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“The yelling of the feelings in your car?”
“Why do we need to talk about it?” I asked.
“Because it means something.”
“Well, obviously.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s why I’m giving you a drawer like, a minute and half after meeting you.”
“It’s been longer than a minute and a half.”
“Fine, two minutes.”
“Brat,” he said with a laugh.
I grinned. “Can I feed you or what?”
His eyes darkened and he pulled me toward him. “Or what.”
Chapter 36
Darcy was buried next to her husband. Their son stood with crutches, his left leg in a bright blue cast. His expression was somber and in that moment, he looked far older than thirteen. His sister had a gash across her head that had been stitched, and other than sitting in a wheelchair, if you hadn’t known she’d been in a coma recently with a punctured lung, you never would’ve guessed how close she had come to death. She looked dazed though, utterly shell shocked by the weight of it all.
Apparently, she hadn’t spoken since Doc told her that her mother had died.
The Old Ladies stood with their men. Rach gripped her son tighter and buried her face in his hair. A man I didn’t recognize stood next to her and put his arm around her.
Cool air brushed my cheeks and I shivered. Barren trees waved their naked branches. As the coffin was lowered into the ground, Lily came out of her stupor. She tried to scream but it came out more like a panicked wheeze and tears streamed down her face.
Boxer grabbed the handles of her wheelchair, turned her around and wheeled her away.
Doc placed her hand on Cam’s shoulder and took a step closer to him. He made no indication that he felt her presence.
Instead of looking at the faces of the Old Ladies, I focused on Boxer and Lily. He’d parked her wheelchair a hundred or so yards away, and I watched as he crouched down in front of her and grasped her hands. Whatever he said made her lean into his arms as best she could and hug his neck.
I thought about my own father’s funeral. I’d quickly escaped the crowd, swiped a bottle of my father’s favorite scotch, and drank it in the privacy of my bathroom alone. Charlie had found me, but instead of partaking, she let me get stinking drunk and then held my hair back when I cried so hard I’d began vomiting.
“Hayden,” Bones murmured. He squeezed my cold hand.
“Hmm.”
“Time to go.”
I blinked as I shook off the past. Nodding, I walked with him to my car. Women carried their babies, securing them into car seats as people began to say goodbye to each other.
“Where to?” I asked as I buckled myself in.
“The clubhouse,” he said.
We drove in companionable silence. I appreciated not having to speak. Bones’ cell phone rang. He reached into his leather cut and pulled it out. He pressed a button and put it to his ear. After a moment he said, “Yeah.”
And then he hung up. “Prez is calling a meeting when we get to the clubhouse.”
“I guess that means I have to face Rach and Logan alone.”
“He’s calling a meeting with the brothers and the Old Ladies. He wants you there, too, Hayden.”
Though I wasn’t technically his Old Lady, I let it pass. We’d just said I love you. I wasn’t ready for a conversation about becoming his Old Lady, if that was something he even wanted. Love didn’t mean a long-term commitment.
It was a caravan to the clubhouse and we all arrived in succession. We parked and got out of the car. Bones slung his arm around my shoulders as we walked up the steps.
