Chapter 1

The Call

The phone rang again and I shot daggers at Mike Cronin, who shook his head. My cell had been ringing off and on for fifteen minutes, but I wasn't allowed to answer it until the interview was over. Where the heck had that stupid rule come from?

"-your next appearance?" the girl who was interviewing us asked. I wasn't paying attention. The interviews seemed rather pointless to me at this point. Always the same questions. No, I didn't have a girlfriend right now. Yes, I wear briefs. What the hell does that have to do with our music?

Frustrated, I stood abruptly, with every intention of answering the call. The girl looked startled.

"Ashley!" someone hissed at me. Jacob grabbed at my arm, but let go when I sent him the same look Mike had received just moments before. I stalked over to the pile of phones and picked mine up. I was amazed that whoever it was hadn't hung up by now.

"Ashley," Mike said warningly, obviously pissed. I ignored him. At least I only had to deal with one Mike, since Mike Morin was who-knows-where on some business thing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ash." The voice belonged to Jeremy. I could tell that something was wrong.

"What's up?" I asked, frowning. I was worried about Jeremy, but I was also trying to ignore the disturbing memory that his voice triggered in the back of my mind. Why couldn't I think of my friend without remembering that?

"Where are you?" I pushed the thought away and tried to recall what city we were supposed to be in today. After a while, they all tended to blend together.

"New York," my mouth said. Wow, I guess we were. My mouth seemed to be a couple steps faster than my brain today, as I'd already figured out during the interview.

"City?" Were we in New York City? I looked out a large window in the building we were being tortured in.

"Yeah, I guess." For a minute there was no reply, and I had to fight to keep my mind from wandering in the wrong direction. Instead, I concentrated on his odd behavior. Normally he would have teased me about not being sure of where I was. Something was definitely off. "Jeremy, you okay?"

"Mmmm…." I heard him sigh. Translation: No, definitely not okay. "Ash, could you do me a favor?"

"Anything," I said seriously.

"I gotta get out of here." His tone was pleading.

"Your dad?" The memory returned violently, and I tried to fight it. Don't you dare think about it, I told myself.

"Yeah." I closed my eyes, trying to block the unwelcome thoughts. His dad. Don't think about it. His dad. His dad was scum. He had been for the nine years I'd known him. He'd come home plastered several times a week and end up beating the crap out of his two children. I'd always known when it was a bad night, because Jeremy and Kimberly, his little sister, would crawl through my window, bruised and bloody. I would clean them up and they would crash in my room for the rest of the night, only to head back home early the next morning. I was the only one who knew. Their mom was long gone. And I had just left them. I knew it must be really hard, now that they had no one to help them.

Guilt weighed heavily on me. "What do you need? Plane tickets? Anything, just ask."

"I can't pay."

"That's fine, I'll send you two." He didn't have to explain anything, we understood each other perfectly. My mom used to joke that we didn't even need to talk because we could read each other's minds.

"Do you think I can get a flight out of Redding?"

"I don't know, I'll check. If not, I'll call you and get one out of Sacramento, how 'bout that?"

"Yeah, that'll work. Give me an hour to get through the airport, and one for packing. And I gotta get Kim out of school." I glanced at my watch. It was almost noon.

"What time is it there?"

"About nine."

"Okay, then I'll get you two tickets for a flight to New York sometime after eleven-thirty your time, 'k? They'll be waiting for you at the airport."

"I owe you, man."

"Naw, this is for all the times you bailed our butts out of the trouble I got us into. Just get here in one piece, that's all I want." No, I want to forget it. That's all I want. I want for it never to have happened.

"I'll try." I could hear his relieved grin. "Thanks, Ash."

"Welcome." I tried to grin back. Don't think about it. "I'll see you at the airport. And say hi to Kim for me."

"Okay, will do. "

"'Bye."

"See ya."

Beep. I could feel Mike's eyes boring into the back of my head. Dang, I was in for it.