24 Floors.

Jayden’s POV

As much as I tried to sleep that night, all fatigue was gone the second “adoption” left Alex’s mouth. When I walked away from their conversation last night, I contemplated running away right then and there, just so I could leave before they kicked me out. However, it became clear quickly to me that my plan lacked one major component.

Money.

There was no way I would feel okay with taking some from Rian, Zack, or anyone on All Time Low’s crew. They were either too nice to me or I didn’t know them well enough to justify it. When I really thought about it, the only people I even wanted to steal something from would be Alex or Jack. They deserved it from me, but there was no way I was going anywhere near them if I could help it. Not long after I slammed my balcony door shut the previous night, Jack had reached my door and pounded on it for nearly an hour before someone complained and made him stop. There was hostility on both of our sides and no one could consider it a good idea for us to try and talk it out at 1 am, given both of our conditions at the time.

However, now it was nearing 11am, and the door knocking had returned. As much as I didn’t want to, I figured if this were to stop any time soon, I would at least have to open and slam the door shut in his face. Reluctantly, I rolled out of my warm makeshift cocoon and staggered to the door.

My first thought when my eyes met the person knocking was why the hell did Jack dye his hair bright green? It didn’t take long, though, for my half asleep brain to comprehend that the human in front of me was in fact quite a bit shorter and curvier than Jack. “Woah, you do look like him!” Her voice was much higher than Jack’s and had a different accent - something Austrailian, maybe?

I had the suspicious feeling that the “him” in question was my maybe-father. “Um, should I call the cops?”

“No, no! Sorry, I probably look absolutely mad to you. I’m Jenna. I sing in a band called Tonight Alive; we’re All Time Low’s opener on this tour. We knew they were hiding something from us, we just didn’t think it was a person until Cam, our bassist, saw you come into the hotel with them last night.” When she mentioned All Time Low, her eyes flickered to the doors beside me, both of which contained the members of said band. “You don’t think I could come in for a few minutes?”

Clearly they didn’t want her anywhere near me; of course, that made me want her even more. “Go for it.” I said slyly, sliding to the side so she could come in. “You...You didn’t happen to see any of them this morning, did you? All Time Low, I mean.”

She chuckled as she stretched out on my bed. “No, that’s why I figured it was safe to come see you. I kind of doubt they’ll even be awake for another hour or two.” She dismissed, focusing all of her attention on me. “So, are you like, Jack’s nephew or something? There’s no way you two aren’t related. And why are they hiding you? I’ve had my sister come on tour with me before but it wasn’t a big deal.”

“I wish I was only his nephew.” Jenna stayed quiet as I launched into the tale of how I ended up in this hotel room, starting with the beginning of my mom’s planned “vacation” to last night, culminating with Jack finally leaving me alone after knocking his hand raw.

“Holy shit, you’re serious? This stuff happens in real life?” I shrugged at the same time my door received yet another knock.

“Jayden, I can hear you in there. Let me in so we can talk about this.” Jack’s voice was demanding, but somehow still whiny. My eyes met Jenna’s in desperation, but she was already standing up and on her way to the door.

“What the hell are you doing? After everything I just told you, you want me to talk to h-”
“Shut up for a second!” She whisper-yelled to me as she opened the door.

“Jenna, how the fuck did you find him?” Were Jack’s first words. His fists were clenched at his sides and his jaw was set.

“You aren’t as subtle as you’d like to think, Barakat. Why should I let you in?”

“Because I’m his legal guardian.” He was speaking through gritted teeth.

“Only because his other one forced it on you. Try again.”
“Seriously, Jen. I don’t want to fuck around with you. I just need a few minutes and I’ll leave.”

“Or you could leave right now.” My jaw dropped as she slammed the door in his face, locking it just for good measure. She walked back to me smirking, ignoring the pleas from the other side of the wood. “Now, where were we?”

Jenna was a pretty cool girl. She was only about three years older than me, and we had a lot in common. Jack gave up outside my door in a few minutes, but just so I wouldn’t have a chance of facing him yet, she ordered outrageously expensive room service for our brunch and because I was in one of All Time Low’s rooms, it was all charged to them. I should have felt bad, maybe, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. I had my doubts that this would be the first time they had to fund an overpriced room service bill.

As we ate lunch, I found myself flirting a bit and her returning the favor. It came naturally, but I had no romantic interest in her. I didn’t want to hurt her, no. I just wanted a bit of fun, and I hoped she understood that after everything I had told her.

Unfortunately, not long after lunch, Rian showed up; he was much more persistent and tolerable than Jack, so I didn’t mind as much. Jenna, being closer to the door, answered for me again after I gave her the okay. My room was becoming quite the hotspot.

Rian didn’t give her the chance to close the door in his face, lightly pushing past her and stopping in the middle of my room. He raised his eyebrows at our empty plates from our meal. “Flyzik might kill you, you know.”

“It’s not like he doesn’t want to already.” I waved off. Flyzik didn’t hate me, but as the band’s manager, he was under a lot of pressure without the added trouble of an underage kid on tour with a band as brash as the one he attended to. He didn’t exactly want me here, but he had told me he could deal with it.

Rian rolled his eyes. “I guess it’s your ass, your funeral…but that’s not why I’m here.” He looked pointedly at Jenna, who took that as her cue to leave.

“Right, well. I gave you my number, Jay. Don’t be afraid to text me! Let’s hang out again soon, yeah?”

I grinned back at her. “You got it.”

Once she was gone, Rian looked between the door and me in confusion. “New girlfriend?”

I scoffed. “I don’t do girlfriends.” He stayed silent, waiting for me to elaborate. “I don’t like spending money on people, which always seems to happen in relationships; I like sex, that’s all.”

For the second time in five minutes, Rian rolled his eyes. “My god, you are literally Jack.”

I glowered at him. “I’m guess that’s what you want to talk about, right?” I continued before he could say another word. “I’m not apologizing to him or Alex. Seriously, I’ll look into somewhere else I can go if I’m that much of a problem. I don’t want to see them any time in the foreseeable future - they just want me gone, anyways.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.” I crossed my arms over my chest angrily, but Rian wouldn’t budge. “Sorry. You’re a minor, and there’s still this whole issue of a paternity test. Flyzik got you guys an appointment to get the blood work and such done in a few days. And Jack...Jack’s really sorry. He hasn’t slept since before the show yesterday. He’s kind of freaking out, which is totally not his thing.”

“And?” I asked. I tried to sound like I didn’t care, but I hoped Rian continued because the smallest part of me worried about him. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he hadn’t tried to hurt me by staying out of my life, and in the end, it was Alex who suggested the whole adoption thing, not Jack. I hadn’t even listened long enough to know if Jack agreed or not.

“And look. I’ve known these guys for like, 20 years. They’re fucking idiots, believe me. They say things they don’t mean in the heat of the moment and put their feet in their mouths on a daily basis. But Jack? He really is trying to wrap his mind around this. He’s the most immature guy I’ve even met, but he’s trying. I know he hasn’t done a good job yet, but just give him another chance. He’s a nice guy, and I think if you give him some time, he’ll be a great dad.”

Rian’s eyes were pleading with me, and for the first time, I noticed his shirt. It was a simple white button-down, but his right shoulder was stained. It looked only a little darker than the rest of the fabric, and when I reached out to touch it, it was still damp. “What-What’s this?”

He sighed, not meeting my eyes. “I told you he’s really sorry. Let him make it up to you, please.”

My heart stuttered. I never knew how to deal with tears. “Okay.” My answer was barely a whisper.

Rian visibly perked up, beaming from ear to ear. “Great, thank you! He’ll take you out for dinner at six tonight. Meet him in the lobby at five-thirty; I stole one of Alex’s nice outfits if you want to wear it - hopefully it will fit…” He left the room with a promise to return with the clothes, and I collapsed back on my bed.

Did I really just agree to that?