Sighing, I sat up from the bed, walked toward my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans along with a blue cotton shirt before heading out to the living room. Austin glanced back at me, the phone still at his ear.

“He’s in the lobby.” He hung up the phone, handing me a small carry-on bag. After all, Frank wasn’t a check person. “Do you want me to come—”

“I’ve got it.”

“Noah,” he called out when I reached the doors.

Pausing, I didn’t look back, already knowing what he was going to say. But part of me needed to hear it anyway.

“You aren’t that kid anymore. Don’t let him get to you.”

Nodding, I made it only four feet and stopped right outside Amelia’s suite door, room 2340. I had no intention of knocking or seeing her. I had no idea what I was doing, honestly, but my feet wouldn’t move. So I stood there quietly, like a stalker, until seeing my “father” didn’t feel like walking into hell.

If she saw me, she’d probably slam the door in my face. No, she’d curse me out and then slam the door in my face. Christ, that woman had a temper. I still couldn’t believe she threw a shoe at me. Amused at the memory, I found myself moving toward the elevators. However, the motion was short-lived as the doors opened and devil himself waited there, dressed in his motorcycle jacket, a black shirt, and jeans. He somehow stood taller than me even at the same height, 6’3”, and he had more body to him. His beard was gone, leaving him only with a thick mustache. His grayish-brown hair was cropped nearly to his shoulders, and the scars on his face were still as prominent as ever. But it was the smell, that horrid mixture of gasoline and alcohol, that haunted me.

“There’s my boy!” His drunken laughed echoed in the silence of the hall. His hands wrapped around me tightly as he faced the bellhop. He continued on, “What’d I tell you! This is my son! Noah Sloan. Look. Look, we could be twins, right?”

“Yes. Please have a good morning, Mr. Sloan. You as well, Mr. Sloan.” The young man nodded to both of us, pressing the doors closed. When he was gone, I shoved Frank’s sweaty hands off me. Stumbling backward, he fell against the elevator.

“You—” he started.

“You were told to wait in the lobby.”

He snorted, dusting himself off. “What kind of son makes his father wait in the lobby? I figured you were asleep, so I thought I’d—”

“You thought you’d what? You thought you’d do what, Frank? YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING!” Fuck…Goddamn it! I was shouting now. Taking a deep breath, I handed the bag it to him. “Please just go wherever it is you go, and leave me be.”

I couldn’t do this shit today.

“We haven’t seen each other in how long, and that’s all you’ve got to say?”

“What else is there to say, Frank?”

He frowned and lifted the bag. “How much?”

“Same as always. Twenty large.”

“You gotta be fucking with me, kid. Ain’t you get some new gig or something? Twenty large? I told your butt boy I needed at least seventy this time—”

“Well, you got twenty, take it or leave it, Frank. We both know the amount doesn’t matter. You’ll piss it all away—”

He grabbed my collar. “Who the fuck you talking to, kid? Who you think made you into this? If you knew the shit your mother and I went through to get you here, you’d be shoveling money into my car.”

“You’d need to have a car for that.” I clenched his wrist. “And I do know. I know everything, which is why I’m giving you one more second to let go or I’ll break your fucking wrist.”

“What you going to do, huh?” He shoved me back into the wall. “Come on! You want to finally take that swing? I heard you’re working with that girl again. That’s why you found your balls, huh?”

“Son of a bitch!” I sneered, grabbing his wrist and head-butting him. When his grip loosened, I managed to get one punch in before Austin suddenly appeared, pulling me back. The other security guard, along with Daniel, had already appeared as well. Their presence didn’t ease my rage at all. “One day, I swear to God, I’ll—”

“You’ll what? You’re still the same little bitch you’ve always been!”

“Yeah, and you still like taking my bitch-ass money, you no good cocksucking piece of shit!” I struggled against Austin’s arms, the spit flying from my mouth as I yelled at him, until finally the elevator doors closed in his face.

“Noah!” Austin yelled.

“Let go! I said let go!”

“Okay, Noah. Okay.” He backed away with his hands up.

“He shouldn’t have been on this floor!” I hollered.

“I know. It was a mistake,” Austin said.

“I can’t have those kinds of mistakes! He shouldn’t have been here!” I repeated, this time yelling at the bellhop and manager, who were both holding their radios.

“Fucking idiots…” My voice drifted off when I saw her, dressed in a white silk robe, her hair brushed over to one shoulder, her arms wrapped around herself. Her blue eyes gazed into mine. Her face was emotionless, even as I stomped right past her.

“Get me another hotel,” I said as calmly as possible, opening the door of my suite. The door hadn’t even closed completely behind me before my hands begin to shake. It then spread violently throughout my whole body. Hugging myself, I staggered slowly into the bedroom, trying to reach my bedside table. However my legs gave out before I made it.

“Noah? Noah?”

My mouth clammed up. I tried my best calm down, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t control it. I just shook.

“Shit,” Austin said when he saw me rushing for my dresser. However, the bottle he lifted up was empty. So was the one in my bag…and the one in his.

“Fuck!”

Looks like I was going to have to ride this one out.

Amelia

I was halfway through my second round of the script when I heard the yelling. I couldn’t make it out. The walls were meant to be soundproof, but the closer I got to the door, the louder it became. I immediately recognized one of the voices. When I stepped into the hall, I realized I had never, ever actually seen Noah angry. Annoyed, indifferent, cold, yes—but true anger? It didn’t seem like him. He would more likely ignore you, or more often, casually insult you, and be on his way.

He was always Noah: the cocky, cold, and distant one. Even when we were young, he barely spoke unless he had some smartass comment to make. Now I couldn’t match the man I had always known in my head with the man I had just seen. His face was red, spit flying from his lips as his manager did his best to hold him back. He looked desperate for blood, itching to hurt his own father. Worst of all, his father looked exactly the same.

I couldn’t speak when he walked by me. No one was in the hall anymore, yet I couldn’t look away.

“Noah? Noah?” I heard from the room beside mine. “Shit…fuck!”

It’s none of your business. I knew that. Noah’s drama was his drama. I had more than enough of my own. Yet I kept walking toward his suite and saw that the door was still open. My heart was pounding so hard against my chest that I felt sick. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see. However, him lying on his bedroom floor was not it.

It was like a switch flipped in my head, and then I was running.

“Noah!”

“Amelia?” His manager stood up to push me back.

“Move!” I elbowed any part of him I could, dropping to my knees beside him. Tears fell from his eyes uncontrollably as his whole body shook like he was freezing. “What are you doing? Call a doctor—”

“I…m…fi..ne,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Shut up,” I said. He was anything but fine. “You need a—”

“It will pass. He ran out of his medication. He’s just needs to calm down,” Austin whispered behind me.

Noah, the idiot he was, tried to smile, and if he could, he would have said something snarky.

“I’m going to hug you—”

“I…am…fi…ne.”

“Well, I’m not.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I don’t like seeing you like this, so I’m going to hug you, and when you’re back to yourself again, you can go back to hating me.”