Kaylee got on the bus an hour later, sad to be leaving the comfort of the hotel room, but glad to be back on the road. It was one stop closer to the end of the tour, when she could go back to her own house, and back to her own bed. She loved to travel and tour with the band, but it was all getting to her, and she would be glad when it ended this time.
She sat on the couch of the bus, reading one of her favorite steamy novels, when Brandon came up the stairs.
"There you are. You left without saying goodbye this morning." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I got worried when you weren't there when I woke up."
'What are you, a fucking girl? ' Kaylee wanted to ask. The snippy side of her had come out with a vengeance. Instead, she settled for something more civil.
"Sorry, I had stuff to do." Yes, the lack of sleep was definitely making her cranky.
"That's okay, at least we can be together now." He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "What're you doing?"
'What the fuck does it look like? '
"I'm reading," Kaylee told him with a roll of her eyes.
"Good book?" he asked.
'No, I love wasting my time reading trash, dip shit! '
"Yup, one of my favorites," she answered, frustration evident in her voice.
"What's it about?"
"Brandon!"
'For the love of all things holy, leave me alone! '
"What?" he asked, not getting any hints at all.
"Please, you can stay here, but I need some peace and quiet. I just want to read for a little while. There are magazines over there if you want something to keep you busy."
She knew she was being mean, but she just couldn't help it. She knew that Brandon had good intentions, but at the moment, good intentions really didn't matter much. She felt like a she had used him, like Ashton would use one of his women for a one-night stand, and then walk away. The thought made her feel even more down, and that made her dislike Brandon even more.
"Sorry." He got up and found a magazine to read, then returned to his spot next to her and put his arm back around her. He flipped the pages of the magazine with one hand, not really paying attention to what was on the pages he was reading.
A few chapters later, the rest of the guys came on the bus. "Okay, everyone's here. Let's head out," Jayden told the driver.
Ashton looked at Kaylee and Brandon, then gave a short laugh, shaking his head. He and Jayden went to the back of the bus to play a video game, while Noah and Colton joined Kaylee and Brandon up front.
No one really talked much; it seemed like everyone was in the mood for a relaxing ride. Brandon kept his position for hours, sitting next to Kaylee with his arm around her shoulders or his hand on her knee, except for the times that he got up to get a drink or something to eat.
As darkness fell, Kaylee put her book away. It was getting too hard to see, even with the overhead lights turned on. The four of them were talking and joking around, slowly bringing Kaylee out of her bad mood. The only thing still annoying Kaylee was the way that Brandon wouldn't leave her side. Even worse, as he sat there, he kept stroking her hair, as if he were petting a puppy.
She'd finally had enough of all the petting, and got up to make some dinner. She knew that she should be grateful that he cared about her so much, but instead she found it annoying. Her attention was focused on the chicken that she was cutting up, trying to be extra careful with the knife, since the road was becoming increasingly bumpy. That's when it happened.
There was a loud thud and a sharp screeching sound. She felt the bus skidding, as if in slow motion. The knife fell from her hand, pulled away by the force. Kaylee was suddenly thrown across the bus. It felt as though the world moved in slow motion, like she was watching a movie instead of being in the middle of a real-life crisis.
Kaylee's head slammed against the back of the bench at the kitchen table. Her world went dark. She didn't feel the force of the blow, and she didn't feel anything as her body slammed into the floor. She didn't see the rest of the band being thrown around like playthings in a child's toy box.
The bus was tilted, still swaying, but it seemed to have stopped. The world was off-kilter. It all happened so fast, no one knew what had happened.
Colton was the first to come to his senses. He crawled to the other side of the bus, the side that was up in the air, and pushed out the emergency window.
He reached his hand out to help Noah. Noah stood slowly, unable to put any weight on his right leg. He hissed in a tortured breath and bit his lip hard, looking up at Colton with stunned eyes. Once Noah was on the right side of the bus, Colton climbed out of the window and pulled Noah out. The driver of the bus had crawled out of his window and helped to catch Noah on the ground.
Colton looked around. What he saw made his heart jump into his throat.
"Come on, you guys need to get out of there," Colton yelled back into the bus, his voice a bright edge of panic.
Brandon looked down to where Kaylee lay on the floor. "Kaylee, come on we need to get out of here." Kaylee didn't answer him, and she didn't move. "Kaylee!"
Brandon looked to the back of the bus and saw Jayden and Ashton slowly crawling to the front, trying not to make any sudden movements. Without any hesitation, Brandon carefully moved to the other side of the bus and jumped up out the window.
Ashton shook his head, the blood pouring from the gash on his forehead. The bus shifted again, teetering even further on its side. He saw Kaylee's lifeless body slide across the linoleum floor and slam into the other wall. The impact jolted the bus and made it rock ominously.
"We need to get out of here now," Ashton said in almost a whisper, as though speaking too much would tip things in the wrong direction. "Crawl up to the window and get out. Don't make any sudden movements. I'm going to get Kaylee and lift her up to you. Then I'll crawl out. Got it?"
Jayden could hear the fear in Ashton's voice, and he understood exactly how he felt. One false move and the three of them could instantly lose their lives. He crawled as quickly and as safely as he could to the window, then pulled himself up and out.
Once Jayden was out, Ashton crawled to Kaylee. He used every last ounce of strength he had and ignored the pain as he picked Kaylee's limp body up from the floor and made his way to the window. Colton grabbed Ashton, and Jayden grabbed Kaylee.
Jayden carefully lowered her limp body, then settled her in his arms and took off at a dead run, getting away from the bus. Ashton pulled himself over the ledge of the window as the bus began to creak.
One of the men hollered in a voice filled with panic: "Run, Ashton! Run, dammit!"
Ashton ran. Behind him, the bus teetered again and the tree that was holding it up finally cracked. The sound was immense, terrifying, solid, a noise that filled the whole world. The shock of it brought screams of terror from the collection of injured and terrified men, even though they were already in the clear. Both the tree and the bus crashed into the ravine, 500 feet below.
Jayden had dropped to the ground beside Kaylee. He had both his hands on her face, speaking to her, trying to make her wake up. Ashton scrambled to her side and grabbed her hand, felt for her pulse, and nearly cried when he found it. She was alive, and at that point, it was better than nothing.
People from the other bus poured out and helped in whatever way they could. Cars stopped, some just to look and ogle at someone else's misfortune, but others rushed to help. One of them knelt beside Kaylee and said she was a nurse.
"Keep her head still," the woman ordered, and put expert hands on Kaylee's shoulders. "She has a serious injury. Don't move her."
Someone had already called an ambulance, and help was on its way.
"What the hell happened?" Colton asked the bus driver.
"I don't know. There were so many potholes in the road. I don't know if we were getting bumped around too much, or if we blew a tire. But when we got to the bend in the road, we just couldn't make the turn. If that tree hadn't been there, we'd have t
umbled right down the ravine. None of us would have had a chance."
The driver was in near hysterics. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. He stumbled away from Colton, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared down the ravine.
The paramedics finally arrived and went to Kaylee first. She seemed to be the worst of all of them. They got her on the gurney and took her vitals as other emergency staff spread out and looked at everyone else. One was examining the gash on Ashton's forehead, not even paying attention to the bone nearly sticking out of his arm. Ashton looked over and saw Kaylee being rolled into the back of the ambulance. He pushed away and ran over to the unit that held Kaylee.
"You can't ride here," one of the paramedics said. The other one was too busy doing something to Kaylee to even look up. "You need an ambulance of your own, son."
Ashton stared at him. He couldn't ride with Kaylee? How could that be? "She needs me," he insisted, the tears in his eyes finally threatening to fall. "She trusts me, she needs me, and I need her. Please," he said, ready to beg if necessary.
The paramedic looked at his head, then at his arm, and relented. "Sit here and don't touch anything, not even her," he ordered, and Ashton blundered out a long thank-you as he climbed into the back. He stared at Kaylee all the way to the hospital, not even noticing his own injuries. It was the longest ten minutes of his life.
When they got to the emergency room, the paramedics wheeled Kaylee into the trauma room, and pushed Ashton out when he tried to follow them. He tried to insist until a nurse grabbed his good arm in a death grip.
"You come with me, right now," she ordered, and there was no arguing with that voice. Over the next hour, his arm was x-rayed and set. They cleaned and stitched the wound in his head, gave him painkillers that dulled everything, then told him he could wait in the waiting room.
Ashton still hadn't seen any of his band mates or doctors who could answer his questions about Kaylee. He had never felt so alone or afraid as he did as he sat in the waiting room. He wanted to rush into each room and look for her, demand to see her, but he didn't know where to start.
He thought he was seeing things when Noah hobbled out of an exam room on crutches. A large white cast adorned his right leg, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain.
"Have you heard anything?" he asked of his sister.
"No. No one will tell me anything. She was still breathing on the way here though," Ashton told him. He needed to cling to the hope that she would be okay, because hope was all he had.
A few minutes later Colton, Jayden, and Brandon came limping in, along with Cody and Jayden. The moment Ashton saw Brandon, the fury was beyond anything he had ever known, ever, in all his life. Seeing Brandon in the hospital, healthy and fine, sent Ashton into a rage that would have terrified him, had he been in any different state of mind.
He was on Brandon in a flash, pushing him against the wall, holding his cast against Brandon's throat, ignoring the throbbing pain shooting through his broken arm.
"Some man you are!" Ashton spit out through clenched teeth. "Whenever she needs you, all you do is run away with your tail between your legs. What if I hadn't gotten to her in time? We could have lost her, because you're a fucking pussy. Right now, she's in that room, possibly fighting for her life!"
Tears pooled in Ashton's eyes. He was screaming right into Brandon's face, not caring that everyone in the hospital could hear, not giving a damn that security was probably on their way right now.
"But all that matters is that you got out, right? You make me sick . You will get your shit off the bus and get out of here. You are no longer welcome on our tour. Stay away from me, stay away from the guys, and definitely stay the fuck away from Kaylee. She could have died!"
Ashton finally started to cry. The tears burned as they slid down his face. "Do you understand me? She could have died!"
Cody finally managed to pull Ashton off Brandon as he completely broke down. Security had just arrived, and they took one look at the situation and backed away - there was no more threat here. Ashton collapsed on the floor, crying harder than he had ever cried in his life. Cody wrapped his arms around him, rocking him like a baby, while he glared up at Brandon with crystal-clear hate in his eyes.
Jayden turned to Brandon, who stood there like a statue with no emotion on his face. Jayden didn't trust himself to speak. He jerked his head to the door, giving Brandon a sign that it was time for him to go.
Brandon left again, this time like a beaten man, with his tail between his legs.
The doctor walked out of the trauma room and was immediately swarmed by the group in the waiting room. "How is she?" Noah asked. Ashton looked up, his eyes pleading for good news.
"Are you her next of kin?" the doctor asked, and Noah's breath stopped as he tried to get the words out.
"Yes," he whispered. "I'm her brother."
The doctor smiled and nodded, and suddenly Noah could breathe again.
"Ms. Miles has some serious head trauma, a broken shoulder, and a couple of deep lacerations. At this time, she's stable, but we aren't sure if there is any permanent damage done. We won't know anything until she wakes up. The next forty-eight hours are very crucial," the doctor explained.
"Can I see her? I need to see her."
"She's being moved to a private room right now. You'll be able to see her soon."
Ashton let out the breath that he had been holding. All he wanted was for her to be okay. If she wanted to hate him for the rest of her life, then he could handle that, just as long as she was alive.
The doctor rushed out, and the men sat staring at each other, no one knowing quite what to say. What could they say? They were all thinking the same thing: That they were lucky to be alive, and that she had to make it through, just like they did. There was no other option. She simply had to be okay.
Noah and Ashton stayed in the hospital overnight, keeping vigil at Kaylee's bedside, while the rest of the guys found hotel rooms and exacted promises of a phone call the moment Kaylee awoke.
"So tell me, what's the deal?" Noah asked Ashton. "What's up with you and my sister?"
"I don't know. She's great, and I care for her a lot," Ashton admitted. "But...nothing will ever happen.
"Why not?"
"She's too good for me. She's so sweet and innocent, I don't want to corrupt her." Ashton laughed. "She's an amazing woman, and she makes me feel all these things. She's...she's damn near perfect, man, you know? But I'm afraid that I'd end up hurting her, and that's the last thing I want to do. I don't think I could handle a commitment, and she deserves nothing less than that."
He didn't know why he was suddenly pouring his heart out to Noah and coming clean about his feelings...maybe it was because he had come so close to losing Kaylee.
Noah smiled. He knew that Ashton was developing feelings for his sister, but he didn't realize how deep they ran until that moment. "Don't give up man," he said. Then he laughed. "Whoa! Did I just tell the biggest male slut not to give up on my innocent little sister?"
Ashton chuckled and laid his head against Kaylee's bed. They talked throughout the night, Noah telling Ashton about different things that happened when he and his sister were growing up, getting to know each other better than either had ever imagined.
In the morning, Ashton went to the cafeteria to get some coffee, leaving Noah in the room alone with his sister. Just as Noah started to doze off, he heard a soft voice.
"Man, what's a girl got to do to get something to drink?"
"Kaylee?" Noah's head shot up.
"I hope so. What happened?" She looked around the room, groaning in pain as she moved her head. Noah pressed down on the nurse call light.
"Don't move, please. Here...let me get you some water. And a nurse. And...oh, hell, Kaylee. Just don't move okay?"
"What happened?" she asked again.
"There was an accident...I will tell you everything," he said, as the nurse walked in and smiled at her.
"Hello, Kayl
ee. How are you?"
The nurse went through the vital signs and talked to Kaylee about what had happened. Kaylee continuously glanced over at Noah with wide eyes, as though she wanted to make sure his story was the same as the one the nurse was telling her.
"The doctor will be in soon," the nurse finally said. "Welcome back, Kaylee."
"Tell me what happened," Kaylee demanded when the nurse left. "Every detail. Leave nothing out."
Noah told Kaylee everything that happened, including how Brandon had left her and Ashton saved her, along with how Ashton kicked Brandon off the tour. Noah told her this quietly, haltingly, as though he was at risk of hurting her even more than she had already been hurt.
Kaylee wasn't really surprised that Brandon had left her again. She now understood where that feeling of uneasiness had come from. She never had a doubt he was in it for himself, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise.
Ashton came back a few minutes later, surprised and delighted to see Kaylee awake. "Kaylee! God, I was so worried about you!" His face was pale, and there were pools of dark circles under his eyes. He rushed to her side, holding onto her bed rail, looking down at her with a smile.
"What are you doing in my room?" Kaylee asked, her face masked in confusion.
Ashton looked over to Noah in a panic. His expression was so pained and worried that Noah tried to keep a straight face, but he just couldn't keep up with Kaylee's ruse. Instead, he started laughing.
Ashton looked down at her with utter relief.
"Nice, Kaylee! Here I was, worried about you, and you fuck with me," Ashton said, feeling both hurt and relieved.
"Sorry, I had to do it. You looked too serious. Someone needed to lighten the mood." Kaylee smiled and looked at her brother. "Can we have a minute?"
Noah nodded and hobbled out of the room on his crutches, leaving the two of them alone. Ashton took the seat that Noah had just vacated.
"He told me what happened," Kaylee said softly.
They looked at each other for a long moment. It was almost as though they were back in front of those elevator doors, looking at themselves together in the mirror, thinking about what could be. But this time, the stakes were much higher. He had literally saved her life, and they both realized it as they looked at each other there in the hospital room.
Miles of Pleasure Page 9