“Holy shit, you Amelia London? I love you!” He said when I walked in.
“Thanks.”
“This new movie—are you going to be fully naked, or is it one of those—”
“Joe!” Austin snapped his fingers, trying to get him to focus. However, that didn’t change the awkwardness that just took place.
“Right,” he said, rushing back over to the bed. “What do you think? Not bad for being in the freezer for three months, right?”
I froze when I saw her, her skin pale and white. But her hair was curled, her nails perfectly manicured and painted red to match her lips, along with the rest of her makeup. She was dressed in black with a pair of Gucci heels. I felt a chill go up my spine staring at her like this.
“You got probably about another hour, maybe less, before she defrosts completely and the funk really kicks in,” Joe added, taking another long swig of his drink, his eyes drifting to me. “So who is she?”
“An icon,” I replied. And the fact that he didn’t know that for some reason bothered me. Getting a wheelchair, he sat her as best he could, and even went so far as to put shades and a sunhat on her.
“It’s perfect.” Austin reached into his jacket pocket and handed him a thick envelope.
“Thank you,” Joe said, trying to bow. But his stomach got in the way.
“I got her,” I whispered, stepping behind the wheelchair. For some reason, the moment Austin and Joe said their goodbyes, my mind went blank with the realization that I was pushing my mother’s dead, glamourized body in a wheelchair. I thought of the verbal and emotional abuse she put me through. I thought of how she always put herself, her needs, before me, and I reminded myself that she was behind the murder of one my friends and the fact that she was the reason Noah and I spilt up.
She was selfish.
She was mean and vindictive.
But she was still my mother, and the fact that I was doing this to her when she was gone—I was sad. But most importantly, I was sorry. So very sorry.
“We’re almost out,” Austin said, and I hadn’t realized until I saw the exit come into the view.
“Excuse me?”
Freezing, we stared at the nurse who rushed up to us. “Are you Amelia London? I’m a huge fan. There are some girls here who are also—”
“Sorry, we’re running late, and Ms. London isn’t feeling well,” Austin pushed her to the side slightly, making room for me to make my escape. But not before hearing a few of their comments.
“What did I tell you? Total bitch.”
“Whatever. She’s a piss-poor actress anyway.”
Rolling my eyes, I took a deep breath when we got outside. We had made it. Opening the door fo
r us, Austin paused before cursing under his breath.
“What?” My head shot back, following his gaze, and there, in a beat-up old truck, was none other than Bo, staring at us wide-eyed when he realized what we were doing.
“He was probably here to check up on his safety net. Get in now!” Without care, he picked Esther up, all but throwing her into the back, her body slumping over toward the window.
I didn’t even have time to close the door behind us when he pulled out of the lot as quickly as possible.
“You fuckers!” Bo honked his horn, speeding right up to us and smashing into the bumper of the car.
“Amelia, keep your head down!” Austin screamed at me, and I did, leaning right next to my mother.
“FUCKIN’ SHITS!” I heard before he blasted the horn again…and again…and again.
“Agh!” I gripped the seat when Bo once again rear-ended us.
“Idiot! The goddamn moron is going to expose all of us!” Austin looked over at me, the car accelerating forward.