Miles of Pleasure (13 page)

People from the other bus poured out and helped in whatever way they could. Cars stopped, some just to look and ogle at someone else's misfortune, but others rushed to help. One of them knelt beside Kaylee and said she was a nurse.

"Keep her head still," the woman ordered, and put expert hands on Kaylee's shoulders. "She has a serious injury. Don't move her."

Someone had already called an ambulance, and help was on its way.

"What the hell happened?" Colton asked the bus driver.

"I don't know. There were so many potholes in the road. I don't know if we were getting bumped around too much, or if we blew a tire. But when we got to the bend in the road, we just couldn't make the turn. If that tree hadn't been there, we'd have tumbled right down the ravine. None of us would have had a chance."

The driver was in near hysterics. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. He stumbled away from Colton, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared down the ravine.

The paramedics finally arrived and went to Kaylee first. She seemed to be the worst of all of them. They got her on the gurney and took her vitals as other emergency staff spread out and looked at everyone else. One was examining the gash on Ashton's forehead, not even paying attention to the bone nearly sticking out of his arm. Ashton looked over and saw Kaylee being rolled into the back of the ambulance. He pushed away and ran over to the unit that held Kaylee.

"You can't ride here," one of the paramedics said. The other one was too busy doing something to Kaylee to even look up. "You need an ambulance of your own, son."

Ashton stared at him. He couldn't ride with Kaylee? How could that be? "She needs me," he insisted, the tears in his eyes finally threatening to fall. "She trusts me, she needs me, and I need her. Please," he said, ready to beg if necessary.

The paramedic looked at his head, then at his arm, and relented. "Sit here and don't touch anything, not even her," he ordered, and Ashton blundered out a long thank-you as he climbed into the back. He stared at Kaylee all the way to the hospital, not even noticing his own injuries. It was the longest ten minutes of his life.

When they got to the emergency room, the paramedics wheeled Kaylee into the trauma room, and pushed Ashton out when he tried to follow them. He tried to insist until a nurse grabbed his good arm in a death grip.

"You come with me, right now," she ordered, and there was no arguing with that voice. Over the next hour, his arm was x-rayed and set. They cleaned and stitched the wound in his head, gave him painkillers that dulled everything, then told him he could wait in the waiting room.

Ashton still hadn't seen any of his band mates or doctors who could answer his questions about Kaylee. He had never felt so alone or afraid as he did as he sat in the waiting room. He wanted to rush into each room and look for her, demand to see her, but he didn't know where to start.

He thought he was seeing things when Noah hobbled out of an exam room on crutches. A large white cast adorned his right leg, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain.

"Have you heard anything?" he asked of his sister.

"No. No one will tell me anything. She was still breathing on the way here though," Ashton told him. He needed to cling to the hope that she would be okay, because hope was all he had.

A few minutes later Colton, Jayden, and Brandon came limping in, along with Cody and Jayden. The moment Ashton saw Brandon, the fury was beyond anything he had ever known, ever, in all his life. Seeing Brandon in the hospital, healthy and fine, sent Ashton into a rage that would have terrified him, had he been in any different state of mind.

He was on Brandon in a flash, pushing him against the wall, holding his cast against Brandon's throat, ignoring the throbbing pain shooting through his broken arm.

"Some man you are!" Ashton spit out through clenched teeth. "Whenever she needs you, all you do is run away with your tail between your legs. What if I hadn't gotten to her in time? We could have lost her, because you're a fucking pussy. Right now, she's in that room, possibly fighting for her life!"

Tears pooled in Ashton's eyes. He was screaming right into Brandon's face, not caring that everyone in the hospital could hear, not giving a damn that security was probably on their way right now.

"But all that matters is that you got out, right? You make me
sick
. You will get your shit off the bus and get out of here. You are no longer welcome on our tour. Stay away from me, stay away from the guys, and definitely stay the fuck away from Kaylee. She could have died!"

Ashton finally started to cry. The tears burned as they slid down his face. "Do you understand me? She could have died!"

Cody finally managed to pull Ashton off Brandon as he completely broke down. Security had just arrived, and they took one look at the situation and backed away - there was no more threat here. Ashton collapsed on the floor, crying harder than he had ever cried in his life. Cody wrapped his arms around him, rocking him like a baby, while he glared up at Brandon with crystal-clear hate in his eyes.

Jayden turned to Brandon, who stood there like a statue with no emotion on his face. Jayden didn't trust himself to speak. He jerked his head to the door, giving Brandon a sign that it was time for him to go.

Brandon left again, this time like a beaten man, with his tail between his legs.

The doctor walked out of the trauma room and was immediately swarmed by the group in the waiting room. "How is she?" Noah asked. Ashton looked up, his eyes pleading for good news.

"Are you her next of kin?" the doctor asked, and Noah's breath stopped as he tried to get the words out.

"Yes," he whispered. "I'm her brother."

The doctor smiled and nodded, and suddenly Noah could breathe again.

"Ms. Miles has some serious head trauma, a broken shoulder, and a couple of deep lacerations. At this time, she's stable, but we aren't sure if there is any permanent damage done. We won't know anything until she wakes up. The next forty-eight hours are very crucial," the doctor explained.

"Can I see her? I need to see her."

"She's being moved to a private room right now. You'll be able to see her soon."

Ashton let out the breath that he had been holding. All he wanted was for her to be okay. If she wanted to hate him for the rest of her life, then he could handle that, just as long as she was alive.

The doctor rushed out, and the men sat staring at each other, no one knowing quite what to say. What could they say? They were all thinking the same thing: That they were lucky to be alive, and that she had to make it through, just like they did. There was no other option. She simply had to be okay.

Noah and Ashton stayed in the hospital overnight, keeping vigil at Kaylee's bedside, while the rest of the guys found hotel rooms and exacted promises of a phone call the moment Kaylee awoke.

"So tell me, what's the deal?" Noah asked Ashton. "What's up with you and my sister?"

"I don't know. She's great, and I care for her a lot," Ashton admitted. "But...nothing will ever happen.

"Why not?"

"She's too good for me. She's so sweet and innocent, I don't want to corrupt her." Ashton laughed. "She's an amazing woman, and she makes me feel all these things. She's...she's damn near perfect, man, you know? But I'm afraid that I'd end up hurting her, and that's the last thing I want to do. I don't think I could handle a commitment, and she deserves nothing less than that."

He didn't know why he was suddenly pouring his heart out to Noah and coming clean about his feelings...maybe it was because he had come so close to losing Kaylee.

Noah smiled. He knew that Ashton was developing feelings for his sister, but he didn't realize how deep they ran until that moment. "Don't give up man," he said. Then he laughed. "Whoa! Did I just tell the biggest male slut not to give up on my innocent little sister?"

Ashton chuckled and laid his head against Kaylee's bed. They talked throughout the night, Noah telling Ashton about different things that happened when he and his sister were growing up, getting to know each other better than either had ever imagined.

In the morning, Ashton went to the cafeteria to get some coffee, leaving Noah in the room alone with his sister. Just as Noah started to doze off, he heard a soft voice.

"Man, what's a girl got to do to get something to drink?"

"Kaylee?" Noah's head shot up.

"I hope so. What happened?" She looked around the room, groaning in pain as she moved her head. Noah pressed down on the nurse call light.

"Don't move, please. Here...let me get you some water. And a nurse. And...oh, hell, Kaylee. Just don't move okay?"

"What happened?" she asked again.

"There was an accident...I will tell you everything," he said, as the nurse walked in and smiled at her.

"Hello, Kaylee. How are you?"

The nurse went through the vital signs and talked to Kaylee about what had happened. Kaylee continuously glanced over at Noah with wide eyes, as though she wanted to make sure his story was the same as the one the nurse was telling her.

"The doctor will be in soon," the nurse finally said. "Welcome back, Kaylee."

"Tell me what happened," Kaylee demanded when the nurse left. "Every detail. Leave nothing out."

Noah told Kaylee everything that happened, including how Brandon had left her and Ashton saved her, along with how Ashton kicked Brandon off the tour. Noah told her this quietly, haltingly, as though he was at risk of hurting her even more than she had already been hurt.

Kaylee wasn't really surprised that Brandon had left her again. She now understood where that feeling of uneasiness had come from. She never had a doubt he was in it for himself, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise.

Ashton came back a few minutes later, surprised and delighted to see Kaylee awake. "Kaylee! God, I was so worried about you!" His face was pale, and there were pools of dark circles under his eyes. He rushed to her side, holding onto her bed rail, looking down at her with a smile.

"What are you doing in my room?" Kaylee asked, her face masked in confusion.

Ashton looked over to Noah in a panic. His expression was so pained and worried that Noah tried to keep a straight face, but he just couldn't keep up with Kaylee's ruse. Instead, he started laughing.

Ashton looked down at her with utter relief.

"Nice, Kaylee! Here I was, worried about you, and you fuck with me," Ashton said, feeling both hurt and relieved.

"Sorry, I had to do it. You looked too serious. Someone needed to lighten the mood." Kaylee smiled and looked at her brother. "Can we have a minute?"

Noah nodded and hobbled out of the room on his crutches, leaving the two of them alone. Ashton took the seat that Noah had just vacated.

"He told me what happened," Kaylee said softly.

They looked at each other for a long moment. It was almost as though they were back in front of those elevator doors, looking at themselves together in the mirror, thinking about what could be. But this time, the stakes were much higher. He had literally saved her life, and they both realized it as they looked at each other there in the hospital room.

"Why is it that I always have to save your stupid ass?" Ashton joked, smiling the whole time.

"Thank you. Again and again, thank you a million times over," she said softly, and took his good hand in her good hand and brought it to her lips, gently kissing it.

"You know how many times I've come close to losing you?" he asked, his voice choked with emotion.

"I'm sure not enough for your liking."

They both laughed.

"I kicked Brandon off the tour," Ashton told Kaylee, looking down at the floor.

"I know. Thank you. It's for the best, and probably should have been done a while ago."

She looked down and realized that they were still holding hands. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, touching him felt good.

"Thank you, Ashton," she said with sincerity.

"No," he murmured after a long moment. "Thank you."

"
S
o when do I get sprung from this joint? I can't wait to have some real food again!" Kaylee asked her brother after her third day in the hospital. He had just gotten back from talking to her doctorin the hallway.

"The doctor said you can go home tomorrow. Only one problem." Noah dreaded giving her the news. "You're going to have to go home instead of finishing thetourwith us."

"What? Why?" Kaylee protested. "There are only two weeks left. Why can't I just finish it with you guys?"

"The doctor feels that you need your rest, since you had some minor head trauma. If you don't go home, then you'll have to stay here for a few more days," he explained. "Besides, you're in a big shoulder cast. Do you really think that the bunks on the bus are big enough to fit that monster?"

"Come on Noah! Don't make me go home. I won't have anything to do, I'll be all alone," Kaylee whined.

"Kaylee, it's only for two weeks. Don't make this any harder than it has to be," he pleaded. "I'll call Jenny to come stay with you so that you won't be all alone. I'm sure it will be nice to have her help until you're healed."