Cuckoo (Sequel to Outlaws Of Love)

Twenty-Four

*Tommy's POV*

"I'm staying over," I told Kris, taking out my phone. He was sitting on the couch with his legs tucked to his chest, watching me lean against his kitchen counter. "Well, if that's alright with you."

"Sure," he shrugged.

 I didn't want to leave him alone, honestly.

He hadn't said anything after his last sentence about smoking, and then he shakily took out a pre-rolled joint out of his pocket and lit it up. It amazed me how fast the tears stopped flowing, so I didn't say anything. The more that it shrunk the less he trembled and once it was all disintegrated, he had significantly calmed to the point where there was barely any evidence that he had been previously distraught only a couple minutes prior.

 He dragged himself up on the couch and rubbed his face, sighing deeply. His eyes were still puffy but other than that he was fine, so to speak. I had gone into his cabinet and found a glass to get him some water, and he had taken it gladly, gulping it down. That's where it had brought us.

In my head there were still many questions that I was itching to get answered, but I refrained all I could. I felt something building up behind my tongue so I decided to call Leila. I told her that I was sleeping over Allyson's house to avoid any unwanted attention and/or subjects and she said it was fine. When I hung up, I noticed Kris had straightened up.

"How's Eber and Leila?" he asked quietly, not looking directly at me. I walked over into the living room and sat on the ground in front of him.

"They're good." I stopped myself and bit my lip. He didn't know about what happened with Adam. If he had I could've told by now, but I was debating myself on whether to tell him or not right now.

"And Neil?" he added just as softly, bouncing his leg.

"He's doing okay, too." My heart beat faster and harder with anxiety and I found myself toying with my fingers. To keep them busy I texted Allyson and asked her to cover for me if someone decided to check up on me.

"I'm sorry to drag you into this," Kris suddenly uttered, folding his arms. "Rose told me you and Adam were dating and things were rough. Sorry for making things more complicated," he said honestly. My mouth opened and then closed. "It's just that when I recognized her, everything came back to me like a ton of bricks in my stomach. I mean, I guess I held it together pretty well for a while," he laughed at himself shortly, "then it just came out all at once."

 I was so intensely thinking that I jumped when my phone vibrated in my hand.

Allyson sent me: hey, where did u 2 go? and y am I covering for u?

I stared at the screen for a minute, blankly without a reason. The pressure of guilt was building up on my shoulders, squeezing them until I physically tensed. I managed to send a reply to Allyson before I blurted out;

"Adam's in rehab." He blinked wide eyes and just gaped at me for a moment in pure shock.

"What?" he asked dubiously. I sighed heavily and covered my face with my hands.

"Adam's... in suicide rehab... at Thomas Kingston," I said tiredly, looking at the ground.

"Oh my god..." he mumbled, total devastation strangling the words. A sentence too drenched in sadness to hear passed through his lips.

"What was that?" I asked, tilting my head at him. He rubbed his temples and took deep breaths.

"I said I never thought he'd do it again," he repeated. Wrinkles creased his forehead and he looked old and withered for a moment, like an exhausted grandfather.