“Marcus called and he wants you to sign off on the dates for the tour,” Tully said, rapidly relaying messages as he scrolled through his iPad. “You have a photo shoot for the cover of Hits on Friday and an interview for the magazine the following day. We need to confirm location.”
Chase stopped mid-stride. “Who approved that?”
Interviews were the last thing he wanted to do right now, and a photo shoot ran a close second.
Tully’s shaggy hair fell in his face as he looked down at the iPad. His finger swiped across the screen several times before he looked back up and turned the device so that Chase could read it. “You did. Back in March. It was supposed to coincide with your tour.”
Chase stared at the bright screen that shone like a flashlight in the dim hallway of the old music hall. Sure enough, his initials were on the scanned contract agreeing to both the interview and photo shoot for Hits Magazine.
“Fine.” Chase began moving again, walking even faster towards the room where he’d have a few moments of peace to himself.
Shit. An interview. The first interview he’d ever done without the band surrounding him as a buffer.
Even when the band had been together, as the lead singer, a lot of the questions had naturally been asked to him specifically. But if anything had ever gotten too personal, it was an unspoken agreement that one of his bandmates would redirect the attention and focus. It had worked like a charm for eight years.
This time, he was on his own.
“Move out of the way.” His security team cleared a path through the narrow hall that was crowded with screaming fans.
As he navigated his way safely into the room, he felt like the walls were closing in on him as he shut the door behind him. He hated shutting out people who had been waiting to see him, but the reason they wanted to see him was because of what he did onstage. He couldn’t do what he needed to do onstage without taking time to prepare.
The bottoms of Chase’s boots squeaked as he moved across the hardwood floor. After sitting down on the tattered brown couch that sat against the far wall, Chase picked up his guitar, resting it on his leg. As his fingers gently pressed down on the nylon strings pulled taut against the spine, his thumb strummed the opening chord to “Crazy Love”.
He’d written several songs specifically for Krista, but somehow this song was the one he automatically played when she was all he could think about.
“I can hear her heartbeat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her, that’s where I belong
Yet I’m running to her like a river’s song.”
As he sang the lyrics and closed his eyes, he could practically feel the heat of the sunrays hitting his face from that warm summer day on the river in Harper’s Crossing. The day he’d set up a picnic after staying up all night learning their song on his guitar. He could hear the river flowing beside them, and in his mind’s eye, he could see her golden-red hair shining in the sun. Her green eyes filling with tears as she sat on the blanket, holding her knees to her chest as he sang to her. His girl.
A loud knock sounded on the wooden green room door, pulling him from his memories. Chase opened his eyes to find himself sitting in a totally dark room. The door swung open and Tully stepped inside, the only light source coming from a window down the hall. His assistant looked more than a little frazzled as he stated the obvious.
“We have a problem.”
Chapter Two
Pulling up to the rundown house on Crescent Drive, Krista decided to once again approach the subject of painting the exterior with Abby. She hadn’t been open to it in the past, but since Krista’s persistence was almost at legendary status, she wasn’t giving up. Not only was the paint chipping on the sides and front of the house, it was almost nonexistent on the trim. Krista also noticed that the roof seemed to be in disrepair.
As she made her way up the walkway, she typed a reminder into her phone to ask her dad, who was an appraiser, which roofing company she should call. Sure, it was almost a hundred degrees outside at seven in the evening, but they were smack dab in the middle of August. Illinois winters were unforgiving, to say the least. She was no roofing expert, but from the looks of those split and missing shingles, one good hard rain or snow and Mother Nature would be visiting Abby in the living room and kitchen.
Last year, Abby had finally allowed Krista to get some plumbing that the eighty-year-old house had desperately needed done after the pipes had frozen over a dozen times between October and February. Abby hadn’t been happy about it, but Krista had convinced her. It was strange how stubborn and strong-willed Chase’s mom could be on one hand and then how fragile and scared she was on the other.
Krista had observed the same type of behavior in some of the women who were at the shelter. It broke her heart. She wished she could do more, that she knew a better way to help, but so far, all she had come up with was showing up and being there.
As she got closer to the door, loud barking sounded from inside the house.
“Hey, Bear,” Krista called through the front door as she knocked.
She heard desperate scratching on the wooden surface as the barking continued. Reaching up, she ran her fingers along the edge of the door’s frame. She felt metal below her fingertips and pulled out the key. Ringing the doorbell, she continued speaking to Bear while she waited to see if Abby was going to come to the door.
After several minutes of ringing and knocking, Krista decided to use the spare key and go in. There had been a handful of times over the past few years that this same scenario had played out. Every time it had, she’d found Abby huddled under the covers in her bed, sometimes crying, other times awake but nonresponsive.
A worried feeling washed over Krista as she turned the key in the lock. Abby had been doing so much better since she’d started on her antidepressants. If she’d had another episode, maybe it just meant that she needed to adjust her medication.
“Hey, Abby. It’s Krista!” she called out as she pushed the front door open.
Bear jumped on her excitedly in greeting. She rubbed the dog under his ears as a smell that almost made her gag hit her like a brick wall.
“Oh my God.” Krista pulled a tissue out of her purse and covered her face as she shut the door behind her.
Stepping into the living room, she saw the source of the vile smell. It looked like Bear had had a wicked case of upset stomach and the evidence was spread out across the carpeting.
“Poor baby.” Krista reached down to pet his head. “Do you need to go out?”
Bear barked agreement, but instead of running to the back door to go outside, he galloped into the hall that led to Abby’s room. Krista felt like she was on the show Lassie.
She felt like she should ask, “What is it, boy? Is Timmy in the well?” but she didn’t think that Bear would appreciate it.
Following Bear’s lead down the dark hallway, Krista found him sitting at the end of Abby’s bed, whining as he stared straight ahead.
As she came around the corner, she saw Abby’s lifeless body sprawled across her bed.
“Abby!” Fear gripped Krista as she ran to her side. “Abby!”
As she leaned over Abby, she noticed that her skin looked almost gray in color.
Krista shook her shoulders slightly to see if she could wake her up. “Abby!”
When there was no response, Krista felt for a pulse as she put her cheek close to her mouth to feel any air exchange. It was faint, but she did feel a pulse and also shallow breathing against her cheek.
“I’m calling 911,” Krista said to Abby, to Bear, to herself. She wasn’t exactly sure who she’d been telling when she’d announced her plans as she pulled her phone from her purse.
Her hands shook as she pressed the three numbers she’d never had to dial on her phone before.
“911, what’s your emergency?” the operator answered.
“I found a woman unconscious. Sh
e’s breathing but she needs medical attention.”
“What is your location?”
“3902 Crescent Drive.”
“And your name?”
“My name is Krista Sloan, and Abby Malone is the woman who is unconscious.”
“Okay, I’ve dispatched emergency vehicles. Stay on the phone with me until they arrive,” the operator instructed.
Yeah, like she was going to just hang up.
“Do you have any knowledge of the patient’s medical history?”
Krista tried to remember if Abby had mentioned any issues. She couldn’t think of anything other than her headaches and depression. “She suffers from depression and migraines.”
“Do you know if the patient is currently taking any medication?”
“Yes.” Krista did know that. In fact, more often than not, she was the one who picked up Abby’s prescriptions from the pharmacy. “She’s on Cymbalta and Migranal.”
“Okay, ma’am. The paramedics are just around the corner.”
Adrenaline raced through Krista’s system as she waited for the EMTs to get there. Abby had to be okay.
“They’re almost here,” Krista said to Abby. “Just hold on. Help is coming.” Again, she wasn’t sure if she was saying that to reassure herself, Abby, or Bear, who had begun barking again.
The shrill sound of the siren rang out over the dog’s loud barks.
“Thank God,” Krista said. This time she knew it was to herself. She heard the front door open and yelled out, “Back here!”
“Are they on scene, ma’am?” the operator asked.
“Oh sorry.” She hadn’t meant to scream in the poor woman’s ear. “Yes,” Krista confirmed as the EMTs, both of whom she knew from school, stepped through the doorway. “They’re here.”
Krista scrambled off the bed so the paramedics, Lionel and Chad, could have unobstructed access to Abby. She remembered her cousin Alex, who was a Firefighter and EMT telling stories about how bystanders usually just got in the way of their treating patients, no matter how good their intentions were.
Both men asked Krista questions and she did her best to answer them. She tried to calm poor Bear down. He was not happy about having strangers, especially men, in his home and even less happy about them touching his Abby.
“It’s okay.” Krista tried to put out a calming energy even though she felt about as far from calm as you could get. But if she’d learned anything at all from the Dog Whisperer, it was that dogs responded to energy not words. She tried her best to be calm and assertive as she held on to Bear’s collar and dragged him out of the bedroom.
He obviously hadn’t been out in quite a while, and she didn’t want to take the risk of him interpreting any of the guys’ actions as something Bear would need to step in and protect Abby from. Luckily, Bear walked alongside Krista without putting up a fight. He was a Rottweiler/Golden Retriever mix that was over a hundred pounds, and she didn’t want to wrestle with him.
He happily went outside in the back as soon as she opened the door. Torn between wanting to go back into the bedroom or clean up the front room, she decided that she wouldn’t be any help back there and the smell was definitely something she needed to address.
Grabbing some white cleaning rags, plastic grocery bags—no one was gonna use those rags again—and carpet cleaner, she went to work on cleaning up Bear’s messes. As she scrubbed the carpets, so many thoughts were running through her mind. The main one being that she needed to call Chase.
She hadn’t answered any of his calls, emails, or letters over the last ten years, but he had to know this. When his dad had passed, Abby had been the one who had called to let him know. Unlike her large family, the Malones consisted of Roger, Abby, and Chase. If memory served, Roger had a brother but he hadn’t been in contact with him since Chase was a little boy. And Abby had grown up as a foster child. She had zero family to speak of. No brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, or parents.
Which meant that Krista would need to be the one to contact Chase.
After disposing of the waste, Krista headed back to the bedroom to get a status update on Abby’s condition before she made the call. She was met by Lionel and Chad wheeling Abby out on a gurney. Her eyes were still closed and an oxygen mask was covering her face.
Chad was speaking into the radio, clipped on his shoulder, that they were transporting her to Harper’s Crossing Memorial.
“Do you want to ride with us?” Lionel asked as Krista followed them out the front door.
“No, I’ll meet you guys over there.” Krista had to let Bear back in and make sure he had food and water. She might even call her sister Haley to come pick him up and bring him back to the house they shared.
As she watched the ambulance pull away from the curb, she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts. Taking a deep breath, she tapped on the phone icon next to Chase’s name.
“Deep breaths,” she told herself. Deep breaths.
* * *
Chase walked off the stage to the sounds of the crowd cheering his name. His shirt was barely damp, not drenched in sweat like it would have been if this were a Midnight Rush concert. Since he hadn’t been doing those shows, he’d been noticing how much more easily he got tired. He’d been spoiled since those huge arena concerts had doubled as insane workouts. Now that those shows weren’t happening, he needed to figure out some kind of exercise regimen.
His solo music was much more low-key than the rock music his band played. In fact, half his set consisted of only himself and a guitar or a piano. Which was why he felt that these smaller intimate venues, meaning a few thousand instead of twenty thousand plus, suited the feeling of the music so much better than the stadiums Midnight Rush had played.
Marcus, his manager, had other ideas. Of course, from a business standpoint, the larger the venue the better. More seats meant more ticket sales which meant more money. Marcus was a good manager, which meant he liked to make money. He had a job to do, and so did Chase. Chase’s job was to put out the best product possible for his fans. The only way he knew how to do that was to put his foot down about this next tour.
It wasn’t going to be an easy sell, but Chase hoped that Marcus would come around to his way of thinking. Hell, his manager should be happy that he was even doing this solo project. When all the other members of the band had decided that they’d needed a break from the exhausting hamster wheel of writing, recording, and touring they’d been running on for almost a decade, Chase had been the only one who’d still wanted to stay running on the wheel.
He was also the only one out of his bandmates who had not gotten married and started a family. They all had wives, girlfriends, kids. He was alone.
Crew members and fans with backstage access greeted him as he made his way through the musky old building heading towards his bus.
“Great show!”
“You killed it out there!”
“Man, did you see that crowd? They couldn’t get enough!”
Chase smiled and nodded to each one, thanking them as he passed. The two men on his security detail alerted whoever was on the other end of their transmitters that Chase was offstage and on his way.
As he walked between the two large men whose job it was to keep people away from him and make sure everyone stayed at arm’s length, a feeling of total isolation welled up inside of him. Sure, he had just played for thousands of fans and he’d had people standing backstage who had waited hours for just a glimpse of him. But they didn’t really know him. He felt more alone than he had in his entire life.
Which was saying something.
He could remember days, if not weeks, as a young child that he would spend in his room, just desperately trying to stay out of his father’s way when his old man had been laid off or between jobs. Emptiness and loneliness was all Chase had known. He’d thought that was what everyone’s life was like.
Until seventh grade.
Chase had known all the Sloan girls in elementary scho
ol. Not only was he good friends with their cousin Alex, he’d been in a play with the oldest Sloan girl Haley in fourth grade. He’d played Danny to her Sandy. Krista had been a year behind him and Haley, and although he had always thought her freckles were cute and even as a ten-year-old had wanted to run his hands through her golden-red hair, he hadn’t really talked to her that much. But then, on the first day of seventh grade, she’d shown up at Great Oaks Middle School, and the moment she walked through the gates of the school, Chase’s twelve-year-old heart had felt like it’d stopped beating. The world had felt like it’d stopped turning. Time had felt like it’d frozen.
The only thing he’d seen was her.
That morning, he hadn’t talked to her, but during the first four periods of school, she was all he’d thought about. Then, when he’d walked out of Mrs. Alvarez’s fourth-period science class to go to lunch, he’d seen her coming out of the gym from P.E., also heading to the cafeteria.
He’d brought his lunch, but when he’d seen her getting in line, he’d immediately tossed it in the trash and decided to spend his hard-earned lawn mowing money on a school lunch. After pushing his way to position himself behind her in line, he’d struck up a conversation. He couldn’t remember what he’d said to her, probably something completely lame, but he did remember that his hands had been shaking as he’d grabbed the plastic school tray. They’d eaten lunch together that day and almost every day after that until he’d graduated eighth grade and moved on to high school.
“He’s coming out the back entrance.” Steven, the head of his security team, pushed the steel bar and opened the back door that led to where his bus was parked.
As they stepped outside, he saw that there were probably two hundred fans gathered. Chase nodded, giving the signal to the two men that he would sign autographs for the crowd of people. Steven, however, shook his head sharply.
“Tully instructed us to take you directly to the bus.”
Chase’s brow furrowed. That was odd. The next thing in his schedule wasn’t until the interview and photo shoot. Normally, his assistant was more than happy to wait for him while he signed autographs and took pictures with fans.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 2
