Chapter 50
Shay
Landon had to fly out for some charity event in California, so we weren’t able to talk after he opened up. We hadn’t discussed how he asked me to give him another chance before the paparazzi ruined the moment.
My mind hadn’t stopped swirling since he said that.
I didn’t know how to handle those words coming from his mouth.
To me, a second chance at love meant a second chance at heartbreak.
I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. The last time my heart was crushed, it took forever for me to put the pieces back together, and I swore it would never beat the same again.
All my thoughts on that subject were put on hold when I received a phone call from Eleanor early one morning, and she was sobbing into the phone receiver.
“Ellie, what’s going on?” I asked, panic falling into my chest as I sat up in bed. My cousin’s cries were heavy, and just from hearing the sound, I felt as if I were going to fall apart, too. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Karla,” she pushed out, her words coarse and rough.
That made me sit up even more. “What about her? What happened?”
“There was an accident. She went to a party last night, and people were bullying her to an extreme. They started dumping stuff on her and rubbed raw meat on her.”
“Oh my gosh. Is she OK?” What in the hell . . . ?
My chest ached with panic as Eleanor told me what was done to Karla. At a party . . . the party I told her she should go to. Guilt shot through me as I listened to Eleanor fall apart.
“No, she’s not OK. I stayed with Greyson that night to comfort him, because he was breaking down over what happened, and the next morning, Karla found me in his bed. She went off about how he was betraying her mother, and oh my gosh, Shay,” she cried, unable to continue her words.
“Breathe, Ellie. Please, breathe. Everything’s going to be OK.”
“It’s not, though. Nothing is going to be OK,” she said, sounding more and more wrecked with every passing second. “She ran away, and Greyson found her at her mother’s gravestone. Sh-she had a bottle of pills with her, Shay. She was going to overdose.”
Oh my gosh.
I couldn’t breathe.
The tears officially began falling down my cheeks.
The first thing that came to mind was Landon.
I had to call Landon, because even though we weren’t who we used to be, I still remembered how heavy situations affected his soul. Especially when it came to things like a person overdosing and trying to take their life.
I scrambled to dial his phone number, and when he answered, he knew exactly what I was calling about.
“Hey. Grey already called me. I’m heading to the airport right now to get home,” he said. I could hear the panic in his voice, the fear sitting in his throat.
“OK. If you need anything . . .” I started.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
The question made more tears fall from my eyes. “No. Are you?”
“Not at all.”