If there was one place I’d been determined to avoid since my release, it was where Pete’s body had been laid to rest.
The tires beneath me kicked up more dust than usual as they tore up the pathway before I parked and spun around to find her. If it hadn’t been for the urgency and quiet warning her voice had held, there was no way I would have agreed to be there. The last time I’d stepped foot in the place had been for his funeral. That was the day I made the decision to make a deal that would darken the following five years of my life.
The air around me seemed to shift as I searched for her, and it was only when I finally allowed myself to look in the direction that held more haunted memories that I saw Ayda next to his grave. The relief of seeing that she was okay was soon eclipsed by something else entirely.
“Fuck,” I whispered roughly to no one but myself. My hand found the back of my neck, scrubbing at it as I tried to find the strength to go and stare down at his name etched in stone. Keeping my head down, I slowly started to make my way over, figuring out a way to stay calm and not go crazy at her for pulling such a stunt with me.
She’d coerced me here because of the nightmare lastnight.
She was trying to fix the unfixable.
It had to stop before she even began.
With my eyes fixed firmly on the gravel path beneath my feet, I slowed to a stop in front of where I knew she was sitting, pushing both hands into the pockets of my jeans as I shook my head from side to side and felt the muscles in my jaw twitching.
“Was this really necessary?” I asked quietly. “Wasn’t last night enough for you?”
“No, it’s not that, Drew.” I heard the rustle in the tall grass as she stepped closer and blew the breath from her lungs. “There really is a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“I was here visiting my folks, and I heard a crack. I thought I was alone so it scared the shit outta me. There were four kids kicking at Pete’s headstone trying to break it, and…” She trailed off with another sigh. She seemed unsure of what she was about to say next.
My head shot up without thought, my eyes finding hers as I stayed frozen in place. “And?”
“They were wearing fake cuts with an awful, yet close enough version of the Hound's patch on the back. From far away, it was pretty convincing. From close up, if you didn’t know what you were looking for, it could be mistaken as genuine. The little fuckhead actually told me he was a Hound, too.”
Closing the distance between us, my hands reached up to her shoulders, holding her still as I scanned her for any obvious signs of damage. Her clothes were pristine and her face only showed the kind of sadness that I felt inside, butother than that, she seemed fine.
“Did they touch you? Try to hurt you?”
“They were insolent, but that’s about it. Vile little creatures.” Her eyes met mine, trying to search for something more. “They’ve got a bad attitude and they could be dangerous, Drew. It was stupid of me to approach, but that’s why I called you.”
“They don’t know the fucking meaning of dangerous.”
“No, but they could do some serious damage in your name. People who don’t know the difference are going to make assumptions. Then… Well, there’s Pete’s headstone. They cracked it, Drew. I’m so sorry. I was too late to stop them.”
One of the things I loved about Ayda more than anything was the way she stood up for what she felt was right, but when it came to club crap, I wasn’t going to let any of it land at her feet, and anyone who tried to put it there… They were as good as dead before they even realized it.
Pressing a finger to her lips, I dipped my head, raised my brows and waited for her to fight me off. When she didn’t, I dropped my forehead to hers and pulled in a breath. “It’s just a headstone. I’ll get it fixed. No more apologies from you, unless you’re willing to admit that leaving this morning was a fucking stupid idea.” I paused, smirking at how she could calm me when, just moments before, I’d been raging. “As for those kids…”
She shook her head against mine, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “I know. Pack business, right?”
“I’m not cutting you out of it for any other reason than your own safety and sanity.”
“You’re so thoughtful,” she said, grinning. Pullingback, her hands pushed against my stomach as she turned her head to look in the direction I’d been avoiding. “But it’s not just a headstone, Drew. The carvings on the back, the inscriptions…”
“Outlets of grief from brothers who previously only knew how to draw stickmen and write their own name. I’m sure Pete appreciates them, but this isn’t even where he is to me.”
“I get that. It’s just that it’s turned into a shrine of sorts. Can I see what it would take to get it fixed before you replace it? I realize it seems silly, but I would like to do this for y’all, if you’d let me?”
It was harder than I thought it would be not to look in the direction of where my brother lay. For a moment, I felt my head twitch to the side before I stood up straight and forced my eyes to stay trained on Ayda. “Can we talk about this later?”
She seemed to contemplate for a moment, her head twisting back in my direction to meet my eyes. Lifting one hand, she cupped my cheek and nodded. “Absolutely. How about we get out of here and go grab a coffee at the diner?”
“That was easier than I thought it would be,” I said through a half smile, running my fingers in between hers before I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and turned us both away from the grave to walk back in the opposite direction. “And the diner sounds like a good idea. I think I’m going to need a few witnesses around when I ask my next favor of you.”
“Witnesses?” She gave off one loud fakehabefore grinning up at me, her fingers squeezing mine. “This should be interesting. Your favors have an unsavory way of turning into commands, or worse, rules.”
