***
I didn't remember getting on the plane, or flying across the ocean or getting off. I woke up with Charlotte clinging to the front of me, and Jace standing back, his face completely void of color.
"Hey. What's up?" I glanced around as I put my hands on Charlotte's shoulders and pulled away from her. "What's wrong with you?"
We were in the baggage claim area at LAX airport. The people around us weren't being subtle at all as they looked my way, their eyes wide with a morbid curiosity.
"Riley. Are you okay?" Charlotte gripped my shoulders as Jace moved closer and touched the side of my face.
"She's in shock, Char. Leave her alone." He gripped my hand and pulled me toward the turnstile as bags started to roll out of the opening a few feet from us. His arms felt good around me, his cologne familiar and delicious. "We're going to grab your stuff and take you home, all right, babe?"
"Home?" I wrapped my arms around him, which seemed to be the only available option seeing how close he was standing to me.
"Yeah. We'll explain everything when we get there, all right?" He leaned down and kissed the side of my forehead, squeezing me tightly against his strong frame.
I closed my eyes and pressed my cheek to his chest, trying to remember what part of the last twenty-four hours had been real and which were the remnants of a nightmare. Ethan and I had finally agreed to move from being co-workers into something more like friends with benefits, but...
"There's her bag." Charlotte moved past us and pulled the bag from the turnstile as I stepped back from Jace and took a deep breath. Why was I here? Surely things would start to make sense soon.
Had I been fired from the movie? Was the filming over? No. It had only begun.
"Everything is so foggy. It's weird." I ran my hands up the sides of my face and glanced down toward the ground. "I remember being in Rio and playing in the rain with Ethan. We were heading back in and Frank grabbed me, shocking me a little."
"Come on. Let's get her to the car." Jace wrapped his arm around my shoulders and moved us through the light crowd toward the exit. "She's in shock."
"Shock about what?" I snorted and slid my arm around the back of his waist. "I'm good. I just must have fallen asleep in Rio and not really woken up yet. You know, like when you get in your car and you're stupid tired, but you still drive somewhere. Then you get there and basically wake up, and think, 'how the fuck did I get here'?"
"Shit. This is bad." Charlotte moved up on my other side and gave me a sad look. "You don't remember getting my phone call?"
"About what?" I glanced between her and Jace as my stomach started to turn. Panic raced up the center of my chest and left me a little lightheaded as we finally made it to Charlotte's car. She got in the front and after muscling my suitcase into the trunk, Jace helped me into the backseat and moved in beside me.
"About your mom, baby." Jace pulled me toward him and snuggled me like he used to when we were kids - when we thought we might actually be in love.
I snorted. What a fucking joke that was. We were nothing but sex buddies, but I had no complaints. He was Channing Tatum's body double, only a little taller and a whole hell of a lot more cocky. His blue eyes held no hint of the playfulness that they usually did as I turned my head to glance up at him.
"What's going on with my mom, Jace? Stop dicking around and someone help me fill in the gaps. I don't remember anything." I curled up against his chest, but kept my eyes fully on him.
"I will. When we get to the apartment, okay?" He kissed the tip of my nose. "How was the filming going? You didn't let Mr. Rich-britches take advantage of you?"
"I was going to, but Charlotte called about my mom being in an-" All the air in my lungs left in a soft scream. Memories rushed back in, slapping me around as I tightened my grip on Jace. "I need to get to the hospital. I need to go now!"
Charlotte glanced back with tears running down her face. "It's too late now, Riley. I called at eight last night."
Her sobs drove despair deep inside of me. My mom was gone. I'd known that back in Brazil. Jace rubbed the side of my face and whispered soft words that I couldn't make out, but I was too overwhelmed to really try.
How could my mom have died? "What happened? Tell me what happened, Charlotte."
I pulled from Jace and popped the headrest next to my friend as sadness bled to anger. Why did I keep losing people I loved? Was it my fault? I knew my mother was hanging out with the wrong people, but I'd done nothing about it. I was still pissed at her for losing the house and giving away half of my shit, which she promised she'd dropped off at Charlotte's.
Charlotte yelped and jumped, pulling the car to the side as she did. "Stop it!"
"Hey. Get back here." Jace gripped me tightly again and pulled me into the backseat, wrapping his arms around my chest and his legs around mine to hold me in place. "Just relax against me. Char and I are here to take care of you. Let us."
"I want to know what the fuck happened, and I wanna know now." I turned and narrowed my eyes at him. "Now, Jace Dillon, and don't you fucking lie to me."
"Your mom was in a car accident, Riley. We don't know much, but the guy driving the car was loaded up on cocaine and your mom was full of the shit too. They hit another car on Pacific Coast Highway. I have no clue where they were going, or what they were up to, but the lady in the other car died on impact, as did the sorry bastard driving your mom around."
Charlotte stopped the car and turned around to face me. "They took her to the hospital to try and save her, but she had a head injury that didn't give them much hope. They called the house and I rushed up there after calling you and then Jace. He came right away. It was... it was so horrible."
Jace reached for the door. "She's in a better place now, baby. I know it's going to be hard-"
"How do you know where she went?" I tried to pull away from him with no avail. "What if she went to hell? What if she went nowhere? What if she's trapped in her body forever?"
"Awww... Fuck." He opened the door and manhandled me out of it, picking me up and carrying me up the stairs to the apartment as I flailed against him. Something about being able to stand on my own two feet seemed so important in the moment.
"I'll get the door." Charlotte moved around us and opened the door as I continued to fight.
"Let me go. I need to get to the hospital. She's not here at the apartment. Let me go!"
"I'll take her to the bedroom. Get a glass of water and some sleeping pills if you have any." He reached up to grab my hand and yank it off the doorframe as I latched onto it and pulled from him. My legs gave out underneath me as I sunk toward the ground.
"I have to go up there, Jace. Don't you understand?"
He knelt in front of me and touched the side of my face. "She's not there, baby. She's gone now."
"But I didn't get to say goodbye, or that I'm sorry." My voice broke as a long sob left me. "I need to say I'm sorry."
"For what, Ri? For what, baby?" He picked me up and held me like someone might a two-year-old child.
"For not being enough after Darek. If I'd been enough she wouldn't have turned to her drugs and her old ways. She would have fought against it for me. She would still be here."
"That's not true and you know it." He kicked the door open to my bedroom and moved us up onto the bed as memories doused me in darkness.
"I didn't get to say goodbye," I murmured against his chest and closed my eyes. Nothing made much sense in the anguish I was experiencing. I'd have given up my dreams, my future, my stupid movie deal for just a few minutes to tell her goodbye.
She was all I had left, and now... I had nothing.