Page 205 of Breaking Point
I’m clinging to the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles are white.
Bella hasn’t said a word.
Not a single sound.
The moment Charlotte told me Trisha wasn’t going to make it through the night, I was up and moving. Bella was like a rock in the middle of rapids. I managed to pack all our bags, send off a text to Coach, and call all the airlines until I finally came to the realization that the best I could do to get Bella to her mom’s side as quickly as possible was to charter a private plane.
Money doesn’t matter in this moment.
Nothing does, except getting Bella to her mom.
If I had a chance to say goodbye to Drew, I would have movedheaven and earth to do so. However, the only plane available on such short notice at three o’clock in the morning is two and a half hours away.
I’m trying my best, I truly am. I’m going ten miles over the speed limit, all the while trying to swat away the image of Drew’s crumbled body, his head at an odd angle and his eyes unseeing. I want to get Bella there but I would never, ever be able to forgive myself if I caused a car crash.
From what I gathered from Layla’s mom in between her sobs was that she got up to get a glass of water and check on Trisha, only to find she wasn’t breathing. Charlotte gave CPR until paramedics arrived. They were able to revive her, but the doctors are saying she won’t make it much longer.
We are literally running against the clock.
We’re only fifteen minutes from the small landing strip, but even then the flight is just over three hours long, the drive to the hospital another twenty minutes.
I should have rented a helicopter.
My hands itch to touch Bella, to try and be there for her in whatever way I can, but I can’t physically take my hands off the wheel. Her phone has been buzzing nonstop ever since the call. No doubt from Charlotte with updates, but she hasn’t picked it up.
Hasn’t looked at the screen.
Hasn’tspoken.
A far cry from the girl that was blushing and biting her lip while lying on my chest earlier.
Taking a deep breath as I pull into the small airport, I prepare myself for the coming hours. Bella is going to need me in ways I don’t think she’s prepared for.
And as I step out of the car, rounding the hood to help her borderline comatose body out of the car, I can’t shake the undeniable feeling that her world is about to shatter.
Chapter 54
Bella
CHARLOTTE CARSON
she woke up for a small period, asking for you
she’s unconscious again
they’ve set up pain medication through an IV
My feet are moving, my arms are swinging lightly by my sides, my heart is beating…but my mind? My mind has gone far away.
I’ve been trying to prepare myself, trying to come up with goodbye speeches and answers to questions I know I’ll want when I’m older. There is still so much I want to hear from my mom, so many events I want her there for, so many conversations I want to have, and yet here I am, running through the hospital trying to get to her before she dies.
Charlotte has been sending updates through text messages but every time I tried to look at my phone my vision blurred and nothing made sense anymore.
How can it be?
How did she slip so quickly?
Just yesterday morning we were hugging, her smile bright as she urged me to live my life.
