Travis and Adam

This is the last chapter for my Travis and Adam series. This was my first series on this site and I have enjoyed writing every second of it. I have more than 5 other chapter stories I am working on- as time permits- and will be posting them soon. Thank you for the comments online and the emails sent to me.

*****

Adam paced outside the conference room, oblivious to the whispers and looks from his co-workers. Everyone was buzzing about the fact that Travis was being interviewed by two police officers and nobody was getting any work done. Normally that would irritate Mr. Martins, but he was so worried about his son that he wasn't even paying attention.

Mr. Martins had called the lawyer and he had arrived quickly and joined Travis. When Adam tried to follow him in, Mr. Matthews held up his hands, effectively shutting him down. He frowned, but didn't try to force himself into the conference room.

But he didn't like the fact that the police were interviewing Travis. Albert must have filed charges, that asshole! How the hell had he slipped back into his life? He let his guard down at the hotel. He should have understood the danger he was putting Travis in by even being with him. Oh god, this was his fault! If he hadn't fallen for Travis, he would be safe. How could he have let this happen?

The more he paced, that angrier Adam grew towards himself. "Fuck!" he muttered under his breath. "I am not going to let that psycho hurt Travis."

Before he thought anything through, he found himself striding through the office, out the door into the elevator. He huffed as the door closed, punched the button for the lobby and leaned against the wall, his arms folded in front of him. He wasn't even sure what the hell he was doing, he just knew he had to do something to make Albert go away. He had to show Travis how important he was to him. Surely Travis realized this was all Adam's fault; knew that if he wasn't with Adam anymore, his life wouldn't be in danger. He couldn't lose Travis!

As he entered the lobby, he was irritated to see so many people milling about, but it dawned on him that it was probably close to lunch time. He didn't feel hunger, though; no, he only felt rage. He made his way through the crowds and headed out to the parking lot. It wasn't until he was outside that he remembered that they had come to work in Travis's truck and he didn't have the keys.

"FUCK!" he yelled out, frustrated. He didn't know what to do. He threw his arms up in despair and growled out loud. His heart was racing and he just wanted to hit something. Anything. Maybe the pain would take away some of this rage. Knowing he was very close to losing it, he felt a little touch of sanity make its way through his brain telling him to calm down, to breathe. He heard the mantra in his mind, but struggled with it. He didn't want to calm down. He wanted to beat the crap out of Albert. But, deep down he knew his rage would only cause more issues. No, he admitted, anger wasn't going to help: he needed to calm down and think rationally. A walk around the building might help, he thought, and he took off at a brisk pace, rounding the first corner in seconds.

The last thing he saw was a hand holding a rag of some kind coming at his face.

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

In the conference room, Travis sat next to his lawyer, gritting his teeth and trying not to wonder how Adam was doing. Both policemen sat directly across from him at the large oval table.

"So, you are saying, sir, that you did not try to strangle Albert?"

Travis's tried not to roll his eyes. Seriously? That psycho said that? "No, I only protected Adam and pulled him away. I may not have been gentle about it, but he was putting his hands on Adam and threatening him."

Both officers looked at each other as an understanding seemed to pass between them.

"I see. So, you and Adam are... friends? Lovers? Partners?" This was from the younger cop with the blonde hair.

"We are dating, yes, but I would have done the same thing even if we were just co-workers. Albert was acting crazy." Travis wasn't going to let them make this into some gay lover's quarrel.

"Officers, my client has explained his side several times. Have you looked into this Albert's past? You do know he was hospitalized for stalking and trying to attack Adam, correct? He also attacked a security guard at the college Adam attended." The lawyer's voice was calm, almost as if he were bored with the whole meeting.

"Yes, sir. We have. But, unfortunately we have not been able to talk with him."

"What do you mean?" the lawyer asked, leaning forward. "Why not?"

The officers looked at each other again before the blonde spoke. "Well, he went to the station to file charges in OKC, and then when we got the call from Oklahoma about it we tried to reach him. So far, we have only been able to leave messages on his voice mail."

"Are you saying you don't know where he is?" Travis shot out, jumping up from the table. His heart nearly stopped as the possibilities bombarded his brain. Adam! He turned to the door before waiting for an answer and pulled it open. Fuck! He wasn't there. "Where's Adam?" he yelled out to the office.

No one seemed to know. The last anyone had seen him was about twenty minutes earlier when he had torn through the office and out the doors. Most people had assumed he just needed some air.

No! Adam! Travis's breath froze in his lungs and his heart pounded in his ears as he punched the button to the elevator. It was taking too long and he gave up waiting. Instead he ran down the hall and flung open the door to the stairs, bounding down them two and three at a time until he pushed out the exit and found himself on the side of the building. His heart nearly crumbled when he spied Adam's wallet on the ground. He picked it up and held it tight for a moment as he looked around.

"Adam? Adam! Where are you?" he screamed, as he sprinted around the building, his eyes scanning everywhere. But Adam was gone. He was nowhere to be seen. Travis's heart beat faster and he felt his breathing become shallow as he crumpled onto the cement. His Adam was gone and he had no doubt who had him. "Adam!" He screamed again.

The police, his lawyer, Mr. Martins, and most of the office had followed behind in the elevator and arrived just as they saw Travis fall.

The younger, blonde officer hurried to his side and knelt down. "What's happened?" he asked.

"It's Adam. He's gone. And I know..." his voice cracked for a second. "I know that Albert has him. I know it in my heart." Travis sobbed as he spoke. He didn't care who was watching, or what anyone was saying. The man he loved with all his heart was gone.

The officer helped Travis up and walked with him to a bench at the edge of a small flower garden along the parking lot. Once he had him sitting down, he gestured for the other officer to join him.

"Have you tried to call him?"

Travis looked up at the older officer. What was he asking him? The sound of his heart beating so loudly in his ears made it hard to understand the officer's words.

"Have you tried to call him, son?" The older man asked again, gently.

Travis pulled out his phone and instantly pressed his number. It went straight to voice mail. "Adam! If you get this message call me! Are you okay? Please call me baby. Please! We need to know you are safe."

As he hung up, he remembered the wallet in his hand and held it out for them. "When I came out, I found this. It's Adam's."

Mr. Martins ordered everyone back upstairs as more officers arrived and spent the next hour or so interviewing Travis and searching for any clues to Adam's whereabouts. His wallet was taken as evidence, as well as the card that arrived with the flowers.

As Travis stood in the office, looking through the window down at the chaos surrounding the building, he had never felt more miserable in his life. Adam was in danger and he couldn't help him. How could the world be so cruel? To have just finally found each other just to be ripped away? This couldn't be right, he thought, as his head fell into his hands and tears began to fall.

"Travis. Mr. Martins!" the blonde officer yelled. "We might have had a sighting!"

Excited, they listened as he explained a gas station attendant had just phoned in about a man that had been acting weird. The man had filled his tank, but paid first with cash and then grabbed two sodas before heading back to his car. The odd thing was that he banged on the trunk and hollered at it, as if he were speaking to someone.

The attendant, named Jerry, called 911 immediately. While he hadn't been able to get the license number, he informed the police that they had a security camera that may have caught the whole thing on tape.

"Let's go!" Travis said.

"No, son, you need to stay here," one of the officers began.

"No way in hell am I staying here." Travis growled out. His jaw was clenched and his eyes dared him to disagree with him.

The officer relented, sighing. "Fine, but you have to stay in the car."

Travis nodded in agreement, but knew that if Adam needed him, he would not hesitate to disregard those directions.

Mr. Martins decided to stay at the office. Adam's mom was heading up to meet him and they wanted to be there in case he Adam was able to find his way back to the office.

Travis followed them out to the police car, climbed in and buckled up. His heart was racing and all he could think of was killing Albert.

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

Adam's mouth felt like cotton and his head was pounding. He tried to open his eyes, but felt like he was moving in quicksand. Blearily, he tried to look around, but he couldn't see anything. It was too dark. He pulled his tongue from the roof of his mouth and tried to remember where he was.

His memory was hazy, but he recalled police officers for some reason. Flowers. Something about...He sighed. Why was he so disoriented? It was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn't grasp it. Maybe sitting up would help, he thought and tried to pull himself up. That's when he realized he couldn't move.

"What the fuck?" he whispered to himself. His chest tightened as the fear began to take hold. His breath came out in short little pants and he felt that old friend panic creep in. His terror warred with his mind as he tried to gain control. Yes, he was claustrophobic. Yes, he had panic attacks. But, he was not going to give in this time. He needed to gain control over his situation and he knew he couldn't do that as long as he was in panic mode.

He focused on his breathing. One deep breath. Two...then a third. By the time he had taken ten slow, deep breaths, he was back in command of his body. He was still scared, but knowing he could focus his mind and body on the situation gave him some confidence.

He rolled a little and finally felt the restraints on his arms and legs. Somehow he had ended up here...wherever it was... with his arms pulled back behind him and his wrists bound together. His fingertips reached up and brushed against the restraints and he thought it might be duct tape. His ankles were held together as well.

His eyes were adjusting to the dark and he was able to see what looked like metal over his head. It was about 5" from his face, so he tried to lean up and bumped it with his head. It was hard. And he was right; it was metal. He twisted to look at the other side and thought he saw a latch of some kind. He rubbed his cheek on what he was pressed against and it felt like carpet.

Suddenly, memories flooded his mind. Albert! He had drugged him! It hit him then: he was in the trunk of a car. Albert's car, he was sure of it. He tried to kick the roof, but he couldn't maneuver his legs that way, taped as they were. He raised his head and banged against the roof. It hurt, but maybe someone would hear him. He didn't feel movement and knew they must be parked. If he had felt the car moving when he first came to, he would have immediately known it was a car trunk he was in. Damn! How did this happen?

He banged his head once again and tried to get his voice to work. "Help!" he cried out with all his might, but his voice was weak and came out as a croak.

He gave his head one more bang against the trunk and suddenly heard someone yell at him to 'shut up' and then hit the top of the trunk.

It had to be Albert. He had come to kill him for rejecting him.

Seconds later, he felt the car engine rumble to life and he lurched as the driver sped away carrying him with it.

Adam had no idea how long he had been out, but he vowed that if he tried to take him out, he was going to fight Albert to the death. He needed to get back to Travis!

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

Travis watched from behind the car window as the two officers talked with Jerry. He had long, greasy hair and an unkempt beard and his clothes were ripped and stained. Travis didn't like to judge people, but this man looked... well, he looked a little like someone you normally tried to walk away from. He realized that made him sound like a pompous ass, knowing he should be grateful that this man had called in his suspicions to the police.

Jerry looked like he was getting agitated and the two officers looked just as upset. Travis had seen enough. He was going to see what the hell was taking so long to view a damn tape. He pushed the door open and climbed out. Both officers turned to him when they heard the door slam. Jerry looked over at him, as well, but his expression was more of curiosity, whereas the officers looked pissed at him. Travis didn't care and made his way over to them.

"You were to wait in the car, Travis," the older officer reminded him, the irritation obvious in his tone.

"Yeah, well, it appears you needed me," he shot back, before turning his attention on Jerry. "Jerry? Are you the one that called the police?"

"Yes."

"Great, then what's the problem? Get the damn tape!" Travis voice was raising and he was done with crap. He needed to find Adam NOW!

Jerry didn't say a word. Instead, the blonde officer spoke. "He wants immunity before he releases the tape."

"What the fuck?" Travis exploded. "Immunity? For what? Aren't you the supposed to be the 'good guy' here? Didn't you call 911??"

Jerry looked down and shuffled his feet a little, his long, stringy hair obscuring his face. "I wanted to do the right thing, but...I didn't really think it through before I called." His voice was quiet as he admitted his reluctance to help.

"Give him immunity, then!" Travis couldn't believe this.

"Look, Travis, calm down," the blonde one said, "first of all, we can't give immunity, that has to come from a D.A., and secondly, he doesn't even own the station, so it's not his call. We have someone at the station working on getting a search warrant and we have also called the owner. He's a local guy and he's on his way down."

Jerry's shoulders slumped. He appeared to realize he had lost the battle. He cleared his throat. "Um, if I show you the tape, do you need to show the entire tape to my boss?"

Now they were getting somewhere! "What's on the tape, son?"

Jerry sighed. "It will probably show my friend stopping by and dropping off something for me... something that I smoked outside."

"Pot? That's what you are worried about?" Travis asked, incredulous. "Who the fuck cares about some pot you smoked! My boyfriend was kidnapped! KIDNAPPED!"

Jerry's eyes widened in shock at Travis's outburst and was glad to see one of the policemen step between them.

"Look, Jerry, we don't care about pot. We're not narcotics and we don't have time for this crap. Just give us the goddamn tape." Just then the officer got a text on his phone. They had permission to view the tape. "It's time, son. Let us see the video."

Jerry looked at them, seeming to weigh his options and finally told them to follow him inside. He led the three men to the back room where the almost ancient security camera system was housed. Within minutes, he had the video queued up to the correct time and pressed play.

The video was grainy, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. They were able to clearly make out the license plate and the man getting out of the car. Travis's breath caught in his throat and felt himself sway when he saw Albert. "That's him; that's Albert. Fucking psycho!"

The officers were busy taking notes on the make and model of the car, the license plate number and the direction the car took as Albert left.

They watched as Albert screamed at the trunk and struck his hand down on the top of it before getting into the car and speeding off. Travis's stomach was doing flip-flops as he watched the scene. Adam was in that trunk. What must he have been feeling? What was going through his mind? Was he scared? Was he mad that Travis wasn't there? Was he even alive? He raked his hands through his hair and stormed outside to pace while the police talked with the station.

This was taking too long. Adam could be dead! He didn't want to think that, but the horror of the situation was pushing him into despair. He felt himself begin to lose control and inwardly yelled at himself. Adam needed him! Travis needed to keep it together for him. And he did. He would do anything for Adam.

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

Adam felt the car slow down and make a right turn, before finally rolling to a stop. The engine cut off and he heard Albert exit the vehicle. He held his breath as he listened for his footsteps, but they seemed to be moving farther away. Panic began to set in as he wondered if he was being left for dead somewhere... But, that wouldn't make sense, he thought to himself. Albert's ultimate goal was for the two of them to be together. Surely, he wouldn't leave him somewhere.

Ever since he had awakened and heard Albert yell at him to shut up, he had been desperately scooting around the trunk, feeling for anything he could find that might help him cut the tape from his arms and legs. At last he had come across a small metal box that had sharp corners. He thought it might be a mini-tackle box or something to hold small tools. He tried to open it with his limited reach, but it was impossible.

However, he realized that the corner may be able to shred the tape and moved back towards it, rubbing it against the tape around his wrists. It took a long time, but he finally felt it pierce a section of the tape! He rubbed again and it began to shred through.

Suddenly, the trunk opened and he was looking into Albert's wild eyes. He stood over him, holding a pocket knife.

"Listen up, Adam," Albert hissed, "I'm going to cut the tape around your ankles so you can walk with me into the motel room. If you are a good boy, I won't put them back on. But your wrist ones stay on. If you scream, or make even one sound, I will stab you. Do you understand?"

Adam nodded. His body felt cold and clammy, as if he were about to be sick. Then when Albert reached in and grabbed his legs so he could slice the tape with the knife, Adam had to choke back his disgust at his touch. Once Albert cut the restraints off, Adam moved his legs a little and felt feeling begin to return. He hadn't realized that his feet had fallen asleep in this awkward position. Those painful pins and needle sensations swept through his feet.

Albert grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to a sitting position. He stared at him in the eyes and held a finger up to Adam's mouth. "Not one sound."

Adam wasn't about to make a sound. He was desperately trying to keep Albert from noticing that the tape around his wrists was beginning to come off. He got his wish when Albert draped a jacket over Adam's shoulders and scanned the parking lot before helping Adam out of the car. Then he put his hand on the back of the jacket and guided Adam to the motel room door just a few feet in front of the car.