"She's late," Hudson said, looking around the lobby of the record label as if August must be hiding behind some curtain somewhere.

If I said anything, I was going to regret it, so I looked down at my hands, drumming them in the tops of my knees. There was a tightness in my chest that made it feel like my heart was pressing into my lungs. I was having a hard time getting a full breath.

Ewan looked down at me, and I caught glimpse of understanding in his eyes. A look passed between us, and he glanced back at Hudson. "We can get started without her," he said.

"Yeah, we've done this before," Niall said, acting as back-up. "Talking to reps on our own without management? We can do it without her, mate."

I shook my head. "That isn't it," I said. My mates were trying to protect me. But I knew way down that no matter what had happened between her and I, August would never be this late on her own.

And that was why I was so panicked right now.

It was one thing to ignore my calls, but to completely blow off a meeting with the label rep like this? No, that tightness in my chest that I'd been feeling all morning, it squeezed even tighter.

Something was wrong.

"You guys go in without me," I said, suddenly jumping to my feet. I hurried away before they could question me, and pushed my way out into the cool, drizzly street.

"Pick up," I chanted, as I dialed her number again. When her voicemail picked up, I growled and smacked my hand against the side of the building. "Love, I don't give a fuck if you never talk to me again, but not showing up for meetings is really screwing over the rest of the guys. We're here at the record label and we don't know where you are, and frankly I'm starting to get a little worried about you." I paced in a tight circle, ignoring the glares of passersby on the sidewalk. "Call me fucking back," I hissed. "Or, if you don't want to talk to me, just show up for the meeting so I know you're not dead in a gutter somewhere."

I stabbed my finger into the off button, pissed it myself for losing it on her voicemail like that. I needed to get a hold of myself, but that tight, wild panic in my chest was only getting worse every minute she was late.

I scrolled down through my contacts list until I found the number for Celia Silver, our former label rep, August's best friend and the future Mrs. Ewan Boyd.

"Jules!" she said, picking up on the first ring. "What's going on? Aren't you guys in the meeting?"

"August isn't here," I said flatly.

CeCe paused, and I knew she was thinking the same thing as me. There was no way that August would miss a meeting like this, no matter how pissed she was. "That's not good," she said slowly.

"I know."

"You know, I called her last night to welcome her back. She never picked up," CeCe told me.

I balled my fist, digging my nails into my palm. "Okay well, I called her about fifty times last night and she never picked up," I said, deciding to dispense with my dignity. "I thought if I annoyed her enough she'd get pissed enough to answer, you know?"

"I do," CeCe said grimly. "Okay then," he said. "Something's wrong. Do you want to meet me at her place? We can go check together?"

Heart pounding, I told her I would and hung up.

It was the first time I'd seen August's apartment building since the morning we'd left for Bearsville. Today, a gray November day, it looked so different that I almost walked past it. But it was more like my body recognized it than my brain. I stopped in front of the awning to wait for CeCe.

She came hurrying out of a cab about five minutes later, breathless, and streaming her coat behind her. "Shit," she said when she saw me. "What the hell do you think is going on?"

I shook my head. There was no reason to keep any secrets now. "I'd hoped it's that she was just giving me the silent treatment."

CeCe cocked her head. "You guys finally..." she trailed off and shook her head. "Okay well you know then that if there's one thing August isn't, it's silent. If she's pissed at you, you're gonna know it."

I nodded. "That's what's worrying me." I opened the door to the building. "After you."

We walked into the lobby. When I saw the stairs, I had a renewed respect for August, seeing as she had to deal with them every morning and every evening. We climbed up the six floors to her place. "August? You in there?" Celia called, knocking on her door. "Hey girl, you're sort of freaking me out."

From the floor below us, I heard a door creak open. "Hey there!" a man's voice called up. "You looking for the girl in 6D?"

I looked over the railing. "Yeah, you know her?"

The guy nodded, looking a little sheepish. "We were supposed to go out together last night," he said. I squeezed the railing tighter to head off my blinding rage, forcing myself to listen to the rest of his story. "But she got a call, I had to drive her to the hospital right then and there. But she didn't tell me who it was or why.

At the word hospital, all the moisture in my mouth dried up and I lost the ability to speak.

"What hospital?" Celia said, quicker on the uptake when I was.

"Winthrop, in Nassau County," he said.

Celia looked at me with big round eyes. "That's neear Hofstra."

I blinked. "Isn't that where her little brother goes?"

She nodded, looking terrified. "We going?

I nodded. "I'll drive.