Cadence (Ruby Riot Book 1) (10 page)

“It’s all right. You’re fine.”

She looks at the bed and at me. “Did I ask you here? What’s happening?” she slurs. When she checks her clothes, my stomach turns over. That’s not me. I don’t do that.

“Don’t you remember what happened?”

She rubs a hand across her face and sinks back again. “No. Really tired, Jax.”

What do I do? I pull my phone out and try several people – Nate, Will, random numbers of tour management that I have. No answer.

Ruby? No, it’s midnight. She’d be pissed off with me; and if Jem smells the drugs from the party, I’m fucked.

Can I leave Tegan and find somebody to help? I grip my hair.
Think.
Shit, I wish I was sober; my brain won’t work. I’ve been around stoned chicks before, some taking similar shit to what I think Tegan’s been given, and they were okay. How did this happen to her? She’s not a naïve kid. Tegan’s travelled and kept herself safe. I stand, ready to leave and find Bryn, until Tegan sits again.

“Jax. What’s going on?”

Fuck, she has no idea. What if I leave Tegan and she stumbles off somewhere?

She attempts to stand and slumps again.

“I’m not sure. I’m going to find somebody to help, Tegan. I don’t know how to help you.”

“No. Don’t go. I don’t know what’s happening.” To my alarm, tears well in her eyes.

“I think your drink was spiked.”

Tegan stares past me then sinks back down and turns to her side, curling up on the sheets, saying nothing. Her breathing deepens as I perch on the edge of the bed and wait for her response.

I want to lie next to Tegan, to hold her and make sure she’s okay. Be there when she wakes up again and look after her. I half-laugh at myself; the idea of Tegan and me in bed wasn’t like this. I stroke Tegan’s long, dark hair from her pale face and kiss her cheek. Suddenly, I understand Bryn’s overwhelming need to protect Tegan. The idea of anything or anybody hurting this girl sickens me.

“I’m going to sort this out,” I whisper. “I’ll be right back.”

I don’t know how I can, but there has to be somebody nearby who’s sober enough to help. I fold the bedding from the other half of the large bed across Tegan and with one final glance, head to the hotel door.

Who else can I call? I uselessly scroll through contacts on my phone as I open Tegan’s door and step out.

A tall figure heads along the hallway from the direction of the elevator and I freeze as he sees me. Bryn stops too and, as if to confirm my guilt, the door to Tegan’s room closes loudly behind me.

Bryn strides closer, his face hard. “What the fuck are you doing coming out of my sister’s room?”

Chapter Twelve

JAX

Oh, shit.

The shock at seeing Bryn hits me as hard as I expect his fist to at any moment. Within seconds, Bryn is in my face and I back toward Tegan’s door, bracing myself for his attack.

“Explain,” he growls, closing the space between us. His breath on my face smells strongly of alcohol, which isn’t going to help the situation.

I hold both palms out in an attempt to stop us touching. “Bryn, listen –”

“Did you just come out of Tegan’s room?”

“Yes, but -”

Air rushes from my lungs as my back slams against Tegan’s door, Bryn’s large hands on my shoulders. “You. Will. Regret. This.”

“Bryn, I –”

“Did you not hear me when I told you my sister was off limits?” he interrupts loudly, his face darkening as he continues to grasp the wrong conclusion.

“Yes, I understand that. Bryn, listen –”

“No! You fucking listen!” His aggression silences my attempt to communicate, subdued by his bulk and anger. “I am so fucking close to punching you right now so you’d better give me the right answer here. Have you fuc…” He tightens his grip. “Have you had sex with my sister?”

“What? No!”

Bryn’s grip remains on my shoulders. “Then why are you sneaking out of her room? And where is she? Have you left her in tears because you couldn’t get what you wanted?”

“No! I haven’t! We haven’t! That’s not what happened!”

“So
something
happened?”

“What the fuck is going on out here?” yells another voice.

I look past Bryn along the hallway where a shirtless Jem stands in the doorway of a nearby suite. Bryn twists his head around too; I take advantage of Bryn’s distraction and pull away from his hands.

Or try to.
Without looking at me, Bryn curls his hands around my shirt, holding me in place against the door.

Jem storms across, barefoot. “What the hell, guys?" He looks between us. “Bryn?”

“Caught this dickhead sneaking out of Tegan’s room,” he growls. “Nobody treats my sister like that!”

“Jem, listen to me! Bryn won’t!” I say, grabbing Bryn’s hand before his grip on my shirt tightens the material around my throat any further. “I haven’t done anything with Tegan, apart from help her into bed.”

Bryn yanks me forward, nose centimetres away from mine. “You did
what
?”

“No, not like that!” This would be much easier if I was sober.

“What then?” snarls Bryn “I swear, I’m going to rearrange your pretty boy face if you’ve so much as touched her.”

Jem puts a hand on Bryn’s arm. “Bryn. Let him explain. Smacking him won’t solve anything, fuck knows you’ve told me that enough times.”

The two men stare at each other and Bryn’s continued heavy breathing and tight grasp worry me. This guy is beyond pissed off, I’m lucky he didn’t hit first and ask questions later.

“Just bloody listen to me!” I pull at Bryn’s arm. “Tegan isn’t well! She needed help and I stepped in. I haven’t done anything I left her in there, so I could look for you!”

Bryn slowly loosens his hand and I step to one side, re-adjusting my shirt. The anger in Bryn’s eyes doesn’t drop with his hand. “What do you mean she isn’t well? Drunk?”

“No, I think it might be drugs and…”

“What the fuck? Stupid girl! Let me in that room!” Bryn grabs the keycard from my hand and shoves me to one side; I stumble, relieved the threat of violence has gone.

Jem steps closer and studies my face. “What’s going on, Jax? Have you just screwed Bryn’s sister? I didn’t think you were that stupid!”

“No. I’m
not
that fucking stupid.” I rake my fringe from my face. “Jem. Talk to him. I think somebody drugged Tegan.”

Jem stiffens. “What the fuck?”

I stammer out what happened in the few minutes before Bryn arrived on the scene. With a black look and not another word, Jem follows Bryn into the room. I’m desperate to follow too and see if Tegan’s all right; but I’m terrified, I’ll get the blame. Even if they believe I didn’t screw her, the fact I’m drunk and stink of the drugs others were smoking won’t help my credibility.

Resting against the wall in the hallway, I close my eyes and wish to hell I was sober and none of this shit happened.

A door clicks closed nearby and I open an eye. Ruby walks over, dressed in loose grey pyjama pants and a black tank top printed with a picture of a pink sugar skull. Face free of make-up, her softened features are tired. “Tell me what the fuck is going on, Jaxon. I’m trying to sleep.”

How many people are going to ask that question and not wait for my answer?

“Tegan isn’t well. I took her back to her room. Sort of.” I wave my hand uselessly at the open door.

“So why the fucking drama? What did you do to her?”

“Wanna hear the story or will you just ignore me too? Bryn and Jem are.”

Ruby tips her head, a strand of scarlet hair falling into her face. “Jesus, you’re drunk too. I’ll listen but if you’ve done anything to that girl, don’t expect me to help you.”

Barely halfway through my story and Ruby grabs my hand, yanking me after her into the hotel room.

“So you ask me to check her over because I’m the local fucking addict?” Jem’s angry voice carries from the bedroom toward Ruby and me.

“No! I just need to know she’s okay!” retorts Bryn, loudly.

I hang in the bedroom doorway and watch proceedings. Tegan sleeps through the commotion around her; she hasn’t moved position since I walked away. Bryn sits on the bed next to her watching while Jem studies her face.

Jem steps away and crosses his arms tightly over his chest. “What do you expect me to do?” he asks Bryn.

“I dunno! When Dylan OD’d you knew what to do!”

When Jem doesn’t reply or move, regarding Bryn with a tight mouth, Ruby crosses and touches Jem’s arm. “We should go. You seeing Tegan like this isn’t a good idea.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but don’t say anything,” says Jem in a low voice. “This is totally different.”

Oh, crap. The situation in front of Jem – unconscious girl and drugs involved – would be an uncomfortable reminder of Liv, the girlfriend he found dead from an overdose in their hotel room just over a year ago.

“Shit, Jem. She’s right. I didn’t think.” Bryn gently pulls hair away from Tegan’s face. “We’ll deal with this.”

Tegan mumbles and shifts position with a loud sigh. Jem glances at her. “If I thought this was like… the other time I’d be straight on the phone calling an ambulance. She’s not OD’d. Tegan’s out of it, but she’s fine as far as I can tell. Up to you if you want to call one.”

Bryn drags a palm down his face. “Shit. I want to. If we can’t wake her, I will.”

What a fucking mess. I back against the wall as Bryn attempts to rouse his sister, heart thumping, but scared more for Tegan than myself. What if leaving her was the wrong thing to do? Should I have called an ambulance? My shoulders sink in relief when I hear Tegan’s mumbling voice.

“Right, a doctor instead,” says Bryn. “Someone contact Steve or Tina or whoever and get hold of one. If we go straight to the hotel staff and ask, the press will probably be tipped off, and that’s not what we need. Then if the doctor says she needs to go to hospital, we’ll take her.”

“I’ll do it.” Jem walks away, not looking back at Tegan.

Ruby follows Jem, and pauses as she passes me. “Do you know what she’s taken?”

“Not sure. Nothing voluntarily, I think her drink was spiked, like I said.”

“Yeah, that shit is bad. She’ll feel like crap tomorrow. “

“How do you know? Have you…?”

Ruby’s face is impassive. “Yeah. It happened to me. I lived with a controlling psycho remember? I have memory blanks from some nights and after a while, I figured out why.” Her voice is low as she glances after Jem. “Depends what he used on Tegan. Do you know who did this?”

I can’t move past the kick in the gut from Ruby telling me this happened to her.

“Stop looking at me like that, Jax. I’m fine. She isn’t.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the guy taking her back to the room – Tomas, he’s with an ad agency that did some promo for the tour. But unless somebody saw him do it, there’s nothing to prove it was him, is there?”

“Yeah, I bet he made himself scarce too.”

I slump against the wall again. “I’m glad I found her before…” His smug face flashes across my mind. “I should have fucking punched him harder!”

“Everything’s going to be okay, Jax.” Ruby folds her small hand around mine. “She’ll be fine.”

But the same words run through my head every time I glance at Tegan’s vulnerable figure on the bed:
this is my fault.

Chapter Thirteen

TEGAN

The nausea hits before I manage to open my eyes and I attempt to sit. I need to move to the bathroom. My limbs have other ideas, so I lie back down and stare at the unfamiliar ceiling, focusing on holding down my stomach contents. Along with a pounding head, my mouth and stomach ache as if I already threw up. Before I have the chance to catch up to where I am, I’m aware of a body beside me on the large bed. Panicking, I attempt to sit again and when I turn my head, I see Bryn’s sleeping figure on top of the white sheets next to me.

What the hell am I doing in bed with my brother? The last time that happened, I was ten. He’s sleeping, so I shove him. “Bryn.”

Bryn springs awake and pulls himself upright, bleary eyes wide. “Tegan. Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“Like shit.” The cotton sheet is soft against my skin; only the bedclothes, a bra, and panties are between my modesty and me. “I hope you undressed me, if I didn’t take my clothes off. I mean… no, I don’t. Crap, you know what I mean…”

“You were sick all over your clothes.”

I pull the sheet to my neck. “Shit. Really? I didn’t drink that much. I think. I can’t remember past talking to you at the party downstairs.”

Bryn hauls himself off the bed and sits next to me instead. “Jax said he thought your drink was spiked.”

“Jax?”

“Yeah, your bloody hero. He found some guy dragging you back to your room, apparently. Don’t you remember?”

What the hell?

“No. Shit, Bryn…” I fight the tears, worried about what else my memory blanks could hold. “When Jax found me was I… had this guy I was with…”

“You were fine, just unconscious. The guy hadn’t touched you.”

I curl up on the bed. “I don’t think my drink was spiked. I probably started drinking spirits or something, got wasted and he took advantage.” I swallow the nausea back down. “I’m always careful, never accept drinks off people, or leave my drink lying around.”

“Why would Jax say this then?”

“I don’t know. I doubt Jax was paying that much attention to me.”

“Fucking pains me to say this, but I’m glad he was paying attention to you.” Bryn climbs off the bed.

I can’t talk about this, I don’t believe Bryn’s words; but whatever happened, it sounds like I have Jax to thank for helping me. “Can you bring me some water, please?”

Bryn heads to the kitchen area and I pull the sheet tight around me. No. No way was I drugged. I can’t remember; but I must’ve got carried away and drank too much.

Bryn returns with the glass of water and I drink in large gulps. “A doctor checked you over. Do you remember?”

I shake my head.

“He said you were fine, but to keep an eye on you, so I stayed here. I presumed you were okay once you started snoring and stopped throwing up everywhere.” 

“Sorry,” I mumble. “I’ll lay off the drink.”

“We should maybe have you checked out. Ruby says you can find traces of drugs up to a few hours later. If we know, we can contact the police and –”

“No! Leave it. I wasn’t drugged. And even if I was, what then? Who by? What proof?” Bryn purses his lips. “What’s the point in creating a story for the media to distort when nothing can come of it? We’re leaving this afternoon, let’s just forget about it.”

No way am I making problems for the tour. I’ll be out on my ass. They’re all over-reacting.

“Tegan.” Bryn’s pout switches to a hard look. “I’m not happy about this. Somebody should be held accountable.”

“Yes, me. I’m accountable. I’m not exactly overjoyed by the situation either, but I want to forget about it.” I drag the sheet over my face. “Most of all, I want to sleep. I feel like crap.”

Bryn starts a lecture about why I should do as he says; how he’s going to get hold of the person involved, and what he’s going to do to him. Ignoring Bryn, I drift off to sleep.

****

A sour-faced Bryn watches Tina walk away from our meeting in the hotel cafe. Luckily, for me, Tina agrees that we shouldn’t contact the police. I’m sticking to my story this was alcohol because I refuse to believe otherwise. Alcohol is as good a date rape drug as any; what’s to say it wasn’t booze that Tomas plied me with? And he didn’t assault me, so there’s nothing we can do. Scenarios of what could’ve happened keep intruding into my mind. I have a friend who was date raped and she was understandably a mess for a long time after. That’s why I’m so bloody careful. Along with the disturbing thoughts comes relief that Jax was interested enough to keep an eye on me at a party full of distractions.

I need to talk to him.

Mid-afternoon and I’m still shaky; my head feels stuffed with cotton wool. I’m unable to hold as lucid a conversation as I’d like. Bryn tried pointing out my symptoms are worse than a normal hangover, but I could see the PR machine whirring in Tina’s eyes. At that point, I embellished my story to say I’d drank a lot of vodka. Who’s going to know otherwise?

“I don’t fucking believe this,” Bryn mutters as Tina’s heels click across the tiled floor.

I place a hand on his leg aware that if he wanted to, Bryn could pull out the big guns and tell Tina to do exactly what he wants. This topic needs closing before he broods on it any further, and I’m coerced into doing something I don’t want.

“What time’s the flight to Madrid?” I ask.

He throws an empty sugar packet across the table. “Four. You have an hour and we’re leaving the hotel.”

“Right.” God, I hope there’s no turbulence on the way to Spain.

“But maybe you should go home to Wales.”

“No! Bryn, don’t start that!”

“Two days and you’re already in trouble!” He shifts his leg away from my hand.

“This situation isn’t likely to happen again, is it?”

“How do you know?”

I turn to face him, give him my best pleading look. “I’ll stay away from parties, do my own thing.”

He snorts. “Yeah, right.”

“Bryn, please. I know I screwed up but from now on, I’ll be extra careful.”

He stares ahead, and I play with my coffee cup as I wait for the silence between us to thicken into an argument.

“Do you know how hard that was for me?” he asks quietly. “Seeing you unconscious, thinking you’d OD’d? My little sister almost assaulted because she put herself in a stupid situation.”

I bite back a retort, but he’s right. Somehow, I did and my immaturity shone through for him; arguing with Bryn will reinforce this. “A one off. Slip up. Another chance, Bryn. If I cause problems again, I’ll agree to leave.”

He turns to me, and instead of anger in his eyes, concern marks his tired face. “I’m not upset because you caused problems, Tegan. I’m upset because you were nearly hurt and the reason why. This happened because you’re in this fucked up environment I exist in, and you don’t belong here.”

“And I have people looking out for me,” I whisper and touch his hand.

“Yeah, although some probably have ulterior motives.” He scowls.

Jax. Don’t go there. I rest my head on Bryn’s broad shoulder. “Please? Can I stay?”

“Stop that,” he replies, but a smile flickers across his lips, a return to the Tegan and Bryn we’ve always been. “I won’t be wrapped around your little finger anymore. This is serious.”

“Sure you won’t.” I poke his side and he flinches. “I’ll finish my coffee while you think about it.”

Bryn sighs and stands; my big brother’s hurting because he failed to protect me and doesn’t understand that’s not his job anymore. If I thought staying on tour would cause him more upset, I’d go; but the selfish part of me is determined to stay. I smile encouragingly.

“Bloody hell, Tegan. Come to Madrid, but if anything else happens, you’re out.” I grin but the smile disappears when he adds, “And that includes hooking up with anybody who’s part of the tour.”

He raises a brow in challenge. Nicely played, Bryn, because it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out who he means.