Everything inside of me froze and I gasped. I knew that tattoo anywhere. The entire band had one somewhere on their body. A million things went through my head in the space of a second. No, it can’t be! I reached for the oxygen mask and lifted it for a moment to confirm my worst fears. Tears pricked my eyes but I blinked them back. I couldn’t panic now. Not when he needed me to stay calm and do my job so that I could save his life.
“Wait!” I cried when the other nurse started to give the medication the surgeon had instructed.
“What?” three people demanded at the same time. In a situation like this every second counted and I was wasting valuable time.
“We need to do a tox screen. He might… He might have cocaine or something just as harsh in his system.” I hated even thinking it, but Liam had just gotten out of rehab less than a week ago. It was just as likely he could have started using again as it wasn’t. I couldn’t risk his life if he had fallen off the wagon, no matter how badly I wanted to believe in him.
“Do it!” the second doctor barked, and I didn’t hesitate to draw the blood. There was a machine in the room that could give us a read-out within a minute and I rushed to do it as the other nurse put the IV line in that I hadn’t finished.
“Negative.” I breathed a sigh of relief. Liam hadn’t reverted to old habits and gone in search of a fix less than a week out of rehab.
But his addiction wasn’t something to worry about at the moment. His ruptured spleen and lacerated liver were. A broken leg to go along with the ribs and dislocated shoulder were minor compared to the fact that with all the swelling, Liam was liable to end up in a wheelchair. The pressure in his brain was already becoming too much and the OR was paged to prep for multiple surgeries STAT.
As I ran with the emergency team to push Liam’s bed into the elevator, I was on auto pilot. I couldn’t think past getting him upstairs and into the operating room. The surgery team was already waiting for us as the elevators opened. I wanted to go with him, but I wasn’t certified for an operation like this.
As Liam was wheeled away and the double doors to the operating room closed behind him, I finally let the grief free and fell back against the nearest wall. Liam. He was dying. I could lose my newest and dearest friend…
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I’d just spoken with him on the phone two days ago. Had seen him just a few days before that at the last Sunday visitation at the rehab before his release. He had looked so healthy compared to how he had been when I had first dropped him off. Liam had been full of life and there hadn’t been a drug in sight to help him through the demons that I knew he had. We had made plans to meet up this Sunday and just hang out because we had gotten so used to seeing each other on a weekly basis. Sundays were our days and I knew he looked forward to them just as much as I did—probably more since he considered me his only friend now.
I stood there for several minutes before the nurse that had been assisting me finally nudged me with her elbow. “A friend of yours?” All I could do was nod. “Do you need me to call anyone?”
Dread churned in my gut. There were phone calls that had to be made, but I was the only one who could do that. Otherwise the hospital would be descended on by vultures. The paps would be all over this story in a heartbeat. Legendary drug addict rocker in critical condition after a head-on collision with a drunk driver. They would automatically assume it had been Liam that had been at fault, Liam who had been the drunk driver. “No. I need to do that.”
I rode the elevator back down to the ER, but instead of going to the nurses’ station I went back to the break room and fished my cellphone from my coat pocket. My fingers were trembling as they hovered over the contact list. Whom should I call first?
His sister? Marissa was going to fall to pieces when she found out her beloved brother was hanging on the verge of death. Emmie? She was his manager, the one who would have to handle the press and everything else that would come with the news that Liam Bryant, the bassist for OtherWorld, had been in a car accident that involved a drunk driver. I had Devlin Cutter’s number in my contact list. He was the drummer for OtherWorld, but he was in California at the moment.
Without thinking, I ran my finger across the name that I saw next and put the phone to my ear. It wasn’t too late, just after eleven. Still, I knew she’d had plans for tonight that involved a sexy piece of fine, gay ass. Natalie and Linc seemed joined at the hip these days. They only had each other lately since I was always working and Harper had moved to the West Coast.
“Hey!” Natalie greeted on the fourth ring. Loud music was playing in the background and there was male and female laughter. “You get off early? Come party with us.”
I sucked in a steadying breath. “Nat… I need your help.”
My shift ended, but I didn’t go home. Instead I went straight up to the OR waiting room and sat there. It was empty at the moment as only emergency surgery was done this time of night, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the room were overflowing. I wouldn’t have seen any of it. All I could think about was if my friend was okay.
I sat there for nearly an hour before the first call came in. It was Emmie, assuring me that she would be out on the first available plane. With the weather and everyone traveling back home after the holidays she couldn’t even charter a plane, so she was on standby. We didn’t chat for more than a minute. When she hung up, the phone rang again. It was Marissa’s number but Wroth on the line. They couldn’t get a flight out of Tennessee until the next afternoon so he was going to drive Marissa up tonight. I promised Liam’s cousin I would keep him informed while listening to a sobbing Marissa in the background. I adored Marissa. She was the kind of person who you were just drawn to whether you wanted to or not. Her grief only escalated my own and made my chest hurt.
Another hour passed and Natalie showed up. She had been taking care of security and countless other things that Emmie had ordered her to deal with. Now that she had a free moment, she sat down beside me. Neither of us spoke, but Natalie put her hand in mine and I clasped it tightly in thanks for her silent support. I could barely deal with that much human contact without flinching away. My hands felt frozen compared to Natalie’s warmer ones.
It was nearly two in the morning before the surgeon who had been with me when Liam was brought in finally came out. His shirt was soaked with sweat and his face was gray with strain. When he spotted me sitting there his eyes widened but he didn’t hesitate to approach me. I stood, my fingers numb and trembling. “He’s a friend of yours?”