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The pain ripped raw again as I looked at her, and staring away, I stepped back from the stone.
“I’m fine,” I said, a bald-faced fucking lie. I swallowed, tucking my hands into my pockets. “Just paying my respects.”
The woman approached closer, looking so fucking close to December it really did hurt. I recalled the invitation to Paige’s reception mentioning it was at her aunt’s house and this woman looked so close to both Lindquist sisters this had to be her. Their aunt Celeste. She ventured slowly, but eventually, eased up and no longer looked at me like I was a freak. She crossed the rest of the grass over to me with her daisies in her arms, and my face must have healed up enough not to put her off. She stared right at me, her smile slight as she lowered the flowers.
“You knew Paige?” she asked, and I nodded. Her smiled lifted. “That’s so nice you came to see her. The second this week.”
“The second?” I questioned, standing back and letting her pay her respects. As it turned out, she had two sets of flowers. One bunch she placed on the headstone belonging to Paige and the other on Paige’s mom’s. The woman stared at that one a while, putting her hand on it like I had.
She nodded. “Yes, so nice. No one has come since the internment. No one but me.” She put hands on both stones, running her palms along them. “I hate that they’re together. I hate they’re like this.”
I hated so much more, none of this fair at all. Paige shouldn’t have died. She…
Her aunt dampened her lips before looking up at me. “Are you from Maywood Heights too? The other woman was.”
“Other woman?” I asked and she nodded again.
“So far to come, I thought.” She faced the grave. “She stayed for hours.”
My eyes narrowed. “What did she look like?”
“Tall, lovely…” She shook her head. “So many hours she was here.”
So many hours… So many…
“Did she say her name?” My voice stiffened, hard as I waited, and when Paige’s aunt shook her head, I found myself reaching into my pocket. I took out my phone, leaving.
“Young man?”
Her aunt called to me, but I was already making another call and walking away.
LJ picked up on the first ring.
“What’s up?” he asked. “You’re done already?”
He knew I’d flown here. All the guys knew, but what they didn’t and we didn’t was connecting someone to all this who hadn’t been in the cards before. We had no reason really, other evidence leading us in another direction.
Maybe it was leading us in the ultimate direction.
“We need to meet up,” I said. “I don’t think just my dad’s involved.”
Twenty
December
“Hey. Royal’s back,” Birdie tossed at me before gym class. She backed down the hallway. “Just wanted to let you know.”
I gazed up at the clock in the hall, minutes before I had to be across campus for my next class. I slammed my locker, heading instead in the opposite direction. Birdie probably thought to give me a heads-up for good reason. The last time Royal had been in these halls, he’d fought Ramses because of me.
I headed over toward his locker to find him, ignoring Jax’s warning. Some time had passed since those moments at his house, and maybe, the two of us standing in front of each other could talk some of it over.
I could only hope.
I braved up, hoping to God he was alone and willing to talk to me if I found him. I knew where his locker was, so getting there was easy. Rounding the corner, I fully expected to find him with a shit-ton of people around him.
Imagine my surprise when I found him alone.
He was pulling books out of his locker, his uniform pristine this time. It was no longer ripped and tattered, his hair no longer messy, and as I got closer, he’d healed. His bruises were gone, and the ones under his eyes the same.
