Page 41 of In the Shadows

Chapter

Eight

After we finished getting ready and the nurse handed me my discharge papers, we went up to Joey’s room to check on him. My mom was there with his dad, but there still hadn’t been any change with Joey. I made my way to his side, running the back side of my hand gently along his jaw before kissing his forehead, whispering, “I love you.”

“Ricky, can I talk to you?” my mom whispered.

I joined her in the corner of the room while the guys talked with Joe.

“Now that you’re okay, I’m gonna head home. It’s unnecessary for me to stay here when I know you won’t leave Joey’s side. Besides, Brett said your fans are building makeshift shrines outside of both our houses,” she sighed.

“Shit, sorry, Mom. But can you have Brett text me pics so I can put them on our social media pages? It means a lot that the fans care that much.” This really did mean a lot and I wanted to make sure the fans knew we appreciated their thoughts and prayers.

“Absolutely, no one has knocked on the door. They just place their trinkets and make their way on down the road.”

“Cool, give Brando a kiss for me and tell him we’ll see him soon. Well, I hope soon.”

“Mary,” Easton said, “I’m sorry, but I overheard your conversation. Small room and all,” he blushed. “Please, let me call a car to take you to the airport.”

I think she was too tired to argue, making it easy for us to take care of her which I appreciated.

“I want to watch the press conference, so I’ll wait until after that. I have my bag and already checked out and booked a flight for two p.m.” she informed us.

“Perfect, you can come with us and take your place as the proud mother behind Stoli, err um, Ricky,” he corrected himself again.

This time I laughed.

“Hey guys, I have some good news for you,” Easton began, “My dad talked to the manager for Maiden Voyage and not only have they offered the use of their plane for the funeral on Monday, but they wish to attend with you if you guys don’t mind.”

“If we don’t mind? Are they serious asking a question like that?” I was stunned, blown away. The guys from Maiden were truly one of a kind.

“Yeah we’re serious,” Derek said, entering the room. He looked from me, to Joey, then back to me. His emotions written all over his face. “Our managers go way back and in case you were wondering. We consider you guys our friends and we all know in this industry true friends are hard to come by.” He hugged me as each of the guys took turns greeting one another. We introduced them to my mom and Joe before excusing ourselves for the press conference.

“How long are you guys in town for?” I asked Derek.

“We’re on break so we had our manager book us at the same hotel Diamond and Mickey are staying in. Figured we’d stay until the funeral on Monday then come back here and check on Joey afterwards before heading home,” he said.

“Man,” I was at a loss for words, “that’s just…” I trailed off, feeling the tears that seem to be forever appearing as of late, once again filling my eyes. Ryder wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me near. “I have got to get my shit together before speaking to the press.”

We were ushered into the conference room which was filled to the brim with anxiously awaiting media crews. Cameras were set up everywhere and the lights were blinding. There was no set Q&A for this, Sal said for us to wing it. If we didn’t want to answer a question we didn’t have to. He basically wanted us to update the fans on what had happened and how everyone was doing in their healing process. Afterwards, Easton and I would hit our social media pages and post the same to them.

Easton took his place behind the podium, we stood to his right and the guys from Maiden followed us out in a show of solidarity. Their acts of kindness fucking blew me away.

“Good morning, everyone,” Easton began, pausing for a few seconds while the reporters simmered down. “Thank you for joining us here today. We felt it was important to put the rumors to rest and properly inform our fans about the events that took place with regard to the bus crash. There has been some speculation that our driver Robert Johnson had been drinking before taking his place behind the wheel. I am here to set that rumor to rest. Not only did Rob not do that, but never once did Rob ever drink and drive. This crash was caused by...” He froze, mid-sentence. The deer in the headlights look he had told us he was once again reliving what he saw. The three of us, Diamond, Mickey and myself surrounded him, trying to help ease his pain.

Shadow and Jaxson came up behind us, and Jaxson whispered, “Let’s get him out of here.” We agreed, and they escorted a very traumatized Easton from the room.

Diamond took the stand. “Good morning, folks, I was awake and sitting behind the driver’s section of the bus when the crash took place. We hit a large patch of black ice in the dead of night. Once the bus started skidding, Rob gripped the wheel to try and correct it. Unfortunately, the patch was bigger than he thought, and it took control. The wheels locked, and the bus flipped on its side. Rob was...” he cleared his throat, breathing deeply, he took a few moments to calm his nerves before continuing, “Rob was thrown through the front windshield and died from his injuries.” There was a hush through the crowd and I was happy Diamond didn’t go into any further detail about Rob’s death.

I took the stand next. “As you can see, the three of us are doing well. Diamond and Mickey were released the same day, and I was released this morning, but will not be leaving as I’ll be staying by Joey’s side. He’s in a medically induced coma.” I gripped the sides of the podium firmly, my knuckles whiting from the grip. I felt a hand on my shoulder, then another on the other side and turned to find Derek and Ryder standing on each side of me.

“These guys right here, these four surrounding me are unbelievable—” The tears built, but I wasn’t embarrassed. If showing that I had feelings made me a pussy, then so be it so I let them fall. “—these guys are what family is all about. The love of my life sits upstairs in a hospital room fighting for his life and I will be there every step of the way, fighting right along with him. My family grew tenfold today when the guys from Maiden Voyage entered Joey’s room. Diamond, Mickey, myself and even Joey will never be able to thank them enough for all they’ve done for us.” By then, my cries were so profuse I could hardly utter a word.

Diamond and Mickey joined in, the three of us embracing each other and crying.

Derek and Ryder took over for us.

Fuck man I owe these guys so much.I only hoped we could be there for them whenever they needed us.

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