Authors: London Casey
Tags: #romance
That’s the last thing I remembered.
~24~
I stood in the hallway of a hospital, feeling jittery. I hated hospitals so much. Annie drove to the hospital and helped me get to the floor we were on. When I saw Tripp, he started running towards me, arms open. We hugged and I never felt so close to him or the band in my entire life. Scarlett appeared a few seconds later and finally, Logan. When I looked at Tripp and Logan I started to actually see what happened.
Logan’s right eye was swollen and bruised. Tripp’s mouth had a cut and his lip looked fat. He was scraped and bruised all on his face.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to collect myself. “Is Tatum...”
“He’s okay,” Tripp said. “He’ll be okay. He woke up and everything is okay now.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They followed him,” Tripp said. “He called me and said he was being followed. The call went dead and we hurried to get to him as quick as possible. When we got there, two blocks from the garage, we saw Derreck and a couple big guys just... just punching him.”
“They were kicking him and screaming at him,” Logan added. “Fuck...”
“Logan and I jumped in the best we could,” Tripp said. “There were four guys and three of us.”
I closed my eyes, hating Derreck more than ever. My fists clenched, I wanted to kill him. I wanted to find him and kill him.
I shook my head. “I’m so sorry... I should have never gotten involved...”
“It’s okay,” Tripp said. He touched my shoulders and shook me until I opened my eyes. “It’s okay. We held our ground pretty damn well.”
“Someone saw the whole thing and called the cops,” Logan said. “They came and broke it up.”
I sighed. What would have happened if the cops didn’t come? Would Derreck have killed Tatum? Tripp? Logan?
I looked at Annie and she hugged me.
“Maggie, listen to me,” Tripp said. “They found drugs and knives on all of them. They were arrested on the spot. Derreck had warrants out for his arrest from Florida too. They’re gone.”
“Long gone,” Logan said.
“And Tatum?” I asked.
“He’s banged up,” Tripp said, “but it could have been worse.”
“You saved him,” I said, looking between Tripp and Logan. “You really saved him.”
“We’re not just a band,” Tripp said. “We’re closer than that. You should know that by now, Maggie.”
“Plus, he’s the only decent drummer on campus,” Logan said and smiled. “We’d be fucked without him.”
“You can see him,” Scarlett said, “if you want.”
“Yes,” I said.
I broke Annie’s hold and rushed down the hall. Tripp chased after me and stopped me before I could open the door.
“Maggie,” he whispered.
“Tripp.”
“He loves you,” Tripp said. “He woke up and the first thing he wanted to know was if you were okay.”
“Let me go show him I’m okay.”
“Are you okay?”
“If Tatum is okay, I’m okay,” I said.
“Good. I’d do it again, just so you know.”
“Do what?” I asked.
Tripp looked beyond me, down the hall. I knew he was looking at Scarlett.
“Everything,” he said. “Everything with Scarlett. Everything with Tatum and you. Nobody deserves to be treated like that, especially not from some guy like Derreck.”
“Thank you Tripp,” I said.
He backed away and I opened the hospital room door.
Tatum sat up, looking as normal as normal could be for the situation. I expected something much worse. When he looked at me, he smiled.
I gasped when I saw the cuts and bruises. Bandages covered his arms and wrists. The most obvious bandage was on his lip.
I rushed to the bed, unsure how to touch him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I want to jump in that bed with you and hold you,” I said. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Just kiss my cheek,” he said.
I did. I touched the other side of his cheek and put my cheek to his. “I love you,” I whispered into his ear. “I’m so sorry that happened...”
“I’m not,” Tatum said. “He’s gone for good now. Drugs and weapons. Plus assault. See you later.”
“Tatum, this isn’t fair to you. I’m just... I’m just nobody and you’re in a hospital because of me.”
“You’re not
just nobody
,” Tatum said. He forced himself to sit up straighter, fighting pain. “You’re everything to me, Maggie. You need to see that. When I saw him following me, I knew what was going to happen. I wanted it. He thought he could take me down. You know I didn’t throw a single punch?”
“You didn’t defend yourself? Why?”
“Why bother? That’s what he wanted. It pissed him off more that I wouldn’t. And each time he hit me, I laughed at him. When the big dudes kicked, that hurt like a bitch.” Tatum touched his sides. “But I didn’t care. I knew Derreck couldn’t get to you anymore. That’s why he came after me. And I’d do it everyday if it meant you were safe.”
Tears filled my eyes as I watched him. Out of habit, he tried to lick his lip, his tongue moving over the bandage.
“Your lip...”
“Yeah, that kind of sucked,” Tatum said. “He tore my lip ring out.”
I winced and touched my lip. “No...”
“Yeah. That hurt pretty bad too. But then the guys showed up and then the police. I don’t remember blacking out, but I remember thinking about you Maggie. Everything is about you. Everything today. Everything tomorrow.”
“I have to make this up to you,” I said. “I have to...”
“You can lick my wounds,” Tatum said and smiled. “I’m going to need someone to baby me for a little bit.”
I touched Tatum’s hand and leaned down, kissing where his lip ring once was. “It still is sexy, just so you know. You’re like some big fighter guy now.”
Tatum looked me in the eyes. “The only fight I care about now is the fight to make sure you feel loved from the second you wake up in the morning until your eyes shut at night. And even then, I want you in my arms, Maggie, to show you how great life could be.”
I touched one of Tatum’s cuts. “I can see how great life can be...”
“No. Great is on my drum set.”
I blushed and curled my toes.
“Great is falling in love,” Tatum said. “Great is having everything you’ve ever wanted.”
“Great is having you,” I said.
Tatum reached up and pulled me down for a kiss.
It was the greatest kiss of my life.
~25~
I watched Tatum sit in the leather chair. Most of his bruises were fading into an ugly yellow color that would be gone completely in a few days. The cuts on his face were mostly gone too. As crazy as it sounded, fans loved Tatum all beat up. Tripp made sure to point it out at the couple shows they had since Tatum left the hospital. The doctors told him to take it easy from the drums and when Tatum nodded, I knew he was lying. He couldn’t resist music, just like I could not resist him. When he finished practicing or playing a show and his sides hurt, it just gave me more incentive to touch him and try to make him feel better.
I watched him not even so much as flinching as a needle went in.
He licked his lip where his old lip ring used to be, flicking at the wound.
“This is going to get annoying,” he said.
“You’ll get used to it,” I said.
“I know.”
He licked the other side of his lip, where his new lip ring was.
“You should get it done,” he said. “My treat.”
I shook my head. “No way. Not for me.”
I looked at the person who pierced Tatum and smiled. Tatum looked between us and stood from the chair. He looked at me, squinting his eyes. He bumped into me and put his arms around my waist.
“You’re up to no good,” he whispered.
I raised an eyebrow and Tatum had to go pay for his new piercing. We were in a little hurry because band practice was supposed to start in half an hour.
Tatum paid and when we got into the car, I watched him struggle to get comfortable.
“You shouldn’t hurt yourself,” I said.
“Just a little soreness,” Tatum said. “I’ll live.”
“Yeah, I’m a little sore too.”
Tatum looked at me, confused again. “You’re sore? From what?”
“Nothing,” I teased as I smiled.
He looked out my window at the tattoo/piercing place and then back at me.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“What if I confessed something crazy?”
“I’m waiting...”
“I came here yesterday and got a piercing.”
“You did? Seriously?”
I nodded.
Tatum looked at me. He reached out and moved my hair, checking my ear, then did the same to the other side. His fingers touched my face, gently and soft, exploring for anything different.
“It’s not on my face,” I whispered, suddenly feeling naughty.
Tatum’s mouth fell open. His eyes were wide. “Maggie... where...?”
I leaned in and kissed him. “You’ll just have to find it.”
By the time he started driving, I noticed his face was flushed. I had managed to get to him. If he thought that was hot, just wait until he took my shirt and bra off later and found my piercing.
Tatum stopped by the apartment to pick up Annie as I had promised her she could come to a DownCrash practice. She had seen them live once and the second she and Logan looked at each other, I knew trouble was brewing. But that was okay, Annie could use the trouble. Plus, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Logan’s grandfather had just beat cancer and Annie’s grandfather had cancer. Maybe Logan could help her get through the rough days as they came.
Because one thing I knew for sure was that good days came and so did bad days. But being with the boys of DownCrash, it didn’t necessarily make life easier to live, but it sure as hell made life more fun and easier to fall in love with.
I just hoped Annie would feel the same.
Don’t miss the final book in
The Boys of DownCrash
series…
Logan and Annie hit it off, fast. Almost too fast. As they share pain and past, they also must face their present and futures… which, with each passing day, seem to be growing more and more different and perhaps even more apart.
Surprising news from Annie leaves her feeling alive just as news from Logan leaves him feeing down, out, and worst of all, alone.
With DownCrash on the verge of signing with a management company for bigger shows, longer tours, and a potential record deal, can anyone – in the band or outside the band – bring Logan back to reality before it’s too late? Or will Logan lose his band and his love?
London Casey
writes and dreams of writing more. When not writing, London reads, attempts to blog, but somehow manages to end up writing again.
@london_casey
http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-Casey/434500699963823
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First electronic edition May 2013
Copyright © 2013 by London Casey
Published by Hundred to Home Publishing
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part of any form.