Broken Promises

Part 16

The loud banging on Lindsey's hotel room door woke him up. He was having difficulty opening his eyes, let alone getting out of bed to answer the door. He had no clue what time it was, a part of him wondered if he'd slept through his alarm and Tom was about to drag him to an already awaiting car outside.

"Christ." Tom made a disgusted face at the sight of his boss. "Man, you stink."

"Good morning to you, too." Lindsey rolled his eyes and left the door open for his assistant.

"It's nearly 11 am. You were supposed to be out of the shower and dressed up already." Tom said, looking around at the mess Lindsey had made out of his room. "So, I take it you went to bed with Mr. Daniel again." He picked up the empty bottle off the floor. 

"I don't wanna hear it." Lindsey crawled back into bed and pulled up the covers to his neck. 

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on at last?" Tom sat down at the foot of the bed, growing increasingly more impatient. "You barely eat, you live on whiskey and pot. You look like shit."  Lindsey just gave a shrug of his shoulders. "You've been a huge pain in the ass for the past month. I thought, you were going to work it out, whatever happened between you and Stevie, when she came to visit you."

"That didn't go too well."

"Right, I figured, when I had to take her back to the airport almost as soon as I'd driven her to see you." Tom got back up and started tidying the place up a bit. "Lindsey, this can't go on forever. You're no longer in your 20's, it's not cute or attractive anymore."

"Can you just leave?" Lindsey asked, sounding exhausted. "Actually, before you do, find me some painkillers."

"Why don't you do it yourself, huh? You've got an interview in less than two hours and you need to get ready." Tom replied, picking Lindsey's discarded clothes off the floor.

"Fuck that." Lindsey shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. Today is my day off and I'm staying in bed."

"Will you stop acting like a child?" Tom raised his voice, his full attention on Lindsey. "You've already cancelled the last several appearances, you can't do this again."

"I can and I will. Who cares anyway?" Lindsey asked without really wanting an answer. 

"I know that you do." Lindsey just grunted in response. "Fine. I'll set the alarm for an extra half an hour, but when I come back, you better be up." Walking over to the nightstand, Tom reached for Lindsey's phone. He frowned. "Uh... you have eleven missed calls from Adam."

Lindsey's eyes snapped open. He grabbed his phone from his assistant and unlocked it. Ella had called as well. There were text messages, too. Lindsey was instantly worried. Something happened. Something possibly terrible happened and he ignored his children trying to reach him. 

"Adam? I'm sorry, I-"

Tom couldn't hear the other side of the conversation. He saw Lindsey shut up and listen. Lindsey gulped, turning white as if he'd just seen a ghost. The call didn't last very long and Tom patiently awaited for Lindsey to share what he had found out.

"That interview, I'm not going to that." Lindsey swallowed uneasily. "I don't think that I'm going to be back before the next show either. I'm flying back to LA."