Chapter Twenty-seven

Megan burst into the hotel room as soon as AJ unlocked the door. Straight to the mini-bar she went, downing one of the bottles before AJ had even gotten inside. She was after another when he was suddenly by her side, trying to turn her towards him.

She merely grunted in frustration and opened a second bottle, preparing to drown herself in an alcohol induced haze. But AJ snatched the bottle away, holding it just out of her reach.

“AJ, so help me GOD, if you don’t give that back right this fucking MINUTE!” she threatened.

“No, not until you tell me what the hell is going on. Was that woman downstairs. . . is she your mother?”

“A sorry excuse if I ever saw one,” Megan mumbled, trying to get her bottle back. “Now hand over the alcohol!”

“No!” AJ said loudly.

Megan launched herself at him, sending them both crashing to the floor. She clawed at his arm, stretching and straining to retrieve her only hope of surviving this part of the tour.

With a flick of his wrist, AJ threw the bottle at a nearby wall. It shattered into pieces, the liquid inside leaving a trail down the wall and settling into the plush, beige carpet.

“You bastard!” Megan screamed, struggling to get up.

AJ just wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could and let her fight him until he finally felt her strength leave her body. She latched onto him and sobbed. Deep, full body-shaking sobs that AJ was instantly scared of. He was not a strong person, at least not emotionally, and he knew he needed help dealing with this.

They lay like that for a full ten minutes before her sobs reduced themselves to sniffles. AJ tentatively released his grip on her and began rubbing her back.

“God, Megan, this is really serious,” he breathed. “Please, you’ve got to tell the others. They’re probably all worried about you, and we can help you.”

Megan sighed. “I wish you could, honest I do. But I have to face my demons alone, or they’ll never go away.” She raised her head to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for ever coming into your life. I’ll fully understand if you tell me to get the hell outta here and to never see you again.”

AJ pushed himself to a sitting position, taking Megan with him.

“Are you crazy? I would never do that. Not in a million years. And please don’t ever ask me to.”

“How can you still want to be with me? Look at me! I’m a mess!”

He gently brushed a tear from her cheek and smiled. “I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

Megan rolled her eyes, and was surprised to feel a smile forming on her lips. “Damn you and your charm.”

“Damn it to hell and back,” he added, kissing her lightly.

Megan allowed herself to kiss him back. Soon they were lost in the moment, and for Megan it couldn’t have been better.

A knock at their door made them break apart.

“Come in,” AJ called.

Howie cautiously peeked inside.

“Everything okay in here? I heard shouting. . . “ His gaze stopped on the broken glass. “Yikes.”

“We’re fine, now,” Megan said, running a hand over her face to erase all signs of tears.

“Okay, well, um, Denise would like to have a meeting in her room as soon as possible,” Howie said, lowering his eyes.

“She wants to know if I should be commited,” Megan said. “Tell her we’ll be there in five.”

“All right.” Howie turned to go, then paused and turned back. “Megan, are you okay?”

She knew he asked because he genuinely cared, and it touched her. She smiled and nodded her head.

“Yes, I’m fine. Five minutes.”

He nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

AJ got to his feet and helped Megan up as well.

“You can do this,” he said to her, taking her hands in his and squeezing them. “You’re a strong person, and you will get through this.”

“I hope so, AJ.”

“I know so.”

She tilted her head at him. “Do you always have to have the last word?”

AJ grinned. “Always.”

Kevin paced uncomfortably in his hotel room. Dana sat on the bed and watched him, chewing on her nails.

“So that was her mother?” Kevin asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah,” Dana sighed.

“Are you going to tell me what happened before we came inside?”

“Just a little blow-up, that’s all.”

“The look on Megan’s face told me otherwise.”

Dana rubbed her eyes tiredly. “Please, just let Megan explain. It’ll make much more sense coming from her.”

“If there’s going to be a huge problem, maybe we could switch hotels or something,” Kevin suggested.

“You and I both know that’s almost impossible,” Dana pointed out. “You can’t exactly move a group like ours that easily.”

Kevin stopped pacing and flopped down on the bed beside Dana, facedown. Dana leaned over and began rubbing his back, resting her chin in the space between his shoulder blades.

“I’m worried about her,” he murmured.

“Me too.”

Nick knocked lightly on their door and then came inside. His normally bright, blue eyes were nervous and frightened. He cared about Megan too, and he wanted to know if she was going to be all right.

“Denise wants us all in her room,” he said.

“Sure thing,” Kevin said.

He and Dana stood up and followed Nick down the hall. Howie and Brian were already there. They sat down on one of the sofas and waited in silence for AJ and Megan to arrive.

Five minutes later, the couple stepped into the room, holding hands and looking quite tired. Whatever had gone on in their room had obviously been big. Howie kept what he’d seen to himself. It wasn’t his place to tell them.

AJ sat down between Brian and his mother, leaving Megan to stand in front of them all. Denise said nothing, just waited patiently for her to start.

“I know what you all are thinking,” Megan began. “You’re thinking, ‘Megan’s a nut,’ or something along those lines. But I swear to you, I’m not.”

She paused and looked to AJ, who nodded encouragingly.

“When I found out we were coming to Phoenix, I panicked. This is where I’m from, where I was born and raised. This is where my mother lives and works. That woman behind the desk downstairs, that’s her. Things haven’t been good between us since I left eleven years ago. In fact, we haven’t seen or spoken to each other until today. And what a reunion that was!”

She shook her head and frowned.

“This is going to be a long story, so I suggest you get comfortable. And perhaps something to drink?”

AJ, having already heard this story once before, got up and went to the bar. He grabbed every bottle he could and brought them back, setting them down on the coffee table.