Page 56 of Shine For Me

“I gotta get going,” he says, once he’s had his fill of ragging on me. “Me and Cade are going to the skate park.”

That has me feeling a little better. At least he’s not isolating himself. Spending time at River and Jasmine’s skate park is one of his favorite things to do. So long as he’s getting out and doing the stuff he likes, I know things aren’t too terrible for him.

“Tell Cade I said hi. Riv, too, if he’s around at the park.”

“Will do.” He gives me a meaningful look. “Talk to June, man. Even if it’s hard.”

“Relationship advice from one of the Littles,” I mutter to myself as I close out the video chat window. I must be really desperate.

I have some work to do for FEA Threads—some new menswear designs I promised Alex I’d send my thoughts on this week. But I can’t make myself focus. I keep thinking about Ash’s advice. He might be a kid, but I know he’s right about this. I do need to talk to June. I debate sending her a text. She was on set today, but they should be wrapping pretty soon. Maybe she’ll be willing to get some food with me or something.

Before I can make up my mind, there’s a knock on my door. A shot of hope goes through me—maybe she’s coming to see me—and dies as soon as I open the door, replaced by confusion. It’s not June standing there—it’s her cousin Sebastian. And he looks stressed.

“Hey,” he says, then jumps in without waiting for me to respond. “So June is probably going to be pissed at me for telling you, but I thought you should know.”

I feel myself still. “Know what?”

“There was an accident on set.”

My entire body goes ice cold. The film is pretty low on stunts and risky scenes, but that doesn’t matter. There’s danger on every movie set—lots of moving pieces, heavy equipment, massive light rigging overhead. My legs suddenly go weak as my mind flies to the call sheet for today. June was scheduled to shoot a driving scene.

“What kind of accident?” I demand. “The car?”

“No,” Sebastian says quickly, his expression turning concerned. “She’s fine. Really. But you don’t look so good.”

“Just tell me what the fuck happened,” I demand. An image of June in a car accident is burned into my brain and I think I might throw up—or punch her cousin in the face if he doesn’t start explaining right the fuck now.

“She fell,” he says. “She slipped down some steps—”

“She fell down the stairs?” I bark. “Where is she? What did the medics say?”

Sebastian holds up his hands. “Dude, chill. She didn’t fall down the stairs. It’s like I said—she slipped. It was only three steps—they were filming on the porch—and she stayed on her feet the whole time.” A measure of relief seeps through me, even though I still feel like I might be sick.

“She didn’t hit her head? Or—”

“No. She didn’t hit her head. She twisted her ankle. That’s it. The medics were right there and saw her immediately. They suggested she go to the hospital out of an abundance of caution—”

“She’s in the hospital?” Before he can answer, I’m turning away from the door, looking for my wallet. And where the hell is my phone? I need to call a car, right now.

“Dude.” Sebastian sounds exasperated. “I can take you to see her, but you need to chill out. She’s fine. She’s going to be mad enough that I told you without you rushing in there in a blind panic.”

I ignore him, hurrying around the room and checking surfaces for my wallet. I spy my phone next to the closed laptop and grab it. “Where the fuck is my wallet?”

“Seriously, you need to relax.”

I spin back to face him. “When did this happen?”

He rubs the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “About four hours ago.”

“Four hours?” I thunder. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”

“Probably because she thought you’d react like this.”

Another thought hits me. “Why would she need to be in the hospital for four hours if she didn’t break anything?”

He doesn’t meet my eyes. “Once she got there, they realized she was pretty dehydrated. They admitted her so they could get her some fluids.”

I’m pretty sure I’m about to break everything in this hotel room. Forget my stupid wallet. I glare at June’s cousin. “I want you to take me to her. Right now.”