Paper Thin

“Hey, babe,” he called to her. A thick head of brown hair and a set of brown eyes drew me in. An eyebrow ring and gauged ear holes were the next thing to capture my attention. “I was trying to get here before the show ended, but my time went over a bit. Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Natasha cupped his face between her hands and kissed him as though he was her whole world and nothing else existed. “The show was great, but you made it just in time. We’re heading back to the guys’ place to celebrate their twentieth show.”

Twentieth. These guys had either just started up, or they weren’t able to get many shows booked, because that didn’t seem like a large number to me when it came to holding concerts.

“Cool. Want to ride with me?”

“You know it.” She stepped back so he could slide off his bike. I watched as he lifted the seat, revealing a hidden compartment. He reached inside, and pulled out a smaller helmet that matched his. Natasha slipped it over her dark hair and buckled the clasp beneath her chin without a second thought.

Once her boyfriend had taken his place back on his bike, Natasha slipped onto the back, wrapping her arms around him.

“Ever been on the back of one of those?” Joh

“No.”

“Doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to though,” Sadie chimed in. “Do you have one?”

“I do.” He motioned to the other guys in the band. “We all do. It’s sort of our thing.”

“So not only are you in a rock band together, but you’re in a biker gang too?” There was sarcasm dripping from my voice. It was all for show. On paper, their group sounded stereotypical, but in person, their sexiness canceled any of those thoughts out.

“That would be correct, sweet cheeks,” Blaze called from somewhere behind me.

I spun to face him. He had a blonde on either arm and a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Obviously, I had pegged him right from the begi

After I rolled my eyes at him, I dug in my pocket for my cell to check the time. Sadie and I still hadn’t decided on one.

“That’s our van.” Joh

“Sure,” Sadie answered him. “We could do that.”

“See you there.” I smiled. Good God, the guy was like sex-on-a-stick to me. I’d never felt this much attraction to someone before. It was crazy.

“Nice.” He licked along his bottom lip, pulling his silver ring into his mouth. I wondered if he was remembering our kiss, and had said the word nice to remind me.

“We’re parked over there. The red car.” Sadie motioned to our parking spot in the back.

“See you in a bit.” Thresh stepped forward, and pecked her on the cheek. For a beefy guy, he sure did seem sweet. Maybe I was more wrong than I had thought about this entire group.

“These sexy thangs are riding with us in the van.” Blaze smacked both girls with him on the ass, and then laughed as they squirmed and giggled from the contact.

Okay, so maybe I had been wrong about the majority of the group, but not him. I’d been dead on with him.

Sadie and I started across the parking lot toward her car.

“So, you and Joh

“Don’t look too deeply into it.” I laughed.

“Oh, I am. I’ve never known you to kiss someone after meeting him.”

“That’s because I haven’t before,” I admitted.

“What’s so different about him, then?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer her, because I didn’t know the answer.

“Speechless?” Sadie razzed me. “Charlotte Montgomery is speechless when it comes to a guy. Never thought I would see the day.”

Her car came into view, and I rounded toward the passenger side. “I’m not speechless, I just don’t have an answer for your question at the moment.”

“Honey, that sounds like your speechless to me.” She gri

“Oh yeah.” I gushed without hesitation.

“I’ve always wanted to kiss someone with a lip piercing. Did it feel cold?” She swung the driver’s side door to her car open.

“No. I thought it would be too.” I gri

My heart dropped to my toes. Emma would never call me so many times unless something had happened.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Emma. She’s called me four times tonight.” There was a tremor vibrating through my words.

“Did she leave a message?” Sadie cranked her car.

I pressed a few things on my cell to see. There was a message for each missed call. My stomach knotted with worry. “Yeah.” My cell rang before I could press play and listen to the first message. It was Emma again.

“Is that her?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, answer it,” Sadie insisted as she started backing out of our parking space.

I held my breath as I hit the answer button. “Hey, Emma. Sorry, I wasn’t able to hear my cell ringing.”

“Charlotte, umm.” It wasn’t Emma. It was Dawson. “Something happened. It’s Emma.” His words were thick with emotion, confirming my fear something bad had happened.

“What happened?” My voice didn’t sound like my own. Fear had twisted it into someone else’s. A scared little girl’s that in no way resembled my own.

At the tone of my voice, Sadie hit the brakes. “Is everything okay?”

My heart palpitated in my throat. “It’s Dawson. Something happened to Emma.”

“WHAT HAPPENED?” SADIE ASKED. I shook my head, because I didn’t know. I’d asked, but Dawson hadn’t given me an answer.

“Dawson. What happened?” I tried again. My throat was closing up. It was hard for me to get words out, but I needed an answer. “Dawson? Is Emma okay?” Icicles of panic stabbed through me.

“She…her car…I can’t believe this is happening.” His voice was muffled, but I could still hear his heartache. It made the fear weighing my thoughts down spread. “She hydroplaned and hit a guardrail on highway twenty-eight.”

My hand flew to my mouth as my mind jumped to the worst-case scenario. “But she’s okay, right? Dawson, tell me she’s okay!” I was losing it. I needed answers. I needed him to stop being so damn cryptic, and spit it all out. Now!

“No. I mean yes, but not really. They flew her to Easton.” He sighed, but it caught in his throat and twisted into something agonizing. My heart stopped while I waited for him to clarify. “She’s alive, but in a medically induced coma. They said the pain would be too much right now. There are things they have to fix first before they bring her out.”

“A coma.” My vision blurred and became distorted, causing me to feel as though I was in a tu

“She’s in a coma? Oh my God, Charlotte. I’m so sorry.” Sadie jerked her car into park and threw her arms around me.

“But she’s going to be okay, right?” I somehow managed to ask Dawson. Sadie let go of me, and I fell back against the seat, my body limp as I waited for his answer.

“They don’t know. I don’t know.” He sniffled, and I wondered why I wasn’t crying yet. I should be. My sister had been in a horrible car accident. I should be crying, but I wasn’t. “They said they won’t know for sure until she wakes.”

Until she wakes. When would that be? My mind formed the words, but they never made it to my lips. Instead, something else came rushing out. “I have to go home. I have to see her.” I didn’t know who I was talking to—myself, Sadie, Dawson. I only knew I needed to be there.

“Not tonight.” Sadie’s voice was firm. “You’ve been drinking. You can leave in the morning.”