Tracks (Rock Bottom) (29 page)

The phone stops ringing after the fifth ring, but then almost immediately starts again. I furrow my brows and look over at it, getting up from the couch and walking towards it.
The caller ID says it’s from an unknown caller, so it’s obviously a telemarketer. And they are seriously calling twice. Gees, how pushy.

I am about to turn and sit back down once the phone stops ringing, but then it again starts, and it’s again from an unknown caller. I pick up the phone and mumble an angry, “Hello?” ready to let
them have a piece of my mind.

“Are you trying to hurt me?” I hear a silky, angry, lovely voice speak into my ear and
shoot directly to my heart.

My heart beat quickens to an unbelievable pace. I can tell he’s waiting for an answer. Should I hang up? I think that’s the best idea but I can’t seem to make my muscles mo
ve to remove the phone from my ear. “Huh?” I say, confused.

“I asked, Dylan,” he purrs, sending another shock through me, “if you are trying to hurt me purposely? Because, bravo baby,
you’re doing a damn fine job.”

I know he’s speaking words but I have to focus to process them. The adrenaline is making my mind race. “Why would I be tryin
g to hurt you?” I say, softly.

“I don’t know,” he continues, in an irate voice. “But the fact that you didn’t take my plane last night and had me and all of my employees driving around the city to find you, only to see a picture of you online this morning landing in Boston in another plane is a
good way to start. And not just any other plane, Dylan, but
his
plane. The pictures really are lovely, real fucking romantic. Him catching you at the end of the stairs. Holding you in his arms. His arm at your back as you climb into his fucking limo.”

I hold my breath. D
id he have me followed? But then why would the pictures be online?

“
How? Pictures?” I stammer out.

“Oh Dylan come on, those reporters were expecting a plane to come in soon that had you and I on it. They didn’t know when
it would come so I’m sure they had people stationed there every minute. But quite a surprise to all of us when you decided to take off with one boyfriend and land with ANOTHER,” he screamed. I snapped back into reality, but before I could speak, he continued.

“And then, Rich sees and hears your little boyfriend
, who I can only assume has been at your house all night, talking to his driver about overnighting ‘jewelry’ to our hotel room. And then you refuse Rich’s help because you want to ‘forget I exist,’” he quotes. I cringe. “So I stand by my initial question. Are you trying to hurt me this badly? Are you trying to get me to fucking kill myself?”

My anger pours over me. “Don’t put that shit on me Jeremy Mason,” I scream. “You were killing y
ourself long before you met me, weren’t you? You put me in danger. You knew I wouldn’t like it but you made no attempt to stop!”

“I CAN’T STOP DYLAN!”
he screams. “You think I want to be a fucking junkie?”

“Yes!” I scream
back. “Because you think it takes your pain away. You think it’s easier to not feel anything. You think you need drugs because it’s the only way you know how to cope with all the bad shit you’ve had to deal with. You didn’t bother to try and get other help.”

“It’s not that simple. You don’t understand. It’s not just that easy.
I don’t do this because I’m a rich boy with too much money and nothing to do with it or because I want to feed into the fucking rock star stereotype. I need them to survive.”

“Then you don’t love me, Jeremy,” I say, choking up. “Because you can’t have both of us in your life. And you’re choosing the heroin over me.
Just like she did. You honestly expect me to practice law and go home to a junkie boyfriend? You expect me to marry you or have children with you while you’re shooting up? So they can walk in and find you dead, too?”

He’s silent. I’m silent. We hang there for a moment before I hear footsteps behind me. I had been so into the fight that Scott must
have gotten out of the shower without me noticing. He crosses the floor and rips the phone out of my hand before I can stop him.

“Hey!” I sc
ream. Scott holds his hand up.

“You need to stop calling here,” he says sternly. I can’t hear what Jeremy mumbles on the other end of the l
ine.

Scott laughs. “I don’t care what you think I am, you pathetic junkie. She doesn’t want you. She doesn’t want to speak to you. And you know what? If you really loved her, or gave any kind of a shit about her, you would want that and respect that. Because you know what a pathetic man you are and you know she deserves better. Don’t ever call here or come near here again, or you’ll have to talk to me, and it won’t be pretty, Mason.” Scott slams the phone down on the receiver.

I find myself furiously angry for a moment at Scott, although I know I shouldn’t be. It probably is for the best, and I really didn’t get anything out of that conversation except hurt and anger. He didn’t say anything I didn’t expect to hear.

Scott puts his arm around my shoulder and hugs me to him. I sigh, saying nothing. He pushes me away after a moment and looks down into my eyes. “Shower?” he offers. I nod. “And, uh,” he continues, “I
should probably get dressed.”

I look down at him and notice he’s only in a towel. My eyes bulge and I giggle a bit. He laughs too. “Awkward,” he says, walking towards my room. “I mean, unless you want me to
just change here…” he loosens his grip on the towel and it falls down his back a bit as he walks away.

I clasp my hand over my eyes and laugh louder. “You idiot,” I say. It
’s nice to smile a little bit.

After he’s safely in my bedroom, I continue into the bathroom and turn the warm water on.
I undress myself and sit at the bottom of the shower, leaning back against the tub. I let the water fall over my body, trying to relax. Thinking back to the phone conversation, I find myself panicking over his words. He wouldn’t really kill himself, would he? I think maybe he was manipulating me but I couldn’t be sure.

Am I over reacting? Should I try to stay with him and help him? Convince him to get help? I know somehow that wouldn’t work. I had heard enough about drugs to know that you can only get off of them once you decide not to use them anymore.
And I guess he is slowly killing himself, in a way. The thought of Jeremy dying, whether or not it was due to me, made my panic level raise uncontrollably. I was borderline hyperventilating. How long would it be until I heard from some disgusting news story that he was found dead? How long before he became just another rock star stereotype? No one would ever really know how special and unlike anyone else he really is. No one but me. And I’d be left having that guilt on me forever. As if I needed that.

“Oh my God,” I say out loud. “He’s going to die,” I say, bursting into hysterical tears. Scott immediately pounds on the door and flings it open before I can answe
r. “Hey, Dylan, what’s wrong?”

I’m crying so ha
rd I can’t answer.

“Um,” he says, reaching in the shower curtain with only his hand, fumbling to turn the water off. He succeeds and reaches over to grab a towel fro
m the door. He hands it to me.

I’m able to grab it and wrap it around me, but it takes a long while. After I stop moving, I guess he assumes I’m decent and opens the curtain. I’m still a hysterically crying mes
s on the floor of the bathtub.

Scott picks me up into his arms.
“God damn him. God damn him for taking such an innocent, smart girl like you and making you feel responsible for his problems.”

He exits the bathroom and lays me down on the bed covering me with my blanket. As soon as I hit the pillow, I’m exhausted,
and start falling into sleep.

The last thing I remember is Scott’s hands stroking my hair.

I wake up to the sound of two men screaming at each other. At first, I think it’s another dream. I slowly open my eyes and look aroun
d in the darkness, realizing its early evening and the sun had just set.

I still hear the screaming and my blood pressure rises as I realize it isn’t a dream. I pull the towel that I’m still wearing tighter around me and run out into the hallway. I round the corner of the kitchen into
the hall by the door and stop.

I see Jeremy, dressed in black, long and beautiful, inches from the face of an infuriated Scott.
My heart leaps and flutters at the sight of him. His face is even glorious when he’s angry. He’s here. He’s come for me. He loves me…

“I’ll be God damned if you see her, Mason!” Scott booms. I see Jeremy’s eyes flicker ov
er towards me. I stare at him.

I see sadness flicker past his eyes, but it fades back into rage. He looks up and down my body. I
understand how this must look, with Scott being here since yesterday and me being in nothing but a towel.

I look down at myself and back up at him. “No,”
I say softly, shaking my head.

Scott looks over to me and back at Jeremy, knowing what I’m implying. “It’s none of his God d
amned business anyway, Dylan.”

“The hell it isn’t!” Jeremy yells, pushing Scott hard. Scott, surprised,
falls backward into my wall roughly, making a dent.

My mouth drops open as Jeremy runs over to the wall where Scott has fallen, fists up. “No
, Jeremy!” I scream in horror.

I see Scott stand before Jeremy reaches him. He grabs Jeremy by the throat, throwing him against the opposite wall and holding him there. “Are you fucking crazy, bro? Are you
?!” Scott screams in his face.

I run over to Scott and grab the
arm holding Jeremy’s neck. “Scott, please, no! Please!” I scream. Jeremy looks over at me, unafraid, a cocky smile on his face. “He won’t hurt me,” Jeremy chokes out.

I hear Jeremy gag as Scott squeezes his throat harder. “The h
ell I won’t,” he says, darkly.

I don’t understand why Jeremy isn’t fighting back. For as tall and lanky as he looks, I would bet money he could beat Scott in a
fight any day. But he’s doing nothing. I stare at Jeremy, and realize with horror how bad he looks. His skin looks grey and the whites of his eyes are almost a shade of yellow. His lips are pale and chapped. I claw harder at Scott. He’s starting to look really bad.

“Dylan, go call the police,” he
instructs.

“Ok
ay!” I scream in desperation. “Just let him go and I’ll call!” I purposely scratch Scott’s hand in an attempt to surprise him into letting go. He winces, but he doesn’t loosen his grip.

“Why are you shaking
, Mason? Scared?” Scott taunts.

Looking down at Jeremy’s hands, I see that they are noticeably trembling. I stop clawing at Scott’
s hand and take a step back, examining Jeremy’s face again. His eyes look far away, and I see the cocky smile leave his face.

“Scott,” I say, terrified. “Scott
, I think something’s really wrong.”

Scott’s anger fades a bit
as he also takes in Jeremy’s changing expression, and he releases his grip on Jeremy’s neck apprehensively. Jeremy leans against the wall as Scott backs away. He doesn’t attempt to move or speak, but his trembling continues.

“Jeremy?
” I ask, stepping towards him.

Suddenly, Jeremy collapses on the floor
, his body making a sickening thud. He starts shaking uncontrollably, like he has no control of his muscles. I scream and fling myself at him, trying to hold him still.

Scott stands back i
n shock. “I didn’t touch him…”

Jeremy continues to shake. “Oh my God!” I scream. Oh God no, this is my worst fear coming t
rue. Please not here, not now!

Scott kneels down beside me. He hands me his cell ph
one. “Call 911.”

Jeremy continues to shake. “I can’t do that. The press…I’ll call Ri
ch and have him bring a doctor.” Jeremy’s shaking subsides, but he lays unconscious on the floor. Scott holds his finger against his throat. “He’s alive,” he says.

I dial the phone with one hand, keeping one of my hands on Jeremy’s face. I stroke his hair, “
It’s okay baby,” I whisper to him.

The phone rings twice before Rich picks up. “Hello?” he says, conf
used by the unfamiliar number.

“Rich!” I almost scream. “Please come to
my house! Bring a doctor!” I beg.

He starts to ask me what’s wrong, but I feel Jeremy start to tremble again. I can
sense it slowly building. “Rich!” I scream, exasperated. “Just get here!”  I toss the phone on the floor.

I feel like I’m going to lose my mind when he starts to have a full seizure again, shaking so hard his body almost lifts off t
he ground. I cry hysterically.

“Sc
ott! Scott what’s happening?!”

Scott holds his legs down, trying to control his shaking. “I don’t know. He’s seizing. I don’t know why. I don’t know how to stop it. Jesus!” he says as Jeremy’s lower body bucks harder.