Heartbreak Hotel (Editing)

Chapter 15: Life After You (Part 2)

"I'm thinkin' all that still matters is love ever after, after the life we've been through. 'Cause I know there's no life after you."

-Daughtry (Life After You)

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"Who's this?" His father was looking directly at me, he looked so intimidating. I hid further behind Michael's back.

His mother stepped up." This is Liyah, Michael's friend, they were just leaving."

"Yeah, so we'll go now!" Michael said quickly, he began pushing me towards the stairs.

"No, come in." He said as he walked up to her. " I'm Joseph, his father."he extended his hand out with a smile.

I struggled to keep my eyebrow down. " Nice to meet you, Joseph." I said shyly. I shook his hand.

" You're a pretty girl. Where'd you meet my son?"

"Joseph..." Michael said, almost as if he was warning him.

"It's okay..." I whispered as I step from behind him. " I met him in New York."

He nodded. "Oh, right. When he left."

Katherine slapped his arm giving him a warning look. " Stop, Joe!" She hissed, giving him a dark look. "She's Sasha's Niece." she added with a smile.

His thick eyebrows furrowed." Sasha?"

"You know, Sasha Haughton."

He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. " Sasha from Harlem?! You're related to her?"

I nodded.

Then his face grew suspicious." How are you her niece? She has two other sisters and one shouldn't have a grown daughter and the other...." He sentence began to trail as he thought more. " Are you Dani's girl?"

Dani? " Uh, if you mean Danielle then, yes."

"I remember your mother, she was a-"

Katherine slapped his arm again, giving him a look that said,' Shut up'. He only glanced at his wife then back at me.

" You don't look like her..."

"I look more like my grandmother." I said.

"Linda's eyes weren't green."

I raised my eyebrow." I get them from my great grandfather." It was almost as if he was quizzing me to see if I was actually related to them or not.

He nodded slowly." What brings you to California?" he asked after a quick moment of silence.

" My friends and I just got signed to Epic records."

His eyebrows raised." Really? How long ago was that?"

"About three months ago." I looked down at my feet, breaking our eye contact. This guy was scaring me.

"They are good, Joe." Randy said from the table. I had forgotten he was in the room.

"You guys sing?"

"Yeah, what else would we do?"

There was a moment silence and I looked up at him. He still staring at me with suspicion. I wanted to go hide behind Michael, but it would've been so obvious. He was standing right next to me. "How old are you, girl? You look really young"