23
The paramedics had wrapped me in a blanket and settled me into the back of an ambulance. I think they were worried I was in shock. I might have been, a little bit, but mostly I was angry. Some insane fangirl tried to kill me because she wanted my job and she wanted my man? How dare she! How messed up did you have to be to try something like that?
Even worse, she’d put Jayce and Neil in danger. That was what made me angry the most.
I had wanted to see her in the back of a cop car with handcuffs, but instead they loaded her up on a stretcher and took her to a hospital. I guessed Neil choking her unconscious meant she couldn’t be taken straight to jail. Damn.
As soon as the police sirens had sounded, the entire staff and crew flooded to the back parking lot to see what happened, pouring out of the emergency exit doors just in time to watch the police pull the unconscious girl from the tour bus. Deena had been frantic, wanting to know just what in the hell was going on, but the police made everyone stand back. Kell and the others had waited behind a line of police tape, looking worried and distraught.
After I had given my statement from the back of the ambulance, I told the police they were my friends. They crowded around me as soon as they were allowed in, forming a protective circle. Their expressions ranged from anger to concern to disbelief.
“How did she even get in?” Deena asked for the tenth time. “Why didn’t someone realize she wasn’t a staff member?”
“I want to know how she got the gun,” Kell growled. “Aren’t crazy people banned from owning weapons?” Kell was pissed, taking it personally that someone had threatened his friends.
“You sure you’re okay?” Morris asked quietly.
“I’m fine.” I gave him a small smile. “It was scary, yeah, but everything turned out okay.”
Ren put a protective arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze.
Jayce and Neil were both still talking with the police. For some reason, the paramedics didn’t think they needed to be coddled and treated like they were glass. I scowled at the double standard and shrugged my blanket off.
“Don’t get up yet,” Ren said, alarmed.
“Stay here for a little while longer,” Kell wheedled. “Let us mother-hen you a bit, okay?”
I grumbled but allowed Ren to pull the blanket back over my shoulders. “I just want to get back to the hotel room and get a good night’s sleep.”
It was a lie, really. I was buzzing with nerves and couldn’t stop fidgeting, a bundle of energy unable to sit still. The adrenaline, most likely.
“Jayce!”
Kell called out the guitarist’s name as he approached, finished giving his statement. He took his place in the circle of people hovering over me. Morris gave him a slap on the shoulder and Ren gave him a one-armed half-hug. Kell pulled Jayce in for a tight squeeze and thumped him on the back several times before letting go.
“Don’t youeverscare me like that again,” Kell admonished.
“I’ll try not to get attacked by scary fangirls from now on, I promise.”
“Are you finished with the police?” Deena asked.
“For now. There’s going to be some follow-up, but they said they were done with me for the night.”
I saw Neil out of the corner of my eye, standing awkwardly outside the circle, looking like he wanted to intrude but didn’t dare.
“Neil, you finished, too?” I asked, prompting him to come forward.
He nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. “They told me to go to the station to give a more formal statement in the morning.”
“Me, too,” I said. Jayce nodded.
“Ailey…” Neil trailed off, glancing hesitantly at Jayce. “You doing okay?”
“I must be doing better than I look, because everyone’s treating me like I’m going to fall apart any second. I’m feeling fine. Yeah, it was scary, but we’re safe now.”
In fact, I was feeling more than fine. My body was awash with adrenaline. I felt like I could get up and run a marathon. They said that experiencing a near death experience gave people a kind of high, a rush of excitement.
Wasn’t there a cliché about people getting the urge to fuck after a brush with death? I supposed all clichés had a grain of truth, because I was feeling that familiar tingle right then.
