She glanced up and saw Zane, who had been brushing his teeth in the en suite and was now leaning against the doorway, eyebrows knit together in concern. He was fresh from the shower, wearing the blue and green plaid bathrobe the kids had given him for Father’s Day. He’d been gracious about it and told them how much he loved it, but when they got in bed that night, he said it made him feel like an old man. Sienna told him that’s because he was an old man and he better wear it, or it would hurt their feelings.
The next few sentences were a jumble of words that made no sense at all. OD’d. Note. Ambulance. Too late. Gone.She started to cry and whispered, “Zane’s right here.”
Holding up the phone, she shook her head at him and whispered, “I’m so sorry,” as he took it from her, toothpaste dripping down his chin.
He listened to his manager for a few seconds before he crumpled to the floor. Sienna watched, her heart breaking for her husband while she was simultaneously shocked that anything could reduce her larger-than-life man to a puddle of bones and muscle and tears.
It took her far too long (in her own estimation) to react appropriately. She sat on the bed like a frozen idiot for what seemed like an hour, even though the clock would have shown it was only thirty seconds. Finally, Sienna managed to get up and move to him, dropping to her knees and wrapping an arm around his back as he shook violently.
She could hear Dean’s voice coming through the tiny holes of the cordless phone. “Zane? You still there?”
He grunted out a yes.
“I need to go call Steve and Russ.”
“Yeah, of course.”
“I’ll call you in the morning, okay?”
“Okay.”
Zane hung up, and the two hugged each other and cried. “Oh, Zane, I can’t believe it.”
He tucked his head into her shoulder and sobbed.
“Do they know what happened?”
Pulling back, he shook his head. “Not yet. His housekeeper found him.” He scrubbed his face with both hands, then sniffled and took a deep breath. “I gotta go.”
Standing up quickly, he hurried to the sink to rinse out his mouth. Sienna made her way to the nightstand, putting the phone back on the receiver, then watched as Zane rushed into the walk-in closet, returning a few seconds laterin a black T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. He looked at her, his eyes red and puffy. His words were frantic. “I have to go. I can’t stay here.”
“Where?” Sienna asked, fear gripping her. She already knew where he was going.
“I need to be with the band.”
“It’s late. You’re upset. Why not wait until tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “There’s no way I’m going to sleep tonight. None of us will.” He strode across the room and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Love you.”
She reached up to grab his arm, but he was already on the move. “Wait. Zane.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
Getting out of bed, she followed him down the long hallway. “But where are you going?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll figure it out when I’m on the road. We’ll probably all end up at Steve’s so we don’t wake anyone up.” He jammed his feet into his old Vans and grabbed the keys to his Jag off the hook.
“No, please stay. I have an awful feeling about this.”
“You have an awful feeling because something terrible just happened.” His face screwed up with the pain and shock of losing one of his best friends. Opening the door that led to the garage, he said, “Get some sleep if you can.”
Then he was gone, leaving Sienna in an echo of silence. She stood in the mudroom for a long time after the sound of the car pulling away and the overhead door closing had stopped. Her skin grew cold, and her mind raced. Somehow, she knew that whatever was about to happen would make everything infinitely worse than it already was, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
ZANE
Zane rounded the corner from their house, then pulled over and dialed Claudia’s number. She was crying when she answered. He said only three words, then listened to the answer and hung up.
“What’s your address?”
