“Mellie, get out before I say something I can’t take back.”
She stares at me with pain in her pretty eyes, and I force myself to look away. Then she runs from the room, letting the door slam closed behind her.
“That was harsh,” Zombie mumbles.
Rather than acknowledge his words, I face the group as a whole. “Did any of you know?”
“Seriously?” Pastor barks. “You think any of us would’ve kept that from you?”
“Never thought Rowdy would,” I counter. “Yet, here we are.”
“Fair point,” Whiz says. “I can tell you that I didn’t know shit.”
“Anyone else?”
“Nope.”
“Fuck, no.”
Of course, not.”
One by one, they assure me that they didn’t know about any of it. The betrayal I felt as Mellie spoke eases slightly, but it doesn’t disappear.
“If Mel’s right and Peach and Cray Cray are linked, we can use that to our advantage,” Romeo comments, opening the laptop we keep on the table. “A quick look at social media should be able to confirm it.”
“My question is why,” Zombie says. “We knew that Cray Cray was linked to Rowdy’s motorcycle wreck, and it’s easy to see that was a bid for power within the Shadow Sixes, but he got that. He rose in the ranks very quickly afterward, so what’s his motive now?”
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Trick mutters.
“Pres,” Romeo pipes up. “There aren’t any recent posts linking Cray Cray and Peach, but if I go back several years, there’s a treasure trove of information. Looks like they were dating before she became a club whore.”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Zombie snarls.
“Nope,” Romeo confirms. “I’m guessing she was a plant in the club.”
“Shit just keeps getting better and better,” Scrubs quips.
“This ends today,” I snap. “I don’t care what it takes or who has to die to get answers, but we find them both and end them.”
“We’ve been looking for Cray Cray for a while,” Quake reminds me. “What makes you think our luck will turn now?”
“Because it fucking has to.”
27
MELLIE
“You were right.”
Tears stream down my cheeks as I stare down at the headstone that was recently placed at Rowdy’s grave. It breaks my heart to know that his original resting place was destroyed, but as soon as Death’s Door was back up and running, his chopped up remains were cremated and buried in the same spot.
“I should’ve told him,” I cry. “I meant to, but…”
My words trail off, and I swipe the wetness from my face. Tipping my head back, I look at the sky as if it will reveal the gates of heaven and Rowdy himself. Nothing happens other than “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin filling my head.
“I wish I could go back,” I say, praying that somehow he can hear me. “I can’t, and now I’m afraid he’ll never forgive me.”
When I barged into church, I knew Lyric would be mad, but I never dreamed he’d kick me out. As soon as I ran out of the room, I headed outside, climbed into my car, which he fixed, and sped off. I couldn’t be there to face everyone’s judgment. He needed space, and so did I.
