Ballad (Rockstar #5) (22 page)

I nod, then kiss her lips, lingering so she doesn’t see the fear in my eyes.

I pull on my boxer briefs and jeans then wander into the living area to call the doc.

“Donovan.”

“Hey, doc. It’s Ben.”

“What can I do for you, Ben?” he asks.

“I’m with Nicole and she’s got a fever.”

“Have you taken her temperature?”

“No. Just called you.”

“What room are you in?” he asks.

“619.”

“I’ll be right there.”

He clicks off and I have a feeling this isn’t going to be good. Not good at all.

“Is this the first you’ve noticed an elevated temperature?” Dr. Donovan asks Nicole.

She nods.

“Okay. Let’s take a look, shall we?” he asks, then puts a thermometer in Nicole’s ear for a few seconds before it beeps. He looks at the number, his expression doesn’t change. He grabs another thermometer and this one he runs along Coley’s forehead. Again, he looks at the number, and again his expression stays the same. I bet he’s a champ at poker.

Finally, he puts one under her tongue.

“This one’ll take the longest.”

Nicole gives him a look. “You could have done this while doing the other two.”

“Mouth closed,” he scolds. “Yes, I could have but then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you your temperature is 102.4 without you swearing at me.”

She nods and narrows her eyes.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It’s not uncommon for patients with ALL to experience fevers, but we need to rule out infection before we assume it’s that simple.”

The thermometer beeps and the doc takes it out of Nicole’s mouth.

“All the same. Seems we’ve got an issue, Coley,” he tells her.

She sighs. “So it would seem. Blood and urine. I know the drill.”

He nods. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I wish there was something I could do to make this easier for you.”

She shrugs. “This
is
the easy part.”

I hug her to me. “I’m sorry honey. Is there anything I can do?”

She shakes her head. “Just hold me.”

“That I can do.”

Dr. Donovan pulls out empty vials and the tools he needs to take Coley’s blood and I want to howl at the injustice of it all. She’s so beautiful, so smart and funny. She’s got her entire life ahead of her, but what if cancer robs her of that life? What if cancer takes her from me? My breath catches. That can’t happen.

The doc is on his fourth vial when I raise a brow.

“We have to rule everything out and test her levels.”

I nod and hold my girl tighter.

“Is she going to be okay?” I ask.

The doc looks at me. “If I have anything to do about it, she will.”

I nod. Good man.

“Here you go,” he tells Nicole, handing her a plastic cup. “Fill ‘er up.”

She snorts. “I’ll do my best.”

She walks into the bathroom and I drop my head into my hands.

“You’re doing great, Ben. Just keep supporting her. She needs you. You can fall apart later if it’s warranted,” he tells me.

I nod. “I can’t lose her, man.”

“You’re not going to. We have options. And just in case, I’m going to request that all of you who are willing, get tested to see if you’re a possible bone marrow match.”

“God,” I mutter. “That’s…”

“Invasive? Dangerous? Life threatening?” he nods. “But it can also save her life with the right match.”

I nod and swallow down the rising bile.

Coley walks back into the room carrying her cup, her face a bit paler than usual.

“There’s my girl,” I praise. “She’s a champion.”

She snorts again.

“You’re spending too much time around Sera. All that snorting,” I tease.

She snickers. “I like her.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty easy to like.”

“Unless you’re on the wrong end of her gun,” she tells me.

“No shit. That’s a scary thought.”

The doc chuckles. “She doesn’t scare me.”

“Piss her off or hurt her family and she’ll scare you so much you piss your pants,” Coley tells him.

“I don’t plan on doing either.”

“Then you’re safe.”

He nods. “I’ll get these to the lab right away and I’ll spread the word about getting tested.”

When he’s gone, Nicole lies back. “Bone marrow donors?”

I nod and she nods back.

“It’s bad, Ben. Obviously the chemo I had last time wasn’t effective enough to keep me in remission long-term,” she tells me.

“So, this is the next step?”

She nods. “Yeah. If you want to bail out—”

“Stop,” I tell her. “I’m here, right by your side through all of it and that’s not going to change, honey.”

Tears fill her eyes and spill over in a steady stream.

“You don’t have to do this alone anymore,” I whisper. “You’ve got me and you’ve got the entire gang here to support you—whatever you need. Anything you need, Nicole. Anything,” I reassure her.

She nods. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. It’s all part of loving someone and part of being family.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a family.”

“Well, you’ve got one now, and we’re not going anywhere. Be prepared, honey. As soon as word gets around, they’re going to descend on you like mother hens—especially Kennedy,” I tell her.

She groans.

“Let’s get a nap in before the chaos starts, yeah?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

“I love you, Coley.”

“I love you, Ben.”

I hold her in my arms, listening to her breathe as she sleeps and for the first time since I was a boy, I pray to a God I’m not sure even exists.

I
WATCH THE
couple walk up to the building before stepping inside. The security is state of the art.

“Whose building is this, babe?” I ask Cage.

“A friend’s,” is all he’ll give me.

“Hmm. Nice that they let us use the space.”

From the outside, the building looks like a cafe, and there is, indeed, a café in the building, but it’s small and it’s a front for whatever goes on here. We’re in the back warehouse space where crates are stacked in rows.

“I bet if we opened one of those crates, we’d find something very illegal,” I state.

Cage lifts a brow. “If we opened one of those crates, we’d likely end up dead.”

“Well then. No opening of the crates.”

One side of his mouth twitches and I grin.

“Showtime,” Damian says beside me.

“Finally. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on these fuckers since we found out,” Ernesto announces.

I look at him in surprise. “Blood thirsty?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Just a heavy taste for revenge.”

“We don’t know she’s dead,” I remind him and he just looks at me blandly. I sigh. I really, really hope she’s not dead. I hope the team they sent in to get her out of the warehouse where she was, got there in time.

“Like you said the other day. There are worse things than death, Sera,” Nesto reminds me.

Yeah. Don’t I know it.

“They’re waiting for you in the back,” I hear Celeste say. “Right this way.”

I hear her heels click on the floor along with another pair, and when they round the corner, I curl my lip in disgust at the couple before me. Roberto is average height with an extra paunch in the middle. He’s balding and what hair he does have, is slicked back with what looks like grease. Gross. And his face? Gah.

Next, I look to the woman. Blonde short hair. She’s short, but not as short as Luce. She’s carrying an extra 30 pounds that have the dress she’s wearing pulling tight, showing a few of her fat rolls. I have no issue with people being overweight. None whatsoever, but if you’re overweight, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t wear skin-tight clothes. It’s not at all attractive.

When they reach us, they stand there, not saying a word.

Cage steps forward. “I’m Cage Nichols. Your sister has been in my employ up until now.”

Roberto nods and Kimberly just keeps chewing her gum, looking bored. Disrespecting my husband isn’t a good start to this visit.

“What did she do?” the sister asks.

Cage tells them about her coming on to the guys in the band, and she rolls her eyes.

“How pathetic,” she replies.

“Yes, it was,” Cage agrees. “Let’s head on in where Misty’s waiting.”

We walk further into the warehouse and as we do so, I can see the unease filling Roberto and Kimberly. Idiots.

“Uh, maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Roberto starts.

I pull my gun from my waistband and press it into his back. “Oh, come on. I think it’s a great idea. Let’s keep going,” I say and nudge him forward.

“What—what’s going on?” Kimberly asks with a screech.

“Just keep walking,” Damian tells her as he presses his gun into her back.

“But—we…”

“Hush now,” Damian placates. “Let’s just get this handled.”

They both try to turn when they see Misty tied to a chair, her mouth gagged. We had to. She was wailing like a walrus and it was annoying Ernesto to the point he wanted to slit her throat.

“Fuck. Fucking shit,” Roberto curses.

“That about covers it,” I tell him.

Celeste walks over and unties Misty’s gag. Wait—Celeste? I look at Cage, who just blinks. Whoa. When the shock starts to fade I narrow my eyes at him. He kept a secret. With a slight shake of his head he tells me we’ll deal with it later. And you can bet your ass we’re going to.

I raise a brow at Celeste, whose expression doesn’t change. She merely takes a seat in a chair beside Misty’s.

“You stupid bitch!” Roberto spits out. “You can’t do anything without fucking it up!”

“You couldn’t even get the horny rockstars to fuck you, how pathetic is that?” Kimberly tells Misty. “You’re such a loser.”

Misty shrugs. “Just shut the fuck up, both of you. You’re the ones who set this whole thing up. I told you from the beginning it wouldn’t work.”

“Maybe if you’d have drugged them—” Kimberly begins and I press my gun to the side of her head.

“You better watch what you say,” I warn.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re not going to shoot me.”

“I’m not?” I ask, looking around. “I think I am.” And I do—right in the knee. She goes down like a sack of potatoes, crying and carrying on like the bitch she is.

“Damn, Sera. You knee-capped her,” Damian says with a whistle.

I shrug. “I should have blown her mouth off so we didn’t have to listen to her.”

Ernesto chuckles.

“You shot me! I can’t believe you shot me!” she whines. I roll my eyes.

“Shut! The! Fuck! Up!” Damian shouts and everyone goes silent. I smirk and send him a wink. That was so hot.

Cage takes a chair across from Misty, sitting back, and crossing his legs in the way that elegant businessmen do. God, he gets my pulse pounding.

“Tell me what you know,” he says to Misty.

She looks up at him, her bald scalp red with razor—or knife--burn, her makeup smeared under her eyes and down her cheeks, dried blood on her shoulders and arms. She’s a wreck.

“I don’t know who they spoke to. All I know is what they told me and that was what to do and how much money we’d get for it. That’s all.” Her head hangs back down and Cage looks away from her. “But if I did know something,” she adds, “I wouldn’t tell you. You’re just going to kill me anyway.”