Trace and Marty look as pissed off as I feel, and I know that they're just as upset about this whole night. When we're all on tour together and spending so much time with each other, we become like family, and none of us will sit back and let some asshole like John hurt someone we all care about so much.
I can't get over it, either. I mean, everyone's trying real hard to pretend like it didn't happen, but I can't get the hurt look on her face out of my head, and it's making me want to punch John all over again.
I can't stand thinking about the fact that he was able to get under her skin like that, and I know it's going to eat her up inside. The last thing she needs to be worrying about is something that John said, but I know that it's going to bother her. I just wish I knew what to do to fix it all. I really wish kicking the shit out of John were an option, but I'm not sure it would help much right now.
Speaking of the fucker, he's standing in the hallway of the hotel with his bags and a black eye. Seeing that helps a little.
Apparently he wants more, though, because he's attempting to talk to Abbey again. I can't believe this idiot. I must have knocked something loose when I hit him.
"Abbey, can we just talk this through? Please?" He reaches for her, but Marty, Trace, and Todd step in the way, and I grab Abbey around the shoulders and bring her close to me.
"Ignore him, Jude, he doesn't deserve your attention." I can feel the tension in her shoulders and every now and then she hiccups. She hasn't stopped crying since we all piled into the van at the bowling alley.
"You want to hang out in my room tonight?" I ask, and I can see John behind us being stopped by Todd.
"I want to forget that this weekend ever happened," is her soft reply, and I want to kill John for hurting her like this.
"Abbey!" He tries again, and she stops, standing rigid in my arms. "Abbey, please..." The fucker is almost begging. He looks fucking pathetic.
Abbey looks up at me and I try and give her an encouraging smile, but I know it isn't helping much. She takes a deep breath and turns around, facing John. I make sure to keep my arm around her shoulders so she knows I'm there with her.
"Get out." Is her reply and I get some satisfaction as I watch John's face fall.
Abbey Turns and I give her a squeeze as we head toward my hotel room.
"That's right, go away with your pop star." John calls from behind us and I remind Abbey to ignore him. "She's a good fuck, isn't she, Justin? But she'd have to be, right? Since she's got such a great record deal and a spot on the world's biggest tour, I'll bet she sucked a lot of cock for all that."
The blinding rage that washes over me clouds my judgment and before I really know what I'm doing John's pinned beneath me and my fist is repeatedly meeting his face. Trace and Todd have grabbed my arms and they're pulling me off of John, so I stop hitting for a second, but he takes his chance and his fist catches me in the jaw. I let out a curse and struggle against the arms that are holding me, but they're too strong and I'm successfully pulled off of the floor.
By this time, Mickey has grabbed John and pinned him to the wall, preventing him from going anywhere. Trace and Todd let me go, and I reach up to wipe the blood off of my lips. The fucker made my lip bleed.
"You're lucky I'm not going to press charges, Timberlake." I don't know if this guy has big balls, or if he's just incredibly stupid.
Either way, that wasn't a smart thing to say to me.
"Go ahead, I'd love to see you try. I've got plenty of witnesses to attest to the verbal abuse you were laying on Abbey, and I'm sure my lawyer is a hell of a lot better than any third-rate fuck up you'll manage to find."
I wipe at my face again, the cut starting to sting a lot. "Get out of this hotel and away from this tour. If I see your face around her ever again, I'll have your ass out of here so fact you'll get whiplash." I start to walk away but think better of it, "And don't you dare try and contact Abbey ever again. There will be someone stopping by her apartment in two weeks to make sure that all your stuff is gone."
By this point a crowd has gathered in the hallway and I spot Abbey standing in the arms of her father who looks none too pleased. I hope he doesn't hate me for getting violent, but I really couldn't listen to John say those things anymore.
I send Mickey a glance and he nods, knowing that I want John out of the building.
I silently thank Trace, Todd and Marty for their help before turning back down the hallway and heading to my room. I really need to get something on this lip, and I need a second to cool off. I'm pretty riled up still, and I can't stand seeing that look on Abbey's face. I'm afraid that I'll do something crazy, like hold on to her and never let go.
No one stops me as I reach my room, and for that I'm thankful. I need a moment to compose myself before I seek out Abbey and her parents and apologize for everything that happened. I wouldn't take it back for a second, but my Momma did raise and gentleman and I don't want Abbey's parents to think I'm some heathen.
Grabbing some ice from the mini bar in the room, I plop down on the couch and close my eyes. I'm surprised when I hear my name a second later, and I open my eyes to see Jill standing above me.
"Hey!" I sit up, happy that she's there and surprised. I figured she would be out all night.
"What happened?" She sits on the couch next to me, gingerly touching my swelling lip.
"I got into it with John in the hallway. He started saying some nasty things about Abbey and I just couldn't take it anymore. He's been a dick to her all night and...I lost it, I guess. He got a punch in when Trace and Todd were pulling me off of him."
"Oh my God, Justin." She gets up and grabs some more napkins so she can wipe up the blood. I know I'd wanted to be alone, but it is pretty nice to be taken care of by my woman. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She blots at my face again before putting the ice back to my lip.
"You can cuddle with me," I know I sound like a girl, but I've really been missing Jill and I just want to relax with her next to me. However, the look she's giving me tells me that I'm about to be disappointed.
"Oh..." She looks down at her hands and I know that I'm really not going to like this. "I can't stay. I came back to get some clothes, I'm staying with one of the girls that's auditioning. We have an early audition tomorrow, so we were going to work over lines tonight. She has a hotel room across town."
I don't reply. I'm not sure I trust my words at this moment, because I'm already riled up and pissed off, I'm sure I'll say something that'll cause a hell of a lot of damage. I don't need any more drama to deal with. Not tonight.
Instead of saying anything, I get up from my spot on the couch and stalk toward the bathroom. I need to make sure this split lip isn't as bad as it feels. It would really suck if I needed to get stitches when I have all these shows to do. It would also mean media coverage and I don't need people speculating about who I'm getting punched by.
"Justin?" Jill's tentative voice follows me into the bathroom and I fight not to roll my eyes.
I don't know why I thought it would be possible for us to make a relationship work while I was on the road. The kicker is I figured she would be the one to crack from us being apart so much. I never imagined that I would be the one with my panties in a bunch because I don't get to see my girlfriend as much as I want.
"Justin? Are you going to be OK?" She rests her hip on the door frame of the bathroom and I bite back all the nasty retorts that sit on the tip of my tongue.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The cut has stopped bleeding and it doesn't look too bad. I'll just have to keep an eye on it. My eyes connect with Jill's through the mirror and she breaks the contact after a second. "Go."
She brings her head up again, so I turn to look at her properly.
"You're not mad?" She twists her fingers together in a nervous motion and I almost want to laugh.
"Mad?" I fight to keep my temper in check, but it's damn hard. "Of course I'm mad, but you've got things to do and I don't want to be the reason that you don't get this role. Lord knows that would be a hell of a lot worse than being alone for one night." I know I shouldn't, but I can't help but adding on, "Alone after I've just gotten my face punched in and experienced a horrible weekend without my girlfriend."
Her head drops and she lets out a sigh, but I know that nothing I say will make her stay tonight. Especially if I keep spitting out hurtful things.
"Don't get upset with me, Justin." Her eyes have a spark in them when she looks at me again. "You've ditched me a ton of times for work related things."
I let out a sigh and try to stop the rebuttals I have swimming in my head. It's not going to do me any good to fight with her, and to be honest, I don't really have the energy.
Instead of saying what I want, I pass by her without a word and head toward the main door of the suite.
"Where are you going?" She calls out and I don't bother to turn or stop my motions when I answer.
"You've got plans, what the hell do you care?"
The door slams behind me and I'm faced with an empty hallway. I know that the end of my relationship with Jill is near, but I don't want to have to deal with it tonight. And, as asshole-ish as it sounds, I'm almost hoping that she'll get fed up enough with me to break it off first. I know, typical male thought, but it is easier to deal with women when they feel like they have the upper hand at the end.
I'm not sure if Abbey will be in her parent's room or her own, but I want to talk to her mom and dad anyway, so I head in that direction. I hope she'll be there too, because I don't really feel like rehashing this night twice.
The door opens after my first few raps on the wood, and I met with the intimidating Mr. Rhodes. He's a former footballer, and he has the patented father stare down to a science, but to my relief his face does give a little when he sees that it's me. Or at least, I hope it softens.
"Justin, come on in." I'm ushered through the door and I spot Abbey and her mother sitting together on the couch.
The poor thing looks like she's been through hell tonight, and I really can't blame her. In fact, I almost feel a little selfish for how upset I am when Abbey's been through a whole lot worse tonight.
"Hey," I call to her softly. She gives me a small wave.
"Can I get you a drink, son?" Mr. Rhodes is rummaging through the mini bar and as much as I would love to accept, I politely decline.
"No thanks, I just came here to check on Abbey, and to apologize for what happened earlier."
I get a look from both her parents that seem to be a mix of disbelief and upset. To my surprise, Mr. Rhodes hands me a beer and claps me on the back.
"No need for you to apologize. We know that you were being provoked." He lowers his voice a little, "and to be honest, I'm glad you got to him before I did."
I let out a breath and turn toward Abbey. "Still, that shouldn't have happened and I'm sorry you had to witness that. But I promise that John won't be going anywhere near Abbey again."
She gives me a crooked smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes and I find myself wishing I could give her a hug.
Abbey Rhodes has to be one of the brightest people I know. She exudes happiness and light wherever she goes, and I love being around her. It kills me to see her look so small and defeated, especially because of some asshole like John.
"Are you going to be OK, Jude?" She offers me a shrug, but she stands from the couch and looks at her parents.
"I think I'm going to head to my room and take a shower. Thanks for everything." She gives them both hugs and kisses her dad on the cheek before making her way to me and looping her arm through mine. "Walk me to my room, please?"
I nod at her and say my goodbyes to her parents, setting the untouched beer on the table and not missing the knowing look they send each other. It unnerves me a little, but I bring my focus back to the girl next to me.
When we get into the hallway she lets out a deep sigh and clings a little tighter to me.
"Thanks, boss man."
"You don't have to thank me, Jude, he was being a dick-wad." She lets out a chuckle and I hope that the worst is really over.
"I know, and I'm sorry that it took me something like tonight to really see it. But still, thank you for defending me. It makes me feel better to think about the black eye he'll be sporting for a while."
We reach her door a second later. "Yeah, well hopefully it'll last longer than the split lip he dealt me." She turns to face me and reaches her hand up to gently touch my face.
"Does it hurt a lot?" I shrug in response to her question, afraid to speak with her fingers against my lips. My mouth is tingling and I wonder how much of it is from the cut and how much of it has to do with the girl in front of me.
"I'll be OK." My voice is rough and comes out shakier than I would have liked, but she doesn't seem to notice. "Get some sleep, Jude. I'll make sure you have the morning off so you can sleep in."
She thanks me again and turns toward her door. Abbey stops short of entering her room key, instead turning toward me and wrapping her arms around my waist in a tight hug. I take in a sharp breath and awkwardly pat her on the back before propelling her away from me and into her room.
After the door is closed I let out the breath I'd been holding and lean against the wall. My heart is beating loudly in my chest and I check to make sure I’m still alone in the hallway before letting out a string of curse words.
This can't be happening. This really shouldn’t be happening.
