willing to risk Steve's health or life."

"Sorry, man, good point." Marc apologized.

They talked for a while, and Adam convinced them that he was turning a corner with Steve's help. He hoped that his dreams would taper off. All he can do is take a day at a time. Sadly, he does take a step back, but he hopes he doesn't stay there long.

***

A few months later

Vivian stopped over to see Kip. She wanted to talk with him about possibly moving back in. She still had the key to the condo. He never took that away from her. They were still seeing one another off and on. So she made an unscheduled visit one evening.

She heard Adam's voice walking in, and she thought that was odd. Considering he was moaning a few times. Vivian took her shoes off so Kip nor Adam wouldn't be able to hear her, and she snuck into the family room where she found the source of at least Adam. He was on TV. Kip was on the couch. After Adam came on the TV, it went to Kip and him in the family room fighting.

Then she couldn't believe her eyes. Kip was strangling Adam when he passed out. Kip pulled his shorts and boxers down. She heard him spit in his hand a couple of times, and he started fucking Adam.

She knew Kip was sitting on his couch naked, she couldn't see what he was doing, but she was sure he was masturbating. She didn't want to be there anymore. She looked up at the screen, and Adam started struggling, and Kip put him in a neck hold. Kip was belittling him, calling him trash. Vivian backed out to the safety of the hallway and ran for the door, grabbing her shoes. She opened the door quietly, closed it behind her, and ran for her car.

Once she was down the street, she called a friend. "Val, I need your help. Can I come over now?" Of course, her friend told her, yes and she headed that way.

Arriving at Val's, she decided to keep Adam's name a secret because she knew the charges back in October when he had been there were dropped. She parked and walked to the door, and Val answered. "Girl, you look shaken. What's wrong?"

"I need some advice, and maybe you can reach out to someone."

"Okay, tell me what you need advice on, and I will let you know what I can do," Val responded. Vivian told her about what she walked in on at Kip's. Reminded Val about Kip being brought up on sexual assault charges, and then they were dropped in the same week. "Well, we know now why. Because the man didn't want his name all over the media." Val responded, and Vivian agreed.

"So, what do you think I should do with this information?"

Val didn't give her an answer. She pulled out her phone and called someone. "Hi David, you dealt with the Kip Stevenson's sexual assault case back in October?"

David Meyers from the Prosecutor's Attorney's Office answered like he always does. "There was no case against Mr. Stevenson."

"Come on, David, we both know there were charges brought up and dropped. We have some information that you and the other party in the case really needs to know about." Val responded.

David blew out a loud breath, "Val, do you have time tonight to talk?"

She looked over to Vivian, and Vivian nodded. "Yeah, where do you want to meet?"

"I'm still at my office."

"We'll be there in twenty minutes," Val stated as she hung up. They drove straight down, and David met them at the door to let them up.

"Okay, this better be good," David said once they had gotten to the elevator to go back to his floor. "Who's this?"

"Hi, I'm Vivian Saunders, Kip's ex-girlfriend, kind of, but after what I saw tonight, we're through."

"Okay, what do you mean by kind of?" David asked as they got to his floor and exited the elevator heading to his office.

"We were working on getting back together. Kip was taking me out again, and I still had a key to his condo even though I had moved out back in October." Vivian explained as David escorted them into his office.

"Okay, first, I'm going to ask before we continue. Do both of you know who the victim was?"

"I asked her not to tell me his name," Val responded.

"Okay, Val, if you could please leave the room so I can talk to Vivian."

"Can she please stay? I'll keep his name out of it when I talk about him." Vivian pleaded.

"Okay, but first, I need to know if you really know who the victim was," David responded. "So write it on this pad of paper. Val, please turn around." Vivian wrote down Adam Cort's name on the pad of paper. David looked at her and turned the pad over. "Okay, please have a seat. Tell me what you came here about."

Vivian changed Adam's name to Bob in the story but told David everything she walked into tonight at Kip's. David just sat there, blown away. "Well, David, what are you going to do?" Val asked.

"I don't know what we do about this, to be honest," David responded.

Vivian spoke up. "Can you call him and tell him that Kip has video of the crime?" David shook his head. "How about his lawyer?"

David thought about it. He could call Steve and ask if he could go to his office to talk with him. "Yeah, let me look up his number." David had Steve's number on his phone. They were friends. That was the only reason he even considered giving him the heads up on this. "Val, I will need you to step out for the phone call." Vivian looked at both David and Val, and she nodded and told Vivian it was confidential that she knew who the victim was.

David called Steve, it was after eight in the evening. "Hello, David?" Steve answered.

"Steve, do you have a few minutes to talk?" David asked.

"Yeah, I do, is this business or just talking?" Steve cut to the chase. He knew David didn't call him much for just chatting.

"Business, if you're not in your office. Could you be?" David asked.

"Give me a second." Steve looked at Adam. Adam smiled and motioned that he was going to bed, Steve kissed him, and they parted ways. "Okay, what did you have?"

"Hope you're sitting for this one," David stated. "I have Vivian Saunders in my office. I don't know if you know who that is."

"Vivian Saunders, no, that doesn't ring a bell," Steve responded.

"I didn't think it would. But it would with Adam." David said, and warning bells went off in Steve's head. "She's Kip's kind of ex-girlfriend, the reason I said kind of, they were trying to work things out."

"Were?" Steve asked.

"Well, she went over there unannounced tonight and found Kip watching something interesting. He didn't know she was there, and she left it that way." David said, and then he told Steve what all was seen. While David stated the facts, Steve was quiet and asked Vivian to say something if he needed clarification. "Steve, what do you think?"

"Are we still on speaker?" Steve asked.

"Yes."

"Take me off," Steve asked, and David did, putting the phone to his ear. "Let me take care of this. I'll do it legally but let me do it. I don't know if I can tell Adam this right now. It's been six months. I don't want this to basically rape him all over again."

"I understand, Steve."

"Let me talk to Vivian," Steve asked, and David handed Vivian the phone.

"Hello."

"Vivian, my name is Steve Ames. I'll let you in on something to know where I'm coming from. Not only am I Adam Cort's lawyer, but I'm also Adam's fiance."

"Oh," Vivian exclaimed.

"Please don't let Mr. Stevenson know that you have involved anyone concerning what you saw at his home tonight. If you want to end it with him. Please do so, but find another excuse. I'll deal with Mr. Stevenson legally about this somehow."

"Okay, Mr. Ames," Vivian said.

"Let me talk to David." She handed the phone back. "David, I might be up there tomorrow or Wednesday. I'll let you know in the morning."

"Okay, Steve, see you soon." David hung up the phone.

Steve called his dad and talked with him. They agreed to fly up in the morning with security, but Frank wanted Adam there even if Adam sat in the limo while they went in to talk with Kip. Steve agreed that he wouldn't keep this from Adam, but he still didn't know how to tell him either.

Steve walked into the bedroom. It had been close to an hour since he had parted ways from Adam when he got the call from David. He could tell that Adam was asleep, and he knew that Adam was prepared to get up at 5 to leave for school in the morning. He walked around to Adam's side of the bed and sat down.

Adam was lying on his back, and he looked so relaxed. Steve remembers watching Adam sleeping first after the rape and further out. If Steve didn't come straight to bed with him, he would find Adam in the fetal position. In the beginning, it was a tight fetal. Steve doesn't even know how Adam would ball up like that, but as time went on and Adam progressed in therapy, he returned to a relaxed state of sleep.