Fall (Seaside #4)(50)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

I suddenly felt sick — like someone had punched me in the stomach. “Is it alright if I’m completely honest and tell you I don’t know?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “That’s alright.”

“Good.”

Her breathing grew deep and even, but I stayed awake, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do in order to make it work. In order to give us a fighting chance.

****

Priscilla

My phone was blinking again. Seriously? How many voicemails could my dad leave? It had been his thing over the past few days. We’d talked a handful of times, but yesterday I’d missed him on account that Jaymeson and I were feeding seals with Demetri and Alyssa.

The room was still blanketed in darkness.

With a yawn I reached for the phone. It was only six a.m. Maybe my parents were back already? I looked at the screen. Two missed calls from dad.

And five missed calls from Stella. How had I slept through all that buzzing?

Curious, I dialed Stella’s number and waited, hoping she was okay and not in the hospital or something.

“Hello?” she answered on the first ring.

“Hi, Stella, what’s up?”

“Oh, honey.” She sniffled. “Honey, I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry. There was nothing they could do.”

“They?” My heart started skipping beats as it slammed sharp against my ribs. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know,” she said softly.

“Know what?”

“Honey, maybe it’s best if you talk to the police first.”

“Why would I be talking to the police?”

“Where are you?”

“Stella…” I swear the woman made me want to pull my hair out. “What’s going on?”

“Honey, I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“Tell me… what, exactly?” My voice sounded funny, like I was standing in a tunnel. My vision blurred. I knew. Somehow I knew. It was bad.

“Your parents, honey… they got in an accident last night.”

My heart stopped. “But they’re fine, right? What hospital are they at? Are they still in Seattle? I can be there in an hour I—”

“Sweetie, they didn’t make it.”

My world stopped. I dropped the phone onto the ground and followed suit, my body going completely numb.

“Priscilla!” Stella yelled on the other end of the phone. “Priscilla! Honey, answer me.”

Her screams must have been loud enough to rouse Jaymeson. He took one look at me on the floor, tears streaming down my face, and the phone.

In an instant, he grabbed it. “Hello? Who is this?”

His entire face went pale, as he pulled me into his lap and rubbed my head, listening to Stella talk, while drawing lazy circles across my scalp.

I was in such shock, I wasn’t sure if I was even crying. Was I crying? Or were the tears just coming without my permission?

“I understand.” His voice was hollow. “Thanks, Stella, I’ll be in touch.”

Without saying a word to me, he dialed another number and barked into the phone. “Get me a plane.”

He was leaving me?

I tried to pull away but he was too strong. He hung up and gripped my hands. “Pris, we need to go see your sister. She’s in critical care. They had to fly her to Seattle. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I nodded slowly.

“I’ll help you pack, but we have to go. We may not—” His voice caught. “We may not make it in time.”

That was all it took. I jumped to my feet and looked helplessly around the room. Jaymeson gripped my shoulders. “Grab your overnight stuff. I’ll get some clothes from Alyssa. We’ll leave in ten minutes, okay?”

I nodded. Thankful that he was in control when I couldn’t be.

Thankful that his heart was still beating. When I was pretty convinced mine had just died, cracking my chest wide open.

By the time I’d brushed my teeth, put my hair in a ponytail, and packed what was left of my stuff, Alyssa had come into my room with a bag ready to go and fresh clothing that she laid on the bed.

One look at her swollen face, and I lost it again.

We hugged for what felt like hours.

Jaymeson opened the door, Demetri followed, and without saying anything, they surrounded us, keeping us in their embrace as we all held each other.

“Love,” Jaymeson whispered. “We need to go if we’re going to catch that plane.”

“Are we flying out of Portland?”

“No.” He gripped my hand in his. “Seaside. There’s a private runway a few miles away from here. The plane arrived about five minutes ago from Portland. It’s going to fly us into Seattle.”

“O-okay.” My body hurt. My head hurt. Everything hurt. I couldn’t stop shaking even though I wasn’t cold — just shocked.

“It’s going to be fine,” Alyssa promised, kissing my head and giving me one final hug.

We walked outside and nearly ran into Alec and Nat as they ran up the stairs. Nat pulled me in for a hug while Jaymeson filled Alec in on the details.

Reluctantly, Nat let me go, and they said they’d be waiting to hear news from us. I hated that what was supposed to be a break from touring…

Was more of a break from life.

Jaymeson put our bags in the trunk of his Audi while I got inside. I must have been more out of it than I realized, because he had to reach across and buckle my seatbelt.

It took us exactly ten minutes to get to the airstrip.

But it felt like ten hours.

Every part of my body was heavy, like someone had sliced me open and filled every inch of free space with sand.

“Mr. Jaymeson.” The pilot tipped his hat. “I’m here to take you and your girlfriend to Seattle.”

I almost missed it. The girlfriend part. I was too exhausted to be excited.

“Thanks,” Jaymeson said smoothly.

It took us less than two hours to get to Seattle. Jaymeson didn’t say a word to me — it was weird how well he knew me. If I wanted to talk I would have talked, but I was still trying to process the limited information I had.

When we landed, Jaymeson led me off the runway to a private parking lot where a black limo was waiting.

A man in a uniform opened the door, and took the bags from Jaymeson. Once we were seated, Jaymeson didn’t say anything. He simply grabbed a granola bar and handed it to me. “I know you feel sick, love, but you need to eat.”

I took the bar and nodded. The bar slipped out of my fingers at least a dozen times as I tried to get it open. Why wasn’t my body working?