Frustration -SERIES- [Part 1] [boyxboy]

Chapter Eleven

Conor's eyebrows shot upwards and his face took on a bemused, sceptical expression. I could tell he was slipping into denial; this guy looked a lot like Conor and his brothers but Conor didn't seem to believe him.

'Excuse me?'

'I'm your father,' he repeated.

I could feel a ball of tension rolling around in my stomach as I watched this exchange. A huge part of me wanted to slam on the brakes and try to stop this from happening but of course it was too late for that now.

'No,' Conor said definitively, then shook his head. If anything, he seemed kind of pissed that guy would try to pass himself off as somebody that he wasn't. 'Look dude, I don't know who you are or what's wrong with you, you know...' he pointed to his own head, 'up there, but you're not my dad.'

The guy reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his wallet. 'I am. Here, I can show you.' He opened the wallet and took out a photo, then took a few steps towards us. Conor took a step back from him, obviously still thinking he was a crazy person, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

'Okay, I'm going to go to my room now,' he enunciated carefully. 'I'd like you to leave.'

'Just look,' the guy pleaded, and strode quickly over to us before Conor could take another step, thrusting the photo at him.

Conor looked about ready to smack the guy's hand away, but when he caught a glimpse at the photo his face went completely pale. Shakily, he reached out and took it, and the guy took a couple of paces back nervously. Conor held the photo in both hands a scrutinised it carefully.

'Tyler...' he said hoarsely, and I came closer, glancing down at the photo. Unmistakably, it was a picture of Conor's whole family; a miniature version of my boyfriend was sitting on this guy's lap, beside them was Conor's mom, and on either end of the couch were Kelan and Joey, everybody grinning happily at the camera.

'Shit,' I whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder.

It had been meant as a gesture of support however, not of restraint, which was why I suddenly found myself grasping thin air as Conor shouted, 'Motherfucker!' and launched himself at his dad. Josh caught him around the waist right before he could hit the guy and swung him around so he wasn't even facing his dad anymore; rather he was struggling violently against my best friend. I was blinking dumbly at the whole situation and Rachel had her hand over her mouth in shock. 'Let me go!'

'Do you promise not to hurt him?'

'I'm going to fucking kill him!'

'No deal.'

'What exactly is going on here?' We all looked around to see Sarah frowning at Conor, then looking around at the rest of us uncertainly. Mr Archibald was wringing his hands together nervously, looking very uncomfortable.

Rachel and I glanced at each other; it didn't look like Conor was about to be forthcoming with information so the burden fell on me. 'Um. Sarah. This is Conor's dad. Mr Archibald, this is Sarah, Conor's tour manager. She might kick your ass.'

Sarah, who was well versed on the situation with Conor's dad, regarded him coolly.

'You appear to be upsetting my charge, Mr Archibald,' she said calmly. 'I would advise you to leave this hotel before I have you escorted out.'

'Oh no you fucking don't!' Conor shouted as his dad took another step backwards. 'Get back here, you fucking coward!'

'Conor,' Sarah said sternly. 'I can't let you-'

'Oof!' Josh groaned as Conor managed to elbow him in the stomach, but kept a firm grip on him.

'Oh for fuck sake,' I muttered, rolling my eyes, and walked over to them, shoving Josh out of the way. 'Here, let me.' I grabbed Conor's face between hands before he could take another step towards his dad and forced him to look at me. When his gaze first locked on mine I could feel his searing hatred and anger but slowly he blinked a few times and calmed down. 'Okay,' I said quietly once I knew I had his attention. 'Your dad is here. I know it's a shock. I think he wants to talk to you. If you want to completely beat the absolute shit out of him I'm not going to stop you, but you might want to try talking to him first.'