This One Moment Read Online Free PDF

the meantime, I’ll work on some songs here. There’s this wonderful invention called Skype. If worse comes to worst, we can use that.” It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best solution I could come up with until I knew more about Hailey’s condition.
    Jared muttered, “We’re screwed.” For now I had to agree with him, but wisely kept that to myself. “So why did Remar want to talk to you and not the rest of the band?”
    “Hell if I know. I also have no idea why he arranged the interview instead of Jennifer doing it. I would’ve thought PR work was beneath him.”
    “Good point.”
    “But next time he pulls that stunt, I’ll remind him we’re a group, not a solo act.” The last thing I wanted was unfounded resentment among the guys. We were friends. I wanted it to stay that way.
    I told Jared I’d talk to him soon, and ended the call.
    I tracked down the flight’s assigned baggage carousel. Brandon had beaten me to it and was waiting for me, a weak smile on his face. I gave him a one-armed hug.
    “Sorry, dude. No news yet,” he said, already knowing what my first question would be.
    “How could this have happened?”
    “I don’t know. The police interviewed me this morning. They’re trying to figure out why she was in Westgate. That’s all I know.”
    “Westgate? Why the hell would she be there?” The only people who hung out in that part of town were drug dealers and prostitutes. The last I’d heard, Hailey was neither of those.
    “Hell if I know. It’s not like Hailey keeps me updated on her life. I haven’t talked to her much in the past five years. Not after she figured out I was keeping things about you from her.” He shot me a look to remind me how much he’d hated lying to her.
    I ignored it and grabbed my guitar off the conveyor belt. Now I was almost complete. As complete as I would ever be.
    “Was she…?” I swallowed hard, unable to say the next part but needing to know all the same.
    Brandon shook his head. “According to my mom, there were no signs of sexual assault or rape.”
    I let out a long breath, and for the first time since Brandon had told me the news about Hailey, a small amount of tension unknotted from my muscles.
    We didn’t say much else as Brandon drove me to the hospital, mostly because I was exhausted from the combination of touring, last night’s show, and then traveling hard since I boarded the plane in L.A. Not once had I slept during the two flights, my mind constantly on Hailey.
    “Just so you know,” Brandon said, “you can only stay at my place for three days.”
    I lifted an eyebrow. “What, I’m cramping your style?”
    He snorted. “Hardly. It’s my roommate.”
Ah, the roommate from Nerdsville
. “He’s a real stickler for rules, and my apartment will only let us have guests for up to three days. If he wasn’t coming back on Wednesday, it wouldn’t be an issue. They’d never know.”
    “That’s okay. I’ll find somewhere else to stay.”
    “You still have…” His words fizzled at my glare.
    “I’m not staying there, so don’t even suggest it.”
    “You haven’t even tried to sell it.”
    I shrugged. End of discussion.
    Brandon pulled into the hospital parking lot thirty minutes later and took me to the ER, where his mom worked as a nurse. Hailey was in neurology, but he figured my best shot at seeing her would be through his mom. He didn’t know if Hailey’s parents were at the hospital to grant me permission to see her, and we didn’t want to bug them if they weren’t. I loved her parents and they had always treated me like a son, but I didn’t know what they thought about me after my father had exchanged his engineering career for the title of mass murderer. Maybe they wondered if I would turn out like him.
    Fuck knows I’d frequently wondered that myself.
    With my hat and sunglasses on, I sat on a plastic chair away from the crowd. Either way, no one paid attention to me, not even to glance in my direction. Everybody