Kellie and Brad Ch. 07

So he held on to the hug for a long time, much longer than he had originally intended, and much, much longer than Kellie felt comfortable with. 'This is so unlike him', she thought to herself.

"Uh, Russ?" she asked nervously.

Instead of releasing Kellie from the hug, he didn't let go of her at all. He clamped his hands on her butt and squeezed, savouring its fine lushness. He groaned with pleasure and drew her in closer, hoping she could feel his hard, growing arousal. He leaned his upper body back to regard her with a look that was definitely not warm and friendly.

It was almost... predatory.

"God, Kellie, you're fucking gorgeous, do you know that?" Russ asked her with a throaty voice.

"Russ, what are you...?"

Before Kellie could complete her question, Russ added, "So gorgeous, it fucking hurts." He plunged forward and engulfed her mouth with a deep, soulful kiss. Too stunned to react, Kellie felt Russ's tongue pry her mouth open and explore inside. One of his hands remained locked on her ass while the other traveled over her body and landed dangerously on her right breast. He growled as his fingers sought, and then found, her nipple. His growl rumbled louder when he playfully flicked at the hard little nub.

Kellie's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, she was so shocked. She made urgent noises, trying to signal to Russ in no uncertain terms that he had to stop immediately, but in his feverish state he completely misinterpreted her wishes. He didn't stop at all; instead he locked his arms around her waist and, if anything, kissed her even harder.

She didn't want to hurt Russ, but she had to get him off of her.

Like, right now.

That was the only thought in Kellie's head. She couldn't let this go on, couldn't let him keep kissing her, could not allow him to continue touching her in both ways and places meant only for her husband. She didn't even want to THINK about what Brad would do if he caught them like this.

Kellie shoved Russ as hard as she possibly could. He didn't let go; his surprisingly strong arms even tightened their grip around her waist. The force of her push caused them to stumble a few steps until they landed on the couch, her on top of him. There was no doubt for Kellie about Russ's stimulated state, not with the sensation of his rampant hard-on threatening to poke a hole in her stomach. The look of spaced-out bliss he had throughout the kiss remained on his face.

It was only when he felt Kellie's fists thump on his shoulders and heard her hiss, "Russ, what the hell?!" that his expression changed.

He opened his eyes. And saw her look of bewilderment.

And realized exactly what he had just done.

"Oh... oh god! NO! No, no, no, no, no! God, no! Shit!!" he moaned loudly. He scrambled out from underneath her and wrung his hands while he paced back and forth in fear. "Kellie, I'm so sorry... I can't believe I just did that... you must hate me right now... fuck I'm such an IDIOT!"

Kellie was more than ready to round off on Russ. She didn't care how out of character this was, she was just scared and angry that he had the gall to do this to her in the first place.

But the look of abject horror on Russ's face and his rambling laments were enough to give her pause. She could tell he was genuinely emotional and guilt-ridden. She reasoned that, if he was really intent on forcing sex upon her against her will, he would have ignored her demands to stop and just kept kissing and fondling her. And more. Instead, it looked like he wished the earth would swallow him whole.

So she concluded Russ's transgressions were forgivable, not criminal. Any traces of anger she had towards him were removed, and she didn't yell or otherwise attack him, knowing anything that she added would only be piling on.

Trying to be helpful, she said "Maybe we should see if Brad is done talking on the phone." Almost instantly she cringed, recognizing too late that bringing up Brad's name was probably THE worst thing she could have done.

Sure enough, just hearing his friend's name exponentially increased Russ's state of panic. "SHIT! Brad's gonna fucking KILL me!" he wailed.

Russ turned and ran out of the house, breaking into a dead sprint, just as Brad stepped out of the bedroom and was hanging up the phone. Only some quick reflexes by Brad prevented the two of them colliding heavily with each other.

Brad's head whirled toward the sight of his friend bolting out the door, and then spun back towards Kellie.

"What the hell was that all about?" he asked, sounding very perplexed indeed.

"Um... nothing?" In her head Kellie was convinced she'd be able to keep cool, but her attempt was foiled by her shaky voice, her statement coming out in the form of a question.

Brad shook his head. "Uh-uh. No way. You cannot expect me to watch my best friend race out of here as if he was on fire and then hear you give that kind of an answer and have me believe it's nothing!"

Quietly, fearfully, Kellie said, "Brad... I think you should... you need to sit down."

Fear and anger slammed into Brad like a bolt of lightning. His guts twisted inside him. The rational side of him wondered just what could have possibly happened... after all, he wasn't on the phone for THAT long... but the jealous man inside him was quickly shouting it down. If his total trust in Kellie wasn't enough proof for him to believe she wasn't at fault, the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look to her sealed that deal. That left only one possibility.

Russ.

Brad didn't like where this was heading.

"Alright," he said in a short, clipped tone as he sat on the edge of the chair nearest to him, across from Kellie. "I'm sitting down. Spill it."

Kellie took in the anger in Brad's voice, the look of intensity on his face, the way his nostrils flared, and how he slightly rocked back and forth in his chair. It was already a bad situation. Knowing this would probably get worse before it got better, she closed her eyes and swallowed, trying to find some resolve within.

There was nothing left for her to do but tell the truth.

She avoided all eye contact with him and said in a soft, shaky whisper, "Russ kissed me."

Brad gritted his teeth together and balled his hands into fists. His voice continued to be flat, emotionless and unreadable. "Kissed you... kissed you how, exactly?"

She breathed, "Well... he used a lot of... uh, tongue, and he... he touched, uh, my... breast... and my... my ass, too." She looked up to see his eyes widen in fury, and before he could completely explode she quickly yelled, "It just happened, out of the blue, OK?! I wasn't expecting it and I didn't ask for it! Please, Brad, I'm telling the truth, you have to believe me!"

Brad barely even heard Kellie's last pleas. He was hung up on the fact that Russ, his best friend, had kissed and put his hands all over his wife. 'What the fuck?! This guy's my best friend and he does THIS?! How could he fucking DO that??!!' were the words that ran through his brain, on a seemingly endless repeat cycle. His jealousy and rage were threatening to become all-consuming.

The room was silent, the tension thick enough to choke on. The longer Brad went without speaking, the more fearful Kellie became. Never had she seen him this angry before. She could practically see the rage coursing through his veins. She always trusted and believed him when he said he'd never hurt her, and she still did, but in this state she thought he might be capable of almost anything.

Something inside of Brad gave way. In the blink of an eye he leapt up from his chair and stalked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Kellie asked with a rising note of dread.

"Going to have a chat with Russ," Brad answered in the same dead, creepy tone.

Kellie swallowed hard. She set aside her considerable fear to speak one word in a clear voice.

"No."

Brad froze. He released his hand from the doorknob and looked at Kellie incredulously. He tried to speak, but disbelief and anger combined to short-circuit the connection between brain and mouth. Finally he shouted at the top of his lungs, "WHAT??!!"

Confident she was doing the right thing, Kellie's anxiety slowly diminished, and she replied to her husband in a tone that proved she would brook no argument from him. "You heard me. I said no. You're not going to see Russ right now."

For a brief, flickering moment of sheer insanity, Brad thought he might actually punch Kellie in the face. Instead he ran his hands through his hair and barked out a crazy sounding laugh. "Unbelievable," he yelled. "This must be my biggest fucking nightmare come to life! Are you telling me that my supposed best friend kisses you, gropes you, practically fucking dry humps you, and then I'm supposed to just sit here and take it like it's no big fucking deal?!"

"Don't be a jerk!" Kellie snapped back, causing Brad to flinch ever so slightly. "That's not what I said at all! I said you're not going to see him right now." She made sure her emphasis on the last two words was obvious.

"And why not?!"

"Because you're angry and not thinking straight, and you might do something stupid, something we'll all regret!"

"So instead, you want me to, what, wait until tomorrow so I can give him a beer and a high-five?!"

Kellie bit her tongue and silently counted to ten before she said something to fan the flames even further. She forced herself to remember that, if the situation were reversed, she would be mad as hell, just as Brad was. Hell, hadn't she broken up with him when she thought she'd caught him making out with Anita, even though he really was innocent of that particular crime? So, yes, she understood his anger. But she knew she had to be the one strong enough to cut through it and prevent the situation from spiralling out of control.

"Listen to me, Brad, and listen good, because I'll only say this once," she said, calmly but firmly. "It all started innocently at first. He was just making conversation. He told me he'd miss us, and we ended up hugging. Then it was like a switch went off, and something in him changed. That's when he kissed me. You may find this hard to believe, but I don't think he was fully aware of what he was doing. Yeah, he flirted with really crossing the line but I made him stop before anything really bad happened. And then when he came back to... you should have seen him when he recognized what he did. He felt so guilty and scared. In fact... oh god..."

Brad watched, stunned, as Kellie dialed a phone number and waited impatiently for the person on the other line to pick up. Her relief was evident when that person finally did.

"Hi, Ben, it's Kellie... Actually, I need your help... Can you check in on Russ?... He was here having dinner with us and then he had to leave in a hurry, I don't think he's feeling well... I don't know, I can't tell you any more than that... Please?! God, I'm so worried about him... Oh, thank you so much, you're a lifesaver!... I owe you one... Thanks Ben, bye now."

Brad waited for Kellie to hang up before speaking, now more confused than ever. "So you called my co-worker Ben to check up on Russ because..."

"Because I'm worried for him. He was having a major panic attack, Brad. I'm telling you, it was that bad."

"You... you don't really think he'd... do anything to himself... do you?"

"I sure hope not. I mean, I don't think he really would harm himself deliberately, but what if he gets drunk and does something crazy? I don't want to take any chances."

"But... goddammit, never mind about him for now! What about you, Kellie? I mean, you know that you're the victim in all this, right?! Are you telling me you're not even a little angry or upset?!"

"Well of course I wish it didn't happen. Don't get me wrong. It's just... I don't know, in my mind it doesn't feel like it's as serious as you think it is."

Brad looked like he was about to be sick. Kellie hugged him tightly and tried to pacify him with her words and soft feminine voice. "I know you'll want to talk to Russ tomorrow, and you should. I hope by then both of you will be calm enough to deal with this like adults. He's your best friend, Brad, and has been for a long time. It's a wonderful thing. Don't throw that friendship away just because of one lapse in judgement."

Brad sighed. By this point, he didn't know what to think. Kellie sensed this, and decided to give him the time and space to deal with his thoughts and emotions.

"Good night, baby. I love you. Don't stay up too late." With a soft kiss on his cheek, Kellie went to bed.

Contrary to her wishes, Brad did stay up for a long time. His mind was constantly spinning. He repeatedly tried, and failed, to make sense of what happened. Finally, hours later, he gave up and dragged his mentally exhausted body into bed. He spooned in behind Kellie and watched her sleep through teary eyes. He hadn't stopped seething over his friend's advances on her, so it mystified him that she seemed to be over it so quickly.

All he knew was that he loved Kellie so much, it hurt.

He held her possessively and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

************

There was a knock on the door.

And another. And another.

Russ tried to will the person on the other side to go away. The person wasn't listening.

He sighed and opened his front door. He wasn't surprised to see Brad standing there. He bowed his head, ready to accept his fate.

"Hey Russ," Brad said quietly.

Russ didn't speak, nor did he move.

"Russ?" Brad asked.

Once again, his friend didn't respond.

"Russ!!" Brad yelled, not out of anger, but just to get Russ to snap out of his funk.

"What?!" Russ snapped back. His stomach churned, and he wondered why Brad didn't just end this mental torture, get it over with and punch him out already, like he deserved.

"Can I come in?" For the first time, Brad thought he at least partly understood what Kellie was talking about when she said he was guilt-ridden.

"Oh, yeah. Right. Of course." Russ stepped aside so Brad could enter his house. They both took a seat at the kitchen table.

"So, Ben was here, I guess?" Brad asked, temporarily ignoring the elephant in the room.

"Yeah," Russ answered.

"How's he doing?"

"Oh, not too bad."

They both nodded and fell quiet. After a few moments of deafening silence, the tension snapped like a cable at the breaking point.

"God, Brad I'm sorry..."

"What happened, Russ..."

Both men exhaled deeply and laughed nervously over how they each blurted out their words at the exact same time.

"I guess you're not going to kill me, after all," Russ spoke, relieved that they were finally going to get down to business.

Brad's reply was mumbled, but his eyes were fixated on Russ. "If I had shown up last night like I originally planned, I might well have."

Russ searched Brad's face for any indications that he may have been at least partly joking. He found none. Brad could feel his friend studying him and expanded upon his answer.

"I'm serious, Russ. When Kellie told me what happened between you two last night, when I was on the phone, I was fucking livid. If she hadn't calmed me down, I... shit, man, I don't know what I would have done."

Russ buried his face in his hands. He couldn't believe he put himself in this terrible position, and he cursed the apparent weakness in his character. "Part of me thinks you should beat the shit out of me," he said. "I betrayed you, Brad, when I made out with Kellie. I know how you feel about her and what she means to you. I don't think I could have hurt you more if I had stuck a knife in your back."

He took a deep sigh and looked Brad in the eye. "Some friend I am, huh?"

Brad shut his eyes and ran his hand through his hair, frustrated with the whole situation. Part of him still threatened to explode in anger and violence, but he couldn't help but feel for Russ and how wracked he was with guilt and turmoil. He didn't quite know what to do yet, and he hated the feeling of powerlessness that left inside him. Sighing, he decided there was nothing else to do but plunge forward.

"I need you to answer a question for me," Brad said.

"OK. I'll try."

"What... I mean..." Brad stumbled for the right words to say until they finally tumbled out of his mouth.

"Goddammit, why'd you do it, Russ?"

Russ nodded and took a deep breath before responding.

"Remember when you and Kellie reconciled after that business you had with Anita? When I walked in on you two... uh, doing it?"

"Yeah, sure I do. It's pretty unforgettable for me, as you can probably guess."

"Well, before you helped cover Kellie up, I did see her... naked, from her side profile. I always thought she was beautiful, but my thoughts were always innocent around her, never sexual. Until that day. Then... I don't know, over time I just started thinking about her, imagining her naked, wondering what it would be like to be intimate with her. I daydreamed about smelling her, about touching her everywhere. The visions kept getting more and more frequent, more and more intense..."

"That's why you stopped visiting. Isn't it, Russ?"

"Yes, Brad, that's exactly it!" he answered, nodding vigorously. "I thought if I wasn't in her presence, my thoughts of her would just fade away and I'd be back to normal. Only it didn't happen. Not only that, I wanted her more. Then last night, you left the room and she was there in all her glory. I just... hell, Brad, I lost my fucking mind. I crossed the line, and betrayed the trust you both had in me."

He sighed and turned to look at his friend with pleading eyes. "Brad, I don't know if you can, and I don't know if I deserve it. But if you could find it in your heart to forgive me, even though I did these horrible things and have been such a terrible friend to you..."

Brad watched Russ drop his head in shame and disgust, his unfinished request hanging in the air between them. He never would have guessed this last night, but he could feel the anger draining away from his body. He recalled the time before their wedding day when Kellie told him how scared she was that he was so capable of quickly lashing out at anyone who hurt or otherwise wronged her, and his eyes watered as he realized just how right she was in her assessment. How close was he last night to committing unspeakable atrocities on Russ? God only knew.

A sudden flash of insight hit Brad. Much to his surprise, it actually caused him to laugh a little.

"Russ?"

"Yeah?"

"When's the last time you got laid?"

Russ's jaw dropped. Did Brad really just ask him that? "Uh... what?!" he asked in disbelief.

"Just work with me here, I'm going somewhere with this. Go ahead, answer the question."

Russ thought for a while. He briefly considered telling his friend the truth, but he couldn't do that. It was still too painful. He settled on another answer that, technically, was still true.

"It's been a long time, Brad. Too long."

Brad nodded, and then shook his head ruefully. "That's the answer, isn't it? Damn. I can't believe I never noticed this before!"

"Noticed what?"

"That you need some female companionship! I'm guess I'm probably not the greatest friend in the world either for not doing something to help, or at least talk to you about it, now am I?"

"Oh, I don't know about that..."

"Come on Russ, it makes sense, doesn't it? You're not getting any, so you start fantasizing about someone you know, someone kind of close to you, right? Unfortunately that someone happens to be Kellie. So we have to find you a woman so you can stop thinking of fucking my wife."

Russ cringed at his friend's painfully direct words. But he had to agree that there was actually some logic to Brad's assertions, somewhat twisted though they were.

"Now," Brad continued, "think for a moment. Is there any single woman in town you can think of that you might like and she might like you back? Anyone that would not only help you get Kellie off your mind, but you could also maybe see yourself spending quality time with?"