Page 23 of Harmony

A knock on the door then, and Brock rises. Two servers bring in two trolleys of food. Brock signs the bill, and then we take a look at what Rory ordered.

She wasn’t kidding when she said light. Green salad, fruit salad, and broiled chicken fingers.

“Ror, we’re going to need a little more than this.”

She hands me a napkin. “There’s plenty. You eat as much chicken as you can handle. If we go through it all, we’ll order more. But you need your protein, and there’s enough sugar in the fruit to keep you going. But there is no way I was going feed you red meat tonight, which is hard to digest, or anything with added sugar, which will make you crash.”

Jake grabs a plate and fills it. “I hate it when your sister’s right all the time.”

“Yeah,” I say dryly. “It’s a drag.” I rise to grab a plate, next in line after Jake, when my phone buzzes in my back pocket. My heart jumps. “It’s Maddie,” I say. “Dragon’s awake.”

Chapter Eight

Brianna

The most I know about Dragon Locke is that he and Jesse seem to be pretty close, and he spent time at my parents’ last party talking to my sister, Diana.

Which in itself was strange.

Diana is an academic. A professional. An architect, currently interning with one of the best architecture firms in Denver.

She and Dragon have zilch in common.

He and Jesse have more in common, at least. They’re both musicians. But Jesse is a vocalist and a guitarist, and Dragon is a percussionist.

Quite different, but Jesse thought enough of Dragon to bring him into his band and name it after him.

Although admittedly, Dragon Locke is a very cool name, and it makes a cool band name.

Maddie and I have been taking turns sitting in Dragon’s room with him. He was moved from the accident and emergency department to a ward. Apparently his condition wasn’t bad enough to merit a private room. Things are different here.

During my time off from sitting with him, I’ve walked around the hospital so many times that I now have the place memorized. In the cafeteria, I discovered digestive biscuits—whole wheat cookies with a thin coating of chocolate. They’re surprisingly good.

The fact that Emerald Phoenix loaned Dragonlock their backup drummer helps ease the load of guilt I’m carrying, but I still feel like Jesse will be blaming me for the fact that he wasn’t with Dragon last night. He could barely look at me when we were in Jett’s suite.

I walk back to the room, and Maddie shrieks. “Thank God you’re back, Bree. I think he’s waking up.”

Sure enough, Dragon’s eyelids are fluttering.

What’s he going to think when he sees the two of us? And not Jesse?

“Dragon,” Maddie says. “It’s me. Maddie. Jesse’s sister.”

He turns toward the sound of Maddie’s voice. “Jess?” he croaks out.

“Jesse’s back at the hotel. Brianna and I are here. You know. Brianna Steel.”

“What… Where…”

“You’re in the hospital, Dragon.” Maddie opens her mouth to keep talking but then closes it.

Yeah, probably best not to spout out all the details until he’s a little more conscious.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

What a dumb question. He’s probably feeling like crap.

“I don’t…”