How Many Times Can You Race Around the Tree Before You Catch Me?

Jake was connected to several machines and he had tubes going in and out of him that I had no clue what they could be used for. He looked terrible. I sat down in the chair and plugged my phone in before looking back at him.

Everything that had happened before I left them came coming back. I didn’t really know what to do. My yes started to water and before I knew it I was clutching his arm and crying into his bed.

“I’m so sorry Jake. I really am. For everything that I’ve done…” I sniffled. He was going to be ok and I knew that. Just the fact that he had even resorted to this though scared me. Why did he do this?

I had to stop thinking about it when my phone turned back on. I had several missed calls from an unknown number and nearly 50 from Vinny. Vinny was the first person I called.

“Jax! Oh my god is everything ok!? Are you OK?!” I could hear someone in the background asking what was going on and where I was. The bus was clearly moving.

“I’m fine, I’m at the hospital.” The calm before the storm hit as the line was silent for a moment.

“HOSPITAL?!” He ranted on and on with questions trying to figure out what was going on so I let him. Luckily, someone took the phone.

“Are you injured or ill?”Josh asked.

“No, Jake OD’ed on Heroin.” He sighed.

“Well, how is he doing?” MY eyes wandered to the lifeless form next to me.

“They put him in a coma. He will be awake in a few days. I probably won’t be with you guys for a bit, if not at all anymore.” Another sigh and I heard him walk away and Vinny protest.

“Do I need to pack anything for you?”

“No No,” I shifted in my seat,” If something happens I’ll let you know. I don’t anticipate it being a problem.” The door burst open then and the guys filtered in, including one black eyed Bryce.

“Josh I have to go. Tell Vinny I will call him in the morning and I’ll see you guys around.” I hung up and faced the guys.

Each of them looked distraught in their own way. Then their eyes turned on me.

“We hate to do this but we have to talk business.” I gave Nikki an odd look.

“Why are we doing that now?” I put my phone down to be more with the conversation.

“I called our manager,”Mikey sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed,”This is the straw that broke the camels back. He says we either replace him or the labels will settle out of our contracts.” my eyes widened. I had no idea how bad things had gotten.

“How long has this been an issue?” He sighed. I looked to the others for information and they had the same look now. Their eyes were all glued to the floor.

“The day after you left we called around looking for another TM. Management however said we couldn’t get another one due to your special contract issues. Jake is actually the one that ended up in a fight with them.”I looked over at the bed again. What had happened?

“He refused to record the album and threatened to leave the tour. He’s been drunk and high every hour of the day for the last three weeks. Management even called us today with the threat to either sober him up or kick him out.”

This was all my fault. I did this.

“Well what do you want to do?”

They all looked between me and Nikki.

“We can’t leave this tour. We need someone to replace him that’s already on contract.” Now I knew why they were bringing me into this.

“I’m not doing this.” I crossed my arms.

Mikey threw his head back and groaned.

“We had no one else Jax, it’s you or the band won’t happen anymore.”

Once they laid that heavy hand on me, I knew it was the only thing I could do to make up for what I had done. I sat up and looked at each of them before I spoke.

“I’m calling all of the shots now. We need to figure out who would be the most ideal person to take over vocals.” Christian or Nikki seemed like the better options for the in my opinion but I wasn’t going to force it on them.

“We don’t have time to do this and you know it!” Andrew exploded.

He was shaking and his fists were clenched. Never before had I seen calm, salt of the earth, be-nice-to-all Andrew so angry. The tears in his eyes were the only thing telling me the issue. I stood and walked in front of him, grabbing both of his hands.

“You need to calm down because we don’t have time for anger to get in the middle of this,” I let go of one of his hands and turned to the other guys,” You want me to come in and give you my opinion? You want me to fix this situation?” They all just looked at the ground. Bryce is the one that answered.

“That’s the only way anything is going to get done….”

Each of the guys seemed to agree.

“If that’s what you think then fine. We all know that Jake and I actually have the most similar scream because he taught me. I am more comfortable on drums, but Nikki or Andrew would be the closest to Jake’s vocals.” Nikki and Andrew both went wide eyed at what I was suggesting.

“I’m not taking the front spot.” Nikki was quick to agree with Andrew.

“What about Christian? He can just hop to the front and you can take his spot.” I shook my head.

“Do you really want him taking over?” Christian let out the most god awful sound I’ve ever heard just then. Needless to say, they now agreed.

“So Christian is a no, that means it has to be Nikki or Andrew…”

The reluctance showed on both of their faces. Convincing them to do it was going to be like pulling teeth.

“You can’t take over as just vocals?”