Page 51 of The Burdens We Share
I nod, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
She smiles excitedly, “Yes!”
I give her one more hug before I start to walk away, “Perfect. Come find me tomorrow so we can hang while between scenes.”
Lucy practically jumps up and down, I swear the girl can spend so much time with us and it’s still like she’s never met us before and she’s still just a super fan and not Brody’s almost sister-in-law, “I can’t wait!”
As I turn from Lucy, my head starts to spin. I feel so light headed and I’m not sure if I’m dehydrated or something, but I just don’t feel right. Dallas is at my side a moment later, “You okay?”
I look up at him and nod, “I’m good.” I lie because in truth, I don’t want him or anyone to fuss over me and I’m not even surewhat’s wrong with me. Maybe it’s just the stress.
He gives me a look that tells me he doesn’t believe me, but I brush it off as I start heading towards Aria’s trailer to see everyone. With every step I take, my feet feel heavier and heavier, but I try to push through. We make it to the trailer and Dallas opens the door for me. When I step inside, my head feels so much worse. I start to see floaters around the room and my breaths feel more labored.
I take sight of Miles, Nate, Sly, Harvey, and of course, my friends, but their faces all seem to spin into some kind of mirage. Nate calls for me, excited to see me, but I can barely hear his voice. I see concern etch into everyone’s faces and Dallas places a hand on my shoulder, calling my name, but it sounds as if he’s so far away. Something is definitely wrong with me. My knees wobble and I know I’m about to fall. I try to open my mouth to speak and the only word that comes out is, “Dallas,” before my legs completely give out beneath me and I fall to the ground, blackness taking over my vision. The last thing I feel before a hand of darkness reaches above the surface to pull me under is a hand holding the back of my head and another on my face.
Chapter 17
Dallas
“Ivory!” I call her,practically screaming her name as she lays limp in my arms. I start to gently pat her cheek, hoping to wake her up, but she never stirs. I feel panic rising under the surface of my skin, my breaths rapid with fear. I look up at the worried, frozen faces of her friends, “Someone call an ambulance,” I command and look back down to focus on her perfect face, unconscious.
I knew something was wrong with her when we were still on the set, but she refused to admit it because she’s so fucking stubborn. I knew she was about to fall when we had made it in here. Her legs looked so wobbly, that I reached out immediately when she fell and caught her head before she could hit the floor. Now, I cradle her body against my chest and keep calling her name, but she isn’t waking up.
Harvey appears on the other side of her, across from me, “Dal, breathe.” He commands.
I snap, “She isn’t waking up!”
He holds both hands out in the universal sign of “relax,” but how the fuck can I relax when Ivory is unconscious? For weeks she’s been off. I knew something was wrong with her, but I didn’t know what. She’s been getting dizzy spells and at first, I thought it was from stress, but that can’t be the case now that she’s fainted. “I know, but freaking out isn’t going to do anything for her.”
I scoff at him, “Like you give a shit about her.” Harvey used to hate Ivory and Aria back when he first met them and Brodybecause he knew that they were out of control and sure, at the time the girls weren’t exactly being the best friends to Brody. But Harvey never really seemed to take to them even after the girls had made up and gotten their acts together. All the selfish bastard cares about is Brody. But can I blame him? I feel the same way about Ivory. Slater is the only one of us that cares about everyone and loves everyone. That’s just because he’s too fucking nice and he’s just an overly happy person.
Harvey looks offended, “Of course, I care about her.”
I give him a dark look, “Don’t bullshit me, Harvey. Not right now.”
“Guys, not the time,” Selene inserts.
I shake her off and continue at Harvey. I know I’m taking my fear and my worry out on him, and I know he knows it too. I just can’t stop because if I do, I’m really gonna start destroying things around me until Ivory wakes up. “You never fucking liked her, so don’t act like you care about her now.”
Harvey gives me a calm expression, “You’re wrong, Dal. I do care about her and I care about you too, so stop losing your shit and tell me how I can help you.”
I bare my teeth at him in warning and suddenly, Slater bends down beside Harvey and assesses Ivory. “We should probably make the job easier for the ambulance and get her out of the trailer.” He’s trying to help, to be the voice of reason because he knows that it’s impossible for anyone to not like him. He’s just too nice of a guy.
At this moment, he’s completely right, but I’m worried. “I’m scared to move her.” Wow, I’ve never once admitted to being afraid of anything in my life, but in this situation, it’s never been more true. I am absolutely terrified to move her because more than anything, I need Ivory to wake up. I need her to wake up and look at me with her big brown eyes. I need to see her smile again, I need to hear the sass in her voice when she’s telling meoff, I just need to see her awake.
Slater nods, “I understand, but she isn’t gonna break, Dallas.”
Harvey agrees, “We can help you.”
I shake my head, “No. If anyone is touching her, it’s me.” I don’t care if I’m being possessive even now. I don’t trust anyone else with her.
The sound of sirens becomes faint and with every second, it grows so loud I start to feel reassurance. I also feel tremendous fear because the sound of the sirens brings me back to that night and to what I lost. It brings me back to the pain I felt and still feel to this day and for a long, agonizing second, I worry that I’m going to live through that again. But this time, unlike the loss of my mother, I panic that I might lose Ivory and that thought terrifies me, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.
Ivory
MY HEAD IS ABSOLUTELYpounding. The first thing I hear when I start to wake up from whatever sleep I just had is the sound of beeping. I try to open my eyes to see what’s making that noise, but my lids feel so heavy. It takes a great effort to open them, and when I finally do, I gasp in surprise and feel my blood go cold. Beeping grows more rapid from beside me, but I don’t care to look. I don’t care to look because I’m in a hospital room. I start to panic, my fear of hospitals causing me to start hyperventilating, but then a face appears in front of mine, worry etched all over it as two large and very gentle hands cradle my face.
My eyes focus on Dallas who looks so exhausted and disheveled, his eyes wide with what looks like worry. The sight almost makes me feel like I’m still unconscious and I’m dreaming because I am not used to this man showing his emotions so openly.
