DRASTIC (Book 4 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 21: Drummer Boys Take A Meeting Lying On Their Backs

Enjoy! This is a long one, in which brand new information is revealed and some lines are drawn in the sand!

Bodie

Dying is scary.

Living is harder.

Everything feels wrong.

The light. The noise.

My body. My breath.

The lack of Marley's hand in mine.

I reach out seeking her, and...nothing.

No gentle touch. No reassuring comfort. No sweet salvation.

There is only a rough jostling as my body is suddenly lifted without my consent and deposited firmly on a stretcher.

An unfamiliar Southern accent. "Can you hear me, sir? Did you take anything besides opiates and the naloxone you were given?"

I shake my head slowly. I can hear a heart monitor beeping.

"You experienced tachycardia from the naloxone. The increased heart rate caused you to pass out, but your rate is back to normal now. We're taking you to the hospital for observation."

"No," I croak.

"Yes sir," another equally Southern voice says. "Got to."

"No," I say again, more adamantly. "Marley—"

"It's alright, she's here, she just stepped away. She'll be right back." That's Riley's calm voice. "Bodie, how do you feel, mate?"

I focus on him. He's got a tight set to his mouth, but his eyes, and the way he's holding out his hand are speaking lucid volumes.

I reach for his grasp and haul myself to sitting, clawing away the heart monitor leads.

"I'm fine. Not going to the hospital," I say gruffly. Riley searches my face. "I'm fine," I repeat, and he nods, but there's a slight relief in his eyes.

"Sir, you really need to go to the hospital," one of the EMT's says sternly.

"I. Decline. Treatment," I say emphatically.

"You aren't gonna go to jail for an overdose. Medicare will pay. You don't have to give an ID if you have a warrant out on you," the other says helpfully.

I laugh and swing off the gurney. TJ catches me as I stumble. "Dude," TJ growls at the EMT that thinks I'm ignorant and poor and a criminal.

He's only one-thirds wrong.

I'm both a criminal and a dumb-fuck.

I grip TJ on the shoulder. "No. Let it go."

"Right then, you've heard the man." Riley says emphatically. "Now there's just the matter of where to send the bill, and non-disclosure agreements..."

The two EMT's blink and then look me over again.

"Shit," one says. "Can I get an autograph? My niece loves you guys."

"Are you fucking serious? A minute ago you thought he was a dumb, broke gangbanger..." TJ growls.

"Let it go," I growl again. I sit back down on the bed and cast a weary eye to the EMT, who now looks embarrassed as all hell.

"Hey man, I'll sign your shit if you sign mine," I grin weakly, and like magic Ariadne is there with some T-shirts and vinyl's for me to sign with a sharpie, while she effortlessly explains the terms of the NDA she's coercing from both of these guys.