Chapter 26
Hunter
“IZZY!” Beau roared.
My Iz? I pushed against Mal’s limp hands that’d been holding me up and raced over to where Beau was hunched over a sprawled figure in a black dress.
Iz had been wearing a black dress.
Oh god.
No.
NO!
I didn’t even know that the roar came from me.
“Izzy!” someone else shouted from the top of the stairs.
And then Phoebe, of all people, came racing down, holding the bottom of her blood red dress to the side.
“YOU!” I shouted, springing up.
“Whoa. Hold on a minute, partner.” Beau jumped up with me and held me back. “I can’t let you hit a woman.”
“Fuck off.” I shoved against his restraining arms. We’d stepped away from Iz’s sprawled form.
Mostly so I could get closer to the bitch, but also because I didn’t want to hurt Iz.
“She did this. We all know it. Or are you going to fall for her bullshit story about Iz tripping? She’ll fucking blame this on my girl, and you know it. ”
“Yeah, I do.” He patted my chest. “But we’re going to let the police deal with the fallout. We got to get our girl to the hospital. She’s unconscious and might’ve broken a bone or three.”
Shit. I raced back to Iz’s side but was too afraid to touch her. I didn’t want to move her in case I made whatever was wrong with her worse.
“Are you kidding me? You think I did this?” Phoebe squawked from somewhere to the side. “I would never!”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Izzy says when she wakes up,” Beau retorted. “But honestly, I don’t know. You were right there.”
“Oh my god. You don’t trust me. You don’t love me.” Phoebe cried before sobs rang out.
“Is she okay?” Mal asked as he knelt next to me.
I’d been softly petting her hair since it was the only part of her I felt comfortable touching. “She’s breathing.” Fuck, it hurt that I had to take breathing as a good sign. That was the bare fucking minimum. “But she won’t wake up. She hasn’t moved. What if—”
I gagged.
I didn’t know what I’d do if she didn’t wake up.
Scratch that.
I glared up at Phoebe Benoit. I knew exactly what I’d do.
The next few minutes were a blur of shouting, accusations, and panic.
But Iz never woke up.
I was pushed back when the EMTs finally arrived.
“You should get checked out too,” Mal murmured in my ear.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Iz. She looked so small and frail on that gurney. The collar they’d strapped around her neck was so bulky and just looked wrong.
“Let’s roll.” The EMT pressed a pedal on the gurney then pushed it into motion.
“What hospital are you taking her to?” Beau asked, stepping away from a cop. “I’m her father.”
“Cedars-Sinai,” the EMT replied. “You can ride along if you want.”
“I have some questions to answer here, but…” Beau looked left and right before his eyes rested on me. “He can ride with her. He’s her fiancé.”
My eyes widened, but like hell would I contradict him. I just wanted to be with Iz.
“Fine. You can come, but you’re in the front.”
I nodded and took off in a gallop with them. I wasn’t going to do anything to screw up the chance to be close to her. She just had to be okay. She had to.
“What’s your name, man?” the EMT at the head of her gurney asked me.
“Hunter. Hunter Adkins.”
“Why’s that sound familiar?”
I shook my head helplessly. It was taking everything inside me to keep it together. I didn’t want to make bullshit small talk.
“That’s it. You’re the new drummer for the Long Licks, right? I just heard on the radio. Is that what the party was for?”
“Yeah,” I answered hoarsely. “Some party.”
The EMTs questioned me over her medical history on the drive over, and I tried to fill in whatever I could as best as I could. The whole time, my heart threatened to beat out of my chest, and it had nothing to do with the sirens or our speed.
If anything, the fucker was driving too slow.
The eight miles to the hospital seemed to take forever.
“Has she woken up?” I asked hoarsely.
His eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror and the open span between our seats behind us. After a beat, he shook his head silently.
Shit.
That wasn’t good. Shouldn’t she be awake by now?
And fuck, those lights were bright.
I groaned and covered my face with my hands. I’d rather the EMT think I was grieving instead of injured.
I wasn’t going any-fucking-where. They’d have to pry my hands off her gurney.
And that’s exactly what they did a few minutes later.
A huge orderly jumped in front of me and pushed me back. “Authorized personnel only.”
“I’m her fiancé.” I strained against his arms, jumping up on my toes to see something through the high windows on the doors. But I couldn’t see shit.
“All the more reason for you to stay out here.”
I wished I could play the ‘do you know who I am’ card.
A nurse bustled through the doors I wanted to get through.
“Family of Isabella Monti?” she asked, not even looking up from her clipboard.
“Here! Me!” I hollered, waving my arm despite her standing only a few feet away.
“He’s not next of kin; he’s the fiancé,” the orderly helpfully added.
“Ah. Yeah. That’s a problem. Could you fill this form out for her?” She shoved the clipboard at me.
I grabbed it but didn’t look away from her face. “Is she okay? Has she woken up?”
But she just shook her head. “I can’t release any information at this point. And when I have it, only to next of kin.”
“But I’m—”
“Not her legal partner,” the nurse replied, cutting me off. “Has her family been informed? We’ll need to contact a blood or legal relative.”
“Her father is coming. He’s giving a statement to the police right now. Will that delay treatment? We want her to have the best of care. Any tests she’ll need, I’ll cover.”
“They’re going to love you in billing.” The nurse smiled and gently patted my arm. “Fill out the form, and then Luis here will show you to the waiting room. Text anyone else coming to meet you there.”
“Uh, that might be a problem.”
She cocked her hip and gave me an unimpressed look. “You’re going to play it like that?”
“Uh, yeah. I mean, no. It’s just her dad is the bassist for the Long Licks, and the rest of the guys are probably on their way here, too.”
“No doubt with a pack of paps trailing them. Oh joy. Come with me.”
Still holding the clipboard, I followed the nurse like a lost puppy.
She had answers, and I wanted them. Only I couldn’t get my brain to work to figure out how to charm them out of her.
All I could think was that Izzy was hurt.
I wanted to see her. Hold her. Make it better somehow.
Or at least be at her side to make sure she was getting the right care.
I felt so fucking helpless.
“Have the rest of your guys meet you here.” She gestured toward the frosted glass doors behind her.
“Uh…” I couldn’t even begin to describe how we got here. “Where’s here?”
She stepped toward me and cocked her head. “Are you okay? Were you injured in the fall too?”
I took a step back and shook my head, holding the clipboard up like it could repel her. “No. I’m fine. Really. Just worried about my girl. I watched her fall. It was…”
My stomach lurched again and I heaved. Covering my mouth with a hand, I ran for the closest garbage can I could find. Only there wasn’t anything in my stomach since I’d already puked once tonight. “Shit.”
“Here.” The nurse patted my back gently and a bottle of water appeared in my eyeline.
I took it and gulped a few mouthfuls.
Then she pulled the bottle away from me like an annoyed mother. “Not too much now. We don’t want to overwhelm your tummy.”
Tummy? I would’ve laughed, but I still felt precariously close to tears. “I’m fine,” I grumbled.
“Right. In you go.” She gently shoved me in the direction of the doors. “And tell your friends to meet you in the International Lounge on the main campus.”
I nodded numbly. “And you will provide updates of Iz’s condition to us here?”
“I will make sure someone is by within the hour to get that paperwork from you and give her next of kin an update.”
I didn’t know how much time had passed. But the nurse was long gone, and I was sitting on a plastic-y couch in what looked like a bland hotel breakfast area.
Only there was a meeting room and a locker room section.
The concierge, beverage station, and banquet on the other side of the room really sold the hotel experience.
It was all so surreal.
I stared at the clipboard on my lap and tried my best to fill in what I could.
“Hunter? How is she?” Suddenly Saylor was kneeling at my side, her cheeks wet with tears.
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t let me see her since I’m not family. But I’m guessing she’s still unconscious, otherwise…”
Saylor patted my knee. “You know she’d want you at her side. I’m sure she doesn’t blame you.”
“Blame me?” I blinked. That didn’t make any sense. “Why would she blame me? Because I wasn’t there when Phoebe pushed her?”
“Oh.” Saylor tossed a look to her husband. “He doesn’t know.”
“KNOW WHAT?”
“Whoa, man.” Mal jumped between me and his wife. “You’re going to need to calm down. This is not the place to hulk out. Believe me. Hospitals don’t take it so kindly when you trash their waiting rooms, and this one is especially plush.”
“I don’t give a shit about the room. What the fuck don’t I know?” I gripped Mal’s suede jacket in my hands, clenching tight enough to strangle someone.
“So, apparently it wasn’t Phoebe who pushed Izzy down the stairs.” Mal spoke calmly and slowly.
Too fucking slowly.
“THEN WHO?”
“Oh shit. You’re telling him now?” Beau walked in with a weaving Ryker at his side.
I eyed Ryker for a second, wanting to bash his face in, but I had more important things to handle. “Did you check in with the nurse on duty in the ER? Do they know Iz’s family is here? Because they won’t tell me shit. Like these other assholes.”
“I didn’t.” Beau craned his neck. “Who should I talk to?”
I waved the concierge over and got Beau to take the clipboard wherever it was supposed to go. Then I whirled around on Mal and his wife. “Who pushed her?”
Mal stepped between me and his wife again. “Phoebe was in the upstairs bathroom when Izzy was pushed. Multiple witnesses confirmed it was a blonde in a long aqua dress who pushed Izzy.”
The room swam around me for a second.
“No. That’s not right.” I shook my head and sank down on the vinyl couch. “It was Phoebe. I saw her running down the stairs right after. It had to be her.”
“But it wasn’t, Hunter.” The bench squeaked as Mal sat next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, but it was Cheyenne. Your ex pushed her down the stairs.”
My stomach heaved, and I ran for the trash can for the second time tonight.
I was still standing there hunched over the can with bile dripping off my lips when Saylor passed me a tissue.
“This isn’t your fault,” she whispered. “Do not take what that dingbat did on your shoulders. No one here is blaming you. No one.”
“It wouldn’t have happened but for me.” Tears blurred my vision, and I wasn’t fucking ashamed of it. “And I should’ve known she’d try to get back at me. I should’ve fucking known.”
Saylor wrapped her arms around my torso and burrowed her face into my chest. “Don’t do that to yourself. You didn’t do any of this. I swear. It’s not on you. Cheyenne is the one to blame. Hate her. Blame her. Don’t take it on yourself.”
“What she said, man.” Mal stepped up to my other side and slapped my free shoulder. “It’s not on you.”
“No one blames you, kid,” Beau rumbled from behind us. “Any more than you would’ve blamed me if Phoebe had been the one to do it.”
I closed my eyes with a wince. That wasn’t exactly comforting. Because I would’ve blamed him a little bit.
A lot of a bit.
“Only ones who deserve any amount of blame are my drunk ass and your crazy ass ex.”
We all turned at Ryker’s bleary but matter-of-fact statement.
“Is this when you finally tell us what the fuck is going on with you?” Mal asked with a grimace.
Ryker lifted a shoulder. “What’s not going on? Gio’s dead. My mom’s in renal failure. And the girl I love hates the music industry. She’s going to hate me when she finds out who I am.”
“This group is like a real-life HBO drama series,” Saylor stage-whispered in an aside to Mal with me stuck between them.
“You believe me now that money doesn’t buy happiness?” Mal murmured back to her.
Saylor nodded with wide eyes.
“What’d I miss?” Leif stopped in the door and took in the scene—me in the middle of a group hug with Mal and Saylor while Beau consoled a tearful Ryker on the banquette seat.
“Hey, man.” Mal broke away to give Leif a bear hug. His voice was muffled in Leif’s shoulder when he spoke again. “Didn’t think the cops would let you leave this soon.”
“Why? I didn’t see anything that happened. They already had Phoebe, Cheyenne, and a few other witnesses who saw shit go down. I gotta be here for my crew.”
“Isabella Monti’s family?” A woman in dark blue scrubs stood at the door. “Are you Ms. Monti’s family?”
“Here.” Beau waved a hand and stood up. “What’s going on with my little girl?”