Hot wired series box set, p.24
Hot Wired Series Box Set, page 24
part #1 of Hot Wired Series
All of them had to be thinking the same thing. The tour barely began was now over.
“Even if Jase wakes soon and is okay, the tour’s over. He can’t bang the drums one-handed.” Doctor said his arm was broken in three places and would require surgery. Sam wanted to get him to a specialist immediately, and he couldn’t blame her. Alberts argued Jase’s stability, and she argued for his life. Heath thought the physician had no idea how stubborn she could be. Or how much pull Keys’ family had everywhere, and he’d already put a call into the man.
Derr shrugged. “It’s been done before.”
“Not fast enough for us to get back on track this go round.” Keys gave Derringer an apologetic grimace. “Sorry, man, but it’s the truth. We either cancel the entire tour or we hire a temporary drummer to play out the rest of the gig.”
“Fans won’t like that.” Tab didn’t look up from her texting.
“I don’t like that suggestion.” Heath rubbed his temples with his fingertips and groaned. He itched to return to Sam, but band business had to be addressed quickly.
“I agree.” Derr folded his arms over his chest.
“I think showing solidarity and support for Jase is our best form of publicity, and I don’t want to play without him anyway. Hot Wired isn’t Hot Wired without him.” Which meant even if it was the worst form of publicity, Keys would still want to cancel the tour until Jase recovered. Keys leaned against the windowsill and peered outside. “We could postpone the tour instead of refunding the ticket prices.”
Faced with his best friend’s wellbeing, Hot Wired was the least of Heath’s concerns. He’d defer the decisions to Tab, Derringer and Keys. All he cared about was supporting Sam, and Jase’s recovery
“There’s a press conference for tomorrow at noon. I’ll do the majority of the talking, but I need at least one of you to tag along and say a little of something. Any volunteers.” Tab paused texting and peeked up.
“I’m not leaving Sam. Or Jase.” Fuck the press and any other fan that thought he owed them a goddamn thing.
“I’d hoped you’d be the one to go, Heath. Everyone knows your history goes waaaay back with Jase. That makes you kind of the official spokesperson in this instance, you know to keep the fans hopeful.”
How could he give them hope when he struggled to keep his?
“Nah...they’ll be disappointed Fang’s not there, but they won’t be surprised when he doesn’t show either. They expect Fang to be with his family.” Keys turned away from the window and whatever he gawked at outside. “I’ll go. I’m better at schmoozing the press anyway.”
“A reporter is guaranteed to ask something stupid, and given Fang’s current disposition, he’s subject to punch a bastard.” Derringer adjusted his baseball cap. “I’ll go too. Someone needs to keep Keys from charming the panties off the pap.”
“That might actually help.” Tab attempted a snarky grin, but failed to pull the artifice off.
“I’ve never seen him look so fragile.” Heath rested his elbows on his knees, buried his face in his palms, and cried. He’d tried to hold back his emotions, but better to get them out now before he faced Sam again because there was no way that fucking doctor was keeping him away from her. And she wasn’t remaining in that room alone. If Jase’s status declined...a heavy knot clogged his throat. He couldn’t abide the idea. The reality would devastate him. Would tear Sam apart.
God he couldn’t acclimate the guy he knew with the man in the hospital bed. Jase could be an ass, spoiled by the advantages the biz gave them, but deep down he was a good guy. Devoted to those he loved, possessive too. Calling them out on their reckless romance chalked up to classic behavior from Jase. He always told them like it was, never withheld punches. Heath knew he and Sam were the two most important people in Jase’s life. They were what mattered.
His shoulders shook, and his gut ached from holding in his grief.
Wake up you selfish bastard.
Two meaty hands landed one on each of his shoulders. Without looking up, he knew it was Keys and Derringer offering support. One squeezed, the other was just there for support. Yeah, he had biological family, but he was too big of a sinner for them to love him. It’d been years since he’d talked to any of them. These guys and Sam were his only kinfolk.
They’re the best a guy could have, better than I deserve.
Wiping his eyes with his fingertips, he glanced up. Tab sniffled, but peered out the window, and by all appearances he guessed he’d got her to crying again.
“Sorry guys. Thought I had it under control.”
“No problem, man.” Keys squeezed his shoulder again.
“Better to let it out than fall under the weight after it’s built up.” Derr elevated his dark eyebrows. Sage advice from his bass guitarist.
“Yeah. Just...seeing him hurt like that....” Emotions clogged his sinuses again, and he shook his head.
“I understand.” Keys released him. “I hugged Sam in the room because if I didn’t, I was going to be bawling with her. She’s a pretty crier. I’m not. I get a blotchy red nose and...oh, wait, that’s Derringer. I am a pretty crier.”
“Fuck you, bitch.” There was humor in Derr’s voice, and Heath grinned. Leave it to Keys to try and cheer them all up.
TWENTY-NINE
SAM LAY ON HER side beside Jase in the bed. Time moved much too slowly in the hospital. The random clicking of the medical equipment had agitated her yesterday, serving as a cold reminder of the precarious situation Jase dallied in. Each new noise the monitors made incited panic. Each time, Heath had calmed her with a touch. A kiss to the forehead, a stroke to the arm, a gentle hug, or holding her hand. She’d never been in love before, but this feeling was amazing.
Worried about her brother had made sleeping difficult last night. At least she’d had Heath beside her on the pull out cot. Not much room, but she’d found comfort just being held in his arms.
A little after six in the morning, a parade of medical personnel had invaded their sleep. First the nurse to get vitals—like they hadn’t bugged him enough through the wee hours, but with a shift change came a new nurse. Her brother’s physician had come next.
“No change,” he said.
No shit, she thought. She didn’t need a medical degree to realize he remained in a coma.
“What about the hospital transfer I requested or the security?”
The balding man who held the build of a runner had pulled himself to his full height and peered down his nose at her. She supposed that made him feel superior. A genius wasn’t needed to discern he thought very little of her. She felt the same toward him.
Pompous asshole!
“He’s receiving satisfactory medical care here.” Could he sound any stuffier? Any more self-important? Sheesh! She lived with the vanity of rock stars, and he made them seem humble.
“Satisfactory isn’t good enough for Jase.”
White lines crinkled outward from his tightening lips. He ignored her comment. “We are suitably staffed, and I assure you no one will get past our I.C.U. nursing station. There is a security guard stationed there.”
Pfft...Sam knew how money tempted folks to turn a blind eye. And their sorry excuse for a security guard was as lanky as Barney Fife. She held serious doubts he could defeat a spider.
“Doc”—she’d figured out he hated that insolent designation when he’d corrected her repeatedly the first dozen times she dropped the word—“you’re obviously ignorant of the dedication of fans and reporters. They’ll scale the fucking building to get in.”
He winced at her crass language, and she mentally grinned at getting under his skin. “Considering we’re on the eighth floor, I highly doubt that.”
Sam snorted. She and the doc weren’t slotted to be BFF’s.
She wasn’t budging on either request and had a call into Jase’s attorney. The pretentious bastard would learn he wasn’t dealing with the average patient.
Today she’d talked to Keys’ father—that man was so cultured and smooth talking he had a way of making her feel inferior even while he treated her like royalty. In the communication he’d assured her there’d be a transfer soon. With that man and Omega pulling strings, she had faith they’d be elsewhere in the next few days. He always got what he wanted. She learned legacies talked more than money or fame. People jumped to do their bidding without any guarantee of reimbursement or obligation.
“Want something from the cafeteria?” Heath ran the back of his knuckles down her arm, drawing her from her thoughts. Without his solid foundation yesterday, she’d have lost herself to her overwhelming fear.
“A BuzzMe would be great.”
“What about some food, brat? You haven’t eaten since breakfast, and you didn’t eat all your banana then.”
Sweet that he took notice of little things like her dietary needs. Weird that she thought it was charming. Sam couldn’t have said what she ate last or when. Her only concern was getting her brother well.
“You monitoring my eating today, daddy?” She infused as much sass as she could into the question.
He buzzed her jaw with the pad of his thumb. “I know you. When you worry you forget to eat, forget to take care of yourself. That’s where I come in.”
Why do I find that hot?
“Your energy drink might give you the oomph you want, but not the nutrition you require.”
“BuzzMe is nutritious. It says so right on the can.” She held up the purple and green cylinder from earlier. “See...‘real fruit juice added’.”
He chuckled, a rich seductive sound that did a number on her libido. Now was not the time. She felt a little bit guilty for wanting to drag him into the bathroom and get down and dirty with him while Jase fought for his life.
“Word of sage advice...don’t believe everything you see, read, or hear.” In a stage whisper he added, “False marketing.”
“Hmm...guess that means I shouldn’t believe you love me.”
Heath swooped in, yanked her off the bed straight into his embrace, and nabbed her lips with his. The kiss he delivered left her breathless and needy. She clutched his hair off his forehead and anchored it on top of his head, curled between her fingers. Her forearms bracketed each side of his face. She squeezed closer to him, flattening her breasts against his chest. Gawd, she loved the way he kissed her. Like he was oxygen starved and she was the purest air that he needed to ingest to survive, no other would do.
“Believe everything I tell you.” His palm skimmed down her forearm as he feathered his lips across hers, his eyes open and gauging her. “You are my music, Sam.”
Translation: music was his world, his life, his only love. And he likened his emotions for her to his obsession. That infused her with the feelings of love more than anything else he could’ve declared.
“Heath....” She closed her eyes and endeavored to wrangle her lust under control. “I want you so bad.”
He dragged his jaw across cheek. As he whispered in her ear, he clutched her bottom and held her steady as he rocked his pelvis against her. “The feeling is mutual.”
He is as hard as I am wet. “Fang would take me, and the brat I normally am would let you, but we’re seriously fucked up for even thinking about sex with my brother in critical condition.”
Heath glanced at Jase. He kissed her forehead and released her after a long moment. “For the record, Jase has very little morals. He’d be in the bathroom already—if we’re lucky he’d be that discreet, but you can be damn sure he’d be banging his chick if he was as turned on as we are.”
“I’m not indiscriminate like Jase.”
“Thank the fuck for that.” He drew her in for another slow kiss that curled her toes and had her clutching him closer than before.
She was panting when he drew away. Eyes heavy lidded she coveted his mouth. Fantasies inspired by reality X-marked the areas of her body she wanted those lips on.
“One BuzzMe coming up.”
It took Sam a second to process the statement. He was halfway to the door with her admiring his ass in his snug jeans when she realized he planned to vacate the room. Who needed a BuzzMe when Heath did the job of jazzing her up quicker than a drink?
She shook her head and climbed back into the bed next to Jase as the door snicked shut behind him. “We’re going to have a long serious talk about Heath when you wake up, Jase. I wish you could experience how he makes me feel, then you’d understand why I have to be with him, why I can’t just walk away without giving him a shot.”
Sam adjusted the I.V. so she didn’t accidently snatch it out of his arm and lay on her side facing her sibling. His long hair peeked from beneath the head bandages. She ignored the bruising and lacerations. They’d mend. She needed his head trauma to heal first.
“There’s enough of me to share, ya know? I’ve got a big heart. I can love two men at once. Loving Heath doesn’t mean I can’t love you too.” A spike in the beeping and she eyed the brain waves, but couldn’t make out heads or tails of what it indicated. The hoity-toity doc implied those spikes designated nothing, but she liked to believe they signaled Jase heard her. “No one will ever take the place of my big brother. You’re the best. Do you seriously think anyone could be as awesome as you?”
Tears distorted her vision, and she blinked them back. She wanted to hug him to express her devotion to him, but feared making his injuries worse. She kissed his shoulder and loosely laced their fingers together.
The bull Jase had said about them hurting one another...maybe she and Heath eventually would, but she thought what he really worried about was losing one of them. Or losing Heath to be exact. As his sister, she knew her value in his life. “Heath is still your best friend. I don’t want to come between that.”
But I will...I have. Their old, sordid habits had died because of her. The fame had turned Jase a touch narcissistic, but there was no way he was this self—
The flashing of bulbs went off, momentarily blinding her. Blinking, Sam lifted her arm to shield her eyes as she rolled off the bed. An auburn haired girl near her age snapped photos with her cellphone.
Clickclickclick...flashflashflash—
“Who let you in?” Morbid bitch invaded their privacy and took photographs of her severely injured brother. What type of person did that?
Fans, of course. She’d told the doc this would happen!
More snapshots went off.
Clickclickclickclick...flashflashflashflash—
Bright lights dotted her vision, and Sam swung in the direction of the girl, managing to connect with her wrist bone. The phone popped up and out of the stranger’s grasp. The device hit the floor with a clatter. They scrambled for it, and somehow Sam got to the cell first.
“That’s mine! Give it back or I’ll charge you with theft!”
“Won’t be the first time I’ve been charged with theft or got out of it.” Proud she sounded cool as ice while she seethed inside. In between the white specks distorting her vision, she pressed a button and pulled up the pictures. “You’re trespassing.”
“It’s a public hospital.”
“Only family is allowed in I.C.U.” She quickly deleted the images and removed the others of Heath, Keys and Derringer that were on the camera roll, ones the girl had gotten of them outside the hospital. “You’re one sick bitch sneaking into a man’s hospital room like this.”
“Give me my phone or I’ll sue you.”
Ha! Sue me? Indeed!
“Go right ahead. I’ll counter sue you.” She had no idea for what, but she was sure Jase’s attorney could come up with something good. “Wonder whose checkbook will buy the better attorney?” Sam dropped the cell on the floor and slapped her hand over her mouth with a dramatic, “Oops.”
As the girl moved to pick it up, Sam put the heel of her boot into the device. The girl screeched her indignation. Sam plucked her phone from her pocket and walked to the door. She blocked the exit and flattened the cell to her ear. To the intruder, she said, “Try to leave, and I’ll assault you. That’s another charge you can add to your lawsuit. Oh and don’t forget false imprisonment or kidnapping...whichever one works best for ya.”
THIRTY
HEATH RETURNED TO CHAOS. Ten minutes. He’d left her alone ten minutes and trouble found her. He should’ve been surprised she discovered trouble in the I.C.U., but he wasn’t.
One of the two officers present brought him up to speed lickety-split while Sam screeched at the doctor and their hospital caseworker.
“I bet you were in on this, weren’t you?” Good and worked up, she’d resorted to making accusations she couldn’t back up even if she was probably correct. Toe-to-toe with the male once again, her demeanor alone should’ve dared him to lie.
“I assure you, Ms. Collins, I had nothing to do with this.” The man had a serious stick up his ass. “Mr. Collins’ health and safety are priority one to me.”
“Fucking liar. You’re such a pussy, you don’t have the balls to tell me the truth.” Heath recognized she’d reached one of those moments where she’d lost control, and she’d never learned how to reign herself back in when she reached that level.
He also understood her anger. A stranger had managed to get into Jase’s room after the doctor had assured them Jase would be safe! None of them wanted photos like this out there for the press and fans to obsess over. Jase wouldn’t want them in the public eye either. His vanity couldn’t endure it. Worse case scenario...what if the intruder had been a stalker or a psycho instead of a fan wanting photos. Those thoughts did nothing to alleviate his anger.
Heath captured the back of Sam’s neck and squeezed, serving as a subtle warning. Good thing she had him as a sedative or she’d be a permanent resident in county lock-up.
“She’s emotional, this is upsetting, and adding this insult on top of an already stressful situation—I’m sure you can understand why she’s tossing out unfounded allegations.”
He knew the only reason she held her tongue was because of his hold on her nape.
The doctor’s long pause rubbed Heath wrong, but when he finally spoke, his demeanor did nothing to eradicate his agitation. “Of course.”
