Burning Desires

The band just finished the last song of the night ‘The Wicked End’. Everyone was in a very weird mood. A lot of people were whispering about Jade’s departure. All of the boys knew why, but outside that group no one else knew. Some of the girls made up that Brian cheated on her, and that she got some kind of virus.

The boys cleared up that she had no virus, and that she left due to a family emergency. The next stop of the tour was Dallas.

Matt remembered that it was close to Austin where Jade had moved from. Where Gabe had left her to defend for herself.

He tried to call her many times, but she never picked up. The other guys, especially Brian, left messages and sent her texts, but she never answered back.

In the bus, Matt and Brian barely spoke to each other. They didn’t let it show on stage, but offstage it was a whole different story.

Even with Jade gone, things were still on the edge.

During sound check, it was evident that something was wrong between Brian and Matt. No one dared to ask. They both looked like they would punch someone.

What surprised Matt was that Brian wasn’t doing his usual ‘sleeping around with a dancer now that he was single again’. He kept to himself a lot. He played Jade’s guitar a lot of the time.

She had only been gone for less than 24 hours. He wondered how the rest of the tour would go.

He did the best he could to concentrate on the concert. The audience was wild and full of energy. He knew he had to show the same energy since they took the time, and money to come out to see them.

At the end of it, he hoped he delivered.

Matt removed his ear piece and placed the mike down. The guys started to talk about how wild the crowd had been. He just drank from his water bottle.

He was about to leave for the bus when he saw Jason running towards them.

Jason stopped in front of him.

“Your… phone… has been ringing forever… answered,” he said between breaths. “Jade… in hospital.”

Matt’s heart stopped. “What?!”

He took the phone from Jason. Brian heard everything and his heart too had stopped. It even ached.

“This is Matt Sanders,” Matt answered.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Sanders, we have a Jade Elizabeth Brompton here and you are on her emergency list.”

“Where is she? California?” Matt asked quickly.

“No, she’s in Austin, Texas.”

“Great, I’m in Dallas at the moment, I’ll be there in a few hours. What-what happened to her? Is she alive?”

“She’s alive.”

He could breath better.

“She… took several pills at once… it was a suicide attempt. We don’t want to leave her alone, but we don’t have enough nurses to look out for her.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sanders, she’ll be on the second floor. Just go the nurses’ station and give her name and yours.”

“All right, thank you.”

He closed his phone and turned to the guys.

“Jade’s in the hospital for…” he looked around to make sure no one was around, “for a suicide attempt.”

“What?!” Brian exclaimed. “She wouldn’t! No!”

“She’s in Austin, so we’ll have to drive there as soon as possible.”

Since they couldn’t take the bus because Jason needed it to put the instruments away, they took a taxi. It was a van taxi so all of the guys could fit.

Matt couldn’t be still.

He was so worried about her. What would make her do that? He didn’t think she would ever do that. If he knew this would’ve happened, he would’ve convinced her to stay. He would’ve tied her down to a chair or something.

The drive was supposed to be three and a half hours, but since there was traffic it took them four hours to get to Austin.

It was the middle of the night, but it didn’t matter to them. They would see her no matter what.

Matt would go through a whole army to see her. He just wanted to see that she was fine.

Brian was as a big mess as Matt. Maybe even bigger. His heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest and for the first time in his life, his hands were sweaty. He too just wanted to see that she was okay.

And he would go through a seven nation army to see her.

Once at the hospital all of the tattooed boys rushed to the second floor. Since it was the middle of the night, it was very lonely.

“We’re here for Jade Brompton,” Brian said before Matt could say anything.

The elderly nurse looked at them wearily.

“I only have one name under emergency list… I have a Matthew Sanders.”

“That’s me,” he raised his hand.

Brian’s blood boiled.

Matt took out his ID and showed it to the nurse.

“Room 2214,” she jabbed her thumb to the side, “she’s asleep and I’m only allowing you ten minutes since it’s so late. You can all see her later, but not tonight.”

Matt told the guys he wouldn’t be long. He walked down the hall and found her room.

She was asleep as the nurse had said.

She looked so peaceful. She had an IV in her arm, and she wore the hospital gown. Her face did look pale. He liked it better when it was so full of life.

She opened her eyes.

“Hey,” he told her with a smile that showed his dimples.

Jade forgot for half a second where she was and why she was there and smiled at Matt. He looked at her so adoringly. She frowned when she realized where she was. She had tried to kill herself.

How could’ve she been so stupid?

Taking her own life? What the hell was she thinking?

“How… did they get a hold of you?” she asked.

He took a seat on the chair next to her bed. He took her hand and squeezed.

“I’m in your emergency contact list,” he smiled. “We just finished the Dallas show.”

“Dallas is hours away,” she said softly.

He smiled. “I’d cross all seven seas for you.”

Her face flushed; he liked he put some color in that beautiful face.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed.

“Shh,” he cooed and caressed her face.

“I don’t know what came over me… the pressure and the guilt was just too much.”

He stroke her hair.

“It’s all right… you’re better now,” he leaned forward and pecked her lips.

“Is Brian here?” she asked.

Matt felt a tang of jealousy, but he didn’t lie to her.

“Everyone is here.”

She smiled. “Thanks for… coming.”

“No problem.”