Chapter 11
11
Silas
We had arrived in LA earlier in the day, and after a few hours of hanging out with some of my local friends, I finally crawled into my bed for the most comfortable sleep I’d had in a month.
The next morning, the ringing of my cell woke me up, and I groaned when I saw the time on the screen. Why the hell was our manager calling me so early?
“Hey, Rina. What’s up?” I greeted, my voice gravelly from sleep.
“Silas, I need you to come to my office for a meeting right away.”
I sat up and ran a hand through my hair. “Why?”
“I’ll explain everything when you get here,” she snapped before the line went dead.
Whatever the meeting was about, it had to be pretty damn serious because she’d never demanded that I come to her office before, nor had she ever hung up on me after barking out an order. Wondering if any of the other guys knew what was going on, I sent a message to our group chat:
Did all of you get called into Rina’s office this morning? Or should I be worried that I fucked up somehow?
Elliott: I got the call too, but I have no idea what’s going on
Malachi and Jesse didn’t respond right away, so I forced myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Luckily, I wasn’t hungover from the party the night before, and the effects of the coke I’d done were long gone.
After a quick shower and a jolt of caffeine from my espresso machine, I was ready to go. When I arrived at Rina’s office, her assistant ushered me into the conference room without saying a word. Inside, Elliott and Jesse were already seated, and Jesse looked pissed.
“Everything okay?” I asked, dropping into a chair across from my two bandmates.
“Did you know?” Jesse growled.
I balked. “Know what? I have no idea what’s going on.”
Elliott glanced at Jesse. “Uh. A picture of Malachi and Jasper kissing was posted online.”
My eyes widened, and I turned back to Jesse. “Kissing? Seriously? Are you sure it was them?”
The situation didn’t make sense. Jasper’s sexuality had never been a secret, but I wasn’t aware of Malachi ever hooking up with a guy before. Not that him being involved with a man mattered, but he was risking a lot by messing around with his best friend’s younger brother.
“The pictures were clear,” Elliott replied. “It was them.”
A moment later, Rina came in with Malachi on her heels.
Jesse sprang from his seat and charged toward our friend. “You didn’t think to tell me you were messing around with my brother?”
His fist connected with Malachi’s cheek, and Elliott and I jumped up to intervene.
“Jesse, stop!” Elliott grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to pull him back.
Malachi lunged forward and pinned Jesse against the wall. “You think this has been easy for me? You think I wanted to lie to my best friend? You have no idea what it’s been like!”
I didn’t know what to do. Over the years we’d had disagreements just like others who had been friends for years, but none of our arguments had dissolved into physical violence before.
Jesse struggled against Malachi’s hold. “Then why didn’t you tell me? Why did you do it behind my back?”
“That’s enough!” Elliott barked as he got between them again.
Malachi and Jesse both stepped back but continued to glare at each other.
“We’re supposed to be brothers.” Jesse sounded heartbroken. “How could you do this?”
“We are brothers,” Malachi replied.
“Well, you did a hell of a job fucking that up.” Jesse shook his head. “I need to get out of here. I can’t look at you right now.” Without another word, he stormed out of the conference room.
Malachi stood in place, staring at the door Jesse had walked out of.
Eventually, Rina cleared her throat. “We need to focus on the issue at hand. Savannah will be here soon. We need to release a statement within the hour.”
Malachi took a seat and looked at us. “All right. Is it from me or the band?”
I didn’t envy the position he was in. For the most part, my hook ups and other activities didn’t receive any media attention. I couldn’t imagine having to release a statement about my personal life.
“Since it affects the band, I asked them to come in,” Rina explained. “We all need to be on the same page.”
“Well, I guess one of you can let Jesse know,” Malachi snarked.
Elliott rested his hand on Malachi’s shoulder. “No, man. You need to talk to Jesse. This isn’t over.”
I nodded. “He just needs time to process everything. We all do.”
Malachi rubbed the side of his face where a red spot was forming where Jesse had punched him. “Yeah, I’ll talk to him. You two are cool with me being bi?”
Elliott tilted his head. “Why would that matter to us? ”
“Because of the band. We may lose fans now if they don’t like the idea of me being with a guy.”
“Fuck them,” Elliott spat. “We’re here to play music, not get strangers’ approval for who we date. If they can’t handle you being yourself, then they’re not real fans.”
I couldn’t agree more. “Exactly. Fuck them.”
“Thanks, guys.” It appeared our acceptance provided Malachi with some relief.
A second later, Savannah walked in with her manager. She looked around the table and said, “Hey. What’d I miss?”
Rina waved a hand dismissively. “You know, just band drama. But come in. I was thinking the best way to handle this situation is to release a statement saying you and Malachi broke up recently, but didn’t want to cause a rift in the tour. It’s the cleanest way to manage the fallout.”
We all agreed with her plan, and Rina opened her laptop to begin drafting a statement. I figured we had nothing more to discuss, but then Savannah glanced at Elliott before addressing Rina.
“Actually, there’s something else we need to tell you,” Savannah confessed.
“Oh?” Rina looked up from her computer screen.
Savannah locked eyes with Elliott as they sat side by side. “Elliott and I are together.”
“Wait, what?” I asked. “Since when?” I thought about our time on the road and realized I hadn’t seen Elliott hook up with anyone recently.
He chuckled and grabbed Savannah’s hand as she said, “For a while now. We wanted to keep it quiet until after the tour, given Malachi and I were supposedly dating.”
Malachi nodded. “Yeah, and I knew, and I’m totally fine with it. We all deserve to be happy.”
When Rina had called me earlier, I never would have imagined the number of bombshells that would be dropped in her office. “Well, damn. Seems everyone has a secret. But, hey, if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.”
The meeting wrapped up soon after that, but as I stepped outside, I couldn’t help but worry. The band was like family to me, and I hated to think the situation with Malachi, Jasper, and Jesse could jeopardize everything we’d built.
When it was time for sound check that evening, the tension between Malachi and Jesse was still running high. But when the show started, everything seemed to shift. We left the drama behind, and for those two hours on stage, we gave the fans what they wanted. The music was loud, the crowd was enthusiastic, and it was easy to pretend everything was fine.
Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last long. The second we stepped backstage to get ready for the meet and greet, Jesse went back to ignoring Malachi, and the silence between them became uncomfortable.
I grabbed a bottle of water and called over to Elliott, who was chatting with Savannah in the corner. “Be right back. I left something in my car.”
He waved his hand in acknowledgment, and I slipped out the door. As I made my way across the parking lot, the cool night air hit my face and the knot in my stomach began to ease.
Unlocking my car, I opened the glove compartment and pulled out the small bag I’d purchased after sound check. The entire day had been a mess, full of fights, secrets, and emotions I didn’t want to deal with. I just wanted to feel good, to not worry about anything, at least for a little while.
Tucking the bag into the pocket of my jeans, I shut the car door and made my way back toward the venue. Maybe I couldn’t control everything around me, but I could try to have fun and forget all the shit causing me stress.
Once inside, I headed straight to the bathroom and did a line.
The high hit quick, but it didn’t last.
Minutes later, my vision blurred, and it felt as though I wasn’t getting enough oxygen in my lungs and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The next thing I knew, my body was jostled from side to side.
“Come on, Silas, wake up,” a voice demanded.
I wanted to yell at whoever was shaking me, but I couldn’t even open my eyes to see who was doing it.
What the hell was going on?
“I called 911. The ambulance is on its way,” the same voice stated but it didn’t sound as though they were speaking to me.
Ambulance? Why was an ambulance coming?
“We need to keep him awake,” another voice called out and someone slapping me lightly on the face. “Silas, stay with us, man. Come on.”
The muffled chatter continued, and I could hear the worry in their voices. I was desperate to tell them I was fine, but my mouth and body wouldn’t respond. Then suddenly my body jerked violently, and I gasped, trying to pull as much air into my lungs as possible.
“Keep talking to him,” someone said, but I didn’t know who. “We need to keep him conscious until the ambulance arrives.”
“Silas, stay with us.” It was the same voice as before, but now I was pretty sure it was Malachi. “Just open your eyes, okay?”
“Come on, buddy. You’re stronger than this.”
My eyelids fluttered open, and I saw a blurry Jesse leaning over me. I felt like throwing up. I was about to ask what was going on, but the room exploded into chaos when paramedics burst into the room. Before I knew what was happening, they had me strapped to a stretcher and were wheeling me out of the theater.
“Silas, can you hear me?” one of the EMTs asked as they lifted me into the ambulance.
“Yeah,” I croaked. “What happened?”
“Someone found you unresponsive, and you were given Narcan. We need to get you to the hospital.”
Nothing made sense, and my brain was too jumbled to try to piece it all together.
He continued to grill me as he got an IV started in my arm. “What did you take tonight?”
“Take?”
“I’m not a cop, so I’m not going to judge what you did. But I need to know what you’re on so I don’t make things worse by giving you the wrong meds,” he explained.
Even while I was unable to think clearly, my first instinct was to tell them I hadn’t taken anything, but obviously something had happened tonight, so it was probably better to be honest. “Just a line of coke.”
“What else?”
“Nothing,” I responded. As far as I could remember I hadn’t even had any alcohol yet.
There were more questions and some poking and prodding, but it was all a blur, and when we reached the hospital, I was rushed to a room in the ER.
The doctor barked out questions to the EMTs while other people drew my blood and hooked me up to monitors. It felt as though I’d run a marathon, the exhaustion overwhelming, and I let my eyes drift closed.
I woke to the beeping of machines, and a pounding in my skull. Blinking against the lights, I turned my head and noticed a nurse checking one of the monitors.
She looked up and smiled when she saw me staring at her. “Hi there. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” I grumbled.
“Not surprised after what you’ve been through tonight, but your vitals look good.”
When I didn’t reply to that, she continued. “I’m going to let Dr. Martin know you’re awake. She wanted to speak with you once you woke up. In the meantime, your friends have been asking for an update on your condition. If you give us permission, I can let one of them back.”
It had to be the guys. “That’s fine. ”
A few minutes later, Rina stepped around the curtain, her face lined with worry. “Hey.” She gave me a kind smile.
She wasn’t who I expected to come in, but I was still happy to see her. “Hey. Are the guys here too?”
She nodded. “They’re out in the waiting room. How are you?”
“My head is killing me but I guess I’m okay. To be honest, I’m still not sure what happened.”
“You overdosed and Malachi found you,” Rina confirmed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing I had a lot of people I needed to apologize to.
“You should be,” she said, though her tone wasn’t harsh. “You scared the shit out of everyone.”
I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. What if I hadn’t woken up? What if the media found out what happened and were posting articles already? Would the guys want to kick me out of the band?
A few minutes later, Dr. Martin came in. “Mr. Hale, how are you feeling?”
“Like I was hit by a truck,” I answered the question for the third time.
“That’s to be expected.” Dr. Martin’s gaze flicked to Rina and then back to me. “There are a few things I want to discuss with you. Is it okay to do so with her present?”
I nodded. “That’s fine.”
“Okay. Based on the information the EMTs gathered at the scene, you had used cocaine before losing consciousness. Is that correct?”
I nodded again.
“Well, what you experienced isn’t consistent with the symptoms of a cocaine overdose, and since you responded to Narcan, I suspected the drugs had been laced with fentanyl. Your blood test confirmed that to be true.”
Fentanyl? What the fuck?
“So, what happens now?” I asked.
“We’re going to keep you here a couple more hours for observation, then we’ll discharge you.”
“Already?” Rina balked. “Isn’ t that a bit soon?”
“It’s standard procedure. However, we’ll also provide you with some resources should you want to seek additional help. For now, get some more rest. One of the nurses will let you know when it’s time to head home.”
Once she was gone, Rina stood. “I’m going to update the guys.”
“Okay.” My eyelids were starting to feel heavy again.
“Maybe you should consider letting one of them stay with you at home. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be alone after you leave the hospital.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed before letting sleep take over once again.
Sometime later, the nurse returned to go over my discharge instructions. Just as she was finishing up, Elliott stepped into the room.
“You ready to get out of here?” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“So, you’re the one on babysitting duty?”
Elliott nodded. “Yep, and I don’t want to hear any complaints. You nearly gave me a heart attack, but we can talk about that tomorrow.”
The guys and I had a lot to discuss, but for tonight, I was just grateful they’d been there when I needed them the most.