“I think we’re okay, though the guys are going to give you infinite shit. Ford knew exactly what was going on.”
She bit her lip but then laughed. “Well, at least it was mostly so dark he couldn’t see much.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure he’s seen my junk and your mouth plenty, so he only had to use his imagination.”
She stared at me for a minute and then wrinkled her nose. “You’re a bad influence, Mr. James.”
“Well, Ms. Franklin, I haven’t heard you complain.”
“Never.” She whispered the word against my lips, inviting me to kiss her. So I did. Being together never got old and I was already thinking ahead to the next trip.
“So, we’re playing a huge country fair type event in October,” I told her when we finally pulled apart. “I was thinking you could come for a week if you can work out the time off.”
“I don’t know. A week is a long time in the catering world.”
“What happens if you’re sick? They survive. And this week I’m thinking of allows us more time together than usual because we’re doing those two shows—Saturday night and Sunday day—without Onyx Knight. We got added to the lineup at the fair last-minute so we get to Minnesota on Friday, and I can pick you up in Minneapolis. We’ll play Saturday and Sunday, and Monday morning we head for Chicago. We meet up with Onyx Knight for Thursday’s show and you can fly out Friday morning from Chicago. Having Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off will be nice. And if you want, we can fly from Minneapolis to Chicago and spend some time there like a vacation.”
“Get me the dates and I’ll see what I can work out with Marla.”
We got off the ride and I realized I hadn’t really seen any of it.
“We should ride this again,” I told her, sliding my hand around hers. “I don’t remember a thing.”
“If you don’t remember a thing, I wasn’t doing it right,” she quipped.
I chuckled. “I meant about the ride.”
“Hey, guys.” Ford wiggled his eyebrows at us. “Have fun?”
“I wish Zaan was here,” Lexi murmured.
“Are you saying I’m not a fun date?” Lance demanded, pushing his thick, Coke-bottle glasses up on his nose.
“Well, define fun,” Lexi countered.
We were still laughing as Lance pulled out his phone. He frowned a little and then immediately called someone.
“Everything all right?” Tyler asked him.
He held up a finger, indicating we should wait, and he spoke into the phone. “Yes, this is he. I got a message about a situation in my room…what? When? Fuck…where is he? Can you give me the name, please? Yes, thank you.” He was quiet and a bad feeling settled in my gut. This had to be about Noah. Lance looked a little frantic, and as an experienced tour manager handling rock musicians for twenty years, it took a lot to make Lance anything even close to frantic.
Bri moved closer to me, as if she sensed something bad was coming and we waited until Lance finally hung up. He turned and looked at me, distinctly avoiding Bri’s eyes.
“We have a situation,” he said quietly. “Noah’s in the hospital. Housekeeping found him unresponsive about an hour ago.”
29
Brianna
* * *
My vision got a little blurry as we rushed to find the exit and taxis to take us to the hospital. I was suddenly freezing, despite the warmth of the day, and my skin felt a little clammy. There was no way to be prepared for something like this, even if you’d been expecting it. Even if you’d gone through it before. I was cold, but also numb, and I let myself be pulled along as Declan and Lance took charge. Lance was on the phone with the hospital my brother was taken to, and Declan got us into three taxis heading there.
We got there in less than twenty minutes and I walked inside woodenly, letting Lance talk to the woman at the desk and get the pertinent information.
“There’s no news yet,” he said when he joined us. “We can wait over there and the doctor will come out when they have something to report.”
“Do we know if he OD’d?” Tyler asked as we walked toward a waiting room of some kind.
“Of course, he OD’d!” I snapped, momentarily coming out of my haze. “That’s what addicts do. They relapse.”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Declan said, sliding an arm around me. “I’m sure the drugs and alcohol have taken a toll on his body, so it could have been anything.”
I sank into a chair and wrapped my arms around myself.
“Are you cold?” Declan asked, sinking down beside me. He still had the bag with our souvenirs and he pulled out the hoodie. “Here, put this on. You’re shivering.”
I nodded numbly, putting on the hoodie and staring out at nothing.
“Has anyone called Kiki?” Lexi asked.
I shook my head. “We don’t have any news, so why worry her? I’ll wait until we hear from the doctor.”
* * *
We waited a long time, too. At least three hours before anyone came out. Worry churned in my gut like thick fog on a cloudy day, making it hard to breathe, harder to think, and impossible to eat. This had happened once before, but there hadn’t been anyone handling everything last time, so it all fell to me and I’d been too busy to panic, cry, or react much at all. This time, all I could do was wait and it was making me crazy. If he was dead, I didn’t know what I would do.
“Mr. Baker?” A tall, distinguished-looking doctor came into the waiting area.
“Yes.” Lance stood up.
“You’re here for Mr. Franklin.”
“Noah’s my brother.” I stood up too, joining them in the doorway.
“Well.” The doctor cleared his throat. “Your brother overdosed. We managed to get his heart beating and regulate his breathing, but we probably won’t know the extent of the damage until he wakes up.” He paused. “If he wakes up.”
“Can I sit with him?” I asked.
“He hasn’t been moved to a room yet. Once he’s settled, you can.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there a prognosis, doc?” Lance asked. “Best-case scenario.”
“Babe?” Declan tried to put an arm around me but I moved away, focusing on the doctor.
“Best-case scenario is that he wakes up and is fine, like this never happened. Most addicts don’t remember what happened, swear they’ll never do it again, and go on with their lives.”
“He’s going to rehab,” Declan said firmly.
“That’s not your decision to make,” I told him, anger churning inside of me.
Declan looked like he was going to protest but then didn’t, merely looked away.
“Give us an hour or so to get Noah settled and someone will come find you,” the doctor said. “It’s a good thing housekeeping found him, or we would have been too late.”
I took a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Thanks, doc,” Lance said to him.
“I need to walk,” I said. “Clear my head. I’ll be back.”