Final Chapter #3
“Of having my heart broken! Of being made a fool of!”
Day left the microphone, dropping it center stage as he walked over to the side stage where she stood.
“I ain’t gon’ break you,” Day said. “Just say you with it.”
She tried to speak, but her mind and heart were battling.
He’s so fucking fine, her heart said.
Girl, fuck him and this manipulative-ass apology, her mind shouted.
He searched her mind for answers as he stared into the windows to her soul. He saw the mistrust he had put there. Her gaze hadn’t been this cloudy before his betrayal. He had changed the forecast on their bond, and only he could clear it, but he knew it would take time.
“Day!” Roman shouted, running down the center aisle and toward the stage.
“What, man! Can’t you see I’m busy begging and pleading over here?” Day said.
Stassi couldn’t help but snicker at that.
“It’s Demi! We got to go!”
Day stroked her cheek with his thumb before turning away from her. When Roman whispered the news in Day’s ear, Day placed a hand on Roman’s shoulder, instantly needing someone to stabilize him because the strength left his legs.
“Day?” Stassi knew something was wrong. She felt it.
“I can’t stay here,” Day said to her.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked.
“DJ just passed away,” he whispered. He couldn’t bring himself to call a spade a spade. DJ was dead. He had died. Nah, he couldn’t say that shit at all.
Stassi’s stomach soured. “Oh my god.”
“I need you to run this show, Anastassia. I can’t stay here, but it’s too late to cancel without losing everything. Tell me you got me?”
She nodded. “Of course, I got you, go ahead,” she said. “Please tell Demi I’m so sorry.”
Day nodded, and she could see him struggling to hold it together.
“I meant everything I said on that stage. I don’t have time to prove it right now-”
“Go be with him, Day. I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”
Charlie couldn’t keep anything down. She had thrown up twice in the past half hour, and she couldn’t stop her head from spinning.
Demi and Lauren had gone back with the doctors to see DJ’s body, and Charlie was falling apart.
She didn’t know if it was the pregnancy or her nerves, but her body betrayed her.
She splashed water onto her face and rinsed her mouth before gripping the porcelain bathroom sink.
She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do.
It didn’t even feel like she belonged there.
She felt like she was intruding on a private family matter, like she wasn’t even supposed to be witnessing these parents’ grief.
Her own pain behind losing DJ was stifled.
She hadn’t connected with him in the way she should have, and now it was too late.
Now he was gone. She cleared her tears, not wanting to disrespect Lauren by doing too much.
Charlie was devastated, so she couldn’t even fathom the tsunami of torment that was wrecking her.
And then there was Demi. Her love. Her everything.
She wasn’t equipped for this. He hadn’t said one word to her since the doctors told him.
She hadn’t even been able to touch him. He and Lauren had put a cage around their mourning, and she couldn’t get to him.
She wondered if she would ever be able to break through that boundary again.
He already seemed so cold. Demi didn’t process grief like normal people.
She feared what he would do to let this pain out.
Someone would pay the price for his loss, and she would spend many sleepless nights worrying, waiting for him to walk back through her door.
“God, please help me, help him through this. I don’t know what to do.”
Charlie was trembling as she walked back out to the waiting room. Lauren and Demi had returned.
“Get the fuck out, Charlie,” Lauren said.
“Lauren-” Demi piped up.
“No! I want her out of this fucking hospital! My son started cutting himself because you chose her over your family! If you had never met her, my baby would still be alive! Are you happy now? You got him all to yourself! You homewrecking-ass bitch!”
Charlie was like a deer in headlights. She knew Lauren was hurting, so she refrained from saying anything, but when Demi didn’t say anything in her defense, her eyes prickled.
“Lo, emotions are high right now,” Nyair said. “Let’s take a breath.”
“You’re out of line, Lo,” Demi stated.
“You can leave with that bitch, too,” Lauren said.
“I’m not going nowhere as long as my son is laid up in this fucking hospital, so quit making the shit worse, Lo. We on the same team.”
“I want her gone. I can’t stand to look at her face,” Lauren said.
Demi was in between a rock and a hard place.
He swiped a hand down his face, dragging it slowly as he suppressed the urge to scream.
He shared Lo’s pain, but he could see Charlie’s pieces falling all around her.
She was hurt, and he didn’t know who to console.
He crossed the room and stood in front of Charlie.
“She’s upset,” Demi said.
Charlie nodded. “I know. Demi, I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so…so…sorry,” she cried.
“Demi, I want to be here for you,” Charlie said sadly. “Who’s going to take care of you?”
“My son’s dead, Charlie. Can’t nobody make that go away. Come on.” Charlie followed Demi down the hall and to the exit, where a black car was waiting.
“Mr. Sky. Where to?”
It was the company driver. He was there waiting.
“You wanted to send me home? He was already here?” She asked.
“Lo and I talked about it before we came out. She’s raw. It’s just the best move for everybody, right now, Bird.”
“You don’t want me here,” Charlie scoffed. She knew on the priority scale her feelings were the least important right now but that didn’t stop her from hurting.
“My son is dead, Bird. Wants are a thing of the past. I have to stay here with Lo and handle this. I need to know you’re safe at home. Okay?”
“Okay,” she replied softly. She was trying her hardest to be strong. The last thing she wanted to do was make this about her.
“Demi I know a lot of emotions are swirling through you right now. I know your pain matches Lauren’s right now and I’m so sorry for you both.
I’m so sorry about DJ, baby. I need you to still be mine after all this.
I live with the thought that any given day you could leave me, but then you ease that worry when you lay next to me every night. ”
“I can’t do this right now, Bird. I can’t even think straight,” Demi said.
“Every fucking night,” Charlie insisted. “I need you to promise me that you’re going to come home to me every fucking night, because it feels like this is the moment that I lose you.”
Demi swiped a hand down his head in distress. He couldn’t promise her that because he knew he wouldn’t be home tonight, maybe not for a few nights. He needed to process his grief and she couldn’t be apart of that.
“We’ll talk later, Bird,” he said as he delivered a kiss to her forehead. He opened the back door and ushered her inside. He focused his attention on the driver. “Get my lady home safe.”
When he closed the door and sauntered away, Charlie felt like she was being shut out, like she had been handed her walking papers.
She broke down in the back of that SUV as it pulled away from the hospital.
The loss was overwhelming, and Charlie had a feeling that she and Demi would never be the same again.