From My Heart
Authors: Breigh Forstner
From My Heart
Straight from the Heart
#2
Breigh Forstner
Straight from the Heart Series Book # 2
Copyright © 2014 by Breigh Forstner
Cover designed by: Madelene Martin
Editing by: Metamorphosis Editing Services
Interior Formatting by: Dayne Edmondson
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are a work of fiction or are used fictiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Chapter 10: Straight from the Heart
Chapter 11: Secrets Kill the Weak
There’s a lot of people I would like to thank this time around. First, my two daughters. You were very patient when we would watch videos on one side of my laptop screen while I wrote on the other side and I love you so much. To the rest of my family, you have all been very supportive of my journey as an author thus far, and I can’t thank you enough.
My editor, Nikki at Metamorphosis Editing Services, you rock! I loved seeing all of your feedback as I was making the changes to the book and it was great working with you.
Once again, Madelene Martin did my cover for “From My Heart” and it looks so good, and such a quick turnaround.
Also to my beta readers that gave me early feedback about “From My Heart,” and what they liked and who they didn’t like in it, you also rock!
And who could forget my fellow authors, bloggers, and the readers? I appreciate each and every single one of you and everything you have done for me, whether it’s advice, support, anything. I love you all.
Readers are what makes the world go around and this book is dedicated to you.
The chapter titles that you are going to see in “From My Heart” are song titles from the band Everlasting, who are the main characters. I also threw in a song from Ignite the Flames, which you met in “Straight from the Heart.” Also the lyrics below each chapter title go with that song too.
ENJOY!
Cale
“Spent so much time
Wondering where it all went wrong
But I was manipulated and caught in your web
I have to get away from you”
I hate hospitals.
The only other time I’ve ever been hospitalized was after the Tyler-beat-up incident -we got into a brawl on stage less than a year ago.
Maybe it was the way nurses stared at me like I was a criminal and the doctors talked to me like I was stupid because of my tattoos. Or it could’ve been my shitty attitude.
Yeah that was it.
“You should be able to go home tomorrow, mister.” The nurse tapped my leg slightly as she finished taking my latest round of vitals. “We’ll keep you overnight just as a precaution from the surgery just in case of any after effects that may occur. Also you have the buzzer beside your bed in case you need anything else.” Jessie, the nurse that had been taking care of me, was Raptor’s older sister. She was the normal of the two siblings so to speak. While Raptor was crazy and died his Mohawk a different color every other day, Jessie went to medical school and had her own house on the outskirts of town.
“Aww, come on, Jess,” I groaned, and she shot me a dirty look. “You know what I really need?”
“Not a chance, bud.” Jessie grinned, turning around on her heels to go check on her next patient. “I’ll be back later.” She knew I was kidding, but I had to make myself laugh while I was in this depressing place. I mean, if I was into girls that were like six years my senior, I would have totally went after her. She had dark blond hair that was cut to her chin, a pretty athletic body, and wore dark rimmed glasses that made her look even older. But the times I’d seen her after tours and on breaks she usually stuck to her contacts, which made her baby blue eyes pop.
There I was I am thinking about another girl when
my
girl was in another hospital room on the same floor…wow, what an ass.
I kept saying the words, ‘my girl’ to myself, still in disbelief I really had the girl of my dreams all to myself. Bryn Schaefler was my official girlfriend. I was a lucky guy. Who else got the opportunity to perform on stage beside their girlfriend nearly every day for weeks on end? I would never get tired of seeing her. She was completely and utterly made for me, I was sure of it.
Her green eyes were what sold me the first time I met her and shook her hand. They were like brand new emeralds that glistened in the sun. And plus it helped that she had a rocking body, despite her complaints from time to time about how her hips are too wide or how she was getting arm fat. I would shoot her down immediately and kiss her just so I wouldn’t have to hear her talk about herself like that.
After flipping through TV stations, most of which were showing early morning news shows, I heard a faint knock at the door. It was getting late, or at least close to the end of visiting hours, so I wasn’t sure who it could be. For a split second, I wished it would’ve been one of the nurses wheeling Bryn in to see me.
“Come in!” I yelled, straightening the pillows behind me so I could sit up a little straighter.
The door opened, and in came Vince. His light brown hair was a mess and it looked like he slept in one of the hospital waiting room chairs for the night.
“How ya doing, bud?” he mumbled, stepping closer to my hospital bed to take a closer look at me. Judging by the discouraged look on his face, he seemed reluctant to come any farther.
“You don’t have to be scared,” I said. “I’m not broken, Vince.” I chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. He shook his head with a grin and sat down in a chair against the wall. “I mean, besides a couple of stab wounds and a bullet to my chest, I’m hanging in there. You on the other hand, my man, look like shit.”
Vince ran a hand through his disheveled hair and sighed. “Yeah, I feel like it,” he said. “It should be me in one of these beds, not you, Tyler, and Bryn. If she hadn’t told me to run I could have helped save her and get you guys help…”
I raised my hand to silence him. He was one of my best friends and I wasn’t going to let him take the blame for what happened to us. “Don’t guilt trip yourself. Dammit, between you and Luke, you guys got us help. You saved us before Brayden could hurt anyone else…” During our last show almost three days ago, Bryn’s older brother Brayden caused mayhem backstage, all for Bryn’s attention. Her parents were secretly hell-bent on bringing her back home, and that meant pulling out all of the tricks to get her there, no matter the costs.
Which included roping their only son into doing whatever it took to make Bryn realize she was making a mistake. He had been a part of Raptor’s beating that cost him his spot in the band and an injured hand. Now this shooting at the festival. Just thinking of what went down gave me chills. I didn’t want to relive watching Bryn being hurt by her brother, let alone getting hurt myself. I hadn’t heard how Tyler was doing, but when the ambulances finally came to get us, all I could hear was his brutal screams of pain.
I was scared to ask. “Have you seen Tyler or Bryn?”
Vince stiffened up, “They look like hell if you want my honest opinion. Bryn has a huge bandage around her head from when it was slammed against the tree and some scratches on her face. She had a blanket covering the rest of her body so I couldn’t tell ya if anything else was wrong with her.”
“What about Ty?”
“He’s got a few broken ribs and a concussion. I had to stop him from schmoozing one of the nurses into bringing him alcohol to numb his pain.” Vince laughed. That sounded like Tyler Donahue, alright. We were practically one in the same. “Don’t tell me you tried that too?”
I shook my head. “Nah. I was joking around with Raptor’s sister and she took it the wrong way. Thought I was trying to get into her scrubs.”
“OH Raptor would kill you for that if he found out.” Vince smirked. “But she’s married, isn’t she?”
“Hell if I know.” I replied. “I already have a girl anyways.”
“An amazing one.” Vince admitted, rubbing his eyes as he slumped over. “You better not lose her or else I’ll snatch her up.”
I glared at him; he knew better than to even joke about taking Bryn from me. Now that I had her I wasn’t ever going to let go. “They need to get me out of this damn bed and wheel me to her room,” I said. “This has been the longest period of time I haven’t seen her and it sucks shit,” I whined, feeling pain in my chest. My hand held onto my heart as I tried to slow my breathing down. Where was the pain medicine when I need it? They had been giving me doses about every 4-6 hours and that wasn’t enough. If I could walk, I’d steal their stash in the pharmacy.
“Relax, Cale,” Vince said. “You seriously need to take it easy for the night. That bullet was too close to your heart, I was here when they said it was merely a few centimeters away from killing you. Especially with the tour coming up—we’ll have to tone it down on stage.” That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear. I didn’t care if I was centimeters from death, I was not going to stop doing what I loved, which was giving Everlasting fans a show they’d never forget.
“No chance. We’ve still got until January anyway so we should all be back to our usual selves. I’m not changing what I do on a daily basis because of a psychotic idiot who shouldn’t have had a gun in the first place.”
“My son, you use your words so well.” I heard my mom say sarcastically as she entered the room, her tennis shoes squeaking against the floor. “Are you giving Vince problems, sweetheart?”
I rolled my eyes. Vince was eating it up the attention, standing up to kiss my mom on the cheek. She had grown to consider all of the guys in Everlasting her sons. Most of the time she’d take their sides over mine due to my ‘potty’ mouth.
“Of course not, mother, I’m a perfect gentleman,” I lied, smiling widely. She leaned over to give me a brief hug without touching my injuries.
“I’m sorry,” Mom said, even though the hug didn’t hurt. “I just don’t want to hit something.” Tears were in her eyes at the pure sight of me. Probably because none of her four kids had ever had serious injuries before, let alone surgery. Luckily, I didn’t have broken ribs like Tyler or even a bandage around my head like my Bryn. Damn I wished I could go see her. Rubbing the back of Mom’s hand along my cheek, I tried relaxing. “Are you sure you’re okay to be released tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yessss, Mom. Jessie just came in and said they’re keeping me overnight just as a precaution and Vince will take me home.” I looked over at Vince, who had fallen asleep, slouched over in the chair. I could hear a faint snore from his lips, but I covered my mouth so my hysterical laughing wouldn’t wake him up. I patted down a small bit of space next to me on the bed. “Come sit, Mom. You look frazzled.”
She snorted. Tying her long copper colored hair into a ponytail, she slowly sat down beside my good leg. “Well, your sisters are freaking out and were upset when I told them they couldn’t come up to see you. I didn’t want them to see you in pain. You know how Sadie gets when she gets a paper cut, let alone sees anything remotely close to blood. But she said she’d suck it up for an hour or two.” If I could say one thing about my family, it was that we were all close. Besides the guys in the band, my sisters Sadie, Danielle, and Alexandria were my best friends. We were all born within five years of each other, Sadie 21, Danielle 19, and Alexandria had just turned 17. Danielle and I had gotten the brown hair from our dad while Sadie and Alexandria had mom’s copper shaded hair. But we all got the amber colored eyes from Mom.
“Tell them I love them, promise?” I asked, and Mom nodded. “When everyone gets feeling better I want them to meet Bryn.”
My mom’s eyes lightened up instantly. “You’re finally going to bring her around? After
how
long, mister?”
I clasped a hand onto her shoulder and squeezed. “Give it a bit. I
promise
I will bring her by the house for one of your home cooked dinners. Just name the date and time.”
Another hour went by, my mom giving me updates on how Danielle wanted to move across the country and go to the University of Oregon, while Alexandria wanted to start up a band. I admired both of them for going after what they wanted. Sadie, on the other hand, was more of a home-body and spent most of her time with her long term boyfriend; she liked her life like that.
Another nurse peeked through the door and smiled. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Pelton, visiting hours are almost up.” Pointing to Vince, who was now drooling on his chin, she grinned and said, “Might want to wake him up too.” We said thank you, and before I could throw my empty cup of ice water at Vince, Mom had shaken him awake.
He looked back and forth between us, still in a sleepy daze. “They kicked you out, man,” I told him. “You should go with my mom and stay until the morning.”
Groaning, Vince nodded in agreement. “Suppose you’re right. You’ll be okay until the morning, right?”
“Yes, my second mother,” I teased. “But thank you for staying, Vince. Love ya.”
He took a couple of steps to my side, giving me a one armed hug. “Not a problem. Always got your back.”
In between the police coming to question me right after surgery and my few visitors, I was more than anticipating seeing Bryn and how she was holding up.
***