Free A Star is Born by Robbie Michaels Page A

anything?”
    “Bill, what did you want me to say? ‘Break it up!’ Something like that?”
    “I’m thirsty,” he said, looking around for my waiter.
    “Get me a pineapple juice while you’re up,” I said.
    He wandered off in search of the waiter. When I saw him walk away, I jumped up and returned to my room. I didn’t want to talk to him. I had nothing polite or pleasant to say to him and didn’t want to have the inevitable conversation in a public place. Retreating to my room, I decided that Bill had broken the mood and that I should just pack my bag, get the hell out of there, and go home. With Bill’s magic little card, I could at least change my ticket and fly home early.

Chapter 14

    Persistent Bill and Angry Mark
     
     
    I DIDN ’ T have much with me so I didn’t have much of anything to pack. I showered, changed into my traveling clothes (jeans and sneakers), and was just making a final check around the room when there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was the maid on one of her many daily visits to the room, I opened the door without hesitation—and found Bill.
    “You stalking me now?” I asked.
    “No. I want to talk to you.”
    “And how did you find me? Go from door to door until I answered?”
    “No. Your waiter told me.”
    And it was like I was a bull, and a red flag had just been waved in front of my eyes. I pushed past Bill, catching him by surprise, and marched straight out to the pool where for two days I had been overtipping the waiter. By the time I found the man, I was super pissed. With anger increasing with every footstep, I marched right up to the waiter and, in his face, demanded, “What the hell, dude? You tell the man who’s stalking me how to find me? Is that it?”
    I had clearly caught him off-guard. “He said he knew you,” he tried, but I cut him off.
    “Do you believe everything everyone tells you?” I screamed at him, continuing to advance on him.
    “He’s famous,” the poor man tried again.
    “And famous people always tell the truth?” I demanded, yelling merely inches from his face.
    Hotel security appeared on the scene almost immediately.
    “Is there a problem, sir?” a guard asked me.
    “Yeah, we’ve got a problem. A huge problem. Your employee just gave my room number to a man who’s been stalking me. Sounds like a big problem to me,” I screamed at the new man.
    “But, but, but,” the waiter tried again, “he said he was your partner. And he’s that famous actor.”
    “I don’t care who he said he was. Are you really so stupid that you believe everything that everyone tells you? Huh? I’ve been lying here for two solid days tipping you, and this is how you repay me? This is what you do when someone takes good care of you?” On a roll now, I said, “How much have I tipped you over the course of the last two days? Huh? Well over two hundred dollars, I’m sure, minimum. Well, tell you what, I want it back.” When he didn’t move, I said, “Come on! Get it out! Start counting… now !”
    A new cadre of people was arriving, while simultaneously people who had been reclining by the pool were fleeing to get away from whatever the disturbance was.
    “Sir, I have to ask you to refrain….”
    “I want him fired,” I said, pointing at the waiter that I had treated so well.
    “Mark, you’re making a scene,” Bill said.
    “You’re damned right I’m making a scene.”
    “Sir, please,” the manager tried. “You’re disturbing the other guests. I’m afraid I must ask you to leave our property.”
    “I already have to leave your property, since your employee—and he damned well better be your ex-employee —just gave my room number to someone who’s been stalking me. Now my safety has been jeopardized, thanks to your ex-employee, so I have to leave your precious property and try to find a new place where I might be safe.” Looking back at the waiter, who was completely freaked out, I asked, “You gonna follow me there too, and