Page 54 of Bulletproof
CHAPTER TWELVE
Derek hated when Travis didn’t text him back or answer his calls. Either Travis contacted him at the weirdest hours, or never answered the phone. It was noon, and they were supposed to meet for breakfast this morning. There was no set time, but he should have heard from Travis by now. He re-read the series of texts thatcame in at 4:16 a.m. when he was asleep on the tour bus from Boise on their way to Salt Lake City:
Travis: 10 Things I Like About You, by T. Fontana
Travis: #5. I like that you make me feel like I can face the world, when all I want to do is hide.
Travis: #6. I like that you take my hand, proud that I’m by your side.
Derek let out a dreamy sigh.He’d never met someone as sweet and soft-hearted as Travis, someone filled with tenderness and romance. Staring at the wall, he wondered if maybe Travis was still asleep in his hotel room. Maybe he had been up most of the night writing lyrics and sending him little love notes, and that’s why he couldn’t reach him. Worry made Derek leave the suite. The bodyguard followed him onto the elevator,where they were met with three awestruck faces.
“Hi,” one of the guys on the elevator said, glancing apprehensively at the bodyguard, worried about striking up a conversation with Derek.
“Hey. How’s it going?” Derek addressed the fan.
The three guys looked like they were about to explode when Derek nodded at each of them.
“It’s so great to meetyou, man,” the other guy said, offering his hand to Derek. “We got tickets to the show tonight.”
“I can’t believe we’re on the same elevator. This is unbelievable!” The third guy gushed harder than his friends, clearly struggling to reel in his excitement. “Can we get a photo together?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks, dude!” They snapped a couple of photos. The doors openedand Derek stepped off. He stopped and turned back to the three fans. “Do you want me to sign something?” He silently laughed at himself, because he sounded just like Brandon.
“Oh, man! That would be great. Thank you!”
Derek scribbled his name on their T-shirts and phone cases, and then took off down the corridor. When he turned the corner, he saw Travis’ three bandmatesstanding in the hallway.
“Open the fucking door!” Ricky yelled, and banged his fist on the door.
Derek stopped to assess the situation. Travis and Ricky probably had a fight and Travis locked Ricky out of the room. There was always so much fucking drama going on with Reckless. He jogged the last few yards, worry and annoyance creeping up his back. “What’s up? What’s goingon?”
“Travis won’t open the door.” Ricky pounded on the door again.
“What the fuck happened now? Did you say something to him?”
“No. Nothing like that. I forgot my key and Travis is asleep.”
“Was he drunk?”
“I don’t think so. We got to the hotel around midnight and I crashed. I got up to take a piss around four and he was still awake.I think he took a sleeping pill, though. He was still conked out when I went down the hall a few minutes ago.”
The creeping feeling that something was very wrong crawled up Derek’s spine. “How many pills did he take?”
“I don’t know. He was out of it. Talking in his sleep. Yelling at one point. I tried to wake him, but he was on another planet. Then he quieted down. Ihaven’t heard him say a word since I’ve been up for the last two hours.”
Derek’s heart hammered in his chest.
“We called the hotel manager,” Troy said. “He’ll be here in a little while with a key.”
“Fuck the hotel manager! Next time, callmeif Travis is in trouble!” Derek pushed his fingers through his hair, gearing up to do what he needed to do. He tooka deep breath, backed up, lifted one of his legs and kicked the fucking door as hard as he could. It barely moved. Two more kicks and it started to buckle, but he’d never get it open at this rate. “A little help here?” He snapped at the bodyguard, who stood off to the side, oblivious to the situation.
With the weight and strength of both Derek and the bodyguard, the door finally flungopen. Derek took a tentative step inside, unsure and afraid of what he might find. “Hey, Trav. You alright?” Travis lay on the bed, unmoving, without making a sound. Derek slowly walked over, holding his breath with each step. “Travis, wake up.” He knelt next to the bed and shook Travis’ shoulder, while panic made his heart pound in his ears. Another vigorous shake didn’t arouse Travis, but senta fresh wave of fear through Derek. “Travis!”
Travis mumbled something incoherent and rolled a little closer to the end of the bed.
“Travis! Wake the fuck up!” Derek shook him with both hands, so hard that Travis’ leg bounced off the mattress, and then he rolled right off the bed and onto the floor, almost cracking his head on the nightstand. “Oh fuck! I’m sorry! Travis,are you OK?”
