Page 37 of Mending Hearts

I understood the unreasonable worry. Every night, I stayed awake until I heard Mia come back from whatever club appearance she went to after the shows. She’d never asked me to go with her after the first failed attempt, when she’d stormed off my bus without me. But I forced myself to be awake, no matter how late she appeared. Tonight, it wouldn’t be an issue. Adrenaline hummed despite the run and the weights.

When I got close enough to see the name on the display, my heart thumped. She never called.

“Mia?” Her name was out before I’d even gotten the phone to my ear.

For a second, the line seemed dead. Then, a sniffle.

“Mia? Are you okay?”

“No.” Her voice was thick, almost garbled. A sob burst from her, hitting me in the chest.

“Where are you?” I swiped my bus keys off the table and hesitated at the top of the stairs. A ride. I didn’t have a vehicle. “What happened?”

“I’m bleeding.”

Her words were so mangled, I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly. “You’re bleeding? Is Pasha there? Are you hurt? Do you need to call an ambulance?” My mind was on a tilt-a-whirl. Had someone hurt her? Wasshe cut? Or, God help me, I hope she didn’t hurt herself. I knew people who’d used cutting on the outside to ease their turmoil inside, but I’d never seen any evidence on Mia.

Her voice caught on another sob.

“I’m coming. I’m on my way. Club—” God, what had the place been called? I’d heard so many club names over the last few weeks. Zen? Zilch? Zeal. “Zeal, right? I’ll be there as soon as I can. Call an ambulance.”

“I’m bleeding.” She was almost hyperventilating.

Outside the bus, I looked around, the phone pressed to my ear. A car. Across the parking lot, a guy was smoking a cigarette beside a Civic. Punch him and steal his car or beg for a ride? At this point, I’d steal the cigarettes, too.

I took quick strides in the guy’s direction, patting my pockets for a lollipop while Mia took a few shaky breaths.

“Pasha called you an Uber.”

The guy across the lot dropped his cigarette, grinding it into the ground with his heel. “You Pretty Boy?”

“That’s you,” Mia whispered.

“That’s me,” I agreed with a grimace. “My girl’s got a sense of humor.”

Mia’s sharp intake of breath made my gut clench. What had happened to her? With an audience now, I wasn’t sure how much more I should say or ask.

“Apparently.” The driver opened the door to his car and slid in.

I held the phone to my ear, listening to Mia breathe while the car zoomed toward Club Zeal. I could hear her shuffling around in a place with an echo, but I was afraid to ask. She was still at the club, so whatever had happened couldn’tbe that bad.

When the car pulled up in front of a packed nightclub, I climbed out and approached the bouncer on the door. “I’m—”

“Pretty Boy.” The bouncer checked me over from head to toe. “You look like the picture her bodyguard showed me.” He moved the velvet rope aside and pointed to the back of the club. “VIP is at the back on the right. She’s there somewhere.”

The bouncer wasn’t panicked, and when I moved through the packed crowd, it became clear no one else was injured. Across the phone line, her breathing was steady, and she hadn’t cried again in a while. But she said she was bleeding.Bleeding.Would she call about a simple cut? No, she’d have to be bleeding out before she’d admit she needed me.

I shook my head.Bleeding out.Then it clicked.

The baby. Oh, God. The baby.

The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I caught them just in time. Even with the loud music, there were too many people around. “I should call David,” I said into the phone.

I tried to drag up fragments of my conversation with David and Katie at the hospital. Did they fly back tonight, or were they somewhere in the city? I weaved through the dancers, my heart tap dancing to the rhythm of the song.

“I’m in the bathroom at the back.” Her voice was almost too quiet to hear. “I think it’s stopped, though. I think—I think it might be okay.”

When I saw Pasha guarding a door near the back of the VIP section, relief swept over me. “I’m here,” I said. “She’s in there? You in there, Mia?” I tipped my head at the door behind Pasha’s wide shoulders.

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