Drop Beat (The Heartbeat Series Book 2)

by Ryleigh Sloan

  “Holy fuck! That turned dark real fuckin’ fast,” Josh exclaims. “Get us out of these.” He tugs on the shackles.

  Peter and the rest of the crew run over to release us all while Annalise and Vicky join Maddie on the floor next to Shannon.

  I watch as Maddie pats Shannon gently on the cheek, and her eyes flutter open for a brief moment and then close.

  “She’s diabetic,” I call from where I’m still shackled. What the fuck is taking so long?

  Maddie whips out her phone and dials 911. She is clear and concise as she chats, keeping cool under pressure. She’s so fucking amazing.

  They finally get us all down, and we huddle around Shannon.

  “Shan, it’s Kel. Can you hear me?”

  Shannon doesn’t make a sound.

  “Shannon, open your eyes.”

  Nothing.

  Jesus, I was such a dick to her, and now she’s unresponsive.

  The paramedics arrive, and Maddie comes over to me and puts her arms around me. “Are you okay? You’re very pale.”

  “I’m fine. We need to go with her to the hospital.”

  “Okay.” She nods. She doesn’t push or press me for answers as to why I want to go. “Let’s go.”

  Maddie reaches for my hand, and I squeeze it tight, grateful for her support.

  “Kel, can we come with you?” Kade asks. “We all Ubered here. Figured there would be drinks after.”

  “Sure.” I’m relieved I won’t have to go into the Shannon stuff on the way to the hospital. I don’t even know what to say to Maddie about this whole fucked-up situation with Shannon, but I know I owe her some sort of explanation.

  Everyone is silent on the way to the hospital, and I can feel the questions hanging in the air. Maddie’s touch brings me comfort, but it also brings guilt. I shouldn’t be taking comfort from her—I need to get some distance. If she’s close to me, she’ll only get hurt.

  Just like Bronson and Shannon.

  It’s inevitable.

  Twenty-Five – Well, Eff You

  Keller

  The wait is agonizing, and no one will tell us a fucking thing. As I pace the room, I’m pretty fucking sure everyone can see the thunder on my face because no one says a word, not even Maddie. As the minutes go by, I know the right thing to do would be to pull her aside and tell her what’s going on—why I feel like I want to climb out of my skin—but right now the knot in my stomach is so tight I can barely breathe, let alone speak.

  The guys are all here. Aside from Kade, no one knows Shannon is my ex, so they are just here to show support for someone who was on our team, no matter how briefly. Last year when Angelo, one of the stagehands, fell off the ladder and broke his leg, we did the same thing. It’s how we roll.

  Except this is different.

  A tall doctor in scrubs comes in, her iPad tucked under her arm. “Ms. Jones is awake and asking to see you all. I ask that you keep it brief—she needs to build up her strength.”

  “What happened? Why’d she pass out like that? Did her pump stop working?” I fire off the questions, ignoring the surprised looks I’m getting from my band—but more so, the ones from Maddie. Her eyebrows nearly run straight into her hairline, but she quickly schools her expression.

  The doctor shoots me an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I can only divulge those answers to family.”

  “I grew up with her. She’s my ex.”

  As if telling her you are deliberately no longer in her life is going to get you any answers.

  Maddie stiffens next to me. Jeff and Josh mirror shocked expressions, and Kade winces as he notices Maddie’s look. I don’t blame her. She just got fucking blindsided. The doctor smiles politely. “See what she says when you get in there.”

  I reach for Maddie’s hand, and the doctor leads us to the room where Shannon’s being treated. As we gather outside the door, the doc reminds us once more to keep things brief, and everyone nods. She leaves and we all pile into the spacious room with mint walls and stark white linen.

  The air is so thick with tension you couldn’t even get through it with a laser, but aside from me, Shannon, and Maddie, I don’t think anyone else notices. Shannon smiles weakly at all of us.

  “I just wanted to thank you all for coming.” She picks at the hospital blanket and flicks her gaze at me. “When the doctor told me you’d all been waiting for over two hours, I wanted to thank you personally and apologize for the shoot. I know we only had a limited time.” Shannon’s gaze lingers on Maddie’s hand in mine, and something flits across her face that I don’t want to comprehend right now.

  Josh steps forward. “No need to apologize. If we didn’t get what we needed, they can figure things out. That’s what we fucking pay them for. How are you feeling?”

  “Embarrassed.”

  “Well, don’t,” Josh states. “This wasn’t your fault.”

  When she pales, I can tell immediately that this is fucking self-inflicted, and the inkling of dread I felt on set grows and tanks my stomach.

  “Can I speak to Shannon alone, please?”

  It goes deadly quiet in here—you would be able to hear a pin drop in this room, even if it was lined with fucking clouds.

  I feel Maddie’s fingers slip from mine.

  “I’ll go get us coffee,” she offers, her voice edged with tension.

  Josh looks to Shannon and me, and then to Maddie. “Wait up, Mads. I’ll go with you.”

  Fuck! Even Josh, who is infamous for having zero tact, is trying to make this easier on Maddie.

  I nod silently, not looking at her because I fucking can’t.

  In my peripheral vision, I see Kade shake his head. His fingers jammed in his jeans, he rocks on his heels. “Feel better, okay?” he says to Shannon before shooting me a warning look. The look’s unnecessary because I know I’m standing in the middle of a minefield. I’ve already stepped on a mine. I’m just waiting for the explosion to destroy me.

  “Yeah, feel better,” Jeff echoes and hightails it out of there. I don’t fucking blame him. Even Jeff, with his talent of keeping everything at an even keel, can do nothing to save this situation.

  When everyone has left the room, I walk over to the window and gaze out at the packed parking lot. I think of a million ways I can structure my next question but eventually go with ripping the Band-Aid off. Turning, I lean against the windowsill and cross my arms over my chest.

  “Did you eat today?”

  She looks down at her hands.

  “Jesus, Shan, I thought you were fucking done with all this shit!”

  She looks up, her eyes blazing. “How would you know that, Kel? You cut me out of your life.”

  “You know why I did that. We were fucking toxic together.”

  “We weren’t always that way.”

  I look at the spot just above her head, chewing on my lip. “No, we weren’t, but then—”

  “But you loved drumming more than me.”

  Fuck!

  I scrub a hand over my face and realize I’m still covered in the makeup from the set. I walk over to the sink and grab a paper towel, wet it, and turn back to Shannon as I start wiping the makeup off my face.

  “I waited years for you to follow your dreams, Kel. Late nights, weekends. When you started gigging at those illegal warehouse parties, I just knew I’d lost you. That night with Bronson was a cry for help. I needed you to love me like you did your drums, but you never did. I’ve never been good enough.”

  “Shan—”

  “I wasn’t good enough for my father either. It was always about chasing the next big win with him. I’m never enough.”

  “Shan, that’s not why I left. I was toxic. We were toxic. You deserved so much better than what I could offer you. You deserved a guy to love you with everything he had.”

  “Like the way you love her.” Her tone turns wistful.

  I blanch. “It isn’t like that with Maddie and me. She’s just a friend of a friend.”

  “Well, fuck
you too, Keller Cannon!”

  Both Shannon’s and my heads snap to the door where Maddie is standing, a cup of coffee in each hand. Josh is behind her with what looks like every balloon available from the gift store.

  Maddie’s face is red, and hurt dances in her eyes. She dumps the coffees into the empty trash can at the door, turns, and races out of the room.

  Fuck, fuck, fuuuck!

  “Nice one, Kel,” Josh scoffs as I push past him, chasing after her.

  “Maddie! Wait!”

  “What!” she snaps, pivoting on her flats and shooting daggers at me.

  “Let me explain.”

  She crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”

  I glance around. People are starting to stare. This isn’t the place for this conversation.

  “There’s a lot of history between Shannon and me. Ugly history.”

  “Yeah, I could see that when she was grinding up against you.”

  I narrow my eyes. “Jealousy isn’t a good color on you, Maddie.”

  “Fuck you, Keller.” She takes a step closer, her finger jabbing into my chest. “Fuck. You. This isn’t about jealousy. You introduced me as a friend of a friend. Not even your friend.”

  A guy stops and takes his phone out of his pocket and starts snapping pics. I feel my temper rise and fight to bank it.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Let me simplify it for you. I’ll be over later for my things.”

  She turns and walks down the hallway, and I feel the blood drain from my face.

  “Maddie!”

  She flips me the bird over her shoulder as she storms off. “It’s Madison to you.”

  Twenty-Six – Confessions of a What?

  Maddie

  Papaw used to tell Blair and me that nothing good was ever gained from eavesdropping and he couldn’t have been more right. When I stopped in front of Shannon’s door with Josh and his ridiculous number of balloons, the plan was to just wait patiently for Keller to finish his chat with Shannon, and then we could go someplace quiet and discuss the fact that he dropped a giant bomb on me.

  I’d ask him in a calm manner if he knew she was going to be at the shoot, even though I was quite ready to flip my donkey over it. Now some people might think I had no right to be upset, but dammit, I was beyond humiliated when he’d dropped the bomb in the waiting room. The only thing that saved the situation was the fact that everyone else had looked just as shocked as I was, and they had known Keller for a lot longer.

  My plan to have a calm discussion backfired like a vintage car running too rich. Especially when I heard Shannon say, “Like the way you love her.” I knew Shannon had been talking about me. The way she’d looked when she saw Keller and me holding hands hadn’t gone unnoticed. But then Keller’s words had instilled ice in my veins faster than if I’d been hooked via IV to a slushy machine.

  “It isn’t like that with Maddie and me. She’s just a friend of a friend.”

  I had a good cry with Blair. Dean was such a good sport about me honing in on his time with his new wife, although I guess I didn’t give him much of a choice when I pitched up on his doorstep in tears. We spent most of the afternoon and into the evening men-bashing while Dean had the good sense to stay silent and refill our glasses with the champagne Blair had bought to celebrate my new job.

  I slip the key Keller gave me into the lock and steel myself for the inevitable tension.

  What I see is Keller sitting in the dark at the kitchen island. Light from the full moon casts an ethereal glow on him as he doesn’t look up from staring at his own finger tracing the rim of the clean glass next to the sealed bottle of whiskey.

  He looks so pitiful that I feel myself soften. But only a little.

  A friend of a fucking friend indeed.

  “I don’t think it works if you don’t actually open the bottle.” I walk over to the island and crack the cap. “May I?” I ask. Even though I plan on drinking his booze regardless of what he says.

  “Be my guest.” His voice is hoarse, and my stomach twists. This fucking sucks. A few hours ago I had everything at my fingertips, and now I feel empty. Blair had planned on having Keller and me over this evening for dinner, and I was going to tell everyone how I’d wowed the socks off the judges and managed to bump my contract up from the offered one year to two. But that all imploded. It’s true what Blair said about dreams meaning nothing without someone to share them with.

  Keller slides the glass over to me.

  I shake my head and raise the bottle. “I don’t need a glass. Mr. Daniels provided a perfectly good one with the booze.”

  I press the bottle to my lips and take a huge swig. As the liquid streaks fire down my throat, I gasp and inhale the whiskey, which feels like it should be labeled “jet fuel,” down the wrong pipe. I’m immersed in a really embarrassing coughing fit. At one point it looks like Keller is going to come to my rescue, but I take a step back and hold up a finger, effectively seeing to it that he remains in his seat.

  “Holy fucking mother, why does anyone drink this shit?”

  Keller cocks a brow. “You tell me?”

  “You owe me an apology,” I accuse, completely changing the subject.

  Keller rests his head in his hands. “Not now, Maddie.”

  Not now? That fucking does it.

  I slam the bottle down and some of the dark amber liquid splashes out onto the island. “I’m fucking done with you calling the shots, Keller Cannon. When are you going to grow some fucking stones and decide what it is that you want to do?”

  “Maddie, I’m not in the mood for theatrics right now.”

  “Theatrics. Theatrics!” My voice is shrill as I shriek out the words. “You don’t know anything about theatrics.” I take a step closer, jabbing my finger in the air. “I have been more than patient with you and your bullshit for long enough. You tell me it’s all about fucking, and I’m fine with that. Then you spend weeks sending me gifts. Then you go fucking quiet, and when I come over here you tell me to stay with you, even introduce me to your family! I went along with everything you suggested because I signed up for ‘just fucking.’” I use air quotes. “But I draw the line at being dismissed the way you did with your ex. What the fuck was that, Keller?”

  With each word I’ve grown louder and louder. I’m lucky Keller lives in a neighborhood where people are spaced quite far apart because I have no doubt someone would call the cops on me right now.

  Keller stands up from the island and takes a step forward, glaring down at me. “That was me trying to protect you.”

  “From what?” I yell.

  “From me!” Keller’s fist comes down on the counter and makes me jump. “I was protecting you from me.”

  I throw my hands in the air. “What the hell do I need protection from?”

  Keller’s face contorts in pain, and he turns his back on me. I swallow my own lump down.

  “You have no idea who I am, Maddie. Or what I’m capable of.”

  He turns back to face me, and the sincerity in his voice sends goose bumps down my spine.

  “Tell me, then.”

  The silence drags on for what feels like hours. Keller sighs. “I ended someone’s life.”

  My heart stills. “You mean like killed someone?”

  “No, worse.”

  I swallow hard. “What are you talking about?”

  He gestures to a seat on the opposite side of the island. “Please sit, Maddie.”

  I hesitate only for a second before sitting. Today has felt like a week of a whole bunch of mixed emotions, and I’m exhausted. “Do you have any wine? I feel like I’m going to need more alcohol for this, and I can’t stand that shit I just drank.”

  Keller stands and heads to the cabinet and selects a bottle of red, then grabs a glass from the cupboard. He fills the glass generously and then pours some whiskey for himself. I wait quietly for him to start his explanation, but if the rate I’m taking sips of wine is any indication, I’m
going to be drunk before he gets to the point. I decide it’s probably best to have a clear head for this. Well, clearer than if I keep drinking, so I push the glass away.

  “Shannon and I grew up together. Her dad used to work for mine at the glass factory as an accountant, and we started dating in the tenth grade. It was a natural progression of our friendship more than a deep desire to be together, but I loved her. She used to be fun, and she was gorgeous. I thought she was everything I wanted. But my dreams always came first. Nothing was as important as drumming to me. And she knew it. The more serious we grew, the more Shannon felt the distance between us. Where before she accepted my dreams, eventually she became resentful of them.”

  Keller swirls his glass. “I can’t blame her. I was obsessed. I was working at a gig one night, lugging equipment and such when Bronson asked me to fill in for their drummer who’d OD’d. Bronson was attracted to Shannon, and when I started pushing her needs aside, he tried to show me where my priorities should lie. She used Bronson to make me jealous. It was a fucked-up arrangement.

  “Things had escalated and Shannon started fucking around with her food. I think it was a ploy to get my attention. On the nights she was sick, I wouldn’t gig. So that night I took her along with me, hoping I could appease her by getting her a dancing job but that backfired.

  “I caught her and Bronson together. I lost it and punched him pretty hard, and it fucked him up. While we were up on stage, a fire broke out at the back of the warehouse. The place went up within seconds, but Bronson was so dazed, he couldn’t get out.”

  I hold my breath.

  “A rafter fell on him. It was crushing him, and almost the whole stage was on fire. I pulled him out but ended up paralyzing him from the neck down.” Keller downs the shot of whiskey. When he looks up at me, his eyes are red-rimmed.

  “This is why I need to protect you from me. I hurt the people I love. Shannon is all types of fucked-up over what I did to her. She got so obsessed with attention she started starving herself. She’s type 1 diabetic, and apparently there’s a condition called diabulima, where you eat like shit and purposefully skip insulin so the blood sugar spikes fucking high and the body goes into ketoacidosis. They get really skinny that way, and Shannon thrived on doing that. What I did to Bronson was so much fucking worse.”