I grab the first semiautomatic I find.
“Don’t touch me,” I caution my Uncle Duke when he tries to stop me from leaving with the weapon. “I will shoot you.”
“No one’s gonna touch you, little Cherub. We just wanna help.”
“I’ll help myself.”
I’m not sure if the rest of the brothers heard my warning or if the threat is easy to read as I stride through the garage and out into the bright daylight, however, no one touches me. Unsteady but impeded, I approach the electric gates that block the news crews from entering my home.
“Fuck off!” I shriek. Aiming the muzzle at the woman who hosted Alex’s tell-all interview all those years ago, I slam the bolt into place. Finger on the trigger, grief nipping at my psyche with evil intent, I allow the tears I’ve been suppressing all night to run down my face. “Every one of you vultures needa fuck off. He’s not dead. Do you hear me? He’s. Not. Dead.”
The sound of cameras adds white noise to my breakdown.
It’s almost soothing.
As I become conscious that I’m only clad in Slash’s t-shirt and my injuries are in full sight as these scavengers of heartbreak stream my sorrow live, I point the rifle in the air and squeeze the trigger. Shot after shot resonates around us as I empty the magazine into the sky.
“Fuck off! And don’t come back.”
“Shit,” someone says behind me. “We’re gonna need Gabriel to deal with this.”
When the spent semiautomatic starts clicking uselessly, I toss it on the ground. Whirling on the Shamrocks crowded behind me, I jam my hands on my hips and glare at them. “He took my heart with him, and he promised he’ll bring it back. That means he’s not dead.”
“Okay, baby.” Slash approaches me slowly. “He’s not dead.”
“He’s gone,” I tell my husband. “But he’ll be back.”
“He’ll be back.”
As Slash gives me the promise I need to survive, my knees buckle. He catches me—like he always does—then he carries me upstairs. Kicking the bedroom door shut behind us, he climbs into the bed fully dressed, boots and all, and lays down with me.
“He’ll be back.”
“He’ll be back, duchess.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
