Myths & Rejections

Chapter 16 - Changed

Word Count: 3638

"So?" Callum asked as soon as Adam opened his door. They'd come over the second they realized he was back to the hotel.

Adam stared at him for a second, barely recognizing the man he'd considered his best friend for years. He opened the door wider and let Callum and Reese into his room, then went and sat at the small desk for a few seconds before turning to them.

"Did you really beat her?" Adam asked slowly, and the look on his friend's faces told him everything he needed to know.

"Adam..." Reese started. "We were just..."

"You were just what?" Adam demanded. "Hitting and hurting a girl for no fucking reason?"

"We didn't really hurt her, Adam." Callum tried to say. "It wasn't that bad; it was a few bumps here and there."

"A few bumps?" Adam said, clenching his jaw in anger. "Describe to me what a bump is. Is it the palm of your hand hitting her face? Is it you knocking her to the floor? Because, our definition of a bump seems to be different."

"Listen, we know we fucked up." Reese said, annoyed. "You know that, we've said it a million times, what is your problem right now?"

"My problem is you were beating my mate's best friend!" Adam shouted. "She said you enjoyed it! You got off on hurting her, you didn't just do it for Charla's benefit, you did it because you liked doing it! Harper thinks I'm like that! She thinks I'm an abuser who will hurt my mate!"

"We didn't know Harper was going to be my mate!" Reese shouted back, angrily. "We didn't know Celie would be your mate!"

"You think that makes this better? You think that makes it OK?" Adam yelled, then turned to Callum. "That was your fucking sister! Your little fucking baby sister! How could you enjoy abusing her?"

"Adam, you need to calm down." Callum said, pain in his eyes. "We know we fucked up. We know what we did was wrong. We know that!  We've said it countless times in the last seven years, what do you want from us? Why are you so upset about it now?"

"I didn't know you were hitting her!" Adam gritted out. "I didn't know you were beating her and getting off on it. I thought you were just being mean and hateful, I thought you just insulted her and shoved her every once in a while.  I didn't know you were abusing her, I never saw you hit her, I didn't know about that! I would have been pissed about that this whole fucking time. I would never have thought that was OK, not for one goddamn second!"

"We didn't enjoy it..." Reese said slowly.

"Then why did you do it when no one was around?" Adam asked tightly. "Why did you seek her out at home to hit her and hurt her? That wasn't to be popular or to impress Charla! You didn't brag about that; you didn't tell anyone! If it was to be popular you would have been telling everyone what you'd done! But you hid it because you knew it was wrong! Because you knew we wouldn't have thought it was cool or funny! So don't give me that bullshit!"

"I did tell people about it, I told Charla and Ben about it every day. I bragged to them, not to everyone else because, yes, I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway. But I didn't do it just for kicks, I was still working for her approval, I got off on Charla's bullshit. Yes, it was stupid. Yes, I was a cruel fucking idiot asshole, we know. But what's done is done, Adam." Reese snapped. "We can't change it, if we could have, we would have, long ago. We are here to make amends for it."

"How do you make amends for that, Reese?" Adam said. "How do you make amends for beating a child? I want to know. How can you possibly expect her to forgive and forget that?"