Emily

I don’t know how long it took me to get to him or how many times I fell in the process, but by the time I reached his still form, my palms were bloody and the knees of my leggings were torn open with bleeding scrapes peeking through the shredded fabric.

“Don’t move him.” Arthur called from somewhere behind me. “I’ve got 911 on the phone.”

I sat there by his side, looking at the gash near his temple where his head hit the pavement and praying his eyes would open. I needed to see them, those piercing blue pools. I needed him to look at me, so I could tell him how much I loved him, so I could beg him to stay with me.

He was so still.

“Is he breathing?”

A man I didn’t recognize leaned down and placed his ear over Ethan’s chest. “Yes, but it’s ragged.”

“You an EMT?” I asked hopefully as the guy lifted Ethan’s eyelids and studied his eyes.

“Used to be. Volunteer rescue squad.” His accent was thick, southern, like mine before I moved here.

“Please help him,” I begged, barely resisting the urge to rest my head on Ethan’s chest just so I could hear those ragged breaths.

“He’s breathing, and his pupil response is good. I can’t do anything else without risking further injury. He needs to be collared and put on a backboard.”

“Collared?” I ran my hands over his hair as gently as I possibly could and found that I was shaking too badly to continue. I clasped them in my lap instead, fighting the urge to scream.

“Neck collar. Stabilizes the cervical spine. The backboard will support the thoracic and lumbar spine.”

“He was on his knees when the car hit him…hit his back…does that mean he’ll be paralyzed?” I was getting hysterical. I knew this guy couldn’t answer that question, but once the idea hit me it was all I could think about.

Dear God, please no.

That could mean no more drums.

No more painting.

The things he loved…gone.

The edges of my vision started to go dark so I sat back on my heels and took a few deep breaths, refusing to faint like a ninny when Ethan needed me most.

I don’t know how long I sat there, fighting the darkness, staring at the streak of blood that ran from under the stranger’s hands as he held Ethan’s head wound. I was numb, but at the same time every cell of my body screamed out in pain at the thought of losing him.

It was all going to be perfect. We were planning for the future, making both our dreams come true, and now…

Someone nudged my arm.

“Emily, you need to move aside, okay? The paramedics are here.”

I backed up enough to let them through, and Arthur placed an arm around my shoulders. “I’m going to take care of everything, okay? I’ll take Dammit home with me after I crate your sculptures. You go with Ethan, but please keep me updated. Call or text, I don’t care, but let me know. Okay?”

I could only nod and cry as I watched them put a collar around Ethan’s neck and lift him onto a backboard. Once they had him strapped down, they lifted it and one of the EMTs looked to me as they set him on a gurney. “You next of kin, Miss?”

Arthur gave me a nudge and handed me my coat and purse, which I surely would have forgotten. “I’m his family, yes,” I muttered as I followed behind them to the waiting ambulance.

I texted Aubrey and Dana on the way to the hospital then turned off my phone. I couldn’t deal with the questions yet, because I didn’t know.

I didn’t know how bad it was.

I didn’t know if he’d ever play or paint again.

I didn’t even know if he’d make it through.

I just didn’t know.

* * *

The EMT’s gave me his clothes after we arrived, having cut them off of him to gain access to his broken body. There were horrible, huge black bruises already creeping around his sides, so I could only imagine what his back must look like.

They used words like stable and unresponsive, which confused me and only made me more afraid.

Once we arrived at the hospital, they plowed through the doors ahead of me, not looking back or giving me any indication what to expect. The nurse at the desk handed me a clipboard and asked if he had any known allergies. I told her I didn’t know. She asked about his insurance, I told her I didn’t know.

I pulled his wallet from his things to give her as much information as I could find there but the fact was, I didn’t give a shit about the paperwork. I needed to know what was going on with him.

Eventually, I just told her I’d fill out as much as I could using the contents of his wallet, and she showed me to a waiting room right outside the scary metal doors they’d taken him through.

I sat on the edge of the faux-leather sofa, curled my body around that stupid clipboard, and sobbed until I thought I’d be sick. I heaved and shuddered and coughed with the force of my tears, soaking the stupid forms I had no intention of filling out.

Fuck it, they only gave you those things to keep you occupied anyway, and I had my fear to occupy me.

“Emily?” Dana skidded to a halt in the doorway, and Jared slammed into her back like he’d been at a dead run.

Looking at the two of them—my best friend and Ethan’s—even as the rest of the band shouldered their way into the room, I lost it. Totally lost it. I slid off the couch and onto the floor, crying so hard they couldn’t understand a word I was saying. Kade paced like a caged animal, threading his hands behind his neck and casting glances my way that said I needed to get my shit together long enough to tell them what happened. He wasn’t angry or in scary-Kade mode. He was terrified.

They all were.

Dana was on the floor next to me, hugging me to her side. I patted her knee and sat up as much as I could, taking deep, steadying breaths until I was sure I could speak without breaking down.

“He was hit by a car. Dammit got loose and ran into the street, and Ethan went after him. He was on his knees when the taxi hit him from the back and sent him flying.” I had to pause a moment as the memory of it stole my breath. “It wasn’t going fast; the driver was trying to stop, but he hit a patch of ice and couldn’t. No one has told me anything yet, so I don’t know how bad it is.”

There, I made it through. And they appeared to have understood my wavering speech for the most part.

“Fuck,” Kane muttered, slumping into one of the plastic chairs across the room.

Jared sat on the couch as close as he could to the spot where I’d slid to the floor. His hand came to rest on my shoulder and I felt it tremble as I reached back and covered it with my own.

No one spoke for a while. We sat in silence and listened to the bustle of noise and random chatter coming from the hallway. No one else came into the waiting room, and I suspected one of the guys had something to do with that.

Once news broke of Ethan’s accident, reporters and paparazzi would be all over the place.

Shit.

It would be on the news soon.

“Lennox?”

He jumped like he’d been kicked. “Yeah?”

“I have Ethan’s phone, but I don’t know the passcode. I need you to hack it like you did when you changed his ringtone.”

“Okay…” he drew out the word like a question but immediately got to his feet and came over to take the phone from my hand.

“I can’t let his parents see this on the news.”

If I thought the room was silent before, I could have heard a pin drop after that. They exchanged looks—the guys anyway—but no one said a thing.

“Unless one of you would rather do it?” I challenged.

Five seconds later, Lennox handed me the unlocked phone and hauled ass back to his seat.

It was almost funny how afraid they all were of a simple phone call.

Not me.

They needed to know their son was in trouble.

They didn’t need to hear it on the news.

They needed to get their asses to this goddamn hospital and be here for their son, or so help me God, there was going to be hell to pay.