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I have to shush her so I can hear. “One second. Uh, shit. There’s shouting. It’s super loud. Sounds like Ty. Hold on I think the door’s opening. Nope. Oh…yeah it’s opening. It’s Jace. Hold on, Zoey. Jace? I’m here. What’s going on?”
“Fucking chaos. It’s a fucking disaster.” Jace and Connor burst through the front door, both of their eyes are wild. Ronni and I peer inside and can see all the way through the room. People are standing around, shell-shocked.
Connor grabs Ronni. “Come here, love. I’ve got you.”
Jace pulls me into his arms. I cling to him in the doorway. A loud crash interrupts us. EMTs wheel Carter out to the ambulance. Zane follows, crying uncontrollably. On his way out, he kicks over another band’s amp in an utter display of grief. He turns to see what crashed to the ground and wails in agony.
“Ohmygod,” I scream. “Jace, get him outta there.”
The four of us race through the showroom out the loading dock to get to Jace, passing Ty on our way. Officers are reading him his Miranda rights. We make it outside to see Zane sitting next to an unconscious Carter in the ambulance. He’s still bawling his eyes out.
I look up at Jace, whose face is stoic. Probably from shock. I grab his hand and squeeze. He squeezes back, but his face remains impassive as he takes in the entire scene.
That’s when I see Zoey, all dressed up, cupping her belly, running through the parking lot toward the building. Her security guard, Omar is on her heels. She sees us and the look on her face breaks my heart.
Utter devastation.
“Don’t.” Jace encircles my wrist when I make a move toward her.
I tilt my face up and kiss his scruffy chin. “Ihaveto. None of this is her fault. I need to be there for her.”
With Jace appeased, I rush over to my bestie and hug her tightly. It’s up to me to prepare her for Ty’s arrest. Whatever has gone down will have permanent repercussions on all of us, that much is clear. “Zoey, shhh. Calm down.”
“How am I supposed to calm down? Where is my husband?” She’s in absolute hysterics. “Where is he?”
Before I can tell her the little I know, Ty is led from the loading dock in handcuffs. Zoey lurches out of my embrace and rushes toward him. A police officer stops her, but she cranes her head around him and yells, “Ty. Baby?”
He looks over at her. His face has been beaten to a bloody pulp. His eyes are dead. It’s like he doesn’t even register that his wife is there. I watch her fall apart when he says nothing as he’s shoved into the back seat of the police car and the door is slammed behind him. For one fleeting second, he glances at her through the window. Then just looks away.
Fucking asshole. Inexcusable. I run over to her and wrap my arm around her as the police car drives away.
“What is going on?” She falls to her knees, crying.
I keep my voice calm because none of us know what the fuck is up. I’m so worried about her, she’s white as a ghost. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of it. You look pale, Z. Please come inside and sit down. You don’t want anything to hurt the baby.”
Zoey looks up at me and her body begins to go slack. “Alex, please help me. I’ve got to protect my baby…” She passes out in my arms.
Jace is by my side in a second as are the EMTs from the other ambulance. We all watch helplessly as she’s loaded in. On impulse, I wrench away from Jace and tell the driver, “I’m her sister.”
“Get in, then.” He motions and I take the seat next to her and grab her hand. I look up to see Jace’s look of disbelief as the doors latch behind us.
We speed away. I smooth the hair from Zoey’s eyes and kiss her forehead. Sometimes you’ve just got to be there for the person who needs you most.
Right now that’s Zoey.
Jace will understand when things settle down.
I know it.
Unfucking believable.
I cannot believe that Alex just left like that. She’s fucking pregnant. She’s high risk. Nothing is more important than our baby, and she’s being so careless. I’m so fucking mad but have a little bit of self-awareness to know that I can’t talk to her until I cool down. There’s no need for me to add to the stress of the situation.
Ronni grabs my wrist. “We should go inside. I’m sure we’re being filmed. At the very least, we can try and do some damage control until we can figure all of this out.”
She’s right. I follow her and Connor back inside The Mission. An officer approaches and asks if we’d all be willing to make a statement. After I confirm that they will not publish anything that’s said publicly, I nod to Connor.
“Ladies and gents,” Connor’s voice booms. “None of us have words to describe what just happened. All of you are valued members of the LTZ and Mission community. We ask that you cooperate with the police and remember you’re all under NDA. No one may talk to the press or post on social media without running it past our management. For those who are here with the Rainier Foundation, the same thing applies.”
