Authors: Breigh Forstner
Frickety frick my head felt like it hit a ton of bricks. Well, close enough. The back of my head hit a huge oak tree at full force. I was still in shock that my older brother Brayden was capable of anything so horrific. Was he serious when he said he reconciled with Mom and Dad? I’m sure they tracked him down and bribed him with money. That’s probably why he did what he did to get me to come home. But after seeing what he was capable of, there was no way I could trust him again. Or my parents for that matter.
Now all that was on my mind was the guys. After Brayden threw me against the tree, I had blacked out. I remember hearing additional gun shots and a bunch of screaming coming from every direction. I didn’t know who they were coming from, but it scared the living crap out of me.
Waking up at the hospital, my first question was, “Where’s Cale and Tyler?” Vince and Luke were right by my side, each holding a hand as my eyelids finally opened after being out cold for hours.
“They’re both being checked out right now,” Luke whispered, his voice barely making any sound. “It was bad Bryn.”
Bad
wasn’t a good enough explanation for me. I needed to know if either one were going to make it out of the hospital alive.
“How bad?” I choked on my words, feeling a huge lump in my throat.
“Cale was covered in blood,” Vince said. “They almost couldn’t stop the bleeding in his leg from the stab wound and he got shot…”
“But Tyler looks like he has a few broken ribs form the way he kept clutching his sides,” Luke interjected. “Don’t worry about them, Bryn. You’ll all be okay and hopefully out of the hospital in a few days.”
A few days was right.
Here I was now, watching late night news on TV, complaining about this huge white bandage wrapped around my head. It was practically down to my eyebrows and it was driving me crazy. But after getting the scoop from the guys, including Raptor and Hal, who had been in to visit me on and off, Cale and Tyler got the worst of Brayden’s wrath.
That was what my brother wanted, which made me sick to my stomach. It was all a part of the Schaefler family master plan: Do whatever it takes to get Bryn home because apparently I didn’t belong writing music and playing guitar on a daily basis.
Visiting hours were just getting over with. I knew this from the shuffling of feet in the hallway. I couldn’t even see out into the hall to know if anyone was coming in, unless they knocked. Dammit, I could not wait to be released.
“It’s Nurse Jessie, can I come in?” My nurse knocked lightly. Without another word, she swiftly walked in, clipboard in her hand, as she immediately checked the monitors I was hooked up to.
“Are they getting me out of here tomorrow?” I asked.
“Those odds are looking pretty good, Bryn. Your friends were asking me the same question,” Jessie replied firmly, not looking in my direction. “They’re getting pretty antsy, but they’re guys. It’s to be expected.”
“So they’re doing okay?”
Jessie met my eyes and smiled. “Well, considering your boyfriend was trying to bribe me, I think he’s back in rare form.” Just the word boyfriend made me grin.
“Is there any way I could see him?” I blurted out.
“Possibly in the morning, if that would work,” she suggested. “That way both of you are well rested.”
“I’ve waited days to see him. I think someone could wheel me down to his room,” I mumbled under my breath. The nurse turned in my direction after jotting down my vitals.
“I’ll let the next nurse coming in know so she can get a wheelchair ready in the morning,” Nurse Jessie replied, not acknowledging my comment. “Sleep well, Bryn.”
Yeah. Okay. Sleep well? In this hospital bed? Fat chance. I could just make a run for it, take the machines I’m hooked up to with me.
It took me a couple hours into old romance movies on Lifetime before I finally dozed off. I heard faint laughter that sounded a lot like Cale’s.
Don’t worry Bryn,
I told myself.
You’ll see him in the morning, in just a few short hours.
It was hard to believe that I had been a part of Everlasting for almost five months now, going on a half year. This was my new life and I was in love with what I did: play music. The guys were my new family now that I discovered how messed up my family really was. While everyone else knew I had an ex, Cale was the only one that I told about
that night.
As much as an ass he could be at times, he was all mine and I wouldn’t have it any other way right now.
Even since Tyler came back during the recording process, I had felt a connection with Tyler. We had both grown up in the same kind of family so we had that much in common. But he was one of the lucky ones that had easy going parents that let him go out and pursue what he wanted without any hassle. Spending time with him, he reminded me a lot of Ethan, but add four years, more muscles, and brown hair. He was definitely easy to look at, to say the least, but after what Cale went through with Lucy and Tyler, I wasn’t about to put him in that situation again. That was the whole reason Tyler got kicked out in the first place.
The next morning, I woke up to the sun shining through my hospital room window. More like the rays of sunshine were so bright I thought I was going to go blind. The hospital kitchen just called me to get my breakfast order and I flipped the channel to an early morning news show, not really paying attention to what the anchors were saying. When I heard one of the newscasters mention the word “Shooting,” my ears perked up and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
In big bold letters at the bottom of the screen it flashed, “Shooter dead after attack in Pontiac.” My eyes widened in horror at the site as I watched a recap of what I couldn’t see, only heard.
My brother was dead?
Why didn’t anyone in this hospital tell me? Surely Raptor, Luke or Vince knew about it obviously, and they just failed to tell me. My only blood sibling was gone. I studied the words coming out of the newscaster’s mouth as she reiterated the details of that day. How a young man in his 20’s shot members of the band Everlasting, injuring three of its members, who were now in stable condition at the hospital.
My eyes flickered to where the cameras zoomed up on my lifeless body being rushed into an ambulance.
I looked that bad?
I watched as the paramedics tried to stop the bleeding from my head and to check if I was still breathing. This was too much to take in, but when I tried to turn the channel, Cale’s and Tyler’s bodies came into view.
Tears were pouring down my cheeks. I barely recognized them, and when I tried to scoot to the end of my bed to get a closer look at them, they changed the topic to some other news story.
Without a knock, I heard someone strolling in on a wheelchair, my breakfast plate clattering along. When I turned to get a better view of who it was, I wanted to jump out of bed and hug the shit out of him.
Cale. Cale being strolled in his wheelchair by a younger male nurse. He was holding two breakfast plates, both consisting of eggs, bacon and a side of yogurt. The smile on his face and the gleam in his eye was priceless. This was the longest time we went without seeing each other since we first met, so it was definitely an adjustment. Not a good one, to say the least.
“You look beautiful,” were the first words uttered out of his mouth. “That thing around your head is some fashion statement.” I couldn’t help but smirk. Here he was back to his typical smart ass attitude, but I had grown to get used to it. Now I loved it.
As soon as the nurse stopped Cale’s wheelchair, grabbed the trays from him, and set them on my small table so I could eat from my bed, my hands longed to touch Cale.
The nurse helped Cale out of the wheelchair and I scooted as close to the edge of my bed as I could so he could sit beside me.
“I’ll be back in a little bit to collect this man,” The guy joked. “Doctors want to run another test before you’re all released to make sure he’s stable enough to go.”
Cale nodded. “Thanks again, my man. I’ll save those front row passes for you when we’re back on the road.”
The guy’s face lit up instantly. “THANK YOU. I wish I dealt with more patients like you.” He replied genuinely, giving me a small wave before running off.
Once the male nurse was out of ear shot, Cale brought his forehead to meet mine. The only thing in between our skin was the bandage around my head, which I was sure the doctor was going to take off before I got released.
Before he could blink, my arms encircled him, trying to be as gentle as I could, knowing he had a lot more damage to his body than I did.
“Does that hurt?” I murmured against his ear.
“Could be worse,” he replied in a whisper, kissing me softly on my cheek. “I think you’re my remedy.”
“Really?” My lips parted, and he took advantage of that to kiss me. It wasn’t long, more like a peck, but that was all I needed. Cale was okay, and we were all lucky we were doing as well as we were. “I’m the one who landed you in the hospital.”
Cale gazed into my eyes with a hint of frustration. “No. Do not ever blame yourself for what happened. You hear me, Bryn Schaefler? They said I was lucky to be alive. I got shot centimeters from my heart. Doctor said typically a lot of people die from a shot like that.”
“I’m just glad to see you.” I sighed. “This has been the worst few days of my life.”
“I never stopped thinking of you,” Cale admitted. “After I had my surgery to get the bullet out of my chest, the first words I said were, ‘I want to see Bryn.’ I hate not seeing you, knowing you’re sitting here in this hospital bed in pain.”
I scratched my arm, leaning into Cale. “It was a minor concussion and loss of blood. This bandage is so uncomfortable. I’m ready to take it off right now and say screw it…”
Cale snickered. He whispered into my ear and said “I’ll take more than that off.”
“Cale Pelton I outta slap you for that!” I teased. “But I’m too scared to even touch you unless it’s like, a fingertip.” Yup, he was back alright.
We sat together and ate our breakfast, not really talking about the incident, or how I knew that Brayden had died that day. I was just happy to have Cale beside me again. I looked forward to the late winter tour just for that reason. We were upgrading to a new bus before then, and he was trying to find a bus with a bedroom.
Before I knew it, the male nurse—(I learned his name was Ken—) came back in, wheeling Cale back to his room so the doctor could run a few more tests.
“I’ll see you in a few hours, babe.” He leaned up from the wheelchair to give me a long kiss. He quickly sat back down afterword, cursing under his breath and grabbing his leg. I told him I loved him and he was on his way.
Remind me never to get shot again.
Or stabbed for that matter.
The pain even after I left the hospital was insane, almost unbearable. It felt like no matter what way I moved my body, I would be in some sort of agony. Usually, I’m a tough ass when it comes to this stuff. I’ve had my fair share of fights and getting beat up. But knowing that someone operated on my chest to take a bullet damn near my heart, it was scary to go out and do anything. I had to get rested for the tour in January. There was no choice in that.
It had been a week since the shooting at the festival. I was still recovering, much to the help of my old friend: pain killers. The doctor knew about my past and my addiction to pain killers, so he gave me a long lecture before being released about taking each pill ACCORDING to what is listed on the bottle.
That was hard enough.
All five of us guys were back in the apartment again as well, Tyler moving his stuff back from his parents’ mansion. With two of us being laid up trying to rest and recover, Vince, Luke and Raptor tried their best to help us out. But I hated feeling like I was a charity case, having someone watch me constantly drove me fucking insane.
“You know,” Tyler piped up as we were all eating take out Chinese food. “We haven’t had a night out where it has been just us guys in a long time. I mean since before you socked me in the face, bud…”
Since Tyler had been back in the group, I’d learned slowly but surely to let the whole Lucy cheating on me thing go. Tyler was my best friend and I wasn’t going to ruin a friendship and hold a grudge over a girl I had been with. Even if the two of us were together for as long as we were and I really had loved her, and still do. That was the past. I was just glad we were all like one big happy dysfunctional family again. Now she was just like one of my sisters.
“Why don’t we go to Crabby Pete’s?” Luke suggested. “And go surprise your girlfriend. She won’t even know how to handle five drunk guys pounding on her door.”
I chuckled. Being the nice girl that she was, Bryn would probably welcome us in and tell us to sleep on the floor or the couch. “I don’t think I can handle alcohol for a while. But I am down for some of their burgers, even though we just ate.”
“Well, you or Tyler can drive, while the rest of us have some fun and pick up some girls.” Vince ordered. “I need to see some women other than Bryn and my family.”
“Why don’t you guys just go then? You can take the van and one of you just don’t drink.” Now I was sounding like an old person. I had more than enough reasons for not wanting to drink. I knew as soon as I had one, it would escalate.
Raptor walked up and patted my shoulder hard, causing me to flinch. “Oh please, you can at least come out with us. If you can’t handle us, Bryn’s right down the road.” He had a valid point. I considered just walking from Crabby Pete’s over to Lozano’s just so I could see her.
“I suppose.” I grumbled, getting up from the dining room table to throw away my container of food. “You coming too, Ty?”
Tyler took a bite of his eggroll, shrugging. “I sure as hell don’t want to be here by myself. Let’s do it, boys.”
The five of us changed clothes, cleaned up the place, and took off in the van for Crabby Pete’s. I hadn’t been there since we held our band auditions back in June. The first place I saw Bryn. The place was absolutely packed, but wasn’t surprising considering it was a Saturday night. Pete, the owner, noticed us coming in from where he was standing behind the bar and lifted his arm up to wave.
“Sure you don’t want anything to drink?” Raptor asked Tyler and I as we saw a table close to the bar open up.
I shook my head. “I’m good, Rap. Thanks.” But Raptor never took no for an answer. He’d sure as hell be back within a matter of minutes with a pitcher of beer just for me.
“I might just get a shot of Jack.” Tyler replied, and Raptor, Vince and Luke headed up to the bar.
“I guess you can just call us crippled old men,” I told Tyler. He threw his head back and laughed.
“No shit, Sherlock. Now we just need canes!” he said sarcastically. “So how’s Bryn doing with her head?”
I had taken the trip to see Bryn a couple of times in the past week. She’d been very quiet about what happened. Every time I tried to bring up her brother’s death, she changed the subject to something else. Like how she was nervous about touring in a few months. I wouldn’t push it any farther past that. We would hold each other and watch movies on TV or I’d bring them over from the apartment.
“She’s better,” I said. “Hasn’t really said much about it all. I don’t know if she knows how Brayden died. I tried telling her, but she won’t listen to any of it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to hear how he put the barrel in his mouth and shot himself either.”
“If she knows, that explains why she’s distant.”
“Give her time.” Tyler ran a hand through his hair. “Should text her and tell her to come down here. I mean she still can’t drink or anything, but at least she won’t be bored at her place by herself.”
“I think she said she’s helping out Louisa tonight, but I’ll text her.” I pulled out my phone.
Me: What are you up to B?
Almost instantly I had a reply.
Bryn: Just got off. Heading upstairs now.
I smirked at her reply. She didn’t realize some of the things she said came out just plain dirty, and if I was drinking at that moment, I would have been at her place in seconds.
Me: Just got off huh? I hope you meant work.
Bryn: Oh please Mr. Dirty Minded. You’d like that wouldn’t you?
Me: Damn right. But we’re down at Crabby Pete’s you should walk down.
Bryn: Let me change than I’ll see. Love you
Me: Love you more
“Is B coming down?” Vince asked, finally bringing back our drinks. They got me a water, and I chugged it down within seconds.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I just texted her. She just got out of work so she was going to go change.”
“Heck yesss this will be absolutely amazing!” Luke bellowed. From the way he was already swaying, I could tell he had a couple of shots at the bar. This was going to be interesting
.
“How much have you had to drink already, Luke?” Tyler turned to ask him.
He shrugged. “Only like, two shots, you ass. Pete’s my buddy, he hooked us all up.”
I looked down at the platter of shot glasses on our table and furrowed my eyebrows. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid tonight and they
knew
that. As I eyed the glasses Raptor was pushing my way, I tried to weigh my options. I mean, I knew I could hold my liquor and I more than likely wouldn’t have a hangover in the morning, so that was a good thing.
The bad? I didn’t want Bryn to see me like that.
If she were strictly my bandmate, it’d be a different story. But she was my girlfriend. I didn’t want to say anything around her that I’d regret.
“Here’s to a fun night out,” I said reluctantly, grabbing two shot glasses filled with tequila and swallowing down one glass of liquid after the other. It burned as it made its way down my throat and to my stomach.
“That’s my boy!” Vince patted me hard on the back. “Knew you’d give in at some point!”
We ordered a big plate of Irish nachos to split between all of us, and ate as we watched people get up to do karaoke. It felt like déjà vu, bringing me back to the night in Iowa when everyone on the last tour went out to eat and sing karaoke. It was also the night we got
the call
from RockOut records.
I excused myself to the bathroom after watching people slaughter some of my favorite songs. When I was heading back to the table, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and a head resting on my back.
“Let me guess,” I teased, knowing fully who it was. “You’re either some kind of crazy fan or you must be my girlfriend.”
“Dammit, Cale it was supposed to be a surprise!” She smiled widely as I turned around to face her, still holding her hands. She knew how to clean up quick. Her black hair was pinned to one side and she had some green eye shadow on to match her emerald eyes. She had on a slim fitting, navy striped long-sleeved shirt and baggy jeans.
“I know those hands better than anyone, love,” I remarked, and she stood up on her tip toes so she could kiss me. I let go of her hands, placing them around my back as I brought her closer. So what if she bumped against my shotgun and stab wounds? Tonight I really didn’t care. Maybe it was the alcohol telling me that. She tried to pull back, but I only moved her body closer to mine, leaving no room to breathe.
Our lips met again, but it was different. I felt a sense of urgency, like Bryn
had
to kiss me right then and there at that exact moment. She opened her mouth as my tongue eased its way in to meet hers. I hadn’t felt this in a long time. I needed this kiss. I needed the touch. Just to know that Bryn felt the same way about me as I did about her.
I lived for this girl ever since I met her and I didn’t plan on stopping for a long damn time.
We both pulled away after someone near the bar shouted, “Get a damn room!”
Covering her beet red face, Bryn started to giggle. “That’s got to be a first.”
I tried hard not to laugh. “Why are you hiding your face, pretty girl? They’re just jealous it wasn’t them in my spot just now.”
“I’m not used to this kind of thing…”
“You mean kissing in public until someone tells you to stop?”
“Basically,” She admitted. “Ethan was more of a ‘wait until we’re alone’ kind of boyfriend.”
I snickered, leading her over towards our table. I had never met this Ethan guy, and I never wanted to. He embarrassed my girlfriend in front of hundreds of people she went to school with and never even apologized for it. If I ever saw this prick or so much found out what he looked like, I’d make him apologize for what he did.
“Warning, B, everyone besides Tyler has had a drink, so if they sound like—”
“HEY BRYN’S HERE! ‘BOUT TIME!” Vince yelled, raising the glass that was in his hand. Half the people in the place glared in our direction.
“Shut up, dude, you’ll get us in trouble,” Tyler scolded, but Vince paid no attention.
“I’VE GOT A SHOT CALLING YOUR NAME, B COME ONNN!” Vince continued, raising his voice even higher.
After giving all the guys a hug, Bryn sat down and pushed the drink Vince gave her away. “I’m not getting myself into trouble here, guys,” she said. “I’m still underage.”
“Didn’t matter on the tour. Now it does?” Vince questioned.
“Leave it be.” I put a hand up to Vince’s chest. “Let’s just have fun. Some of us can have fun without drinking.”
“Except you’re the one who just had a couple of shots,” Tyler retorted, trying to hold back laughter. I could tell it hurt him to laugh from the way he clutched the side where he had his broken ribs. “Looks like I’ll be the DD tonight.”
Bryn patted Tyler’s hand, which made me extremely uncomfortable. “I’ll be your sober friend for tonight, Tyler.” That just made me sick. Tyler ate shit like that up, so Bryn saying that to him was only going to fill up his ego and give him false hope with Bryn. He already knew from day one she was mine so he needed to back off.
“Sounds like a plan.” He smiled back, his eyes lingering a little too long on her lips. I recognized that look. I did the exact same thing when she auditioned for us back in June. All I could pay attention to was her lips and how she sang so effortlessly while playing her acoustic guitar. There was nothing sexier than a girl who could play an instrument. Add the voice into the mix, and that’s my dream girl. Tyler turned his attention back over to me. “Now why don’t you get your ass up there and do some karaoke?”
I snorted. “I’ll show you up, tough guy. How about whoever gets the crowd riled up more gets a free dinner anywhere in town tomorrow.”
I knew Tyler would be up for it. When we challenged each other, he never backed down.
“Game on, brother.”
***