"But I have no authorization to release him!" a short, plump woman hurriedly followed Joey down the hall.
"It's a family emergency! His mother is in the hospital!" Joey yelled.
"I understand that, sir, but I could get sued, fired, or both if I just let you take him!" Joey stopped in the doorway to Chris' room and took the nurse's hand. Pulling a marker from his pocket, he quickly scrawled his cell phone number on her skin.
"My name is Joey. If they have a problem, call me. We're leaving now." Chris stood behind the younger man, confused. Joey nodded reassuringly at him and led him by the arm to the lobby, out the door, and to a waiting limo.
As soon as the door was shut, Joey turned to Chris, his eyes wide. The driver pulled away from the curb, and Chris finally turned to face his bandmate.
"Is my mom ok?" he asked, tears in his eyes.
"Shit, no, Chris. You're mom's great. That was just a lie to get you out of there. Nothing's wrong with your mom."
"Thank God." he wiped his eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.
"But there is bad news." Joey said, sensing Chris' fear renewed. "Justin-"
Oh God! Chris' screamed in his head, did Justin hurt one of the others? What did he do now? Shit, did he do something else to make them think I really am crazy?
"What'd he do this time?" Chris broke in. Joey took a deep breath before going on.
"From what Lance said, he met JC at his hotel, then JC attacked him."
"Was Lance there?" Chris asked. He knew JC would never do something like that. Mellow, calm JC? No way.
"No." Joey closed his eyes, willing himslef to remain calm.
"Then how does he know? How does he know Justin's not lying?" There's no way in hell that they're gonna try to make me believe that JC beat Justin up he thought to himself.
"Becasue there were witnesses, Chris! And Justin can't be lying! He's been unconsious since it happened." Joey said, his voice cracking and his eyes giving way to tears.
Chris was silent for a while, pondering his feelings. "OK, so tell me, what happened again?"
"After you called Lance, he was kind of freaked, so Lance called JC. JC said he'd "have a talk" with Justin, then he beat him up." Joey wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.
"Is Justin gonna be ok?" Chris whispered as tears fell.
"He's got three crarcked ribs, and two bruised ones, a concussion, minor brain damage, and some internal bleeding."
The two men broke down then, knowing the answer.
"Brain damage?" Chris finally said.
"From asfixiation." Chris stared at him, clueless. "It means his air supply was cut off for some period of time."
"Dear God."
"I know."
~*~
Once they reached the hospital parking lot, the two popstarts leapt out of the limo and ran to the doors. Joey led the way to the ICU where Justin was being held. They heard several people yelling, and as they rounded the corner, something stopped them dead in their tracks.
"Oh my God."
"Holy shit."
~*~
"Wow. You're pretty wild, babe." JC breathed as he zipped his pants and slid his belt throught the loops.
"You were great. Maybe we can do this again sometime." the blonde replied, pulling the sheets up.
"Yeah, maybe."
A loud knock on the door startled both of them. JC's eyes widened when he opened the door to reveal two police officers.
"Joshua Chasez?"
"Yeah?" he nonchalantly adjusted his fly.
"Sir, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us."
Story Tags: chris
