Page 103 of Cadence
“No.” His voice is firm. “You go. We’ll handle him and the cops.”
I nod, feeling shaky from the inside out. My hands can’t stop touching her. Her face, her neck, her arm. I need to feel her warmth, to know she’s still here.
“Maddox.” Beau’s gaze meets mine. It’s the first time in hours that he sounds like my brother, my friend. “Just get her somewhere safe.”
I scoop her into my arms, tucking her against my chest, and follow Reign out the side exit without looking back. This isn’t the kind of moment you come back from. This is the kind that rewires you. And I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.
Chapter Forty-Four
Maddox
Ipacetheoverlyexcessive living room of Reign’s suite like a fucking animal. The lights are too bright, the room too cold, and every second that door stays shut, it feels like another knife in my chest.
I can still feel the weight of her in my arms, the way her head drooped against me, her body slack and barely conscious as I carried her through the back of the hotel and up the service elevator. I keep replaying it: Eli’s face, Beau holding her, thatman’ssmug smirk.
The door opens, and Dr. Hughes steps out, composed in the way only doctors and sociopaths can be in moments like this. His brown bag is in one hand, a stethoscope looped around his neck, face solemn as he gently pulls the door closed.
“She’s stable,” he says, lifting the stethoscope and tucking it away.
“What… What did he use?” My mouth feels like cotton, my words too thick to come out.
“We won’t know without a full tox screen, but based on her symptoms; loss of motor control, unresponsiveness, rapid fatigue, I’d say it’s consistent with GHB or Rohypnol.”
Reign steps up beside me, arms crossed. “Lockie found white pills on the guy in the club.”
Dr. Hughes nods solemnly. “Unfortunately, without getting them tested, whatever it was will most likely be out of her system before she even wakes up. I’m only working on assumptions.”
That doesn’t seem good enough.
“Is she…?” I swallow hard, eyes fixed on the door, unable to finish my sentence.
“You guys got to her just in time,” he says, grabbing his jacket from the back of the sofa and tugging it on. “But I’ve put her on IV fluids to flush it out quicker. No vomiting, no convulsions, and her vitals are strong. She just needs to sleep it off.”
Sleep it off, like it’s just a bad hangover and not a fucking brush with trauma. If we’d been a minute slower, if Beau hadn’t caught her in time, she could’ve ended up in an alley, or worse. And I’d have to live with that. Every goddamn day.
“And then?”
“I still recommend taking her to a hospital in the morning. Proper medical review, blood and urine tests, physical, just confirm there isn’t anything else in her system, log the incident properly.” He pushes up his glasses and glances behind him. “But it’s more than likely nothing will be detected. These drugs act fast and are metabolized even faster. For tonight, though, rest and hydration will do more than anything.” He hands me a folded sheet. “My number’s on here. Call me if anything changes.”
“Thanks.” I nod, barely able to get the word out.
He clasps my shoulder firmly, then follows Reign as he shows him out. He returns with Beau, Eli, and Lockie trailing behind him, my bandmates looking stark white, still visibly shaken.
I don’t wait. I don’t ask if they’re okay, rounding on Eli.
“What the fuck happened?”
Eyes wide, his hands go up fast. “She was next to me the whole time. The guy just slid in all smooth and friendly. I swear, Maddox, he looked totally harmless.” He shakes his head, lips pulled tight. “I was watching her drink. I swear I was watching.”
Beau steps in between us. “She was fine. Then suddenly…gone.” He snaps his fingers. “Just like that.”
I rake a hand through my hair and tug, my pulse spiking. “We should’ve stopped it. Should’ve brought her back to VIP with us. He could’ve… Fuck, he could’ve…”
“We didn’t know,” Beau says quietly.
“This is my fault,” I hiss, my voice hoarse. “If I didn’t upset her, if I wasn’t such an asshole, she would have been up there withus, not in a situation that I should have—"
“Knox, stop,” Reign says, stepping in front of me and gripping my shoulders. “You were watching her the whole night. Everyone saw it. There was nothing you could’ve done.”
