Page 47 of Pretty When It Burns (When The Lights Go Down #1)
Chapter forty-four
"Please Don't Go" - Jack Avery
Grayson
“Goodnight Austin, Texas! You’ve been fucking unreal!”
I tear off my mics and monitors as I jog off stage. Fucking unreal is right. The crowd is still screaming my name, demanding an encore.
My heart is pounding, my body completely soaked in sweat. I haven’t allowed myself to look backstage all night. I didn’t want to know if she had shown up until it was over. Our fans deserved all of me—and that’s exactly what I’d given.
But now the show is almost over, and I’m ready.
I know she’s going to be here. I can feel it.
I can’t wait to see her face. To run straight into her arms. To kiss every inch of her skin, tell her I love her and I’ll never, ever make the mistake of letting her go again.
Hell, I’m already planning to ask her to come out and crush one more song with me. Bookend the tour with the moment that got us here. Just like we were always meant to.
But the second I round the corner, every ounce of confidence I had evaporates.
She isn’t here.
No green eyes searching for mine.
No soft smile in the shadows.
No Mia.
Instead, I run straight into the wall of tension that is Jake, Rylee, and my sister, standing shoulder to shoulder like a barricade in the wings. They aren’t celebrating. They aren’t excited. They aren’t even smiling.
The look on their faces—
God.
It hits me like a punch to the gut.
My steps slow.
“Where is she?” I ask, my breath already catching in my throat.
Jake’s eyes dart to Johanna. Rylee blinks hard, trying to keep it together. Johanna’s arms are crossed, her eyes looking up at the ceiling the way they do when she’s trying to keep from crying.
I look between the three of them, waiting for someone to say something.
“Where is she?” I demand, louder now, my voice cracking.
Rylee steps forward, wanting to say something, but her face shatters before she can say anything.
That’s when it hits me.
It isn’t that she just decided not to come.
Something’s happened.
Something’s wrong.
“One of you had better tell me what the hell is going on right fucking now.”
Johanna stares daggers at Jake.
“You tell him,” she seethes. “You’re the one who wanted to wait.”
Jake shifts, dragging a hand down his face like it physically pains him to be the one who has to say it.
“She was coming,” he says quietly. “She was on her way here from the airport.”
I blink. “Come on, man. What?”
“She didn’t tell any of us she was coming,” Rylee adds, her voice barely audible. “I guess she wanted to surprise you. She was trying to make it.”
My throat tightens. They’re killing me with this.
“Where is she then? Did she change her mind when she got here or something?”
Jake can’t meet my eyes.
“There was an accident, Gray,” Johanna says finally, stepping forward to rest her hand on my arm. “Paparazzi chased her in the rental car from the airport. They ran her off the road, and the car rolled.”
It’s like all the air has physically left my lungs. Everything in me stops.
No.
She’s okay.
She’s waiting in the dressing room. This is all just a really sick joke.
“She was unconscious when they found her,” Jake says. “They took her to a trauma center just down the street from here. That’s all we know.”
I stumble back a step.
A fucking trauma center?
“Wait,” I say. “What did Joey mean when she said you wanted to wait? How long have you known?"
If I missed another life-altering call because I’d been on stage again—I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
“Gray…” Johanna starts.
“How fucking long?” I roar, loud enough to make them all flinch.
Jake looks down again, jaw tight. “Johanna got the call during Fallout.”
I sway on my feet, ready to collapse. Fallout was halfway through the set.
I played another fucking half before anyone had bothered to tell me.
“You knew,” I say slowly, the resentment dripping off my tongue. “You knew and not one of you had the good goddamn sense to pull me off stage?”
“Grayson,” Johanna says through tears. “I wanted to—”
“Then why didn’t you?” I shout, already hoarse from screaming lyrics and now this. “You knew how I felt about what happened with Mom. How could you not pull me off stage?”
“We didn’t know how bad it was yet,” Jake says, stepping between us. “We still don’t. You were in the middle of the biggest night of your career. We didn’t want to destroy everything you worked so hard for if—if we didn’t know everything.”
“You think I give a single fuck about the label?” I laugh bitterly. “You think I’d care if they’d seen me lose it? I don’t. Not if it meant getting one more moment with her.”
“Of course—”
“She could be dying, Jake!” I scream. “And you let me finish a fucking set!”
Rylee is sobbing now. Johanna looks wrecked. And Jake… Jake just takes the abuse. Like he knows he deserves every word.
I don’t wait for more excuses. I can’t. She may not have time for that. I spin around and storm down the hallway towards the exit.
“I’m going to the hospital,” I snap as I head for the door. “If anyone tries to stop me, or tell me anything about image, I swear—”
“Grayson!” Johanna chases after me. “We have a car waiting. Jake already called ahead. It won’t help anything if you get mobbed on your way there. Let us help—please.”
I don’t look back.
I’m done waiting.
Done not knowing.
Done being too late.
“Get me to the fucking car.”