The next morning, D still had not seen or heard from Dawn. She had tried Noah’s room, there was no answer. She tried all the dancer’s rooms as well, still nothing. She was worried. AJ got the first flight out of the States and was due in any minute.
"AJ’s gonna flip out when he finds out that I can’t find Dawn," D worried.
Before she was able torture herself anymore, there was a knock at the door.
"I hope this is him," she ran to the door
and opened it.AJ
and Nick were standing there. Both of them looked very tired."Hey," AJ said, obviously not in the mood to be social.
He walked in the room
and Nick followed."Hi baby!" D said, wrapping her arms around his neck
and giving him a kiss. "I didn’t know you were coming!""Well, I didn’t think it was a good idea for AJ to come alone."
"So, where is she?" AJ interrupted.
"Um, J, I looked all over for her. I don’t know where she is. I’m sorry," D braced herself for AJ’s rath.
"God dammit! Did you check Noah’s room?"
"Yeah, there was no answer."
"Well, there’s about to be no door."
Before anyone could say a word AJ stomped out of the room into the hallway.
"Which room is his?"
He yelled.D led him to Noah’s door
and AJ pounded on the door as hard as he could. There was no answer, AJ continued to pound on the door. Within minutes, the door opened a crack and Noah appeared."Where’s my fiance,’" AJ demanded.
"She’s sleeping. What are you doing here anyway?"
AJ had had enough of Noah
and his attitude. He burst through the door, breaking the chain lock on the door. He walked through the suite looking for Dawn. She appeared in the doorway of the bedroom."Alex!"
She said, surprised. "What are you doing here?""We’ll talk about that later, you can tell me what
you're doing here," he folded his arms and waited for an answer."We went out last night
and I ended up crashing here. What’s the problem?""What’s the problem? WHAT’S THE PROBLEM??"
He yelled. "Are you fucking serious??!!""Alex, stop yelling at me, you’re scaring me!"
AJ took a deep breath
and tried to calm down."I’m sorry. Now please go back to your room where we can talk about this,
alone," he glared at Noah who had just appeared in the doorway."You’ll be okay, right?" Noah asked Dawn as she gathered her things
and made her way past him."Don’t you worry about it.
This is not your concern. I’ll deal with you later," he promised as he pushed his way past Noah.Dawn walked out into the living room
and saw D and Nick standing there. Dawn glared at D, remembering bits and pieces of their argument from the night before."What are
you doing here?""Let’s go," AJ said as he grabbed Dawn’s arm
and led her out of the room.After AJ dragged Dawn out of his bedroom, Noah turned to D and Nick with a look of satisfaction on his face.
"You two can leave anytime," he told them, motioning towards the door.
"We aren’t going anywhere until we find out what the fuck happened last night," D demanded, trying to keep her cool.
Noah looked at her with a questioning look.
"I really can’t remember. It’s all so foggy," he said, playing dumb.
D rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on Noah. I think you know exactly what happened last night. Why don’t you just come out and say it. SAY IT
, DAMN IT!!!!""Alright FINE!! I fucked her!!! I fucked her till her head was spinning!! I fucked her better than loverboy ever could…at least that’s what
she told me," he smirked.That was it. D couldn’t hold it in any longer. She ran at Noah and started hitting him and kicking him, yelling curse words all the while.
Nick let her go for a few seconds, enjoying the look on Noah’s face. He was trying to fight her off but she kept going. Nick chuckled to himself and went over to drag D off of Noah. He pulled her off but she was still kicking and screaming.
"Let me GO Nick!! I’m not done with his sorry ass yet!!!"
She was trying to wiggle out of his grasp so she could continue beating the shit out of Noah. It felt so good to let lose. She had been holding it in for so long.
"Calm down baby!!! That’s enough!!" Nick yelled, trying to calm her.
In truth it wasn’t enough, he just wanted her to calm down so he could go after him himself. D stopped struggling and Nick set her down on her feet. She was breathing hard and her face was red. He turned her to him and he could see the fury in her eyes…he’d never seen that look before and it scared even him. He made a mental note never to piss her off.
"Are you okay now? Are you calm?"
He asked, taking her face in his hands. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded."Good…because it’s my turn."
He turned to Noah and clenched his fists. Noah was wiping the blood from his nose were D had clocked him when he noticed Nick staring at him with the same look he saw in D’s eye only minutes before. He stepped back, realizing what was about to come. Nick walked slowly towards him and stopped when he was nose to nose with him.
"I warned you to stay away from her Noah. You just had to go and take advantage of her when she was drunk.That’s really manly of you."
"I didn’t take advantage of her. She wanted it just as much as I did, if not more. Loverboy couldn’t satisfy her as much as I did…or should I say
will."The next thing Noah knew Nick’s fist hit him squarely in the jaw………
hard. He fell backwards onto the rug and hit his head on the wall. Before he could even think about the pain, Nick grabbed him and held him up by his shirt against the wall.Meanwhile…
Once they got back to Dawn’s room she pulled her arm away from AJ.
"What’s with you," she asked with an attitude.
"I might ask you the same thing. What’s with the drinking??"
"So what, I drink sometimes, no big deal. I’m just having fun."
"Fun? Tell me where you went last night."
"
Some club.""The name of it?"
"I don’t know, Alex. Give me a break!"
"Okay, fine. What happened when you came back. "
"I crashed in Noah’s room."
"Why?"
"I think I got in a fight with D."
"You
think??""Okay, I did!!"
"About what?"
"I don’t know
, Alex! I don’t remember! God, will you just stop!!?"Her head was spinning. She started to walk away from him.
"We’re not done," he said, obviously angry.
"What??" Dawn yelled.
"Don’t you think you’re consuming just a little too much alcohol lately? Don’t you think this is a problem? You don’t even remember last night!!"
"No, I don’t think it’s a problem. The only problem I see is everyone, especially you
and D telling me what to do all the time.""We care about you, Dawn. I can’t be here with you all the time. D’s just looking out for you."
"I
don't need a babysitter, Alex. I don’t need you and I don’t need D. This is my life and I wish you guys would just let me live it!!!"It broke his heart to hear Dawn say that she didn’t need him, but he knew she didn’t mean it. He tried to calm down, obviously he wasn’t going to get anywhere the way the conversation was going now. She was too defensive. He didn’t want her to think he was against her. He had to get it through her head that he was on her side
and he loved her."Listen
, Angel," he said as he approached her. "I’m just worried about you. You’ve been drinking too much lately.""How do you know, you’re not here with me. You abandoned me," she said with her back to him
"Is that what this is about? Me not being here? You think I abandoned you?"
He asked, shocked.She didn’t know why, but tears started streaming down her face
and she started to sob."You're never home when I try to call you anymore. You're never there," she buried her face in her hands.
AJ came over
and pulled her into his arms. He held her while she sobbed."Angel, I'm always there for you".
"No you're not…not anymore," she cried harder. "I'm trying to stand on my own two feet, be independent, but my life is just spinning out of control, and no one cares. No one understands. All everyone wants to do is tell me what to do and how to live my life."
"I know it’s hard, baby, but we're not trying to tell you how to live your life, and we
do care about you," he whispered."I don’t know what to do anymore, everything is such a mess. I’ve been having these dreams about Anthony, when he attacked me, when he used to hit me…" she cried.
"Oh my
God. Why didn’t you tell me?" He held her trembling body and rocked her back and forth. "I’m so sorry I can’t be here, baby. Let it out, it’s okay," he stroked her hair.After a few minutes Dawn calmed down.
"Are you okay?"
He asked, worried."I think so
," she wiped her eyes."I hate to see you hurting. I wish I could take it all away."
"I guess that’s why I’ve been drinking. When I drink, it all goes away. All the memories, all the pain…."
AJ closed his eyes, thankful that she was finally acknowledging that her drinking
was a problem."Angel, you know if you
ever need me, I don’t care what time it is, you just pick up that phone and call me and I’ll be here in the blink of an eye. If I'm not home, you know you can always reach me on my cell"."I know, I was just trying to not depend so much on you."
"I’d rather you depend on me than that other guy, Jack Daniels. I don’t like to share you know," he smiled.
Dawn laughed
."I’ll cut down on the drinking, I swear." She looked him in the eye.
"We’re gonna clean all the alcohol out of this room completely. I don’t want you drinking at
all for awhile."Dawn sighed, "God, I don’t even remember last night. It’s so scary. Thank
God I was with Noah…"AJ cringed
. "Nothing happened between you and Noah last night, did it?"He was terrified to hear her answer.
She was silent for a minute, "
No, I mean, I don’t think so…""What do you mean, you don’t
think so???" He started to raise his voice.Dawn started to cry
. "I’m sorry, Alex, I honestly can’t remember…"AJ had heard enough. He got up
and stomped back to Noah’s room."The next time you…" Nick started to say to Noah as he held him up against the wall, but was interrupted by AJ coming into the room.
He looked like a man on a mission. He stopped when he saw Nick holding Noah against the wall. He saw the blood on Noah’s face and knew that his friends had already raked him over the coals. He smirked and went over to Nick.
"I’ll take it from here man," he said, slapping him on the back.
Nick nodded and put his face right up to Noah’s.
"Looks like you’re really gonna get it now Noah."
He let him go and punched him in the stomach. Noah let out a grunt and crumpled to the floor. Nick looked over at AJ, who was looking at Noah with a disgusted look. He could just tell he was itching to get his hands on him. He was going to stand back and enjoy the show.
"Have at it man," Nick said, walking away.
"Oh I will," he snarled, kicking Noah in the ribs.
He bent down and got Noah to his feet again. He held him by his shirt and looked into his eyes.
"You have until I count to
three to tell me what happened between you and my fiance’ last night. One…""I don’t know what you’re talking about," Noah insisted.
"Did you sleep with my fiance
'??!!" He yelled."Nothing happened, man. Chill out.."
AJ glared at him, wanting to put him through the wall.
"If I
ever find out that you laid one finger on her, I will kill you. That is not a threat, that is a promise."He slammed him back against the wall.
"Is that clear??"
He slammed him back against the wall again when he got no response.
"I SAID is that CLEAR?!?!"
"That’s
enough, Alex!"AJ’s head shot around when he heard
Dawn's voice. "Let him go, right now!"