Olivia Cunning - Rock Hard

“How do you feel?” Brian asked.

Myrna pushed the call button to alert the nurses. Her smile was infectious. Even though Jessica felt like an outsider, she smiled too. Sed just stood there, looking dumbstruck.

“I am feeling no pain.” Trey grinned his irresistible smile. “Good drugs.”

A physician’s assistant entered the room. “Is our guitar hero finally awake?”

Dare lifted his head, wiped his eyes with the heels of his hands and looked down at his baby brother with a most serious expression. “If you ever scare me like that again, I will fuck you up beyond recognition.”

Trey grinned at him. “I will try to keep the brain injuries to a minimum, boss.”

Dare planted a big wet kiss on Trey’s forehead. “I’d better call Mom and Dad. They went downstairs for some food.”

The physician’s assistant asked Trey a series of questions and wrote his responses on a paper affixed to a clipboard. His full name. What day it was. Who the president was. The last thing he remembered. The PA smiled and blushed each time he answered. Besides thinking it was a day earlier, Trey didn’t seem confused at all. Jessica took that as a good sign.

“My turn to ask you a question,” Trey said to the attractive brunette.

She paused in mid-scribe. “What?”

“When will you give me my sponge bath?”

She giggled and slapped his shoulder. “Mr. Mills.” She glanced around the room with a blush staining her cheeks. “That’s an LPN’s job.”

“Call me Trey. And I wasn’t assuming it was part of your job.”

She shook her head at him. “Is he always like this?” she asked Brian.

It would have taken a pressure washer to remove the grin from Brian’s face. “Yep.”

The PA tugged the covers off Trey’s feet. “Can you wiggle your toes?”

Trey scowled as he concentrated on moving his toes. His movement was sluggish at best.

“That’s okay,” the PA told him. “Try to make a fist.”

His fingers curled inward slowly, but his hand never completely closed. Everyone in the room held their breath.

“I can’t,” he said breathlessly, allowing his fingers to relax again.

“You just woke up. I’m sure you’ll get full mobility back with time. Keep working at it. You just have to retrain your brain to move your fingers,” the PA said.

“Retrain my fingers?” His incredulous gaze moved to Brian. His breath hitched. “What?”

“I’m sure your fingers will be fine,” Brian said. “It’s okay.”

“How is this okay?” Trey flexed his fingers slightly. “I can’t play guitar like this.”

The PA took his hand and squeezed it. “Don’t panic, Trey. Give yourself time to recover. You just woke up.”

He pulled his hand away from her and rolled onto his side, presenting his back to everyone. “I don’t want to see anyone right now.”

“Trey.” Brian touched his friend’s shoulder.

“Go away,” he said. “I fucking mean it!”

“Why don’t you all give him some time to himself?” the PA said, herding the group toward the door.

“I really don’t think we should leave him alone right now,” Jessica said. Her heart was breaking for him. What must he be feeling? And Brian? And Sed? She was just an unwanted band accessory. They had a huge stake in him getting better. Watching a friend struggle was bad enough, but if this physical problem turned out to be something permanent, it could affect their entire livelihood as musicians.

The PA had somehow corralled them into the hall.

Jessica glanced up at Sed, who hadn’t said a word since Trey opened his eyes. He looked like a mule had kicked him in the gut. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head slightly.

Dare lowered his phone and grabbed Sed’s arm as they were ushered past him. “You’re not smiling. Why have we stopped smiling?”

Sed shook his head again.

“Trey’s having some mobility problems,” Jessica informed Dare. “Nothing serious.”

What would happen to Sinners if Trey couldn’t play guitar? They wouldn’t abandon him, would they? As she watched the emotions play across Sed’s face, she had to admit she wasn’t sure.

Sed stared out a window in the waiting room, not really seeing the cars in the parking lot far below. His mind was full, his heart empty. Jessica placed a hand in the center of his back and leaned her head against his upper arm.

He glanced down at her, unable to express his gratitude. She’d sat with him for hours and had even made a trip to the gift shop to buy him a hospital logo T-shirt and a cup of coffee. He wasn’t sure why she hadn’t left him there on his own to stew. Brian, Myrna, Trey’s parents, and even Dare had eventually left when Trey continued to refuse any company. But Sed couldn’t desert his duty. He’d just wait Trey out. How long could it take?

“Go talk to him,” Jessica said.

“He doesn’t want to see anyone.”

“Since when do you do what people want?”

“Since never.”

“Exactly.” She squeezed his arm. “Go talk to him. It will make you feel better.”

“I don’t know what to say to him.”

“You’ll think of something.”

She was right. As usual. He turned away from the windows, kissed her brow, and then headed down the hall toward Trey’s room. Sed entered the open door and peeked around the corner. Trey’s bed was fixed in an upright position. The tube that had been up his nose was now gone. Progress. Trey repeatedly tried to pick up a spoon from the tray in front of him, his tongue worrying his lip. Despite his extreme concentration, he ultimately failed to grasp the utensil.

Sed took several steps back and knocked on the wall. “Are you decent, man? I’m coming in.” When Sed entered the room again, Trey was staring fixedly at the far wall, his hands buried beneath the covers.

“I said I want to be left alone.”

“You know I never do what people tell me to do.” With a loud screeching sound, Sed dragged a chair across the tile floor to the side of the bed and sat.

“Sed, I honestly don’t—”

“Those staples in your head look bad ass. You should keep them permanently.”

Trey ran his hand over the shaved side of his head, his slightly curved index finger brushing over the arc of black staples. “I don’t know. I don’t think this haircut is me.”

Sed chuckled. “Looks more like Eric’s style.” Sed dropped his gaze to meet Trey’s eyes. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Always a bad thing.”

Trey lowered his arm to rest on the bed beside him. Sed forced himself not to fixate on Trey’s fingers, which he continually bent and straightened in sequence. He was trying his best, God love him, but Sed didn’t see any thirty-second notes in his immediate future. And the band was on tour. They needed him. Now. Not in a month. Not in six months. Now.

Trey tucked his hand under the covers again and Sed forced his attention to his scowling face.

“I want you to concentrate on getting better. Don’t worry about the band,” Sed said. “We’ll wait for you to recover. Cancel tour dates. Put the new album on hold. Whatever is necessary. I haven’t talked to the guys, but I know they feel the same way.”

“Jesus, Sed, I’ve been awake three hours and you’re already deciding if you’re going to kick me out of the band?”

“That’s not what I meant. I just…” God, he was bad at this serious discussion bullshit. “I don’t want you to feel any pressure. Well, yes, some pressure. You’d better work your ass off to get better because we need you, but otherwise, don’t worry. We’ll wait.”

“You really suck at pep talks.”

“Yeah, I know. Fuck.” Sed took a deep breath. “Did I make you feel worse? I’m sorry, man.”

Trey shook his head slightly. “Nah. How long do you think they’ll keep me in this place?”

“Are you bored?”

“Fuck yeah, I’m bored. And I’m dying for a cherry sucker.”

Sed grinned. Something he could do to help. Even if it was minor. “One cherry sucker coming up. Then you have to get some rest, because tomorrow everyone is going to be all over you.”

He smiled slightly. “You’re probably right.”

“You know I am.” Sed stood to leave.

“Sed?”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“What am I going to do if I don’t get better?” Trey asked in a small voice.

Sed paused, his heart rising to his throat. “Don’t talk like that, man. You are going to get better.”

“Guitar. The band. That’s all I have. All I know. I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“You don’t have to know how to do anything else. We aren’t going anywhere, okay?”

Trey lowered his gaze and nodded. “Is Brian still here?”

“No, he left a while ago. Do you want me to call him?”

Trey shook his head. “No. He has Myrna now.”

Sed didn’t know how to deal with someone this depressed. It just wasn’t in his skill set. “I’m going to go get you that sucker now.” Maybe that would help.

He wasn’t sure if Trey even heard him. His eyes had drifted out of focus.

Sed headed for the elevator in search of some place that would sell him a cherry sucker. The gift shop was closed. The cafeteria didn’t sell candy. He found a vending machine that sold Life Savers and used all his change to buy as many rolls as possible. On his way back to Trey’s floor, he called Eric. “Hey, are you coming in to the hospital soon?”

“I thought Trey didn’t want to see anyone.”

“Do we care? He’s majorly bummed. Bring some cherry suckers with you. He’s going through withdrawal.”

“Will do. How’s he doing? I talked to him, but it’s hard to tell on the phone.”

“Better, I think. He looks good. The staples in his head look hardcore. The fans will love that. You know about his hands, don’t you?”