by J J Cobban
My mouth dried as tears stung my eyes. I swallowed hard, convinced I must still be dreaming.
“Hey, darlin’.” His deep voice sounded scratchy and sore as I covered my mouth with my hands before leaping to my feet, vaguely aware that my shoulder was screaming in pain from the movement. I crossed the short distance to his bed and felt a sob bubble up in my throat as I reached out to touch his face.
Seth jumped in his chair as my loud sob echoed around the quiet room.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, eyes widening at Drake.
“Hey-” Drake broke off into a coughing fit, wincing as he clutched his chest painfully.
“Give yourself a minute,” I soothed, “Seth, can you grab a drink and the doctor?”
“Got it,” Seth grinned.
“Good to have you back, big guy.” Seth patted the bottom of the bed beside Drake’s feet as he rushed out to track down Drake’s doctor.
“How are you?” Drake’s voice was barely a whisper. I strained to hear what he was saying. I wiped the tears from my face as I leaned in closer.
“How am I? You’ve been unconscious for four days. You took three bullets to the chest and stomach. The paramedics lost you twice on the way to the hospital.” I took a deep, steadying breath, “I didn’t know until I got out of surgery just how close I’d come to-to-to-losing you.” I stammered.
Drake’s hand reached out, squeezing my fingers gently. I looked down at his hands and felt the emotions overwhelm me. My head dropped down until my forehead touched the back of his hand. The tears came back tenfold as I sobbed into Drake’s hand. Four days’ worth of pent up emotions came tearing out of me at once.
“Darlin’.” Drake’s other hand weakly stroked the back of my head. I momentarily cringed as I realised I hadn’t washed my hair in a couple of days.
“Look at me,” I lifted my head at his soft demand.
“You’re hurt.” He nodded subtly to my wrapped shoulder.
“I’m okay.” I tried for a smile, I didn’t want to him worry but one look into Drake’s eyes and I knew that he knew. It didn’t take much to work out really. He knew that my injury was from his father.
Drake’s eyes glistened as he looked from my shoulder to my face. My heart constricted as I saw the pain flash across his face.
“Couldn’t protect you.” I clung to his hand and forearm as the weight behind his words hit home. Drake prided himself on being able to keep the people in his life safe and in his eyes, he’d failed. I squeezed his arm tighter.
“Hey, we take care of each other.” I leaned forward, kissing his forehead before looking back down into his eyes.
Drake opened his mouth to speak as Seth breezed back into the room with the doctor in tow. Seth came to stand beside me as two nurses joined the doctor and began checking over Drake and asking him questions. As the nurses moved around Drake’s bed Seth and I took a step backwards. Drake’s eyes found mine as the doctor continued questioning him and the nurses took his vitals.
“Told you he’d be okay.” Seth wrapped an arm around me and kissed my temple. “You should never doubt me, Boss.”
I shook my head as I looked up at Seth.
“Thanks, Seth.”
“For what?” he frowned, giving me another squeeze.
“For understanding what I’m going through. For not treating me with kid gloves. I appreciate it.” Seth nodded his head at me, placing another kiss to my head before sighing heavily.
“You do realise though that as soon as the big guy is fit enough, all bets are off and I’m going back to giving you shit, right?”
As I looked up at his overly cocky face that was feigning seriousness I let out my first real laugh in nearly a week. Of course Seth would be the one to bring it out of me. I nudged his side gently with my elbow as I rolled my eyes.
“I expect nothing less from you, Davenport, now go and make the calls and tell everyone he’s fine,” I cleared my throat “Don’t make me ask twice.”
Seth smirked at that as he held his hands up in surrender before giving me a mock salute. I pressed my lips together to stop my laughter from escaping and watched as he left the room, pulling his phone from his pocket as he did so. My eyes fell back to the bed where Drake’s doctor was busy shining a light into Drake’s eyes. I dropped to sit down on the edge of the recliner as they finished their once over.
Drake nodded and answered the questions he was asked as I found myself zoning out. My hands still shook when I thought about finding Drake lying unconscious on the stage. I’d never truly experienced fear until that moment. I’d never even had to deal with losing somebody close to me. My grandparents on my father’s side had both been dead when I was born and my father was an only child so I’d never had to deal with losing somebody close to me. I had no idea how to even go about handling a situation like that. So the thought of losing Drake? Yeah, that was real fear right there. I wrung my hands together, refusing to let my memories overtake me.
“Hey, get your ass over here.” Drake grumbled, breaking through my subconscious. My eyes snapped back towards him, realising that the doctor and nurses had all left the room. Shit, I’d missed everything they said. I got to my feet and approached the bed. Drake winced as he scooted over the bed slightly. He patted the space beside him, flashing me a tired grin.
“No way.” I shook my head, “I might lean on you or hurt you, there’s no way I can get comfy and not hurt you.”
Drake narrowed his eyes and gave me a comical pout.
“Sorry champ, my shoulder and your chest are not going to allow it.” I moved to sit on the chair by his bed, only to have him catch my hand.
“Fine, but your ass is at least sitting beside me.” He smirked “I’m not a fucking invalid.”
I rolled my eyes and perched on the bed beside him, taking his big hand in mine and sucking in a deep breath. My emotions were still running wild at this point.
“You talked to someone since you woke up?” my brows drew together in confusion at his question.
“About what?” Drake gave me a droll, disappointed stare.
“Darlin’, you were shot at close range. It’s a miracle the two of us are here. You need to talk to someone about it.” I opened my mouth to answer him but he shook his head before the words left my mouth, making a defeated breath leave my lungs.
“You’re about to peddle some bullshit about being fine.” He coughed slightly, making me feel bad for letting him talk this much after he’d just woken up.
“Nobody is fine after getting shot, darlin’, so you may not want to talk about it, but we will. That shit will fester inside you.” Drake stifled a yawn.
“You’re tired.” I tried to change the subject, all too aware that I was close to tears again.
“Once I’m out of this fucking bed, me and you are having a talk.” He gripped my hand in his, bringing it up to his lips and kissing it gently. “Then I’m fucking you until neither of us can walk straight.”
The tears spilled over as I laughed and placed my other hand over his, ultimately sandwiching his large hand between my two smaller ones. I smiled down at him as the tears made my vision blurry.
“Talk about getting your priorities straight, huh, Jackson.” I half laughed, half snivelled.
“Shut up, you love me for it,” He teased, as I squeezed his hands.
There was a long pause between us before I nodded and blinked away the unshed tears from my eyes. Things between Drake and I had moved at lightning speed. One minute we were sending harmless, flirty texts and the next we were stealing kisses when nobody could see us. We’d had a whirlwind romance in every sense of the term. In fact, it had moved so fast that neither of us had really discussed just where exactly our relationship was headed or how we were feeling. After everything the two of us had been through my feelings for Drake had only been solidified. The thought of living without him brought me to my knees. It made my insides slowly die and wither inside of me. As I looked down at him in the hospital bed, I kne
w my feelings were real. There was no denying them now.
“I love you.” I whispered, suddenly self-conscious that he didn’t feel the same way. Drake reached up to my face, pulling me down slowly until our lips were a breath apart. I rested my weight on my good arm so that no extra pressure was applied to Drake’s injuries.
“I think I’ve loved you from the second you walked your sexy, bossy ass into that board meeting at the start of the tour,” He smirked, looking down at my lips.
“Likely. I tell you I love you and you tell me you think you love me while also calling me bossy-” I started to tease, only to get a huff and an exaggerated eye roll from the man beneath me.
“Shut the fuck up and kiss me, woman.” Drake demanded, sealing his lips over mine. My insides clenched as warmth rushed through my body. As Drake’s lips moved with mine all of my earlier worries melted away. I had no doubt that I would get nightmares from our trauma, that there would be hard times ahead for the both of us.
But I also knew that I wouldn’t be facing them alone. I’d have the gorgeous, protective and stubborn man beneath me to help shoulder the weight. He would be there to pick up the slack when I struggled. Just like I’d be there for him when things started to weigh him down.
I was ready to face whatever life had left to throw at me just so long as I had him by my side.
Ｅｐｉｌｏｇｕｅ
Ｓｃｏｕｔ
Six Months Later
“Get back here!” I rolled my eyes and continued to bounce Koda on my hip as Jo’s furious voice rang through the house. Koda, not at all bothered by hearing her aunts yell from upstairs continued to sing along with me as I bounced her around. Her chubby little arms flapped dramatically as I finished singing ‘Frosty the Snowman’.
“Seth!” Jo yelled as she reached the bottom of the stairs. I heard the thump as she jumped from the second last step and shook my head when she appeared in the doorway of the living room. My eyes bulged as I took in Jo’s bedraggled state. She wore a pair of grey cotton sweats with a long-sleeved black t-shirt. Although that wasn’t what had my eyes bulging. Oh no, Jo’s skin was streaked with a variety of bright colours.
“Where is he?” she narrowed her eyes at me, voice softening as she noticed Koda.
“I assume you mean Seth? What did he do?” I asked as I put Koda into her tinsel decorated playpen. Rissa had gone all out this year for Christmas to the point it looked like no surface was safe.
“The little shit messed with the shower!” she seethed, “He has somehow managed to get fucking food colouring or paint or something in the jets! So, when I got in the shower and turned the jets on, I got blasted with fucking coloured shit. There was some fucking failsafe on the shower because I couldn’t turn it off and I couldn’t see to get out.”
I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. Jace and Rissa had gotten a new shower before Christmas. It came with all the bells and whistles, including massage jets. The boys had been playing with it on and off since it had been installed. Apparently the shower had a remote that could control some of the more advanced settings, a remote that could apparently fuck with someone while they were in the midst of their shower.
“How’d you know it was Seth?” I asked.
“Because he stood outside the fucking shower with the fucking remote. His exact words were ‘who’s a dumbass now, huh?’. Then he must have switched it off and made a runner because when I finally got out the remote was on the fucking floor.
I shook my head.
Seth was a dead man.
“He hasn’t been through here. Unless he went down into the studio? Most of the guys are down there?” I suggested, handing Koda her juice.
“Good thinking.” Jo narrowed her eyes “You call me if you hear anything.”
Without another word, she flew towards the basement door. I laughed as I heard someone come up as she went down.
“Jesus fuck.” Drake cursed, obviously surprised as Jo darted past him.
“The fuck happened to her?” Drake asked as he walked into the living room.
“Language.” I chided as I dropped down onto the sofa and grabbed the TV remote, switching to a favourite film of Koda’s, “Seth put dye in the shower somehow and then controlled it with the remote when Jo was in there. Jo wants blood.” I grinned up at him.
“Mikey and Travis helped.” Drake surprised me by saying, “Mikey has a head for anything mechanical or technological, so he probably but the dye in. Travis and Seth were probably the masterminds behind it though. Seth lives for shit like that.”
“Why did you tell me!” I whined “Now if she asks, I have to tell her who else was involved.”
“Dake,” Koda babbled, moving her chubby fingers into a grabbing motion when she saw Drake. Drake, ever the softy, got up and removed her from the playpen, taking her back to the sofa with a stuffed toy from her playpen.
“Dake.” Koda babbled again, as she moved her attention to the characters on the TV.
“Travis and Mikey are downstairs but they have a killer poker face. Seth is M.I.A though.” Drake bounced his knee, making Koda giggle.
“She’ll destroy him.” I sighed, picking at some stray fluff on Koda’s little elf inspired dress. Rissa really had gone all out. The little princess on Drake’s knee was decked out in a green and white dress with red and white striped tights and then little green booties that had bells on the toes. Well, one bell, the other had been promptly ripped off by Koda not long after her mother had put them on. I smirked as I watched Koda pulling at the remaining bell, yeah, it was coming off soon too.
“You feeling broody, Miss Tarrino?” Drake chuckled as he watched me smirking at Koda.
My face heated at his suggestion.
“No,” I snorted, “Well, not right now, anyway.”
“You want kids?” He asked, tilting his head. It wasn’t something we had discussed in truth and never something I had given much thought to before. Drake and I had just gotten into a comfortable routine with each other. We were basically living at his place now and as soon as my lease ran out on my apartment I would be moving in fulltime with him. That was as far into the future as we’d discussed.
It had taken only a couple of weeks for the dust to settle. My father had found a replacement drummer for Drake while Drake recovered from the shooting so the tour had gone on as planned. My father had taken over from me while we recovered so everything had been able to return to some kind of normality. I hadn’t realised how stressed out I’d been about finding a fill in drummer and carrying on with the tour until my father took it out of my hands. The second he said I was on sick leave I’d felt the tension leave me.
It had been the welcome break I needed after everything that had happened. Of course, that didn’t mean we had been out of the loop completely.
Once Drake felt fit enough and the physio had signed off on him, we had flown out to join the tour. Drake had been able to play the last couple of dates and I’d managed to pick up some light duties from my father. Everything had fallen back into a relatively normal routine. However, there was still a nagging little voice in the back of my head warning me not to get too comfortable.
Drake’s father still hadn’t been located.
The police had come to a dead end and had no more leads to follow. It was like he had simply vanished into thin air.
Or so we thought.
It was the last night of the tour when the phone call came in. I’d been finishing up speaking to the roadies and making sure our equipment was loaded when my cell had started to ring.
“Scout Tarrino,” I greeted as I mouthed a thank you to the roadies.
“Hey, Scout, how’s it going? It’s Joe Tanner here.” A deep, heavily accented voice spoke down the phone.
“Joe? Hey, I’m doing good thanks, how are you?”
“Yeah, things are good this end. Just thought I’d check in on you and your man, see how things were.” His deep southern accent filled the phone. Nico and the other boys h
ad a lilt when they spoke but being out of Texas meant their accent had been diluted slightly. Joe’s was as thick as ever.
“Drake’s doing good, he got to play the last couple of shows so he’s stoked.” I smiled as I headed for the cars waiting to take us to the hotel.
“Good to hear.” There was a short pause, “I don’t usually do this kind of thing over the phone, it’s risky, but I thought you might want to know sooner rather than later. Seth asked us for a favour on your behalf. I just wanted to let you know it’s been handled.”
My heart stopped.
“It has?”
“You got nothing to worry about, doll,” Joe’s tone was serious, “You and your man should have some smooth sailing from here on out.”
I let out a heavy breath, relief flooding me and making a tension in my shoulders I hadn’t been aware of ease.
“Thank you, Joe.” I felt my lips tip into a smile “Thank your brothers for me, too,”
“Will do, doll,” There was a hint of a smile in his voice “So now that the business end of our conversation is taken care of, hows about you fill me in on what Kas has been up to?”
I laughed out loud to that.
“Kas had to get home to help a friend with something. She should be in your neck of the woods by now but you didn’t hear that from me.”
Joe’s deep laughed filled my ear, making my smile widen.
“Course I didn’t, doll,” He chuckled, “Alright, you take care.”
“You too, Joe.” I hung up the phone smiling. I’d never felt so free. All of my fears about Drake’s father returning had vanished like smoke in the wind. I’d told Drake about the Tanner boys that night, explaining to him about the ‘favour’ they were doing for us. Drake had been concerned to start with, unwilling to let anyone put themselves in danger for him. Once I’d told him there was nothing to fear though, he’d experienced the same relief I had. Part of me knew I should be appalled at the lack of respect for another being’s life but it was overtaken by the larger part of me that just wanted Drake safe. Drake’s father was no loss to the world and that was how I was choosing to look at it.
