Chapter 11

11

C laire was back in wardrobe with Miranda when a loud commotion in the hallway had her leaning out the door.

The security crew was running through the hallways, heading toward the stage. People were shouting orders, and all Claire could make out was something about crowd control.

"What's going on?" Miranda asked.

"I don't know," Claire said. Her heart thumped as her mind immediately went to Charles. Did he show up? Is that why everyone was in a frenzy?

She looked over at Miranda, who seemed to have the same thought. Miranda pulled Claire back into the room and shut the door, turning the lock with a click.

"I'm sure it's fine, but let's be careful, okay?"

Claire nodded and scrubbed her suddenly damp palms down the sides of her pants. "Yeah. You're right."

The two of them waited in silence as a loud commotion in the hallway had them staring at each other and straining their ears to hear.

The words "paramedics" and "ambulance" were thrown out. Miranda hurried to the door and unlocked it, looking out just as they saw one of the guys being wheeled down the hallway on a gurney.

Claire's stomach plummeted.

"What happened? Who was that?" Claire asked at the same time Miranda was attempting to ask the same questions to a person in the hallway.

"Claire!" Ben called as he approached.

He rushed into the room and took Claire's hand before pulling her behind him. "We need to go."

"What's going on?" Claire asked as Miranda watched them with wide eyes.

"Jake collapsed. We're heading to the hospital."

"He what?" Claire asked loudly.

"Jake collapsed on stage. I said I couldn't leave without you, so Lonnie is going to get us to the hospital."

"What?" she said quieter. Ben didn't hear her that time. He was too busy pulling her down the hallway with two security guards following behind them and one in front.

Claire allowed herself to be pulled into a waiting car with Ben and Lonnie. The other security guards made sure they made it out of the parking lot safely before following behind in their own vehicle.

"What is going on?" Claire asked. "What happened to Jake? Did someone hurt him?" Her heart thundered as the questions poured out. "Is he going to be okay?"

Ben scrubbed his eyes before looking at Claire. "I don't know what happened. One minute we were playing, the next he was lying on the stage. He just… he collapsed. I don't know how else to describe it."

She swallowed hard, and her voice turned to whisper, "Was there blood?"

He shook his head. "No. Nothing like that."

She let out a shaky breath.

Lonnie turned around from the front passenger seat. "Claire, it had nothing to do with your ex. This seemed to be a medical emergency. No one in the crowd was involved."

Ben's head snapped toward Claire. "Shit. I'm sorry, Claire. I didn't realize that's what you were asking."

She clenched her trembling hands together and nodded. "It's okay. Thank you, Lonnie. When Miranda and I heard the commotion in the hallway, we got worried it was related to me."

Lonnie patted her knee. "I understand, but you're okay. This has nothing to do with you."

While that eased a little bit of stress, it didn't eliminate it. Jake had collapsed. It was a medical emergency. Worst-case scenarios flooded through her head. Heart attack? Aneurysm? Stroke? The possibilities were endless.

"How much longer until we're there?" Ben asked.

"About ten minutes," the driver responded.

Migraine? Brain tumor? Cancer?

She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes.

Seizure?

A hand circled her wrist and gave it a light squeeze. She pulled her hands away from her face and looked over at Ben.

"We're here," he whispered.

The car behind them had the additional security personnel who had followed behind, and Ben and Claire were instructed to wait until they could be flanked before exiting the vehicle.

The paparazzi had already gotten wind of Jake's collapse and were lined up outside the hospital doors, pointing their cameras at the vehicle.

"Do you want me to go in alone? I can have the driver go around the block, and Lonnie can bring you in at a different entrance," Ben said.

Claire shook her head. Waiting any longer would make her scream, and the paparazzi likely had every entrance covered.

"No. Let's do this."

At Lonnie's wave, they climbed out of the vehicle and were surrounded by security as they quickly made their way inside the hospital.

"Claire! Where have you been the last several years?"

"Claire, is it true you left the father of your child?"

"Over here, Claire! One picture for the camera."

When they got inside, the closing doors muted the voices of the paparazzi. They continued walking quickly until they were out of sight of the press before Claire clutched her chest and sagged against the wall. She always hated dealing with the press, but somehow those questions felt much worse than normal.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Seems to me Charles went to the press," Lonnie said. "We'll worry about it later. Let's get you two to the waiting room with the rest of the guys."

"I can't believe Charles would make up a story that you're pregnant," Ben said.

Claire pulled a lip between her teeth and furrowed her eyebrows. Lying to Ben wouldn't do any good because he would find out soon. Especially if the press already had wind of it.

"He didn't make it up. I am pregnant," she whispered.

Ben didn't have a chance to respond because they were hurried through the waiting room doors where security personnel were standing guard.

Lonnie nodded at the men, who nodded back and allowed them to enter. The rest of their security team remained outside the waiting room to prevent any unauthorized visitors.

"Have you heard anything?" Ben asked as they rushed over to where Will, Liam, and Theo were seated in various states of distress.

They all had disheveled hair from running their hands through it far too many times. Theo's leg bounced rapidly where he was seated. Liam was tapping some sort of nervous beat on his leg that would occasionally end with him clenching his fists before starting again. Will paced endlessly.

"Nothing." Will said, stepping over to the waiting room door and peering out as if he could get answers.

"What happened?" Claire muttered.

"He collapsed," Ben said again.

"But why? Did he have a heart attack? A stroke?"

Theo shook his head and scrubbed his face with his hands. "He was overly exhausted. I told him he needed to see Celine about getting some sleeping pills. He hasn't been sleeping."

All heads swiveled his way.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked.

"Jake hasn't been well. He's exhausted and running himself ragged. I think he finally contacted Celine this morning."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Will asked.

"I didn't want to break his confidence. My plan was to come to you if he didn't talk to Celine soon."

Claire's chest clenched. Jake hadn't been sleeping, and she knew some of their late nights were partially her fault. Maybe if she had insisted he get some rest rather than meeting him to talk, it would have been better.

Was all this her fault?

"How did I not see it?" Ben mumbled.

They all knew the answer to that. Ben didn't see it because he had been preoccupied with Claire.

"This is all my fault," she murmured.

"Why is it your fault?"

She hadn't expected Ben to overhear her. All eyes were on her now, and when she met Theo's, she knew she was right. Theo was who Jake had confided in.

"I showed up and threw all of you off."

"Does Jake know?" Ben asked. "About…" Ben gestured at Claire.

The room remained silent. The only other person in the room who knew was Lonnie. Claire's eyes found him, and he gave her a nod, as if to say he was there for her.

"I told him last night," she whispered.

Ben scrubbed his face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I planned to. It just hadn't happened yet. I'm sorry, Ben."

Ben leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath before leaning over to Claire and hugging her lightly.

"We'll figure this out. I promise. But right now, let's focus on getting Jake healthy again."

"Thank you," Claire said.

The guys' eyes were on them, curiosity burning. Claire knew it was only a matter of time before they all heard about it, and she would rather it be from her.

She pulled back from Ben and took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant. The paparazzi just hounded us outside the hospital about it, so apparently it was leaked to the press."

Will nodded. It would make sense that he had already heard the rumors since he tried to keep up on anything that needed to be sent to their public relations team. Liam and Theo's faces remained neutral as they processed the information. As if Will could read her mind that she wanted to move on from the conversation, he spoke first.

"This isn't on you," Will said. "We all should have noticed he wasn't doing well. You telling him about the pregnancy didn't cause this. One night of poor rest wouldn't land him in the hospital. Plus, Jake is an adult. He should have come to me and contacted Celine much sooner if he was struggling."

He nodded in finality before continuing to pace to the door and looking out.

"Here comes Celine," he said.

Celine appeared a moment later and looked at the stressed faces of everyone around her.

"He's okay, everyone. You can take a breath."

A collected sigh went around the room.

She sat down in a seat opposite them.

"He's exhausted and hasn't been sleeping. His body couldn't take anymore and shut off. Sometimes it has to do that to protect someone if they won't protect themself."

"So what now?" Theo asked.

"He needs rest. The hospital is keeping him overnight as a precaution, but he'll be released in the morning. Then you'll all be forced to slow down."

Ben scrubbed the back of his head. "That's not necessarily a bad thing."

"It's not at all," Celine said. "In fact, I want you all to check in with me once a week to let me know how you're doing. It can be by text, but at least once a month I'm going to meet with each of you in person so we can make sure you're doing well."

The guys all nodded in agreement.

"Can we see him?" Liam asked.

Celine nodded. "His doctor said it's okay to visit briefly. I can bring you to his room, but we need to make it quick so he can get some rest."

The guys all stood, but Claire hesitated. Maybe it would be best if she didn't go if she was the reason he was losing sleep. As if Theo knew exactly what she was thinking, he quickly stepped over and took her hand, helping her out of her chair.

"He'll want to see you," he whispered.

She nodded and followed everyone down the hallway. Theo moved his hand to the small of her back as if to make sure she didn't run away. She would have laughed if she wasn't so scared for Jake and what all this meant.

The guys filed into the room one-by-one. Last came Claire. She was the only one Jake really wanted to see. Claire's eyes met his briefly before shifting away.

"How are you feeling, man?" Liam asked.

Jake was exhausted. His entire body felt heavy, like he was engulfed in thick mud. He asked that they not dose him with any sleeping medication until after he saw everyone to ease their minds. The last thing they needed after seeing him collapse was him doped up on medication and not being able to make coherent sentences.

"I'm okay." Jake took the time to look at each one of his friends. They all had various degrees of concern on their faces. Guilt engulfed him.

"I'm sorry I scared everyone."

Ben shook his head and dragged a hand down his face. "We're just happy you're okay."

"But, dude, next time, let us know you aren't sleeping. We could have gotten you help sooner," Will said.

Jake nodded, and then his eyes landed on Theo. "I'll be better about taking care of myself and heeding warnings."

Theo nodded, not needing to reply to know Jake was directly apologizing to him for not taking his advice sooner.

A nurse knocked on the door before coming into the room.

"Oh, it's a full house in here. Hello, everyone." She moved around the room and over to Jake's side, where she looked at his monitor and checked his vitals. Once she finished, she turned around to face everyone.

"I'm going to need you all to clear out for the night. This one needs his rest."

The guys all came over and gave Jake a fist bump before leaving the room. Claire trailed last. She stepped up to the bed, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Jake opened his arms and leaned forward. She sat on the side of the bed and leaned into him.

"This isn't your fault."

"You aren't sleeping because of me," she said so softly he almost didn't hear her.

She was right. She was exactly the reason he wasn't sleeping, but that didn't make it her fault.

Claire lightly wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his neck.

He took the opportunity to turn his head and press a kiss to her temple. The nurse still stood beside the bed, but was looking down at his charts. Lonnie stood in the doorway, looking out into the hallway. He appreciated their attempts to give them some privacy, but knew they could hear everything they said.

"I'm not sleeping because of me and the grueling schedule. You cannot blame yourself for this. Promise me you will go back to your hotel room and put this behind you. I can't have you worrying about me."

She pulled back and wiped at her eyes before nodding. "I'll try."

He brushed the back of his hand across her cheek, and for the first time, she didn't flinch. He smiled.

"Go. Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded and stood up, giving his hand a squeeze before going to the door, where Lonnie waited.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jake," she said.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Claire gave him a small smile before stepping out the door. Lonnie tipped his head, and Jake waved slightly before the door shut behind them.

The nurse smiled at Jake. "Well, let's get you down for the night, shall we?"

Jake gave her a small smile before leaning back in his bed.