AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah,” Mickey said with a sigh.
Roland gave him a sympathetic smile before clasping his shoulder then moving away. The guys weren’t that far away. They’d taken an entire pew near the front, but no one was seated. Mickey’s friends had taken different points around the room, with two near the doors. Everything about their postures said they were on high alert.
Pivoting, I tilted my head to look up at Mickey. We hadn’t had much time alone at all since everything happened, but he continued to stay at the clubhouse. He’d even slept in my room again. I’d curled up with him, just wanting him to sleep, except he hadn’t said much.
“Can I do anything?” I asked, hating how fucking helpless I was to do anything right now. The grief in the air was palpable. Every single one of them hurt, and I hurt for them.
“You’re already doing it, Little Bit.” Gruff as it came out, his expression softened some. “I’m gonna be a miserable bastard for a while. You being here and just—not letting me send you away is a good thing.”
Head tilted, I summoned a smile for him. “If I thought you truly wanted me gone, I might pick a fight with you. But I get it. You want me safe.”
“Yes.” He lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to it. “The kind of people who can do this…I don’t want to risk you.”
Shifting my stance, I focused on Mickey wholly. We stood near a wall, and he’d more or less moved to block me from the whole room. The tension lacing him seemed to have a visceral force to it. Like I could pinch it and pull it away from him as if it were some kind of nylon.
“You’re not risking me.” When he would have protested, I raised my eyebrows and he exhaled a long breath even while keeping my hand against his chest. “You’re not. I know the risks. I’d say better than all of you, except—the last few weeks have taught me that there are no limits to how far Uncle Fuckbucket will go.”
Mickey blinked. “Did you just…?”
“Yeah, Lainey called him that, and I think she’s right. Every time I call him my uncle, it’s like I’m claiming him or embracing that relationship. I don’t want to anymore.” Before I actually said Fuckbucket, I hadn’t realized how fucking true it was. “I don’t want to claim him. He’s a brutal, unkind, selfish fuckbucket who deserves to pay for every horrible thing he’s done to all of you.”
And to me. But I survived him. Survived to find my real family. That was what mattered. I survived. My mom survived.
“You… amaze me,” he said, his voice dipping. Then he shifted his stance and peeked to the right.
“Sorry, Doc,” Freddie said as he joined us. He fidgeted with his tie. “I—Boo-Boo, can you fix this? It’s strangling me.”
Mickey squeezed my hand. “It’s fine, Freddie. Thank you for dressing up for this. Steph would have appreciated it.”
“She’d have been in shock and then wanted to know what I blew up,” Freddie said without an ounce of self-recrimination. The corner of his mouth kicked up. “To be fair, I only ever wore ties when I had to see a judge.”
A chuckle escaped Mickey as he moved around to block us from the rest of the room and let me turn to Freddie. The knot he’d done had gotten too tight and wasn’t aligned properly.
“I’m going to undo it first," I warned him, and he nodded. “I like this tie, actually.” It was black and gray, with sharp color blocking. Freddie deserved more color, but the monochrome effect gave him a somber air. He’d pulled his hair back into a tie at his nape.
He looked quite dapper.
“Thanks, Kel loaned it to me.” Freddie made a face. “Not really a suit and tie guy.”
With care, I reset the knot before fixing his collar. “No one is a suit and tie guy. They say the suit makes the man, but that’s not true.”
“No?” Mickey asked, his tone a little lighter, even shaded dark with sadness.
“Absolutely not. You can dress up monkeys in suits and ties. We did that one year in a show I did. Adorable creatures and kind of hilarious. They look great in tuxes. However, they are adorable and entertaining, not powerful.”
“Not really seeing how that applies to me,” Freddie teased, a faint spark in the storm of his blue eyes. “Unless you’re saying I’m adorable and entertaining. Which I would totally accept.”
Chuckling, I smoothed down his tie and collar again, fixing it so it was all comfortable for him. Then I rested my hands on his lapel. “You are absolutely adorable and entertaining, but the guy in this suit is amazing even when he’s in jeans and a ripped t-shirt. He’s not so bad in scrubs either.”
A flush touched Freddie’s ears. “Thanks, Boo-Boo.” When he caught my fingers lightly and raised his brows, I lessened the distance and hugged him. The contact was light, but he squeezed me gently. The faintest of tremors went through him. “I hate funerals,” he whispered.
I could understand that, even though I’d never actually been to a funeral. Not once. Not even those few formal ones held for others in Uncle Fuckbucket’s social circle. He never wanted me at those. I would attend the receptions after, if I went at all.
“Hey, Doc,” one of Mickey’s friends said as he approached us. I hadn’t memorized all their names yet, but I thought this one was…
“Yeah, Bones, thanks. Stick close to Little Bit if I get pulled away?”
The man flicked his dark-eyed gaze at me. He nodded once.
