“Hey, thanks for coming by,” I greeted her. “Yeah, I just got up a bit ago; you’ve made it just in time for the celebration. I hope you brought a twelve pack.”

Rolling her eyes playfully, she walked up to the bed and patted my calf. “Jag will be thrilled to hear that not only are you alive, but you haven’t lost your cheeky arse attitude either.” Stretching her hand out towards Scarlett, she introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Smiley, Jag’s girlfriend and unofficial tour bus mother.”

Relaxing, no longer seeing her as a threat, Scarlett returned the smile and the handshake and said, “Scarlett and it’s a pleasure to meet you. I understand we have you to thank for finding Mase the other night. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude.”

“Not necessary. I’m just glad that we got him to the hospital before anything serious happened. We all care about each other quite a bit, we’re like a family. ” She turned her dazzling smile and outstretched hand towards Marcus. “Speaking of family, the resemblance is undeniable. You must be Rat’s brother. It’s very nice to meet you as well.”

Before he could respond, Nazi nurse had decided that was enough pleasantries and interrupted the introductions. “I’m going to get the doctor for an evaluation. You will all need to leave the room when he gets here.” She turned her nose up at all of us and marched out the door.

The moments of silence that filled the room after was moderately awkward, and then everyone tried to speak at once.

“I’m gonna grab a cup of coffee.”

“I need to go to the ladies room.”

“I’m going to call Jag and give him an update.”

“I’m ready to get back to the bus.”

After my comment, the three of them all turned and looked at me like I had grown a second head. “What?” I asked. “I need to get back to the guys, we leave for Europe soon.”

Smiley cocked her head and said sweetly, “Rat, the tour is over for you babe. You’ve got to go back to Texas and get help. I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious?!” I asked, raising my voice. I was so pissed. What did they mean I couldn’t finish the tour? I was fucking fine. I had a bad night; it wouldn’t happen again. What the fuck?

Not fazed by my yelling in the least, her smile never wavering, she nodded her head. “I’m afraid so. We can’t take you in your physical or psychological state overseas. Despite the health issues, you are a tabloid story waiting to happen. We can’t take that risk.”

Not wanting to believe the words that had just left her mouth, I screamed at her, “Get the fuck out of my room! Now! You don’t know what the fuck you are talking about! Who do you think you are, you uppity British bitch?! Get Jag on the phone. Now.”

The smile finally drained from her face as she did an about-face and walked out of the room without saying another word. Good, I was tired of her happy ass face all the time anyway and that stupid ass nickname. Marcus shook his head at me and mumbled something under his breath before following her. Fuck him too. Fuck everybody. Now that Scarlett was back in my arms, I didn’t need their shit.

Just then, the doctor entered the room and Scarlett quickly crawled out of the bed, straightening her clothes as she stood up. Walking towards the door, she looked back at me right before she left and said, “It’s gonna be okay, Mase. I promise.”

SCARLETT

My back hit the wall in the hallway outside Mase’s hospital room and I slowly slid down until my butt met the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms, trying to pull myself together. Completely drowning in a flood of emotions, I could hardly think straight. First and foremost, I was relieved that he was awake and appeared to be physically okay. I knew he was a long way from being fine, but at least he was going to be around for us to work on that. After relief, I couldn’t say what I felt more ~ frustration that he had been so reckless and selfish in his decision-making and actions, guilt knowing that I had been one of the main factors for leading him to this point, exasperation that he actually thought he could go back on tour without getting any help and with the way he had spoken to Smiley, comfort by the way his arms felt around me, and love ~ I’d always love him. Even if I knew we couldn’t be together in a romantic sort of way, he would always own a piece of my heart.

A few minutes after I sat down, I heard footsteps approach me followed by someone joining me on the floor. I looked up to see Smiley sitting to my right, an understanding look on her face.

“You doing okay, sweetie?” she asked.

I was so exhausted I didn’t even care that she called me sweetie. It actually felt kind of nice. I shrugged. “I guess. I’m just…” My voice trailed off.

She reached over and pulled me into a hug, patting my hair. For some reason, it didn’t feel strange at all. Typically, I wouldn’t be too keen on letting a stranger hold me and comfort me, but it was exactly what I needed at that moment. Neither of us said anything, we just sat there on the floor hugging. Hospitals make people do weird shit.

“I see you two have met,” Cruz’s voice pulled us from our embrace. I looked up at him standing over us with a smirk on his face, a tray of coffees in his hand.

“Hey you. Join us and give me one of those,” I said tugging on his pant leg.

Careful not to spill the hot liquid, he knelt down next to us and passed us each a cup. Smiley looked down at the drink and made a funny face.

“What?” He asked her. “I brought cream and sugar if you don’t want it black.”

“I just don’t usually drink coffee, I’m more of a tea girl,” she retorted. “But I suppose that’s probably not an option here.”

Cruz rolled his eyes and I giggled. “You fucking Brits and your damn tea. Drink your coffee and shush,” he joked.

We were all laughing hard as the doctor exited the room and walked over to us. Scrambling to our feet to hear what he had to say, I was quickly reminded why we were all there and the seriousness of the situation.

“It appears your friend is going to be just fine if he can lose the ‘I’m invincible’ attitude,” he said. “I’d like to keep him one more night just to monitor his vitals and do some more blood work, but assuming everything looks okay, he’ll be released tomorrow morning.” He turned to walk off, but stopped after a few steps and looked back at us. “If you don’t want him back here or in some other hospital, possibly with a worse outcome, someone needs to make sure he gets help.” He then continued down the hall and out of sight.

The three of us stood there looking at each other, not knowing what to say or who should go in and talk to him. Taking a deep breath, I said, “I’ll tell him. I’ll take him back to Houston and between Marcus and myself, we will make sure he gets clean so that he can rejoin the band as soon as possible.”

“That sounds good,” Smiley agreed. “I know he doesn’t want to see or talk to me right now, and I get it. I’ll let Jag know.”

“Yeah, I’ll let the guys know too. We’re bummed about not finishing the tour, but we know that we need to fix this problem now. Not to mention, Sebastian needs a bit of an intervention as well, so hopefully Aaron, Sophie, and I can work on that,” Cruz added.

“Okay then, wish me luck,” I said as I kissed his cheek and gave her a quick hug before walking back into Mase’s room. “I’ll talk to y’all back at the hotel in a bit.”

As I pushed the door open, Mason was already out of bed changing into his clothes. He looked up at me with those piercing grey eyes and smiled. “Let’s get out of here, Angel.”

CHAPTER TWO

Bulletproofangel ~ Goo Goo Dolls

I Won’t Let Go ~ Rascal Flatts

MASON

As soon as Doctor Dickhead left the room, I pulled the monitors from my chest and the IV out of my arm, which hurt like a bitch by the way, and got out of the bed. I wasn’t staying in that place another fucking minute; they couldn’t legally keep me there. I found some of my clothes folded on a chair by the window, so I quickly stripped out of the hospital gown and began putting my jeans on. As Scarlett walked through the door, the surprise on her face was evident as she saw me up and getting dressed.

“Let’s get out of here, Angel.” I said with a smile. I knew she was about to try to talk me out of discharging myself, but I wasn’t changing my mind. I was fine, and I had shit I needed to take care of. Laid up in a hospital bed for another night wasn’t going to solve anything.

“Mase, the doctor just told us that you need to stay another night for them to monitor you. Why are you getting dressed?” she asked concerned.

“I’m good, Angel. I need to get shit sorted out and I can’t do that lying in a damn hospital bed. I feel fine,” I said as I pulled the t-shirt over my head.

I walked over to where she was standing, still close to the door, and cupped her beautiful face in my hands. I tilted her chin up and locked my eyes on hers which were still moist from crying earlier. I wanted to kiss her sweet full lips more than anything in the world, but I didn’t want to push my luck. She was there with me, even though it apparently took me nearly dying to get her there, but I didn’t want to drive her away. Everything felt okay when she was around, it always had. She unknowingly gave me strength through her presence, and despite her flaws, she was still so much better than I could ever be. Since she had been out on her own, life hadn’t been easy for her, and I knew that I had played a part in messing up shit for her. I should’ve been upfront with her about wanting her to move with me to Austin. If I hadn’t been such a fucking pussy, none of that shit with Bentley would’ve ever happened nor anything that happened after. Despite all of that, there she was, by my side when I needed her. My bulletproof angel.

“You promised me everything was gonna be okay before you left the room, and now I’m promising you that I’m fine to leave. I really need to get out of here. Please don’t fight me on this.” My thumb stroked back and forth along her cheek bone, and she nodded apprehensively. I kissed her forehead and then grabbed her hand to pull her out of the room.

A heated confrontation with the charge nurse and thirty minutes later, Scarlett and I were in a taxi heading back to the hotel. She hadn’t said much of anything since we had left the room. There was so much I wanted to ask her, but I wasn’t really sure I wanted to know the answers. Who had called her? How long had she been there? Where was emo-boy? What did he say about her coming? What did this mean for us now? I decided there would be plenty of time for talking later, I was still feeling extremely sluggish, even though I wouldn’t admit it, and judging by the dark circles under her eyes, she looked like she needed some serious rest too. So instead of saying anything, I just held her hand tightly in mine until we reached the Bentley. Worst fucking hotel name ever.

Cruz was sitting with Marcus and Jag at the bar in the lobby when we walked in. As soon as he saw us, I heard him curse and jump off his bar stool as he headed towards us.