Chapter 59

Austin

I’d never had a longer bus ride. At least, it seemed longer than any I’d ever been on. Piper wasn’t answering her phone. Each call went straight to voicemail. I kept reminding myself that her phone could be out of charge. She also might not have it with her.

Delaney had given Bentley some details on Piper to pass on to me. She was going to be fine, but she was still at the hospital. I felt helpless being so far from Piper when she needed me.

The tour bus let me, Gage, and Bentley off at the hospital. We’d all insisted Xander head home.

“It’s going to be okay,” Gage assured Bentley.

I really hoped he was right.

Piper was still in the emergency room, so I headed there rather than going to sit with Bentley’s family. Bentley’s brother, Lex, had walked part way back with me to update me on Mercy’s condition and give me details on the robbery.

Piper looked fragile lying in the hospital bed with her red hair falling forward to hide her face. I was surprised to find her alone. I’d expected her family to be there. If not them, then Cerise and Andy.

“Hi,” I said quietly.

When she turned to face me, I sucked in a sharp breath. I wanted to kill the person who’d done this to her. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, I reminded myself. Her cheek and eye were swollen on the left side, but they would heal. She hadn’t been shot. Those reminders did nothing to lessen my anger at the man who’d hit her.

“I must look really bad,” she said with a forced smile. “I’ve been afraid to look.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I took her hand. “Not nearly as bad as you think, I’m sure,” was my honest response. “You’ve got some swelling and a couple of bruises. I hate seeing you like this.”

“You didn’t have to come,” she practically snapped before sighing and saying, “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come out sounding so bitchy.”

“Don’t apologize,” I told her. “You’ve had a rough night. Why are you here alone? I figured your parents or Cerise would be here with you.”

“I’m not sure where my phone is,” she admitted. “Someone from the hospital offered to call my parents, but I don’t want to wake them up with news like this. When I first got here, I also wanted to be alone. I wasn’t. Everyone had a million questions, and they needed to do x-rays and a bunch of other things.”

“Is anything broken?” I asked.

She shook her head. “It feels like my ribs are broken, but they’re just bruised.

Hearing about the x-rays made me think of a more delicate subject. “Did you tell them you might be pregnant?”

“I’m not,” she replied. “My period started yesterday.”

I nodded. Though I was a little disappointed, it was for the best.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here, baby,” I murmured before leaning in to kiss her forehead.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “They’re going to release me soon. Delaney came in here to check on me, so I wasn’t alone the whole time. I honestly expected to be out of here by now. It’s taking forever to get my release paperwork.”

“Since you don’t have your phone, I assume you also don’t have a ride home.” I continued when she nodded. “I’ll get an Uber for us, and we can head back to your house, unless you’d rather go to my place.”

“I’d like to go home,” she replied. “It’s sweet of you to offer to let me stay with you, but I’ll be fine alone.”

This was the tricky part. No way in hell was I letting her go home alone, but my reasons weren’t all about thinking she needed me. I decided to be honest. “Baby, I know you don’t need me. I just need to be close to you. This has been a scary experience for me. We can stay at your place, if you’d prefer that. I can call and warn Cerise about what happened and tell her I’ll be staying there today.”

Piper considered what I’d said before nodding. “Okay. I hope they let me out soon.”

“Have you eaten?” I asked. “If not, I can run down to the cafeteria to grab some food.”

“I’m not hungry,” she replied.

I took that to mean she hadn’t eaten, but we’d worry about it after she was released.

“How is Bentley handling all of this?” Piper asked.

“She’s having a hard time,” I replied. “Gage is with her.”

“He shot her,” Piper said around a sob. “She was trying to save me, and he shot her. There was blood everywhere. It was Seth. No, it was his friend who shot her. Mercy tried to get Seth’s gun when he was kicking me. And Jeff. They knocked him out. He has a concussion. I don’t know how bad it is. Both Jeff and Mercy could have been killed, and the guys who did it got away.”

I held her close. “Mercy’s brother told me the police caught them.” I was glad I could tell her that. I was annoyed that the police hadn’t told Piper yet.

“I want to talk about something else.” Piper’s words sounded almost like a plea.

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, brushing her hair back and kissing her cheek.

“Anything other than what happened at Euphoria,” she replied. “Tell me about the show.”

For the next twenty minutes, we made small talk about the show. When the nurse finally came in to release Piper, we headed straight to the waiting area where Mercy’s family had been gathered. I found only Bentley and Gage there.

Bentley stood and hugged Piper gently. Piper mumbled something about Mercy that I’m not sure Bentley understood. I needed to get my girl home. She was exhausted.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, surprised to find the waiting area so empty.

“They went to get food after Mercy had her first visitors,” Bentley explained.

“No one wanted to,” Gage added. “We had to push them out. Mercy was only allowed two visitors. They said it will be at least a few hours before she can see more people.”

“How is she?” Piper asked hesitantly.

“She’s doing pretty good, all things considered,” Gage replied. “They expect she’ll make a full recovery with no long-term effects.”

Piper nodded and started to cry. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I whispered, “It’s okay, Button. She’s going to be fine. We should go now.”

“I’ll keep you updated,” Bentley assured her.

“I’m so sorry this happened,” Piper told her.

“This isn’t your fault,” Bentley insisted. “You have to know you aren’t responsible for any of this.”

“I do,” Piper whispered. “At the same time, I keep thinking about all the things I could have done differently.”

We said our goodbyes, and I led Piper to the hospital’s pharmacy to pick up her prescription. After we had her pain pills, we headed outside to the pick-up area. Piper caught my hand when I was arranging the UBER.

“Let’s go to your place,” she suggested.

I nodded and finished requesting our ride. Piper was so tired, she was asleep by the time we got back to my place. She swatted my hands away when I tried to carry her in from the car.

“I can walk,” she argued, as she stood and walked toward the house.

“I know you can, Button,” I assured her. “You were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I’m so tired,” she admitted. “All I want to do is sleep, but I need to use your phone first to call my parents and Cerise. If they hear about any of this on the news, they’ll panic.”

“Let me take care of that,” I offered as I opened the front door for her.

“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted.

“Let me help,” was my frustrated reply. I was tired and on edge, too, but trying not to let it show.

“I’m making you mad,” she deduced.

“Not mad,” I insisted, before carefully pulling her into my arms and hugging her. “I’m just stressed out, and I want to do something for you. Let me make the calls and feed you. Do you know where your phone is?” I asked.

She nodded against my chest. “I think it fell out of my purse at Euphoria. I can have someone drop it off later.”

I pulled away some to regard her. “So, are you going to let me help?”

“All right,” she agreed much to my relief.