They all met for dinner as planned at 6 o’clock. There was still a large crowd of fans waiting outside so they ate at in the hotel restaurant. Noah joined them for dinner, which really pissed AJ off. D and Nick weren’t thrilled with the situation either. They were hoping that it would be just the group, but Dawn insisted that he join them. AJ hated how well Noah and Dawn got along. They got along too well in his opinion. He didn't know if he would be able to keep his mouth shut. He wanted to say something to Noah so bad, it was killing him.
After dinner, Arianna was pretty crabby and tired..along with everyone else. They were all jet lagged. Brian, Leighanne, Kevin, Jess and Howie went up to their rooms right after dinner. Denise took Arianna up to bed. AJ, Dawn, Nick, D and Noah stayed for a drink at the bar.
"I rented a beach house for your release party tomorrow night. I’ve got tons of people coming. It should be one hell of a party," Noah told Dawn.
"I can’t wait!" Dawn gushed, "I’m so nervous."
"What are you nervous about, baby?" AJ asked, trying to divert her attention from Noah.
"I just hope the album does well. I put so much hardwork into it.."
"It’ll do great. You see the reaction you get from the crowds every night. The radio stations are playing your song like crazy, you have nothing to worry about," Noah said, placing his hand on Dawn’s back. Dawn stiffened at the touch of his hand on her back.
‘I’m gonna knock the shit out of him if he touches her one more damn time,’ AJ thought to himself. It took all the self control he had in him not to reach over and yank his arm right out of his socket.
"Speaking of which, I have to go make a few phone calls about making sure we get the numbers tomorrow," Noah said, getting up from his chair.
"I’ll catch you later, okay? Oh, and don't stay up too late, remember you have that big signing tomorrow morning," he said to Dawn giving her a kiss on thecheek.
Dawn smiled uneasily at Noah. She didn’t like that hedid that in front of AJ. AJ didn’t like it much either.
"That’s it," AJ started to get up from his chair.
D tried to make small talk with Dawn hoping she wouldn’t notice what was going on. Nick got up and put his hand on AJ’s chest, pushing him back in his chair.
"Remember what’s important here, Bone," he whispered.
AJ sat back down and tried to keep his temper under control.
"That son of a bitch," he whispered.
"Calm down, don’t worry about him, you just take care of your fiance',"
'Fuck,' AJ said to himself. It was one thing for men to hit on Dawn when he wasn’t around, he didn’t like it, but he knew it would happen. It was a complete other issue to hit on her while he was sitting right there. And that was only the beginning of his issues with Noah...
"Excuse me for a moment," Nick said, walking away.
He walked in the direction Noah went just a few moments earlier. He saw him just about to get on the elevator. Nick wasn’t messing around with him and he didn’t have the patience for small talk right now. Noah turned around and saw Nick coming towards him.
‘Oh fuck,’ he said to himself, taking a step back.
He walked right up to him, took him by the shirt, slamming him against the wall.
"Let me just give you a little advice," he snarled, almost nose to nose with him.
Noah’s heart began to race. He knew this was going to happen..he just didn’t think he’d be this tough.
"I know all about your little threats, I wouldn’t believe a word you said if you were the last person walking the earth. I don’t want you anywhere near my girlfriend, do you hear me?"
"Believe me man, I want nothing to do with your girlfriend, if it were up to me, she wouldn’t even be here."
"You’re just pissed because she’s preventing you from getting your slimy paws on Dawn."
"Dawn doesn’t need a babysitter, she’s a big girl that can make her own decisions."
"That’s right, and as you can tell by the ring on her finger, she's made the decision to be with AJ. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do to change that," he said, letting of his shirt.
He started to walk away after a moment of silence.
"You know, I keep hearing all of you say that, but I have yet to hear Dawn complain about me being around her," he smirked, making Nick turn around and walk back to where he was.
"Listen you son of a bitch", he pointed his finger at him, looking him directly in the eye. "You stay away from D, and you stay away from Dawn. She is spoken for. You are her manager, nothing else. That’s all it will ever be."
"We’ll see."
"Yeah, we’ll see alright, when I tell Dawn what a snake in the grass you are."
"She wouldn’t believe you, she likes me too much. Not to mention, you won’t say a word to her or AJ, just like your little girlfriend, not if you really care about Dawn…or her career."
It was all Nick could do to keep from punching him right in the mouth. The two men stared at each other for a minute, then the elevator doors opened.
"Oh, looks like I have to get going. It was really nice having this friendly moment of bonding with you,Nicky," Noah said sarcastically, stepping into the elevator.
Nick continued to stare at him, he wanted to say something to him, but there was nothing he could say,nothing he could do. They were all at Noah’s mercy...if they really wanted Dawn to succeed in the music business. The elevator doors started to close as Noah stood there looking at him with a smirk on his face.
"Bye Nicky," he said, waving at
him, just as the doors closed.
Nick stood there for a minute trying to calm down. His fists were clenched, he needed to
hit something, and he needed to hit something hard, something that resembled Noah’s
head. He walked into the bathroom and punched the wall.
After he had calmed down, Nick went back to the restaurant. He went to the bar and ordered a drink. He downed it in one gulp and ordered another. He took it and went over to where his friends were. As soon as AJ saw him coming he knew something had happened. He could see it on his face. He had to somehow get rid of Dawn so they could talk.
"Angel, why don’t you go up and check on Arianna. Make sure my mom got her to bed okay. I’ll be up soon, as soon as I finish my drink."
"Okay, I’ll see you soon...try to make it real soon," Dawn smiled, giving him a soft kiss before heading upstairs.
AJ turned to Nick.
"Something happened?"
"You could say that," Nick said, looking at his bruised hand.
"Oh my gawd! Nicky, what happened to your hand?" D asked, looking at it carefully.
"I had a fight with the bathroom wall."
"I’m going to get some ice," D said, walking towards the kitchen to ask for some.
"Are you sure it wasn’t Noah’s face that did that to your hand?"
"Believe me, Bone. I would have loved to have punched him out. I couldn’t because of Dawn."
"What did he say to make you go and take it out on that poor wall?"
D came back with the ice and carefully placed it on his hand. He winced at the sudden contact, but relaxed when the ice started to soothe his hand.
"I told him to stay away from D and Dawn. He wasn’t going to get her away from you. He basically laughed in my face."
"What did he say? Did he threaten you?"
"Yeah, the bastard had the nerve to warn me not to tell Dawn…if I care anything about her or her career."
AJ turned around and ran his hands through his hair. He turned back to Nick with fire in his eyes.
"We have to do something about this fucking lowlife."
"I think we should tell Dawn," D said, stepping close to AJ.
"We aren’t telling her anything," AJ answered adamantly.
"Why the hell not? She will see what a bastard he really is. She’s blind to it. She thinks he’s so nice. I’m tired of her being in the dark about this, J."
"She has enough to deal with right now. I can’t do that to her."
"Fine then…I’ll tell her."
"No you won’t," AJ said, raising his voice.
D narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms.
"Don’t you tell me what to do McLean."
He stepped closer to her and looked her dead in the eye.
"She’s my fianc� and I say that we are not going to tell her. The tour is almost over and I don’t want to ruin this for her. She’s having the time of her life. I can’t let her get hurt. She’ll leave if she knows about Noah’s threats. I know Dawn, she'll let Noah have it and she'll come home. She can't do that, she's under contract with him. I won't let her go through the same things we went through when we left our management a few years back."
"He’s right D, she’ll come home. She can’t know about this," Nick intervened.
D stared at him for a second and then threw her hands up in the air.
"Oh my God…I can’t believe you agree with him!"
"Baby, I’m sorry but you know what’ll happen if someone tells her."
"I want to protect her too but this is ridiculous," D said, shaking her head.
"It’s final," AJ told her. "We are keeping this quiet. You will keep an eye on Noah until the tour is over..keep him away from her."
D just looked at him, her arms crossing again stubbornly.
"You don't understand, I can’t let her get hurt, I just can't," he said quietly, turning back towards the bar.
"You have to stop protecting her and babying her J,she’s a big girl."
He quickly turned back around and looked her right in the eye. "You have absolutely NO idea what she's been through. Two years ago I would have given my right arm to see her as happy as she is right now."
"You're wrong J, I do know some of the things she's been through..."
"But you weren't there, you didn't see what he did to her...."
He looked down and ran his hand through his hair. All the memories came flooding back to him. He looked up at D with tears in his eyes.
"Seeing the bruises on Dawn every time Anthony would hit her was unbearable. I keep picturing her in the hospital bed, hooked up to every machine imaginable, barely alive because he had beaten her so badly. Ialmost lost her, and there is no way I am lettinganything like that EVER happen again."
D had never seen so much emotion in his eyes before. He continued.
"I swore to myself that I would never let anyone hurther ever again, and I swore to her that I would protect her, so EXCUSE me if I "baby" her, but I'm doing what I promised I would do. If you don't like it then I'm sorry, but that's too bad, this is not open for discussion. PERIOD."
D sighed and closed her eyes. It was pointless to argue with him on this.
"Fine!!" she yelled, storming out of the restaurant.
Nick and AJ looked at each other and sighed.
"I'm sorry man, I didn't mean for it to get that heated. I just…I just want to protect her…" He wiped his face with his hands.
"I know…" Nick said quietly, squeezing AJ's shoulder.
He didn't know what else to say. He knew this was a touchy subject with AJ and he didn't quite know how to approach it. He downed the rest of his drink.
"You shouldn’t have agreed with me, dude. Now she’s pissed at you," AJ said, slapping him on the back playfully.
"No shit, Bone," Nick laughed. "She’ll realize we’re right eventually. She wants to protect Dawn as much as we do. She doesn’t want her career to suffer. She’ll run interference with that rat-bastard until the tour is over."
Nick nodded and adjusted the ice on his hand.
"Thanks man for what you said to Noah. I appreciate it."
"It’s no problem Bone. You would have done the same for me," Nick smiled.
"Damn right. We better get upstairs. I have to say goodnight to my little girl and you have to go and mend things with your woman."
"I have a lot of sucking up to do."
AJ smirked.
"Whatever works man…whatever works."
They laughed and headed upstairs.