Chapter 22

He looked down on the sea of faces before him, and suddenly her face popped into view. He shook his head to clear it and the people roared. They were mostly college kids on summer break. They were waving and singing along with the songs.

He could feel the energy from them, but the foremost emotion he was experiencing was the anger at his own feelings. He concluded earlier that he loved her, but what upset him was that the mere sight of her with a man sent him over the edge. He didn’t understand it, though he knew what it was.

Colt tried to keep his eyes away from the VIP section, but every so often, against his will, they strayed there. Her emerald gaze stayed on him. He could see the emotions on her face; the awe, the adoration and … he tried to block her out, so he closed his eyes.

He continued the concert with his usual act. He gyrated his hips in a sexual way, peeled his top off, throwing it into the crowd, and then he walked to the edge of the stage and pulled up a young girl.

He looked over at Chelsea, and the smile he had seen there earlier was gone. It felt great that he’d managed to make her jealous. Now they were even. He allowed the girl to rub her pelvis against his as he continued his song.

As the tune faded, she kissed him on the cheeks. The crowd roared. He assisted the girl off the stage. There were a number of outstretched hands itching for him to touch them. As he reached to make contact with his fans, he felt them grab his wrist, pulling him off the stage.

Colt was tumbling forward. The bodies came together to shield his fall, but another set of bodies swarmed him, wanting a touch … anything to get close. They closed in on him, and then he felt a pain rip through his ribcage. He was helpless, though he tried to free himself from the crush of the crowd. Soon, the guards were assisting him as they pulled away the crowd. The pain was too much for the concert to continue.

“Colt, are you alright?” Reid’s voice penetrated the din.

“I think something’s broke,” he winced.

“Chelsea, call the ambulance!” Reid shouted.

“I already did,” she replied.

Her voice was near, but he could not see her. He wanted to see her, but there were other faces looking down at him. He closed his eyes as he willed the pain in his side to go away, hoping it wasn’t anything serious. There were two more concerts in California before moving on to Florida.

It took about ten minutes for the ambulance to arrive. As they lifted him onto the stretcher, he tried to get a glimpse of her, but she wasn’t there. Did he go too far with the girl on that stage? Reid was beside him all the way, but all he wanted was Chelsea.

“Where’s Chelsea?” he finally managed to ask as he was ushered into the ambulance.

His head was also throbbing as if something had struck it. Yes, he had also felt them tumble on his head. He had been sandwiched between those trying to cushion him and those who wanted a piece of him. No matter what, they were all his fans, and he was not angry. It felt good that these college students were such fans. There were younger, newer rock stars in the making, and they loved him, The Purple Crush.

“She’s around somewhere. Do you need her?” Reid asked.

“No, no, I don’t need her,” he lied.

“Let’s go,” he said to the ambulance driver.

Within eight minutes, they were driving into the hospital and taken to the emergency section. The nurse on duty led them to a bed behind a screen and began to take his pulse. She smiled down at him brightly, her brown eyes twinkling at him.

“Can you get the doctor?” Reid said to her, hovering like a mother hen.

“He’s on his way, but there was a pile up on the interstate, and we are a little busy. So please be patient,” she kept her smile as she addressed Reid.

Reid wasn’t having that. “Look, nurse. I respect that you’re doing your job, but he was pulled off the stage and trampled. He may have broken bones. There are …”

“Reid!” Colt’s voice broke in. “It’s okay. Just make sure Chelsea is okay.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” the nurse sweetly said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“What going on?” Reid asked when the nurse exited the curtain.

“What do you mean?” Colt asked, confused.

“Between you and Chelsea

“Excuse me,” a man said, entering the area. “I need to examine the patient. Kindly give us some privacy.”

The doctor asked exactly what happened and where he was feeling pain. When he touched the area at his rib cage, it felt quite sore. The doctor said he didn’t think anything was broken but to be certain he would have some x-rays done.

For the next thirty minutes or so, Colt was x-rayed, had his blood drawn and an ultrasound to make sure there wasn’t any organ damage. There was a small hairline fracture on a rib and a broken toe. He didn’t even realize the toe was broken until the results came back.

“How come I didn’t feel it?”

“Because of the shoes,” the doctor replied. “You haven’t moved around, so you wouldn’t really feel it. We’re going to have to reset the toe, so we’ll take you to a private room and get you settled.”

He was taken to a room as promised. They bandaged his torso first, warning him to take rest. The fracture was barely visible and would heal completely with bed rest. In order for them to set the bone in the toe, they would have to place him under a light anesthetic. He was given a drug intravenously through a drip. After a few seconds of the nurse adjusting the dosage, he began to feel its effects.

He wasn’t completely unconscious, just groggy enough not to feel anything. He could tell they were working on his foot, but he felt nothing. Something else was happening to him. He could hear screams and his own voice as a young boy, shouting, “Stop hurting her!”

Colt shook his head to rid the voices, but they became louder. Then things he’d buried in his subconscious years ago began resurfacing. He was thrashing around on the bed, and the voices of the doctor and nurse muddled the voices from the past. There were screams of pain and terror cutting through the fog. He saw his stepfather’s angry glare, the icy almost transparent gray eyes filled with hatred. Then there was Jason; he always laughed while his father tortured Colt and his mother. He could hear the laughter and see the mockery.

All the times they suffered, mother and son huddled together with bruises and cuts, busted lips and broken ribs. He could feel the heavy boot kick the wind out of him as he doubled over in pain. The pain of the past came flooding back in waves. He could feel the pain through the drug they had given him.

Strong arms held him down while he mumbled names and expletives. He could feel stronger drugs seep into his veins, and soon he was too drowsy to fight. He drifted off into the past as oblivion took over.

Colt awoke to a flood of memories, not only of what happened a few hours before but of what happened nearly twenty years ago. His toe was throbbing fiercely while his torso was tightly wrapped. He swung his feet from the bed and stood. He found that he could walk fairly well, so he moved to the closet where his clothes hung.

Upon checking the time, he saw it was 3:52 a.m. The place was quiet. He put on his clothes, picked up his sneakers, and then checked his pockets. Reid must have brought his phone because it was in his pocket along with his wallet which he’d put there before the concert.

The hall was empty, and there was one person at the nurse’s station. He took the staircase in the opposite direction to the nurse, lest he be seen. There was somewhere he needed to be, and it could not wait. His ribs felt fine, but the toe hurt like hell. He was wearing his socks only. He needed to get something that could fit his foot. Once out of the hospital, he hailed a cab and headed to his destination, only stopping once at an ATM to get some cash.