Heartstopper

by Lauren Landish

  After a moment, I shake off my shock and start to head that way. But before I can cross the stage, one of the speakers falls, sparks and flame erupting in front of me as it hits the stage. Crying out, I hurl myself out of the way just in time.

  I roll off the stage to land in the middle of what feels like a stampede, people kicking me, and I can feel someone stumble, stepping on my back as they rush for the exit. I scream, worried that the next step is going to be someone breaking my leg or worse, when suddenly, strong arms are around my body, lifting me up. It’s Jake, and he pulls me toward the exit as the flames continue to grow.

  We get outside, Jake setting me down as thick, black smoke rolls out the doors of Club Jasmine. I look around, trying to find my family, and at first I’m panicked. I see Mom and Mindy at first, then everyone else. Except Grandma. “Where’s Grandma?” I look around frantically, my heart pounding within my chest like a jackhammer, growing dread twisting my stomach.

  “I’m here!” a familiar wavy but powerful voice crows. “It’d take more than this to knock me out! Now set me down, you big gorilla!”

  I see Oliver, Mindy’s husband, with Grandma in his arms. “Sorry, I took the other exit. Everyone was headed to the same one.”

  “What the fuck was that?” calls a fresh voice, hacking. “Honestly, what the fuck were you thinking?”

  I turn to see an older man, his eyes ablaze in fury. “Who—”

  “I’m the person you were trying to impress,” the man hisses, coughing. “I came to watch you sing, and you try to put on a pyro show like you’re a goddamn pro wrestler? Fucking amateur hour!”

  I can see Jake wants to say something, but Nathan comes up, grabbing him, and he’s running back into the building, Gavin and Oliver on his heels. I want to rush after them. They’re trying to save the building, I guess, but I’m frozen as the man rants. “I swear, between the bad stripper dancing and the horrible caterwauling . . . I didn’t think it could get any worse!”

  “You know what, you bastard? Take your bullshit and shove it!” Mindy yells, getting in his face. “It was obviously a fucking accident!”

  The man gives her a look and turns on his heels, stomping away. He disappears into the crowd just as the sound of fire engines approaches, and Mindy holds me as I feel like I just destroyed my life. Everything was going great. Until that.

  “Oh, my God, Min, I can’t believe this,” I sob into her shoulder. I’m too weak to look over to see which one of my bandmates looks guilty, though I have a pretty good idea which one it is. But it doesn’t matter. I feel like I’m responsible for this. “This is all my fault.”

  “Shh,” Mindy reassures me, stroking my hair until a new set of arms wraps around me. It’s Jake, and he drops a fire extinguisher on the pavement before he pulls me into a hug.

  “We got everyone out. The fire’s mostly under control and it looks like no one is hurt,” he says, coughing lightly. “But the roof . . . the roof . . .”

  “The club?” I whisper, and Jake shakes his head slowly. I feel my heart break. I’m sure he hates me. I burned down his dream! “Jake, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  Before I can finish, Jake’s phone rings and he pulls it out. He listens, his face going white underneath the streaks of black. “No . . . no!”

  “What is it?” I ask as Jake hangs up, and he starts to walk away. I follow him, grabbing his arm. “Jake! What is it?”

  “There’s been a . . .” he whispers, seeming to lose his voice, his eyes unfocused. “Sophie . . . she’s been in an accident.”

  Chapter 24

  Jake

  The cabin of Hannah’s car is silent as we make our way to the hospital. I’m riding in the back because, as a heaping helping of extra suck on tonight, my car was parked in the back of Club Jasmine . . . right where a back window blew out and turned my Maserati into a wreck.

  This night has been something nightmares are made of. It started off with so much promise, with the chance for a brighter future for Roxy, for Club Jasmine. Now, the club’s a wreck and from what I hear, Roxy’s career might have gone up in flames right along with it, and to top it off, I’m terrified about how Sophie is doing because they wouldn’t tell me much on the phone.

  “Jake, I’m so sorry,” she says quietly. After getting the call, I turned over everything at the club to Nathan while Hannah drives Roxy and me to the hospital. “You must hate me.”

  The guilt in her voice tears at my fucking heart. She’s said it about a half dozen times as we ride, and each time, I haven’t responded. To be honest, I don’t know what to say. Instead, I look out the window, wishing that Hannah could drive faster.

  “Jake . . .”

  “Don’t worry about what happened right now,” I tell her quietly, reaching out and taking her hand. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  Even as I say it, my stomach twists in knots. Things aren't going to be okay. The club being burned hurts on a lot of levels. We’re going to lose a lot of money over it. Sure, we had insurance, but that will cover repairs, maybe. It won’t cover the operating losses, the fact that nobody’s coming through the door, or that I owe the staff something during the time the club’s closed. And there’s no insurance in the world that’s going to cover the damage to Club Jasmine’s reputation. There’s no guarantee that even if we do get it repaired quickly, people are going to come back.

  I just hope Nathan won’t lose his shit. He’s really taken personal pride in it, and it’s the first business venture he’s done that bears his real fingerprints and isn’t just transactions being shuffled around on a computer.

  Honestly, though, my number one concern right now is Sophie. If something bad has happened to her . . . I feel like hell. I said I was going to start spending more time with her. But outside of breakfast and our school rides, we haven’t had a lot of time. Now she’s in the hospital after an accident of some kind, and if something’s happened to her, I’ll never forgive myself.

  We reach the hospital, and before Hannah’s even got the engine shut off, I jump out of her car, storming toward the doors and practically charging through them. The safety glass slides open at what seems like a snail’s pace, and I turn sideways to slide through as narrow a gap as I can, crossing the reception area to the desk. I barely notice that Roxy’s caught up as I plant my hands on the desk so loudly that the guy on duty jumps slightly. “Where’s Sophie Stone?” I pant, knowing I look like a dirty, crazy man. “I’m here to see her.”

  “Are you of relation?” asks the staffer. The logical side of my mind tells me that he’s just doing his job, but there’s another side of me, the scared, instinctive brother side, that wants to grab him by the scrubs he’s wearing and jack him against the wall.

  Instead, I bite down on my words and reach into my tuxedo jacket, finding my wallet. “I’m her brother,” I say, showing him my driver’s license. “And I’m her legal guardian. Now where is she?”

  The guy looks, then nods. “She’s in the ER, one of the exam rooms. I’ll have someone come to escort you.”

  “I’m not waiting,” I growl, rushing down the hallway, Roxy hot on my heels. I see a sign for the ER and turn, sliding slightly in my dress shoes on the linoleum. I see the doors up ahead, and as I reach them, a nurse steps out.

  “Mr. Stone, come with me,” she says, not fazed at all to see a man in a soot-stained tuxedo come running down the hallway. She leads us through, not saying much until she stops outside an exam room. “She’s in here. We’re waiting on some tests.”

  I nod and slide the curtain back, relief sweeping through me as I see Sophie. Thank God she’s awake, leaning back on the exam table as another nurse finishes wrapping up a gauze bandage around her head. She’s got the bandage and a bruise on the side of her face, but other than that, she honestly doesn’t look all that bad.

  “Okay, Miss Stone, just lie back and wait for the docs to come back with the results of the tests,” the nurse says. Seeing me, she gives me a professional smile. �
�Just a precaution. The doctors had your sister do some head X-rays. They should have them back shortly.”

  She leaves, and I walk over to the side of Sophie’s exam bed, worried. “What happened?” I ask, wincing inside at the anger in my voice. I don’t want to sound angry. I’m just worried. “Sophie?”

  “I got into an accident,” she says, sulking. I reach for her hand but she brushes me away. “I’m fine, they say I just hit my head pretty good. The doctor thinks I might have a mild concussion. They’re letting me go if the X-Rays look okay.”

  “Shit, I’m so sorry,” I whisper, wanting to hug her but not wanting to be rejected again. Instead, I’m forced to cross my arms over my chest to keep from reaching out. “I’m just glad you’re okay. How’d it happen?”

  Sophie turns her head and stares at me tight-lipped. With each passing second, the dread in my stomach grows. “Please don’t do this. Tell the truth, Sophie. Were you driving? Were you . . . drinking?”

  Sophie’s lip curls, her eyes flaring in hurt anger. “No, but Jax was,” she admits. “It was just one beer though!”

  Her admission hits me like a punch in the gut. “What?”

  “Jax!” Sophie half yells. “We were going out. He took a wrong turn and hit a pole.”

  Anger flares in my chest. I can’t believe this. A dark thing twists deep in my heart, an evil thing that I can’t control, and I grab the railing on Sophie’s bed, squeezing the metal so tightly that it starts to creak. “I thought I told you not to see him anymore!”

  “Yeah, well, you also told me you were going to spend more time with me, remember that?” she shoots back. “So sorry, Jake. I got bored when you kept going out all the time. You’re never around lately,” she says, not looking at Roxy but making her point. “He was giving me the attention I want. He at least would listen for longer than the ten minutes it takes to make eggs and hash browns!”

  I almost see red, and my hands pull harder, the railing on Sophie’s bed whining in protest. I hear Roxy gasp in hurt, and I stare at Sophie, my jaw clenched so hard my teeth ache. I could’ve lost my sister because of this fuck nut. I warned him last time, and then he goes and drinks before taking her out? I want to choke him with my bare hands.

  “I don’t give a fuck . . .”

  “Hey,” Roxy says softly, trying to place a calming hand on my shoulder, but I shrug her off, my temper on the edge of losing control.

  “That guy doesn’t give a shit about you!” I hiss at Sophie. “I could’ve lost you tonight!”

  Sophie stares at me coldly, unmoved. She looks at Roxy, then looks away. “You have a woman in your life. You don’t need me anymore.”

  Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. And it fucking hurts because lately, it’s true. I’ve been putting everything first but Sophie. “You know that’s not true,” I whisper. “You’re one of the most—” I catch myself. “You are the most important person in my life.”

  Sophie snorts. “Don’t lie to yourself, darling big brother. I’m at least number four or five on your list. But it’s okay, I know I’m a burden.”

  I open my mouth, about to yell at her, but Roxy tugs on my arm desperately. “Not here, Jake. This isn’t the time or the place for this conversation.”

  She’s right. Fuming, I spin on my heel and stalk out of the room. When I get out, I slam my fist against the wall, Sophie’s words echoing around in my head. She can’t understand. All of this has been for her, too!

  I turn to storm down the hallway. I need a drink, and I saw a Coke machine on the way here. Roxy is on my ass though, and I can hear her rushing to catch up with me. “Hey, wait up!” She grabs me by the arm, and I stop. “I know you’re mad and upset after everything that happened, but your sister has a point—”

  “That I put you before her?” I growl, staring at Roxy. “Yeah, she has a point. That I’ve just risked everything, rolled the fucking dice on my future, her future, Nathan’s future, everyone’s future on some stupid fucking fireworks. And I watched it all go up in smoke. I risked it all because I let my dick overrule my brain. Everything’s all fucked up right now. We’re all fucked up. I’m all fucked up. And to be honest, I don’t want to hear any shit about how terrible of a brother and guardian I am!”

  Roxy’s face goes white, and I hate myself for what I just said. I shouldn’t be talking right now. There’s so much emotion running through me that I don’t even know what I’m saying. “If that’s how you truly feel.”

  She turns and runs down the hall, bursting through the double doors and knocking an orderly out of the way. “Roxy,” I yell, trying to chase her. “Wait!”

  “Mr. Stone?” a voice calls behind me, and I turn to see a doctor with an obviously concerned expression on his face standing outside Sophie’s exam room. “Is everything okay?”

  I can see that the doc wants to talk about Sophie, and as much as it tears my heart out of my fucking chest that I can’t run Roxy down, I turn and slump against the wall. “No, everything’s not okay,” I whisper, rubbing furiously at my watering eyes. “But what’s going on with Sophie?”

  The doctor starts talking, but I’m having trouble focusing on what he’s saying.

  I shouldn’t have said what I said.

  Now both of the women I love most hate me.

  Chapter 25

  Roxy

  “It’s all my fault,” I wail, my eyes burning as I rock back and forth on my bed in my sister’s arms. “I nearly got you guys killed.”

  Mindy brushes my hair out of my eyes and gives me a comforting look. “Hush, baby girl, we’re all fine. I think Grandma even had fun.”

  “But I wrecked the club!” I cry. I don’t bother telling her that it was one of my band members who caused the fire, because it had been my idea to practice with the pyro in the first place.

  Mindy rubs my back, shaking her head. “So? They’ve got to have coverage. Nathan strikes me as the kind of guy who’d make sure of that.”

  “And Jake hates me!” I sob, collapsing as I ignore her attempt at practicality. I feel warm arms wrap around me, and I turn, burying my face in my sister’s chest as hot, bitter tears scald my eyes. “He practically said that I’ve wrecked everything!”

  “Hush,” Mindy says, stroking my hair. I have to hand it to Hannah. She knew exactly what I needed when I fled from the hospital, nearly sobbing already. She sent a few text messages, and less than ten minutes after we got home, there was a quiet knock and Mindy was there, changed out of her club wear. Without a word, she bustled me into my room, stripped me down, and helped me into my fuzziest, fluffiest pajamas.

  Now, she’s doing what she does better than anyone in the world—comforting me. “It’s going to be okay, Roxy.”

  Mindy hugs me tighter, and I hold her close. “He hates me though. I’m sure Sophie hates me, too. I took him away from her, and that’s why she was out with Jax.”

  “Give him some time,” Mindy reassures me. “As for Sophie . . . I think we both know she didn’t see this Jax just because Jake wasn’t spending time with her. An older guy showed her attention and she liked it.”

  I sob. “I still fucked up everything. I feel so fucking shitty.”

  Mindy pushes my head back, looking me in the eyes with a stern but loving expression. “Don’t you dare put all of this on yourself, Roxy. Sophie’s young and was taken advantage of. If anyone is to be blamed, it’s that perv Jax. I’m of half a mind to have Oliver and Gavin pay him a visit.”

  “It’d just make everything worse.” I sigh, laying my head back on Mindy’s chest. “Min . . . I’ll never get another chance. I thought that this was going to be my big break. I’m so sorry, Mindy.”

  “Sorry for what?” Mindy asks.

  “That you came out here to see all of this mess.”

  Mindy chuckles and kisses me on the cheek. “Roxy, I seem to remember dragging you through a nest of lies for an entire week, all the way to the altar of a wedding, only to tell you that the whole thing was a charade. If that’s
not an absolute mess, I don’t know what is.”

  “True, but you didn’t burn anything down,” I protest. “And you still ended up marrying Oliver.”

  Mindy laughs softly. “Baby, I don’t care if you blew up half the city. You’re still my baby sister and I fucking love you. You hear me? I fucking love you. And if Jake really loves you, he’ll get over his anger. He’ll realize that he’s wrong and come here crawling on his hands and knees to apologize for talking like an ass to you.”

  “I just don’t know . . . I really don’t,” I whisper. “It feels like my life is over.”

  “Well, if it is, then I’m ending your life in style. I noticed it before—you’ve got some Chocolate Cherry Garcia in your fridge, and I’m thinking the two of us need to carb up before catching some Zs. Oliver already knows I’m going to be staying the night, so you can’t chase me out.”

  I swallow my fresh tears, nodding. “Okay . . . if you say so.”

  “I do. Now let’s go get some chocolate.”

  Chapter 26

  Jake

  “What?” Nathan yells into the phone. “Listen, you stupid bitch, I already fucking told you four times that it was an accident. You know what? I’m done talking with you. Put your fucking supervisor on the line.” He shakes his head, growling deep in his chest. “What do you mean they’re unavailable? I don’t care if you have to route this to the fucking CEO. And yes, I’m saying it’s a fucking accident! Huh? Go fuck yourself.”

  Nathan slams down the phone, shaking his head angrily. “Jesus, and I thought those assholes at the SEC were bad. These insurance pricks make the SEC and IRS look like Mr. Fucking Rogers goes to Sesame Street.”