The bottom of the glass sits shakily in my hand, the last drop of amber liquid stares up, my harsh reflection permeating my eyes.

I don't know how long I've been here and I don't care.

She left me.

Those three words run aimlessly around my mind, tormenting every last sober brain cell. I swallow the last gulp, letting the burn fizzle it's way to my chest.

It numbs the intense ache my body's cascaded into. Her broken eyes are in the centre of my mind every time I blink.

I know she didn't mean what she said but maybe she did. I was her distraction. I pulled her away from what was important and now she's gone. I don't know when I'll see her again, If she wants do see me,

They even kicked her off tour.

They can't do that. They just can't do that.

I sloppily pull out my phone and lazy lull over Tessa's contact. The phone rings for a while before her sleepy voice fly's down the line.

"It's nearly five am Colton. What the fuck do you want!" She screams. Nearly five? Jesus how long had I been here. I look at the empty glasses in front of me, a long time I guess.

"You can't kick her off tour." I slur, trying to sound angry. She huffs,

" I'm not having this conversation with you. What's done is done, her behaviour was despicable and by your drunk demeanour right now I can tell her disappearing act has not only hurt us but you. You should have taken my advice Hunny. You should have stayed away." Her tone gets lighter and I can sense she's enjoying this, she's a cold-hearted bitch.

"I'm happy I didn't take your advice. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'd never regret that." I shout before the line goes dead. I drop the phone to the table and collapse onto my arms.

I meant it. Whatever happens now, I'd never regret Gigi Lastra. Never.

"Thank fuck." A loud thump at the end of the table brings my achy neck up to see Jayden, hoodie up, looking a mixture of pissed and worried, "I've been looking for you all fucking night!" He sighs sitting down next to me.

"You found me!" I raise my glass higher before attempting to swallow the contents, it's intercepted by Jayden who calls a man over instead.

"A coffee please." He says glancing at my slumped body.

"What the fuck is going on. You don't do this anymore." He leans in closer so people around can't hear, although I'm not sure who's actually at a twenty-four-hour bar at five am.

"What, can't I have a drink?" He frowns at me, shaking his head, " She left me, Jayd." I give in.

"I know, Will told me what happened."

"Then why'd you ask, enjoy my misery?" I laugh as the waiter places the porcelain cup in front of me, giving us a strange look.

"Don't be stupid, I just wanted to see how you felt about it first."

"Broken, depressed, fucking worthless." I state, " She called me a distraction, made it seem like we were a mistake. She said there was no 'we'" I can feel the sting at the front of my eyes, " I love her so much Jayd."

"I know. And you know she doesn't mean it."

"She sounded pretty fucking convincing."

"And you sound pretty fucking stupid for someone that loves her." He chuckles. I glare at his amusement. I'm glad he finds my pain funny because I sure don't.

"What?"

"You and me both know Gigi is wired with this need to be independent. She didn't trust easily and literally doesn't think she's got any worth or anything good about herself. She also has this crafty defence mechanism where she pushes people away when she feels threatened. Imagen being told your brother had been taken from his home and there's nothing you could do about it." Then it clicks, the look on her face, the need to leave to quickly.

"She didn't want to drag me into it," I mumble. Jayden just nods, for an idiot, he's pretty smart.

"She's just trying to figure this out. She's scared and feels responsible. She's bound to feel it's her fault because she wasn't there. I'm not condoning what she said and she could have expressed it in another way but she didn't mean it and she loves you."

" Oh fuck. Oh, fuck!" I shout, she's scared shitless right now and all I did was let her isolate herself " I'm such an idiot! I let her walk away when I told her I'd be there through the bad and the ugly. I didn't even try and follow her, I just let her go and now she's struggling on her own!" I slam my hand on the table. Everything I said to her, now vanished into dust.

"Exactly. Stop wallowing in self-pity and let's go."

He gets up dangling his car keys.

"Where?"

"Well firstly, to get some water and probably a shower. You smell like you took a bath in whisky and then to Gigi."

" But she's in London." Which means skip the shower I need to get to the airport.

"She's on her way back to LA. Sofia rang me earlier." He helps me to my feet, " She needs you. Sofia said she was an absolute mess. Stayed ten minutes then bolted to get the next flight out. She's really worried about her, said she hadn't seen her this bad in a long time." Jaydens voice wobbles with concern.

"That's only four hours, right? We can go find her and I won't leave her!" I slur as Jayden helps me outside and into his car.

Jayden starts the ignition and gets us onto the highway.

"Hey, Jayden. Thanks." I uncap a bottle of water. He smiles and clicks his tongue.

"You're my brother, you know I'd do whatever for you. And Gigi, I love her like my sister. She's pure and just generally incredible. She makes you happy and that's all I want to see." He smiles.

She does make me happy and I've been a fucking prick, I'm letting her sort this on her own.

About three hours later I wake up in the stuffy car, my head pounding. Jayden's humming along to the radio and I can feel my guts churning. Four hours is not enough time to sleep off the amount of liquor I drunk. Jesus.

"How are you, my ray of sunshine." Jayden mocks, turning slightly to look at me. I groan and start rummaging around for some painkillers. Falling short I slide some sunglasses over my eyes and lean back into the leather seat.

"How much longer, I feel like I'm going to puke," I grumble, feeling the heat beating down on my bare arms. The sun was rising above the now busy highway and as commuters drove past on their way to work, taxis shuttled the hungover home.

"About forty minutes give or take. Do not puke in my fucking car." I almost laugh at his seriousness but it hurts too much, " It's going to be okay Colt. Don't give up so easily." I glance over at him, I can tell he's just as worried about Gigi as I am, he loves her like family and it makes me feel even more guilt I was only thinking about me and my feelings.

" Yeah, it's all going to be okay." I smile slightly, shutting my eyelids again to see her face flash through my mind. Her honey highlighted hair and dusting of freckles, her sapphire sparkly eyes and her plum rose lips. The most gorgeous person I'd ever seen. Inside and out.

The sound of a car horn has my eyes shooting open and the nearness of tires screeching makes me grab the door handle. In seconds our wheels copy the gut-wrenching sound and the car spins to an unnatural angle. The crunching of metal pierces my ears as an impact hits my side with full force. A sharp staggering pain surges through my body. I go to scream but nothing can be heard over the thumping in my ears. I try to look at Jayden but the blackness filling my mind renders me helpless.

Then nothing.

.....
On a happier note we hit 5K yesterday! Thank you guys all so much! Your loyalty doesn't go unnoticed!

Hit that star ;)
Thanks for reading!
Iz x