Chapter Twenty-Five
Ru was eating dinner when the text arrived from Adam.
A:Help! Need u. Please come. Please!
“What is it?” Tommy asked. The two had found a nearby gym to try, one that had private areas to cater to clients who wanted solitude. And they had a full indoor track that Ru knew Adam would have loved. Tommy even remarked that Ru “ran his ass off.” The intense workout made them hungry, so they returned to Ru’s place and ordered food.
“A text from Adam, but it’s weird. I need to call him.” He dialed the familiar number, but it just rang and rang. He sent a text and tried to call again. “He’s not answering.”
“It’s what, after ten? Not that late for a Friday night. Maybe he’s out with friends?”
Ru shook his head. Adam was a homebody. If he wasn’t out running, he was home in the quiet, safe, comfort his parents provided. “I wonder if I saved his dad’s number.” He scrolled through his Saved list and found it, dialed, but again got voicemail. This time he left a message. “Hey, Mr. Corbin, it’s Ru. I got a weird text from Adam, and I’m worried. Is he home with you? Please call me. Thanks.”
He hung up, glared at the phone, then dialed Adam again. Still no answer. He left a message, “Hey Adam, what’s wrong? Please call back.” He starred at the phone a minute, expecting it to ring back immediately but it didn’t. “What if something happened to him?”
“Ru, you can’t freak out just ’cause he’s out of touch for a few minutes. Give it an hour and then try again.” Tommy began cleaning up the dishes and putting things away.
“His text said ‘help,’ Tommy. He needs me. He wants me to come to him. I need to go pack.” Ru headed to his bedroom and began throwing things in a bag.
“A half an hour. Just give him a little time. What if you show up, and he’s embarrassed ’cause he meant something completely different? What if he’s just freaking out because he hasn’t talked to you all day?”
“I should have insisted he come with me. Then he’d be here with me now.”
“And would have had to run into Kris. In case you forgot, the kid nearly had a heart attack just from seeing the old picture of you and Turlington. He’s got it so bad for you, he probably would have ripped Kris apart right there in your living room.”
Ru dialed Adam again. Still no answer. “What if AJ got to him?”
“And did what? Told the media, ‘Hey, there’s this sweet little high schooler that happens to have captured the heart of Ryunoski Nakimura, my arch nemesis. Go look at him’? The paparazzi would give it like ten seconds when they saw you weren’t there with him.” Tommy grabbed Ru’s hands. “Twenty minutes. I’ll even set the timer on the microwave. If he’s still not picking up, then we call Katie and head back to Minnesota. You do realize that it’s a four-hour flight, so even if we get on a plane, you won’t be there for a while.”
“But I’ll be on the way.” Ru stared at the text. Help? Was he hurt? Was he in danger? Tommy led Ru to the couch, and they sat down together waiting for either the phone to ring or the timer to beep. It was the longest twenty minutes of Ru’s life. He nearly jumped a half foot off the couch when the beep sounded, even though he’d been waiting for it. He dialed Adam again, no answer, then Katie, who picked up immediately. She listened to his worried rant and how he had to go. She didn’t even try to talk him out of it, just told him she would meet him at the airport.
Tommy had a bag packed, Ru’s in hand, and grabbed the guitar before the conversation was even over. “I swear if he’s just having a ‘miss Ru’ moment I’m going to smack him,” Tommy grumbled.
The ride to the airport took almost an hour. Ru just wanted to be there. He had little patience for the scanning and probing done at the airport. Even getting an escort didn’t help ease his growing aggression.
It was just taking too long. Katie waited for them at the gate, having chartered a private plane that belonged to Ru’s label. Just as they got settled into their seats, Ru’s phone rang.
“Is it Adam?” Tommy asked.
Ru glanced at the display, and his heart lurched in fear. “Mr. Corbin? Is Adam okay?”
“There was an incident at school, but Adam is going to be fine. He was a little loopy when he sent you that text earlier. We’re going to leave the hospital in a little while, just as soon as they are sure he’s reacting okay to the pain medication.”
“Hospital? Pain medication? What happened?” The captain announced they would be taking off. “Are you on a plane?” Mr. Corbin asked.
“I got a text from my boyfriend asking for help, telling me that he needed me. Yes, I’m on a plane. We’ll be arriving sometime after three your time.” He probably shouldn’t have snapped at Adam’s dad, but he just needed to be there. Especially since his worst fear had come true, and Adam was hurt.
“Okay. We’ll talk when you’re on the ground. The doctor is calling me back in the room now, and you should turn off your phone for the flight.”
“But I need to hear from Adam.”
“When you get here. No need to let you stew on it all until then. Just know he’s going to be fine.” Mr. Corbin hung up. Ru sighed and turned the phone off.
“What happened? He’s in the hospital?”
“I don’t know what happened. He just said that Adam was okay, but that they were in the hospital and checking to make sure his pain medicine was all right.” He ground his teeth together. Someone had hurt Adam, and he had a sneaking suspicion who. And while there was nothing he could do until he got there, he wasn’t going to let anyone get away with it.
He dozed on the plane, jerking awake a few times from nightmares. The last time he was so shaken he had to get up and move a little. The small plane didn’t have much space to roam, but he walked back and forth for several minutes, trying to calm his pounding heart.
