Chapter 23

Cody looked up quickly, backing away from Kerrigan.  He didn’t know anyone was around.  He thought everyone had already left, but sure enough there stood Chris in the doorway, with a murderous look on his face.

“None of your business.” Cody spat back.

“When I hear Kerrigan screaming, I make it my business.” Chris growled back, making his way over to Kerrigan to check on her.

He kneeled down in front of her taking in her bloodshot eyes from crying, and the large hand imprint on her face.  Chris spun around, standing in front of Cody.  “YOU FUCKING HIT HER?”

“I didn’t hit her!” Cody lied.

“Then how the hell did she get that handprint on her face?” Chris demanded angrily.

“Maybe Justin left it when he was kissing her last night.” Cody spat back, just as angrily.

“Get real man!  Justin would NEVER put his hands on her like that.  You did that shit, do you think I’m fucking stupid or something?”

Cody shrugged.  “Hell if I know.”

Chris’ anger grew at how nonchalantly Cody was being about this whole thing.  Like he had no regrets at all.  He wasn’t attempting to apologize.  In stead he was standing there lying to Chris’ face, trying to claim he didn’t do it.   “I think you better get the fuck out of here before I do something I’m going to regret!” Chris growled.

“I’m not scared of you.” Cody gave him a bored look.

Chris stepped closer to him.  “Maybe not, but you should be.  Get the fuck out of here.  NOW!”

“Whatever man.” Cody shrugged, walking out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Chris quickly turned back to Kerrigan, whom was still slumped on the floor.  “Sweetie, are you ok?  What the happened?”

But Kerrigan couldn’t speak, she only erupted in a bout of tears.  Crying hysterically.

Seeing that broke Chris’ heart.  He felt horrible.  He knew this was about the kiss.  All he’d needed to know that was Cody’s bitter words about Justin kissing her.  He figured the guy would be pissed, but he never thought in a million years that he would physically harm Kerrigan.

Setting down beside her on the floor, Chris pulled Kerrigan into his arms.  Holding her tightly against his chest as she continued to cry, he rubbed one hand up and down her back hoping to sooth her and calm her down enough so she could tell him what had happened.

A few minutes later Kerrigan’s tears finally subsided.  Pulling way from Chris slightly Kerrigan looked up at him. “Thank you.” she mumbled softly.

“Sweetie, what happened?  Are you ok?  Why did he hit you?” Chris asked, trying to get some answers.

“He was mad Chris.  Trace told me about him overhearing you guys today and I came looking for him after the show so I could talk to him about it.  When we talked he got upset.  He accused me of all sorts of things.  Saying the kiss was my idea and that I had enjoyed it.  He said that I didn’t love him that I loved Justin.  He was so upset and so angry.”

“Is that why he hit you?  Because of Justin kissing you last night?” he asked, already knowing the truth.

“Chris you can’t tell anyone about this!” Kerrigan quickly stated, knowing what the others would do.

“What do you mean I can’t tell anyone?  He fucking hit you Kerrigan!” Chris argued.

“Yeah he did, but he felt like I was lying to him about me and Justin’s friendship and he got angry.  He was just hurt Chris.”

“Kerrigan, that DOES NOT give him the right to hit you!” he stared at her in astonishment.  If she started making excuses for the guy he was going to flip.

“I know it doesn’t, but you have to look at it from his side too!”

“Kerrigan, I can see it from his side.  If some guy kissed my girlfriend I’d be upset, no doubt about that, but I wouldn’t hit her over it!”

“Chris please!  PLEASE don’t tell Justin or the others.  You know Justin will flip out.  It’ll only make matters worse!” she begged.

“Kerr, you can’t ask me to do this.  He hit you!  Justin has the right to know.  This involves him too.”

Kerrigan shook her head fiercely.  “No it doesn’t.  What goes on between me and my boyfriend is none of his business.  He doesn’t need to know about this!”

“It concerns him too, Kerrigan.  This happened because of the kiss I dared him to give you!”

“I don’t care.  I don’t want him to know.  PLEASE, Chris!  Please don’t tell him!” Kerrigan pleaded.

Looking into Kerrigan’s pleading eyes, Chris felt incredibly guilty.  This was all his fault.  If he hadn’t dared Justin to kiss her, Cody never would have overheard the guys talking about it and he wouldn’t have ended up getting so angry and jealous over the whole thing that he would hit her.  Kerrigan was paying for something he had initiated.

Combining his inner guilt with the pleading look in Kerrigan’s eyes, Chris relented.  “FINE!  I won't tell anyone about this, but I’m making it clear that I’m not comfortable with keeping this a secret.  And I still maintain that Justin has a right to know and that you should tell him.

“I can’t, Chris.  I’m sorry but I can’t.” she sighed.  “You know as well as I do if you or I either one told him, Justin would completely lose it.  He would make it his life’s mission to track Cody down and beat the shit out of him, if not kill him.  You know how his temper is.  I don’t want him getting into trouble over me.”

“Kerrigan, you’re his friend.  He cares about you.  I’m sure that any amount of trouble that he would get into he wouldn’t care about.  That boy would walk to the ends of the earth for you and you know it.”

“You’re right.  I do know that, which is exactly why he doesn’t need to know.”

“I’m not following you here, Kerrigan.” Chris eyed her completely lost.

“You don’t need to.  Just swear to me that you won't tell him.  Promise me, Chris.  Give me your word as my friend that you won't tell Justin or the other guys about this.  Please!”

“Kerrigan I already said I wouldn’t and I won't.  I promise you I won't.  OK?  I swear I won't tell anyone unless you tell me it’s ok.  Which by the look on your face isn’t going to happen, so I won't be telling anyone.”

Kerrigan looked down at her hands and then back up to meet Chris’ eyes.  “Thank you, Chris.” she said, a tear trickling down her cheek again.

“Aw, sweetie.” Chris said, pulling her back into his arms to embrace her.  “Everything’s going to be ok.  It’s over now.” he whispered softly into her hair.

“Yeah.” Kerrigan sighed.

Chris gave her a few moments to collect herself.  When he finally felt that she had gotten herself together the best she could under the circumstances, he smiled at her.  “So are you gonna go to the after party?”

Kerrigan shook her head solemnly.  “I just wanna go home and go to bed.  I’m tired.”

Chris nodded, he didn’t figure she’d be up to going to any parties in the state she was in.  “Do you want me to stay with you?  Keep ya company?”

“That’s not necessary, Chris.  I’m fine.  Just shook up is all.  I just need to sleep.”

“Ok, well at least let me drive you back to the house.  You road here with Trace and Justin so you don’t have your car here right?”

“Yeah.  I was planning on going to the party with Cody, but we both know how that worked out.” she said, sighing again.

Seeing Kerrigan like this was really breaking Chris’ heart.  He’d never seen her so upset in all the years he had known her.  And he couldn’t even imagine what was going through her head right then.  She was probably really tearing herself up inside.

“Ok, then.” Chris said getting to his feet, then pulling Kerrigan to hers.  “I’ll take ya home on my way to the party.”

“Ok.  Thanks again, Chris.”

“No problem sweetie.  You’re my girl, you know I’d do anything for ya.” he smiled at her.

Kerrigan gave him her best smile.  “I love you, Chris.  You’ve always been such a good friend to me.”

“I love you to, Kerr.” Chris said smiling, and then began to lead her towards the door.  “Now let’s get your stuff and get the hell outta here.”

Chris entered the club that the after party was being held at about an hour later.  He had driven Kerrigan home and seen her to the door of the house to make sure she got in ok.

Kerrigan making him promise one last time before he left that he wouldn’t say anything about what had happened.  Chris only prayed that he would be able to keep that promise.  Because if he seen Cody at the party, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

Making his way through the club, Chris looked around for any sign of the guys.  He spotted a lot of their crew there.  And a bunch of the Jive big wigs that they knew would be there.  He still found it funny that they were celebrating all their hard work, when all they did was sit behind a desk in a big office building.  And they called that work.

Spotting Justin and the guys in a far corner, Chris proceeded to make his way through the crowd and over to the table they were all sitting at.  Drinks in hand, talking cheerily.  Chris wished he felt half as good about being there as the others appeared to.  His mood for a party had flown out the door the minute he heard Kerrigan scream.  Combine that with his guilt and everything else, he would rather just go home.  He wasn’t even sure why he had came in the first place.

Walking up to the table he pulled out a chair and sat down, without saying a word to any of the guys.  They didn’t seem to really notice though.  They were too caught up in their own conversation about something one of the execs had said to JC.

Finally, a few minutes later Justin turned to him.  “Chris, did you see Kerr on your way in?  She’s supposed to be here, but so far I haven’t seen her anywhere.”

“She’s not coming.” Chris shrugged, not bothering to look at Justin.  He knew if he did that it would be too easy for him to just blurt everything out.

“What do you mean she’s not coming?”

“Exactly what I said.  She’s not coming.”

“Did she say why?”

“She’s tired.  Didn’t feel like going to a party.” Chris said, again shrugging.

“I don’t understand that.  She was all pumped up about it earlier today when I talked to her last.” Justin stated.

“Yeah, well if I’d just gotten into an argument like the one she just got into with Cody, I wouldn’t  feel much like partying either.”

“What do you mean?” Justin asked, growing serious.

“They had a big falling out over everything.”

“Oh.  So they broke up?”  Justin asked hopefully.  Maybe he was finally rid of Cody Davis.

“Justin, I really think you should have told her about the whole him overhearing us talking thing.  And I honestly think one of us should have been with her when she talked to him about it, so we could explain it was just a joke.  A dare.”

“Why?  Then he probably wouldn’t have cared!  They’d still be together.”

Chris glared at Justin.  He was so tempted to just blurt out, “BECAUSE HE HIT HER YOU IDIOT”, but he quickly remembered that he had sworn to Kerrigan that he wouldn’t say anything and he knew that she had already been hurt enough because of him and he wasn’t about to make things any worse on her.  “Because they got into a huge argument.  I mean HUGE, Justin!”

“Well, that’s good right?  I mean they broke up, so at least we don’t have to worry about Cody being around anymore.” Justin shrugged, not really seeing what the big deal was.  Cody and Kerrigan had argued before.  And he was just happy to hear that they had broken up.

“Cody should be the least of your worries right now, Justin.  Kerrigan is back at the house bawling her eyes out.  He said some really hurtful and hateful things to her.  I mean it was awful.  When I found her she was slumped on the floor, completely broken down.” Chris emphasized.  So it wasn’t the whole truth, but most of it was true.  She was really upset.  And when he found her she had been on the floor, broken down.  Although, for a different reason than Chris made it out to be.

“She’s that upset?” Justin asked, suddenly concerned.  He’d been so caught up in what he wanted that he hadn’t stopped to think about what Kerrigan wanted, or how she would feel as a result of the whole thing.

“Justin, she’s devastated.” Chris said seriously.  “I’ve never seen her so upset in all the years I’ve known her.  I mean it’s bad, J.  Really bad.”

“Shit!” Justin muttered.  “What do I do?” he asked, hoping Chris would have some answers.

“Right now I would just give her space.  Don’t push her to talk about it if she doesn’t want to.  She was really upset, and I managed to get a little out of her, but just don’t push her ok.”

Justin nodded, getting up from his seat.  “I’m gonna go home and check on her.  Make sure she’s ok.”

“J, you should probably just let her be.” Chris objected.

“No.  I need to go make sure she’s ok.  If she’s as upset as you say she is Chris, then she needs me there.  Kerrigan’s more important than this shit.”  Justin said, pushing his chair in.  “I’ll talk to you guys later.”  And then he left.