Chapter 9
Brian shook himself out of the confusion, that had held him captive, and tore out of the room, just in time to see Howie's door close. He debated going after him, but something told him that Howie needed to be alone. Besides there was another problem- where was AJ? Brian needed help, so he rushed back to Kevin's room.
Bursting in through the door, he found Kevin and Nick sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee. They both registered the panicked look on Brian's face and knew something was wrong.
"Brian?" Kevin questioned as he put his cup down.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked as he stood up. Brian took a deep breath.
"We've got a problem. But I have no idea what it is."
"Huh?"
"Wha?" came the confused replies. Brian held up his hands before trying to explain what little he knew.
"Look I don't know what's happened. I found Howie, in AJ's room, alone. No sign of AJ. But, Howie... well he looked like, I don't know, like..." He paused, trying to find a way to describe what he had seen. An image came into his mind. "Do you remember how he was when Caroline died? How his eyes looked?" Kevin and Nick both nodded. Howie had been devastated by his sister's death, and it had taken him some time to get back to something even remotely resembling normal.
"His eyes were like that, just dark, not even spark." The other two were silent. Brian was right. This WAS bad. Nick looked up.
"But where's AJ?" Brian shook his head.
"I don't know. When I asked D what had happened, all he said was that AJ was giving up."
"What the group?" Kevin asked.
"No, not the group. Love. He's giving up on love."
"Jesus" Nick breathed. "What the fuck happened?" Kevin shook his head.
"I don't know. And where's AJ?" the three men looked at each other, none of them sure what to do. Brian and Nick then both turned their attention to Kevin, as if waiting for him to come up with an answer.
Kevin took a deep breath and tried to slow down his thoughts. Everything was going out of control. He needed to know what had happened before he could do anything. He needed to know what happened between Howie and AJ. AJ, where the hell could he have gone. It's not as if he isn't easy to spot. Okay, first things first.
"Right, Nick, go find Marcus, check and see if any of the bodyguards have seen him. He couldn't have left the hotel without being spotted by someone, so Brian, go down to the lobby and check. Take your cells and let me know either way." Both men nodded before diving out of the room.
Kevin turned and slumped down on the sofa. Sometimes he hated being in charge. But he was the oldest, and so everybody expected him to be in control, including the guys. But sometimes he didn't know what to do. And this was one of those times. He wanted to get hold of those two and bang their heads together so they saw sense. He knew that they would be good together. That they were meant to be together. But they just seemed incapable of doing it themselves. And now this. 'Christ knows what's happened now' he thought. And he needed to know. They couldn't even begin to help, until they knew what the problem was.
His cell phone began ringing, and he jumped to pick it up. The caller ID told him it was Brian. "Any luck?" He asked.
"No. They haven't seen him, and there's no way he could have gotten out without being seen." Kevin shook his head. At least that narrowed the search. AJ must be inside the hotel somewhere.
"Kev? What do ya want me to do?" Brian asked. "Okay, he must be in the hotel, start in the lobby and work your way back up, check out the restaurants..." he paused. "And the bars." Brian sighed
"Do you think he might..." Kevin sighed as well.
"I sure hope not, but if he's half as bad off as you say Howie is..." He trailed off.
"Okay Kev, I'll check back in with ya in five, ring me if you hear anything from Nick."
"Will do cuz." Kevin replied and they both hung up.