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“I’m here,” she promised, and it took me a minute to realize tears were sliding down my face as I kept nuzzling her throat. “I’m here, Mickey.”
CHAPTER13
FREDDIE
Funerals sucked. I’d only ever been to two of them before, and I’d never been to one for someone Iknew. Someone who was…
Emotion clogged my throat and I dug out that little package of tissues that Boo-Boo had hidden in my pocket. Blowing my nose, I stared out over the bay. The view from the top of the warehouse offered a different perspective on the world of Braxton Harbor.
From the gentrified areas to the north spreading into our neighborhood, to the abandoned ones to the west where it bordered the harbor itself, to the endless yards of storage containers.
Standing up here, I could look out over the world—the beautiful and the dirty—and none of it could touch me. I dug around in my pockets for the half-crushed pack of cigarettes. They were Jasper’s. I’d found them sitting in the main room of the suite.
Finders, keepers, and all that.
Besides, there were like three left in it so he wouldn’t care. Pulling one out, I eyed the crumpled, kind of off-center state of it and laughed. It was a lot like me. All messy and bent, but there were no nicks in the paper. Just as I set the filter to my lips, the hatch to the warehouse flipped open.
Twisting, I almost lost the cigarette as I grinned. Boo-Boo poked her head out to look at me. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but the whole day seemed a bit brighter with her smile.
“Do you mind some company?”
It had been two days since the funeral. Two days. That seemed an impossible amount of time on the one hand, and not remotely long enough on the other.
“I can go—” she offered, and I shook off the melancholy to cross over to the hatch. She was balanced on the ladder. Rome was on the ground not far away, his gaze fixed on her. When I lifted my chin, he nodded.
“Don’t go,” I said, holding out a hand to her. “You’re always welcome. I just didn’t expect to be caught so quickly.”
Her laugh was worth being caught. She clasped my hand easily and held on as she finished climbing up. Still holding onto me, she leaned back to wave to Rome then blew him a kiss before we closed the hatch.
“Rome is on guard duty today,” she informed me. “Not that you guys are calling it that.”
“Nope,” I said, as she took my lighter and held it up for me, and together we blocked the wind then lit the cigarette. It tasted like ass as it burned my lungs, but I still took a long drag and ignored the cough when I released it. “You want one?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Mostly just came to hang out with you.”
I jerked my head to where the chairs and fire pit were. Someone had been up here recently, it was swept clean and two of the chairs had been fixed. There were new chains in place to keep the chairs locked down from the wind.
A peek in the fire pit showed fresh wood. It wasn’t really that cold, but the wind could be brisk. Still, she curled up in the chair next to mine as I settled in and stretched my legs out.
“How are you doing?” she asked, and I shrugged.
“I should be asking you that.” The day of the funeral, she’d been almost ethereal, untouchable in a way. A word, a smile, or even just holding a hand, she’d been everywhere as she tried to take care of us.
When Doc disappeared after the service, she’d gone after him. They were gone for a while, but she’d definitely been a little more disheveled when she returned.
“I’m fine,” she said with a shrug. “Or as fine as I can be while all of you are sad.”
“Yeah,” I said, blowing out a stream of smoke. “I know you’re hurting too…hurting for Doc and for Milo…hurting for me.” I stole a look at her, and the corners of her lips quirked up.
“It’s my fault Uncle Fuckbucket came after all of you…”
“Nope,” I said, before taking another drag.
“Freddie.”
“Boo-Boo,” I countered, holding up my fingers one at a time as I ticked off the points. “I know three things. None of this is your fault. Uncle Fuckbucket is a walking dead man. And we’re going to be the ones who end his tyranny over your life. By we, I mean the Vandals.”
The quirk at the corners of her mouth saved my soul. We were talking about the fucker who abused her repeatedly, and yet she could smile. I’d do just about anything for that smile.
