Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
She and Dragon have zilch in common.
He and Jesse have more in common, at least. They’re both musicians. But Jesse is a vocalist and a guitarist, and Dragon is a percussionist.
Quite different, but Jesse thought enough of Dragon to bring him into his band and name it after him.
Although admittedly, Dragon Locke is a very cool name, and it makes a cool band name.
Maddie and I have been taking turns sitting in Dragon’s room with him. He was moved from the accident and emergency department to a ward. Apparently his condition wasn’t bad enough to merit a private room. Things are different here.
During my time off from sitting with him, I’ve walked around the hospital so many times that I now have the place memorized. In the cafeteria, I discovered digestive biscuits—whole wheat cookies with a thin coating of chocolate. They’re surprisingly good.
The fact that Emerald Phoenix loaned Dragonlock their backup drummer helps ease the load of guilt I’m carrying, but I still feel like Jesse will be blaming me for the fact that he wasn’t with Dragon last night. He could barely look at me when we were in Jett’s suite.
I walk back to the room, and Maddie shrieks. “Thank God you’re back, Bree. I think he’s waking up.”
Sure enough, Dragon’s eyelids are fluttering.
What’s he going to think when he sees the two of us? And not Jesse?
“Dragon,” Maddie says. “It’s me. Maddie. Jesse’s sister.”
He turns toward the sound of Maddie’s voice. “Jess?” he croaks out.
“Jesse’s back at the hotel. Brianna and I are here. You know. Brianna Steel.”
“What… Where…”
“You’re in the hospital, Dragon.” Maddie opens her mouth to keep talking but then closes it.
Yeah, probably best not to spout out all the details until he’s a little more conscious.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
What a dumb question. He’s probably feeling like crap.
“I don’t…”
“It’s okay,” Maddie says. “You don’t have to talk. But good news, the concert—”
He jerks upward in bed and then winces in pain.
“Dragon—” Maddie says.
“Concert. I’ve got to get to the concert.”
“No, you can’t.” Maddie tries to calm him. “They got a backup drummer. Everything’s fine. The concert is going on. All you need to do is get better.”
“I don’t understand. What happened?” He falls back down on the bed.
“Relax. Everything’s going to be fine.” I walk out of the ward and find a nurse. “Excuse me. Mr. Locke has woken up.”
She nods. “Someone will be in right away.”
I return, and Maddie is patting Dragon’s hand. “I promise. It’s okay. Jesse would be here if he could, but he has to prepare for the concert.”
Dragon’s eyes are closed again.
“Did he fall back asleep?” I ask.
“I don’t think so.” Maddie tilts her head. “Maybe he did. It’s probably best for him.”
“All right, what do we have here?” A nurse walks toward us, picks up Dragon’s chart.
“He woke up for a few minutes,” I say.
“Yeah, he was kind of agitated,” Maddie says.
The nurse touches his shoulder. “Mr. Locke? Are you awake?”
His eyes slide open. “What happened?”
“You ingested a large amount of fentanyl last night,” she says. “You’re lucky to be alive, Mr. Locke.”
His eyes widen. “I didn’t… I would never…”
“It’s okay, Dragon,” Maddie says. “We think you were probably drugged by those two women.”
“What two women?”
The nurse grabs a pen and flips through some papers on a clipboard. “What’s the last thing you remember, Mr. Locke?”
Dragon closes his eyes and winces. “Oh yeah. Two women. We got into the limo. But there were four of them, and Jesse…”
Jesse? My neck prickles.
“I don’t remember getting back to the hotel.”
“Retroactive amnesia,” the nurse says. “It’s common in instances like this. His toxicology results show fentanyl and Rohypnol.”
“You mean roofies?” I ask. “The date rape drug?”
“Yes. Rohypnol, which is probably what’s causing the retroactive amnesia. But if that were the only thing he ingested, he would’ve been just fine. It was the fentanyl he overdosed on.”
“Someone fucking drugged me?” Dragon asks, his voice no more than a whisper.
“If you’re sure you didn’t ingest it yourself, then yes, someone drugged you. But Mr. Locke, if you have no memory of the time, you could’ve ingested it yourself.”
“What does it matter?” Maddie asks. “One way or another, he’s going to be okay.”
The nurse smiles. “Yes. He’s going to be okay. But the person who filled out your paperwork last night—a Mr. Jesse Pike—indicated that you are an addict.”
Dragon closes his eyes. “Yes,” he says softly.
“So you will be detoxing. The next few days will be hard on you. You can either stay here in the hospital, or you can go home.”
“Home? You mean back to the US?”
The nurse shakes her head. “We don’t really recommend you traveling for the next few days. We can give you some methadone, which may ease your detox symptoms. And then, of course, you know the drill. You stay away from the stuff.”