Chapter 56

After 7 hours of tweaking, starting over, arguing, agreeing, rewriting most of the rhythm guitar and mixing, along with 35 vocal takes and Pearl losing her voice completely, their song was done. Jax was pleased and told them he would meet with Jason that evening and let them know.

It was almost 5 am when they were headed back to their hotel. Pearl was exhausted. "Hey Iris, can we stop somewhere and grab some smokes?" John asked. "Yeah man, I need some, too." Dylan said.

"Yes, of course." Iris said. The driver pulled over in front of a small corner convenience store. Pearl needed calories and decided to get out with John and Dylan to grab something to tie her over. Her mini bar peanuts back in her room didn't sound very satiating.

They were still on cloud nine, grabbing munchies and getting in line. They felt like kids again, laughing and singing along to "Tainted Love" coming from a small radio behind the register. "This is the second best day of my life." Dylan said, piling chips and beef jerky sticks onto the counter. "Second best?" Pearl asked, unsure of how anything could top this. "Yes. The first being our first night together." Dylan said as he smiled and looked away. John was behind them, singing too. All of sudden, they saw the clerk raise his hands and heard from behind them "No one move. No one fucking move."

Pearl turned and saw a man holding a gun, aimed at the clerk and another man behind him, with a gun pointed directly at Pearl.

"We're not moving. We're all cool man." John said. Dylan was slowly moving toward Pearl. Pearl was sure her heart was going to stop. She couldn't breathe. The fear moved through her like lightening.

"I want everything that's in the drawer. And I want your wallets and her purse." The man in front said.

"Ok no problem." The clerk said. He reached down and all of a sudden they heard a shotgun cock. The clerk had pulled a gun and aimed it at the men. What was he thinking? There were two of them! John lunged toward the man with the gun pointed at Pearl and Dylan moved in front of Pearl, shielding her and throwing her onto the ground. The man in front fled on foot, the other was down. John had managed to tackle him but not before his gun went off. Pearl asked Dylan if he was ok but she knew he wasn't. She could see the pool of blood on the ground in front of him. She rolled him onto his back and saw that he had been shot in the stomach. He was bleeding out. She put her hands over the opening and screamed "Call someone! Call an ambulance!! He's hurt. He's hurt." She was trying to remain calm. Dylan looked at her and said nothing, but stayed focused on her eyes. "Don't you fucking die on me, Dylan. We have more good days to make happen together. Don't you fucking die on me. I love you. I love you and you're going to be ok." She said, tears streaming down her face. He nodded and closed his eyes. Everything happened so fast yet in slow motion. She heard people coming in. She heard voices telling her to move. She couldn't. She stayed there covering his stomach and begging him to stay with her. It took two men to pry her off of him. They loaded her and John into a separate ambulance from Dylan.

They arrived at the hospital and looked Pearl over. She was fine. She was fine because Dylan had protected her. He had saved her life.

Several hours later, they were all zombies in the waiting room. John had went back to speak to the surgeons. After a few minutes, he came back in with news.

"Dylan made it out of surgery. Barely. The bullet hit an artery in his abdomen. They had to give him blood. The doctor said a few more minutes later and there would have been nothing they could have done. Blake and Tony had called the police before the shooting happened. They had the window down and could see what was going on through the windows of the store. That timing may have been what saved his life. You guys saved his life." John said. "He's going to be in ICU for awhile. They said the next couple of days are crucial."

"I'm not leaving New York." Pearl said. "I'm staying until he can leave with me. He saved my life."

She didn't care how she managed it, she wasn't leaving until he was ok.