Page 97 of Boneyard HEA

“Wherever you are, Riley, be happy.” I wipe my face, sniffle. “Should I say this next part?”

“What is it you want to say, Juniper?” Tomás rubs my back. “Is it about your vengeance? I say yes. Aaron?”

“I would say yes too. Maybe it will help her spirit rest in peace.”

“True.” I smile shakily, sniffle again. “We got them for you, Wasabi. The men who hurt you. They are gone and won’t hurt anyone else. Wasabi—that was her username,” I tell my men. “She was hotter than wasabi, I used to say to her. Silly, but…” I shrug.

I’ve done what I came here to do.

Are we supposed to stay and meditate? I’ve no idea what is appropriate. Or what I want to do even.

“We have a gift for you and her,” Aaron feels around in his pocket and pulls out a Ziplock bag with four tiny metal figurines inside, each about half the length of his finger. He tips them onto his palm. “They’re gremlins. This one is for your collar.” He shows me the brown-and-white one. “We’ll get a clasp made for it. The others, we thought you might want to leave them for Riley?”

“If it’s not too crazy? You can do what you want with the extra three.”

“Awww. Thank you, guys. Though I always saw myself as the red-eyed, dangerous one.”

“Nope, you’re the little furry brown-and-white one.” Tomás nods wisely.

I eyeroll. “Me. Furry? Really, though, this is so precious. I adore these.” I hold my hand to my heart, thinking. “I think it best, if I bury them here. That way she can really have them.”

Which is what I do. Using Tomás’s pocketknife, I carefully cut away a small divot of grass and bury them then pop the divot back into place, squash it down. In a few days, the grass will knit it together and no one will see this.

I walk away from her grave with a strange feeling of connection and an echo of friendship that was missing before. Perhaps we have brought her peace. I lift my head to hear the birdsong nature has gifted to us. “It’s a beautiful day.”

They chime in with, “Very,” and “Sure is.”

The little figurine is back in Aaron’s pocket.

“Don’t you dare get fucktoy engraved on my gremlin.”

They cast a look across me at each other.

“There’s an idea,” Aaron says.

“Yes.” Tomás smirks. “We can do this.”

I sigh and give in. Me and my mouth.

We’re off to Corfu soon, and the future holds hope for us, a hope I thought we had lost forever only a scant few days ago.

It also holds filthy sex, and love, and a quite a lot of bondage, must not forget those.

Providing the cops never figure out what I did with my trusty shovel.

Eh, we will cross that bridge if it ever catches up with us.

34

Juniper

Corfu, Kaminaki Beach

The road here from Corfu Town is steep and winding but worth it, and Kaminaki looks stunning from above—a sweeping bay that’s big enough to be magnificent and isolated enough to feel like a home. We find our apartment and unload our bags and belongings. On our way down the hill, we stroll lazily through the streets in the village above the bay. Everything here seems best done lazily.

Only a dozen or so swimmers are here, and the beach could be Australian if not for the lack of sand. Going from spring in Australia to autumn in Greece would barely be a shock, except this is my first time overseas and outside of Australia. I’ve flown into Greece. I’m on Corfu. The sun above is hitting an entirely different part of the planet, and I am lucky to be alive. Every day I’ve been telling myself this. More than lucky, because I have Aaron and Tomás with me.

Having stripped off my small dress, I adjust my red-and-white bikini so my boobs are unlikely to fall out, then I follow my men over the pebbled beach.