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Adonis and I were in a holding pattern for the next couple of months. His father continued to see me as a threat, he said. Abraham was worried that if Adonis was with me, I might pull him out of the band, and all of the work he'd done would "go down the tubes," as he put it to Adonis. He showed no signs of relenting no matter how much Adonis argued, begged, or even cried.
Then on May 27, 1992, I woke up in a Virginia Beach hotel room to the sound of someone pounding on the door.
I'd seen Adonis the night before and he got me a hotel room for the night since we were out until late. My hotel, the Gulf Beach II on Surfside Boulevard, was on the other side of the harbor bridge from the city, and I usually stayed here whenever I visited Adonis. We felt safer and more secluded if we were on the other side of the bridge from his family.
In fact, nobody we hung out with in Virginia Beach ever crossed the bridge much, so I didn't have to worry about somebody seeing my car and word getting back to Abraham that I was in town. I had the feeling that he probably drove around to every hotel in Virginia Beach, Virginia, looking for Adonis and me whenever he wasn't home at sunset. For that reason, Adonis rarely ever spent the night with me.
Adonis had been valiantly keeping up his performance schedule despite his disagreements with his father--he was a professional, and he knew that his family's livelihood, as well as his reputation, depended on him showing up to do the gigs Abraham booked for the band. I knew that Adonis was due to leave early that morning for a show in Alexandria. I didn't have anyplace to be, so I had decided to sleep in and leave at checkout time.
The pounding on the door continued; I opened my eyes and glared at the hotel alarm clock. Although I usually was an early bird, due to my plans on sleeping in today, I was highly irritated when I saw that it was just after ten o'clock. The hotel maid must be knocking on the door, I decided, thinking I'd checked out.
"No, not right now," I yelled without getting out of bed.
The knocking continued, more insistent now. "Come back later!" I shouted again.
More knocking.
Then I heard him.
"Baby, it's me! Open up!"
My eyes shot open, and I jumped out of the bed and ran to the peephole to make sure it was who I thought it was.
It wasn't a maid. It was in fact, Adonis.
My first thought was that something must have happened with his father. I fumbled with the lock and got the door open.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you in Alexandria? Don't you have a show? Did something happen?"
