CHAPTER 44

JARED

“What the—?” I bolted upright on the hospital couch I was sleeping on, swiping at whatever had woken me up by hitting me in the head.

Caleb grinned at me from the bed. “It was time to wake up.”

Relieved to see some color back in his cheeks, I sank back down on my couch and turned on my side to face him. “Why? Doc been here?”

“Not yet, but the nurse was, and she said we might be getting out of here today.” He was definitely livelier today, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up until we knew for sure.

It was still early, and the smell of breakfast foods wafting in from outside his room made my stomach grumble. For hospital food, the stuff they served here wasn’t terrible.

Caleb got moved out of the intensive care unit a couple of days before, and we’d been hanging around in his private room since. I tried not to move around the hospital too much since I’d gotten mobbed in the coffee shop downstairs on our second day here.

Much as I loved our fans and, generally, the attention they gave us, I just wasn’t in the mood. These last few days had given me a lot to think about. I hadn’t spoken to Caleb about it yet, but there were some things I’d been mulling over that I was going to have to discuss with him as soon as we got discharged.

“It’ll be good to get back home.” I kicked the blanket I’d been using to my feet and stretched out. The couch in Caleb’s room wasn’t uncomfortable to sit on, but sleeping on it for a couple of nights killed my back.

Caleb didn’t understand why I didn’t just go back to our hotel at night, but I’d promised him we were walking out of here together, and I was sticking to it. Considering what happened the last time I left him alone, I wasn’t fucking moving until we got the all clear to leave.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get out of here,” Caleb agreed. His movements had been restricted even more than mine. The nurses hadn’t let him out of their eyesight since he got admitted. Apparently, they were afraid we’d simply up and leave and demand he be treated further back in Los Angeles.

I’d nearly snorted when I overheard them talking about it. We didn’t like being here, sure, but we weren’t fucking stupid. I, for one, wasn’t going to take any chances with his health. And I wasn’t going to let him do it either.

Caleb’s doctor walked in with his usual businesslike expression on his face. “Gentlemen. How are we doing this morning?”

Caleb sat up, his eyes on the doctor’s. He was more than ready to get out of here. “Better, doc. Much better. Any chance of getting sprung today?”

The doctor flipped open the chart he retrieved from the stand at the foot of Caleb’s bed and scanned its contents. “Your latest tests look good, so yes. You’ll be discharged later today. I just want to run a few more panels, but if they come back same as these, I don’t see any reason we can’t let you go.”

Caleb punched the air and pulled his elbow back to his side, his lips kicking up into a huge grin. “Great news. You guys finally convinced I was right about being good?”

The doctor’s stern gaze lifted from the chart to Caleb. “You’re not ‘good,’ Mr. Larsen.”

“But you just said—”

“I’m satisfied to discharge you if your test results come back clear, that’s what I said. You are not, however, a healthy young man.”

His words turned my stomach to ice, like I’d scarfed down an entire bucket full of the ice chips they had in the machine out in the hall. Leaning forward, I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “What do you mean he’s not healthy?”

The doctor sighed and pulled a pen from his pockets to make some notes in the chart before focusing that stern gaze on me. “I don’t think either of you realize the severity of the situation your brother was in, Mr. Larsen. With all due respect, his case wasn’t as simple as some may think.”

Caleb started laughing incredulously. I shot him a look and bit out. “Shut up for a sec. This shit is serious.”

The doctor replaced the chart and put both his hands on the foot railing of Caleb’s bed. “Your brother is right, Mr. Larsen. This is serious.”

Caleb’s eyes grew wide. “Why does this sound like some kind of intervention?”

“Because it is,” the doctor told him. He frowned at Caleb. “Your liver shows signs of damage, your blood alcohol level when you were admitted was high enough that another drink might have killed you, and your kidney function has been affected.”

“By one night out?” The question was out my mouth before I could stop it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It seemed impossible that this was going to cause Caleb lasting damage.

Shaking his head, the doctor’s frown deepened, and he pursed his lips. “It wasn’t all caused by one night. I don’t know you, Mr. Larsen, but it seems to me you’re a regular user of alcohol?”

“No shit,” Caleb muttered. He wasn’t kidding. We were all habitual drinkers. We didn’t smoke regularly, and we didn’t do drugs, but alcohol? We drank enough to make up for what little shit we didn’t do.

“We drink,” I told him, my heart pounding as I waited for him to give us whatever information he was about to. Caleb’s liver and kidneys had been affected, apparently. I might not have been a doctor—fuck, I hadn’t even attended most of my biology classes in high school—but even I knew that was bad.

“None of the damage done so far is permanent,” the doctor said. I huffed out a sigh of relief and Caleb flashed me a look that said, “See, told you I’m fine.”

The doc held up his hand. “Yet. I should add that none of the damage is permanent yet.”

Caleb glared at him. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’re going to have to take it easy for a while if you’re going to recover fully.”

“I’ve been lying here for days. What more do you want from me?” Caleb’s expression was flat, anger flashing in his eyes.

The doctor didn’t back down. “I want you to keep taking it easy. That means no drinking, getting lots of rest, and refraining from doing anything too strenuous.”

Caleb blinked. My ears were buzzing a little. “He can’t drink?”

“Not alcohol,” the doctor replied. There wasn’t a hint of humor anywhere on his face.

My jaw dropped. “Nothing?”

“Not for at least a couple of weeks.”

I tried thinking back to a time when Caleb hadn’t had any alcohol for a couple of weeks. I came up empty. I honestly couldn’t remember. The same thing went for me.

We didn’t party as hard as some others we knew, but we were pretty high up on the list of people always up for a good time. Drinking didn’t get in the way of us doing our jobs, and we didn’t need alcohol to function, but this was going to mean a big lifestyle change for Caleb.

No, for us. Because I was in this with him. He’d been the one admitted to the hospital, but if there was any kind of damage, the rest of us probably had it too. Even if we didn’t, I was supporting Caleb in this. There was no way he was doing this by himself. It was too important he take it seriously. If I didn’t, chances were bigger that he wouldn’t either.

“When you say I can’t do anything strenuous, do you mean I can’t work?” Caleb asked, a dark undertone to his voice.

“You can work,” the doctor said. Caleb’s shoulders relaxed only to tense again. “Provided that you can do it quietly and preferably from your home. No long hours, no getting worked up, no stress.”

This time, it was Caleb’s jaw that dropped. “Yeah, none of that is possible for me. I mean, except for doing some stuff in my studio at home. We’re in the middle of recording an album. We’ll be touring it soon. Long hours, stress, getting worked up, that’s kind of what we do. We’ll have interviews and performances scheduled soon. Sorry, doc, but no can do.”

The doctor shrugged. “Then, I’ll just have to keep you here or refer you for treatment as an inpatient at a center.”

“Rehab?” Caleb shuddered. His eyes went huge. “I’m not an addict.”

“I’m not saying you are. None of your counts indicate you’re battling actual addiction, but if you won’t willingly follow my advice, it’s my duty to refer you someplace you can continue being monitored.”

“He’ll do it,” I interjected. We were adults, for god’s sake. Caleb didn’t need rehab so people could babysit him. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Leveling me a serious glare, the doctor searched my eyes before nodding. “Very well, then. The nurse will be by shortly to administer the final tests. If we’re satisfied with the results, you’ll be discharged. I must warn you to take my advice on your care after you leave here seriously, Mr. Larsen. Risking permanent damage would be the consequence if you don’t, and that would be a very dangerous, very stupid gamble to take.”

I got up to shake his hand. “You have my word, doctor. We won’t be risking anything.”

The man’s grip was firm, his eyes on mine. “I certainly hope not.”

Me, too, buddy. Me too. I didn’t really know how we were going to follow his orders, but I was going to have to figure it out quickly. I mentally added the first few ideas that popped into my head to the list of things I’d been thinking I had to discuss with Caleb when he got out.

Shit just got a lot more serious.

Two hours later, I still didn’t have any answers. But at least we were on our way out of the hospital. While they’d been processing his discharge, I’d called for a guy and taken our bags down. We were finally, finally going home. To a very different life, if I had anything to say about it, but home nonetheless.

Caleb pushed a pair of sunglasses onto his eyes as we left the hospital. “Well, that got ripped way out of proportion.”

“What do you mean?” I scanned the lot for the car I ordered and spotted it parked just a few car lengths away from us on the busy curb.

“Not drinking, not doing anything too strenuous. That’s bullshit. We have an album to finish. Don’t mind staying sober, but I can’t record from bed. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“No, you won’t,” I snapped. “You won’t be fine unless you do what the doc said.”

“Relax, man. He’s a doctor. Of course, he’s going to exaggerate things. Give me a bit of a scare, that’s all it was about. We just have to get our asses back home and finish our damn album. We’ll figure everything else out after that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We just have to get back to LA.”

I was planning on talking things through with him on our way back home, but now I realized that wasn’t a good idea. Fuck, I just wanted to get home. I always thought clearer in my own house.