Cool air hit my cheeks, and I realized they were wet too, and when Dash lifted his head, his eyes were red as his tears shimmered beneath the lights. Our guards had surrounded us, giving us the time to pull ourselves together. How we managed it Ididn’t know, just that one by one, we did. I pulled my t-shirt off so I could try to wipe the blood from Johnny’s chest, but it had dried and only flaked off in places until Vale passed me a bottle of water. I doused my shirt in it and used it to wipe Johnny’s chest clean as he swiped at his eyes.
“Alright guys,” Johnny said, voice still a bit shaky, but like the leader he was, it grew stronger with every word. “Let’s get our asses in there, get our pictures taken with people, and sign whatever they shove in our faces so we can get to the hospital.”
“Dear metal gods in the sky, please don’t let this line be a long one,” Dash muttered as we headed for the door.
The plea I sent up was silent and vastly different from his. The only wish I wanted the metal gods to answer was for Rebel to be okay.
Chapter 13
(Rebel)
“Shouldn’t you be resting?”
Kit’s voice startled me, and I raised my head a tad too fast, causing the world to spin again. Holy shit, was this ever going to end? While I hadn’t missed any shows yet, I would miss one tomorrow and it had me pissed off enough that I couldn’t sleep. While I knew Kayden would do an amazing job filling in for me for tomorrow’s set, it sucked that he’d have to pull double duty, but I’d do the same for him if he ever needed me to.
Being on the road together, jumping in and out of each other’s sets to thrill the fans, meant that we’d all learned enough songs by the other band to stand in for someone in case of accident, illness, or random acts of stupidity like I was prone to. Stitches sucked, and itched. It had taken seven to close the gash I’d gotten when I’d hit the door frame trying to help Kit to his room after it had been reopened in the mosh pit. In hindsight, I should have said something that night, when I’d started getting nauseous while working on the song, and had to cut the session short so I could lay down.
Low grade concussion. Joy of joys. I’d pretty much known that was the case when standing on stage had resulted in a sea of sideways faces. Sitting helped keep the spinny feeling at bay.Staring at my fingers and the cord by my boot gave me something to focus on. Water would have been nice if I hadn’t been afraid of puking all over the stage. Somehow, I’d pushed through it, but everything changed when Johnny helped me stand so I could leave the stage. It was like the whole thing was pitching and heaving while I couldn’t remember how to put one foot in front of the other without feeling like I was sliding off the edge of the world.
“I’ve been resting for the past three days,” I grumbled. “Never thought I’d complain about not being able to do a radio appearance, but I’d have loved to go today.”
“Itwasfun.”
Grumbling, I scooted closer to the end of the couch and drew my knees up, wiggling until I’d made plenty of room for him. A plush sofa lined each side of the bus in our mobile living room, but I’d really prefer if he’d join me over here, rather than on the other side of the slim coffee table. “Just rub it in, why don’t you.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to.”
“Why aren’tyouresting?” I asked, taking in his disheveled hair and wrinkled t-shirt.
“I was until I heard the TV come on,” he replied. “Then I decided to see who was up and what they were working on.”
“I love the additions you’ve made to the new song.”
“We still need a name for it.”
"Yeah, I never did come up with one when I was working on it,” I replied as I flipped through movie options on the streaming service.
I hadn’t been out here long enough to figure out what to watch, so I hoped he was prepared to stick around and help with that.
“How’s your head?”
“Fine as long as I don’t brush my hair, rub it with a towel, or attempt to lay down on that side,” I admitted.
“You should have told someone when you got hurt.”
“And we’re back to you rubbing it in.”
“No, that was just me stating the obvious. You scared thefuck out of everyone.”
“Waking up in the hospital was no joy either,” I admitted. “Let’s chalk it up to a lesson learned.”
“Does that mean you’ll tell someone the next time you gash open a body part?”
“It was my head, which I’ve been told is hard enough to withstand a rhino stampede,” I said. “Figured it would just scab over on its own, which it did.”
“Uh-huh.” Kit said, shaking his head at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Only if you sit down first. Trying to stare up at you is making my neck hurt.”