“What?”

“You were just right fucking here a second ago. Don’t duck out now. I’m gonna hold you to it, Tales.”

It gets really noisy and confusing when we go through the emergency entrance. Finn and River carry Memphis, and Billy is bleeding, too.

“Bar fight?” The ER nurse laughs.

“Excuse me, miss, but it’s really not funny,” Madison cries. “Not fucking funny at all!”

“Get her the hell out of here,” Memphis says as his eyes roll slightly.

“Come on, Madison; let’s go call your folks.”

She wraps her arms around my waist and cries as we walk out the way we came in.

“Want me to call—?”

“No,” she cries. “He has to be okay. He just has to be.”

“I know, and he will be,” I say, hugging her tightly.

I lead her to the bench to the right of the entrance, and we sit.

“No, he won’t be.”

“He will, dammit!” She looks up at me, surprised. “Sorry.”

“I know. I know! Tally, our parents—”

“I’ll call them.” I look for the car since my bag is in it.

“No, that’s just the thing. They aren’t okay. They split up six months ago. Dad came to see me at school during one of his trips. He stayed at a hotel. I … Well, I went to surprise him, and he wasn’t alone.”

“Your mom was …” I stop when I see her lip quiver, and she shakes her head. “Oh! Oh, Madison. Why haven’t you talked to me?”

“I haven’t told anyone,” she cries. “God, what a mess. What a fucking mess.”

Her face is in her hands, and she is trembling from her silent sobs. I place my hands on her leg.

“How did your mom take it?”

She shakes her head. “I couldn’t … I couldn’t tell her.”

My heart breaks for her. “You’ve gone through this alone?”

“I couldn’t tell Memphis. Dad told me I couldn’t, or I would fuck things up for him.”

“He put that on you?” She nods. “What an asshole.”

She smiles and wipes away her tears. “You have a Black mouth.”

“A what?” I wipe my face.

“Like a potty mouth, but worse.” She smiles, and I squeeze her in a hug again.

“How come you didn’t talk to me?”

“You lost your father, and I want mine dead half the time, Tales. I just couldn’t.”

“I understand.” I hug her more tightly. “Don’t do it again, or I’ll cut you.” I smile, repeating what she says to Memphis all the time.

“What’s up with you and my brother?” she asks, pulling free from my bear hug.

“What do you mean?” I look away for a moment, hoping she won’t see the lie on my face.

“Tales, if he hurts you…” She grabs my hand.

“Madison, it’s flirting,” I tell her, looking back at her.

She gives me the uh-huh look. “Talk to me when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready for you to call your parents and then go back in and check on Memphis,” I say, standing up from the bench we sat on.

“And Billy.”

“Talk to me about that when you’re ready.” I smile, taking her hand. “Let’s go get our purses from the car.”

When we walk in, Finn looks up and says loudly, “Come on.” The nurse gives him a look. “They’re his sisters.”

“And you’re all his brothers,” she says, obviously not believing him.

“That’s what he told you, isn’t it?”

She shakes her head. “Go on in.”

When we walk in, I can immediately tell Memphis has been given something for the pain. His eyes are not vibrant and showy like they always are. His arm is bandaged from the fingertips to all the way up past his elbow.

“You okay?” Madison asks quietly.

“No, I’m not fucking okay, Mads,” he slurs. “They think I have nerve damage. I have to have surg—”

“Ery,” River finishes for him.

Memphis covers his face, saying nothing.

“He is worried about the tour,” River whispers, none too quietly.

“I’m a fucking guitarist,” he mumbles. “I play fucking guitar.”

The room falls quiet.

“And you sing, Memphis,” I say, trying to give him some hope.

“Yeah, now we have to find another guitarist. Fucking bullshit.”

“You’ll be okay, Memphis. You’ll see.” Madison’s voice cracks.

“And how the hell do you know that? You a doctor, Mads? Or you just going to college to do him or him?”

“Memphis,” I gasp.

“It’s my best diddling hand, Tales, so you may want to rethink the groupie thing, sweet cheeks.”

I feel my face burst into flames as he looks out from under his arm.

“Still got my lap, though. You can still get yourself—”

I turn and walk out. I walk out of the room, out of the ER, and outside.

“Wait up.” I turn back to see River running behind me. “Tally, he’s all fucked up on morphine. He is a mess. He’s going on tour in just a couple months, and there is no way in hell he’s gonna recover that quickly.”

“He could,” I say, rather forcefully for me.

“No.” He runs his hands through his hair. “Pretty sure the doctor said, ‘There is no fucking way, young man’.” He smiles sadly and looks down. “He is going into surgery in about fifteen minutes. He has you and Madison, who by the way, is a train wreck of epic proportions, and that’s coming from me, the cause of most train wrecks of epic proportions. Fuck!” he roars suddenly. “Look, you are, like, the most normal person in his life who’s here; go tell him the bullshit about him being okay.”

“He won’t believe me,” I argue.

“He’ll want to. Fuck, tell him, if he pulls through, you’ll give him dome or some shit.”

“What?” I honestly have no clue what dome is.

“You have two point two seconds before I claim fucked up on drugs when I get arrested for throwing you over my shoulder and marching POW! back in that hospital.”

“What?” The word doesn’t even leave my mouth before he has me up and over his shoulder, walking toward the ER entrance. “I’ll scream,” I threaten.

“Like I said, I’m fucked up and will get off; trust me, Tales. I’ve been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt.”

“River, put her down, for fuck’s sake,” I hear Finn’s voice before I get dropped on my feet.

“He needs you. Pull your shit together, stop acting holier-than-thou, and man the fuck up,” River says as Finn takes my hand and leads me back in. No sense in fighting; he’s a damn house.

He stops in front of his room and releases my hand. “Madison is making a phone call. You do whatever you gotta do in there, understand?”

“I don’t like you very much right now; do you understand me?” I ask, straightening my skirt and trying to push my mess of a hair-do back in place.

“Don’t give one fuck, let alone two. Now go,” he says in a harsh whisper as he opens the door.

I turn to walk in and feel a sharp smack to my backside, and I turn around to see River.

“POW!” he whispers.

I would rather take my chances with the crude and rude Memphis than that motley crew.

Memphis gives a slight huff. “You came back.”

“Yeah, well,” I say as I walk toward him, “I just needed a break from tonight, you know? And, well, your band mates don’t seem to get that.”

“You left because I was a dick. That’s what Madison told me, anyway. But I need you to do me a favor.”

I sit down next to him and look into his drugged and hopeless eyes.

“Your dream of being with a rock star, that shit’s not gonna happen here, girl, so you’re off the hook.”

“Off the hook for …?”

“Me banging you into oblivion.”

“Memphis?”

“Seriously, you can walk. You deserve something better than a twenty-three-year-old coffee jockey.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll be serving coffee again soon.”

“You’ll be singing onstage while you heal and melting panties in the process.”

“I’m all fucked up on pain meds, and I’m chubbing up, Tales. They should bottle you up and sell you to those poor fucks who can’t get it up.”

“They could replace that pink pill with your voice, Memphis.”

“Ooo, she’s good,” he says, looking up.

“He’s amazing,” I say, looking at him.

“If I ever hurt you, cut my dick off.”