Road Doc

Chapter 18

“Girls night out, just you and me” Beth said to Theresa as the boys took their final bows.

“Not tonight, Beth. I’m really tired and just want to go get some sleep” Theresa was indeed exhausted.

“You’ve been moping around here for days. You need to get out and have some fun. Trust me, it’ll do you good to get out” Beth was not going to take no for an answer.

Theresa finally agreed and they made plans to meet at the hotel an hour after the show was finished.

The two women took a cab to a nice club in a trendy part of the city. They found a table near the back of the establishment, which was fairly empty for a Wednesday night.

“I’m going to the ladies’ room” Beth said almost immediately after they sat down.

“Good, I’ll go with you” Theresa said, picking up her purse.

“No no no. Trust me, you don’t want to be in there while I’m....uhhh....well, you just don’t want to be in there, catch my drift?” Beth said with a laugh.

Theresa laughed as her friend walked away.

She had only been sitting there alone for a few minutes when someone tapped her on the shoulder and said “Is this seat taken?”

Theresa started to say that she was with a friend who would be right back, when the person sat down next to her anyway.

“Howie” Theresa said, her heart rising to her throat in surprise.

“Hi” Howie said, looking into her eyes.

They sat silent, staring at one another, taking turns smiling and blushing.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Theresa finally said.

“I don’t know” he said with a soft chuckle. “I guess I’ve got this built in radar that draws me into places where the most beautiful women are.”

Theresa laughed.

“No really, Beth asked me to meet her here tonight. She said she needed to talk to me about something important. So here I am” he said.

“Hmmm...sounds to me like....no....you don’t suppose....do you think she...you know, set us up?” Theresa said, not believe that Beth could be so bold. She wanted to slap her and hug her at the same time.

Howie laughed and pointed as Beth walked towards the table. “Guess we’d better ask her” he said, still laughing.

“Well well well....lookie what we’ve got here!!” Beth said, pretending to be surprised. “Isn’t this a pleasant surprise!?”

“Uh huh...I’m sure you’re really surprised” Theresa said, moving closer to Howie to make room for Beth to sit down.

“Nope. Can’t stay. You two have a good time, but don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Beth exclaimed.

“Yeah, you two love birds don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” A voice from behind Beth shouted. They all looked to see AJ standing behind her.

“What are you doing here?” Howie snapped at AJ.

“Oh Howie, you know...just here to have a little fun, that’s all” AJ said, a mock innocent look on his face.

“I need to go” Theresa said, gathering her purse and starting to stand up.

“No. Don’t” Howie said, placing his hand on her arm to make her sit back down.

“AJ, go find your own place. Just leave us alone” Howie said.

Beth looked between the three other people as they exchanged glares.”

“What’s going on here?” she finally asked.

“Beth, let’s go” Theresa said, starting to stand up again.

Before Theresa could get to her feet, Howie jumped up and was immediately on top of AJ. In a flurry of arms and legs, the two men wrestled on the floor. Fists flew and many blows landed. Before long, a small crowd of people had gathered around them, and it wasn’t long after that that Marcus and Nelson, AJ and Howie’s bodyguards pulled them off one another.

“Dammit Howie! What the f-f-fuck was that for?” AJ screamed, wiping blood from his mouth.

“You know damn well what that was for!” Howie yelled back.

“No. No I don’t!” AJ said, very emotional.

“Theresa, Beth, you two go wait outside. The car I came in is supposed to be waiting. Nelson, take them, please” Howie ordered.

Howie grabbed AJ by the sleeve and dragged him into the men’s room. Marcus started to follow, but Howie stopped him at the door to the restroom.

“What the fuck, D?” AJ asked again. “What the hell did I d-d-do to deserve that?”

“You know what you did, AJ. don’t play stupid with me” Howie hissed.

“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on” AJ pleaded.

“Theresa told me what you did to her” Howie said, grabbing AJ by the collar.

“What??” AJ said, shocked. “What? Was she really that p-pissed about the kiss at her b-birthday party?”

Howie looked at him stupefied. His stare could have bore holes through AJ, his anger reaching the boiling point. He drew back his fist, AJ cowered, and Howie threw a punch, purposely missing AJ and landing on a condom machine behind him.

“She told me you raped her, you fucking idiot!” Howie screamed.

AJ stood there in shock. He had never, in all of the years that he had known him, seen Howie as angry as he was at that moment. Howie had always been the mediator, never the instigator of such a violent outburst.

“Howie, jesus, I d-don’t know what you’re talking about. She said I r-r-raped her?” AJ sounded truly shocked.

“Yes, she said you raped her. Dammit AJ, don’t play fucking stupid with me. Why the hell would you do something like that?” Howie asked, leaning against a wall, sliding down to rest on his heels.

“I didn’t man. I swear to you on....on....SHIT!” AJ was frustrated. “Look man, I I....swear to you on m-my mother’s life th-that I didn’t rape her. I swear.”

“I want to believe you AJ, but dammit, I saw the marks you left on her. I saw the bruises.” Howie truly did want to believe that his best friend was capable of such a terrible thing, but at the same time, he had to believe Theresa. She had no reason to lie about something like that.

“She said it happened last week, on Thursday before the show.” Howie said, wanting to make sense of it all.

“Thursday? Dude, Thursday I h-hung out in the hotel bar for a f-f-f-few hours before the sound check. I had a few drinks....okay....so I had more than a few.”

Howie sat listening as AJ talked, paced, and smoked.

“Amanda had called and b-basically told me that I was a stupid loser a-and the only reason s-she was ever with me was b-because she felt s-s-sorry for my loser ass” AJ was visibly upset.

“Okay, so what did you do after the bar?” Howie asked.

“I don’t know man. I remember Marcus bitching me out for being drunk again. I
remember going to the venue and finishing off a bottle of...hell...something I had stashed in my bag. But other than that I don’t remember any....” AJ stopped. Howie could see that he was processing a thousand things at once. AJ’s brow wrinkled and he turned pale. “Other than that, I don’t r-remember anything.”