Melody (Rocky Mountain Rockstars #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

June

J esus. His throat was dry. Like Sahara Desert dry. Even though his eyes were still closed and he wanted to go back to sleep, the way his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth wouldn’t let him.

Pulling his tongue down, he tried swallowing in an unconscious effort to stimulate his salivary glands—but it was no use.

At least he could move his arms again…but they’d been heavy, so heavy when he’d finally fallen asleep in that euphoric haze.

It was always harder to remember in the morning.

Forcing his eyes open, he tried to focus on something, anything in the darkened room when a feeling of disorientation gripped him. He was definitely in a bed but not his bed. It was a double bed, but there was only one pillow—and, as he propped himself up on his elbows, he saw Liam’s vape on the end table.

And then it came to him—the party last night. It had started out with the whole band and fans at The Apothecary with a lot of alcohol. When they’d come back to their apartment, the amount of people had slowly dwindled. Hayley had gone to bed first, saying something about working in the morning, and Adrian and Pedro had left sometime in the early morning.

By the time he and Liam had retreated to the bedroom, there had been one girl left. She’d said it had been ages since she’d chased the dragon and, after she and Liam had had a long, drawn-out conversation about the virtues of injecting as opposed to snorting, she’d admitted to never trying it using a needle…so, of course, they’d had to demonstrate.

Kyle finally sat up, his legs draping over the side of the bed. As usual, Liam’s room was dark, thanks to the blackout curtains he’d purchased months earlier. But the sunlight couldn’t be completely held at bay, peeking out from behind those curtains on the window that faced east, which was part of why Kyle could see anything at all.

There on the floor lay Liam, but there was no sign of the girl. Kyle wanted to go to the bathroom, not just to piss but to splash water on his face and rehydrate his body.

So. Fucking. Thirsty.

Before he placed his feet on the floor, he gently tapped with his toes to make sure he wouldn’t be stepping on a body part—because just because he didn’t see the girl didn’t mean she wasn’t there. Her first time injecting might mean she needed to sleep longer.

But, as Kyle made his way toward the door, he remembered something. It was something the girl had said. Actually, multiple things. He’d had the idea the girl was completely full of bullshit—but she’d been crushing on Liam, wanting to spend time with him. No…that wasn’t it. She’d wanted to get high for free. Remembering the first time he’d personally injected it, he’d been a little anxious about the needle, about heating the spoon, all that shit—but that girl, though. She’d known exactly what to expect.

Despite what she’d said, last night wasn’t her first time. No way.

When Kyle opened the door, he was assaulted by sunlight. It was way too fucking bright out here. He pulled the door closed behind him without latching it and made his way across the living room, through the kitchen, and into the bathroom. As he took a piss, he reasoned that Hayley was definitely at work. She always left at the ass crack of dawn, so she’d probably been gone for hours.

But he had no idea what time it actually was.

After flushing the toilet, he washed his hands and then scrubbed his face with water. Although it didn’t completely make that groggy feeling go away, it helped him feel a little more human. Then he cupped his hands to fill them with the liquid flowing from the tap and sipped it.

Best water he’d ever tasted.

His stomach clenched then, eager for more, but he wasn’t ready to eat. Walking back into the kitchen, he paused at the fridge to grab a Coke and then headed back to Liam’s room. Hayley had a no-smoking policy for their apartment, but Liam smoked in his room sometimes and she never said a word about it. Kyle wasn’t ready to go outside to smoke but Liam’s room was fair game.

And he was pretty sure he’d left his own vape pen in there as well.

When he headed back in the room, he tried looking around, but it was too damn dark. He didn’t want to turn on the overhead light and risk disturbing Liam’s sleep, though, because his genius brother needed rest.

Lots of it.

It wasn’t just because his older brother was brilliant. Something Liam never fucking talked about was everything that haunted him, everything that brought him immense pain. The only reason why Kyle knew it hurt Liam so much was because of all the lyrics his brother had written that he’d never shared with anyone else. It wasn’t until the first time Kyle tried H with his brother that he’d seen the journals on the bottom shelf of the nightstand and had taken them out.

Liam had a different dad—and he’d never met the man. Well, their mother had told them he’d been there for his birth, but his disappearance had always haunted Liam—and he’d vowed, once the band was rich and famous, to use his money to track the man down. One thing was for certain—his father didn’t hang out on social media.

That wasn’t all of it, though. There was that bike accident, back when Liam was ten. Even to this day, Liam said his back hurt because of it, but he always said he was grateful that his arms and wrists had healed well enough to play the guitar. Although he hadn’t discovered his love of rock music until he was twelve, it wasn’t long after that he’d wanted to learn how to play.

And it had become an outlet, a voice for him—and so many of his melodies were haunting, echoing the pain of the human spirit…and, until, he no longer heard those qualities in his brother’s music, Kyle would know he wasn’t fully healed.

Lately, though…something had changed. Sitting back on the bed, Kyle knew both he and his brother had acquired a serious problem…but it wasn’t something he was ready to fully acknowledge yet. That dragon the girl had mentioned last night—oh, Kyle had fucking found it, and it was swallowing him whole.

But he couldn’t think about that right now. For the moment, a more urgent craving was demanding his attention. He just had to find his fucking vape pen. For a moment, he considered using Liam’s, but his brother sometimes picked funky flavors.

Glancing around the shadowy room, he couldn’t see shit. Finally, he leaned over and pulled back the curtain a little to let the natural light shine in—and, if it woke his brother up, he’d accept the consequences. He knew he’d understand.

It wasn’t on the nightstand next to Liam’s and it wasn’t on the bed, near as he could tell. That meant it had to be on the floor. He pulled the curtain a little more so it would stay open on his own. Scouring the floor again, he ascertained the girl was for sure not there. The three of them had been sitting next to where Liam lay now—but, to be sure, Kyle checked on the other side of the bed.

Not there. Not the girl nor his vape.

He came back over to the side of the bed where Liam lay and got down on his hands and knees. It was possible his pen was under the bed or the dresser—or even the nightstand or Liam himself. But after checking everywhere else, he knew it had to be under his brother.

Maybe if he just quickly slid his hand down his side…

After debating about it for a long minute, Kyle decided to just go for it. Picking up his brother’s arm, he planned to make it quick.

But something was wrong.

Liam’s arm was stiff.

And cold.

“Lee?” Kyle asked. “Hey, Lee…I just want to find my—” He stopped, finally looking at his brother’s face. There was something off about it, a strange pallor, almost gray. “Liam? Wake up, man!”

There was no response.

“Liam!” Kyle hardly recognized the scream that came from his mouth as he tried to get his brother to open his eyes.

But he knew. It wasn’t going to happen without his help.

Although he’d only seen it in movies, he knew enough about chest compressions to know how they worked—but, before putting his hands on his chest, he lowered his head.

Just as he’d thought. No heartbeat.

“Come on, Lee.” Kyle began the rhythmic pressing of his palms against the center of his brother’s chest when another thought occurred to him. He should be breathing into his mouth. Leaning over, Kyle pinched his brother’s cool nostrils together before lowering his head—but as soon as his lips touched his brother, he couldn’t deny it any longer.

“Liam! Wake the fuck up!” Kyle again pressed his hands on Liam’s chest, pumping up and down, praying the effort and emotions would create the spark.

But it wasn’t—and Kyle stopped, collapsing on his brother as tears streamed down his cheeks.

“Liam…don’t die. I love you, man. You can’t fucking leave.”

But he had—and Kyle wasn’t sure what to do.

What he needed was a fucking smoke. Then he’d be able to think clearly. Picking up Liam’s vape pen, he took a drag.

Grape.

Still, in that second, he felt that jolt to his brain, like a lever being released, letting out all the pressure.

It allowed him to think a little more clearly.

Even while the tears continued to fall, Kyle’s brain started calculating.

His brother was fucking dead.

Of an overdose?

It almost had to be.

Straining to remember more details from the night before, Kyle squeezed his eyes shut, pinching his nose between his finger and thumb. Kyle had gone first. Liam’s reasoning had been so the girl could see what it looked like. Kyle had rested his head on the back of the bed as that familiar comfort enveloped him like a soft blanket, a sense of absolute contentment weighing his body down.

The heavy arms.

He could hear the stupid girl giggling but he kept his eyes closed—and, even though he hadn’t seen it, he’d heard his brother preparing a dose for her. She’d gasped and then moaned, almost as if Liam had been fingering her and had found her sweet spot. And then, of course, Liam had injected himself.

Kyle couldn’t remember getting into his brother’s bed—or anything else, for that matter. He couldn’t even remember Liam actually shooting up. He only knew he must have. Although the needle and the tourniquet were nowhere near Liam’s body, Kyle knew his brother wouldn’t have just died for no good reason.

Think, goddammit.

Where the fuck was his phone? He could call Adrian or Pedro—they’d know what to do. Even as he was standing up, he thought it might be in the living room. He’d been sitting on the couch before they’d retired to Liam’s bedroom—and, sure enough, on the end table sat his phone and vape.

As he picked them up, though, he realized he couldn’t call his bandmates. They might be as distraught as he was—and he needed someone with a clear head.

He couldn’t call Hayley. She’d done nothing but harp and preach over the last few months.

Oh, fuck. What the hell would this do to his mom?

He couldn’t call her. No fucking way. Not yet.

Sucking on the vape until his lungs were full, he let it all out as he realized there was only one number to call.

911.

If there was even a sliver of chance that Liam could be saved, they would be the ones who could do it.

But, even as he pressed the numbers, he knew it was futile.

Already he was wondering how the fuck he could go on without his brother and doubting he could.