“This sucks, man,” Chad says.
“I didn’t know Sariah well, but she was cool,” Jase adds.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Caz says, his fingers twitching with the craving for a cigarette. Caz and Galen have been trying to kick the habit, because Lo never stops busting their balls.
The girls finish their conversation, and we walk to join the masses surrounding Sariah’s resting place. Lorna is sobbing her heart out, enveloped in Sean’s arms, as she mourns the loss of her beloved granddaughter. Silent tears stream down Sean’s face, and I hurt for the dude.
This shouldn’t have happened to Sariah.
She was attacked because Parker couldn’t get to Lo, and Lo was a target because of her association with us. Guilt slaps me in the face, especially for the selfish thought lingering in the back of my mind, grateful it’s not Lo in that coffin. I’m an asshole for thinking it, and the lump clogging my throat is painful. It’s no secret I don’t do well with emotions, and the virtual outpouring of grief around the graveside rattles me.
Lo hangs her head, fidgeting with her hands, her body shaking with the effort involved in holding it together. She glances around, and her bloodshot eyes meet mine. Pain radiates from her every pore like an aura, and I want to absorb it, to free her from suffering. She gravitates to me, keeping one hand firmly in Galen’s grip as she leans into my side. I kiss the top of her head as my arm snakes around her back, uncaring how this must look to a bunch of do-gooder Holy Joes. I’ve got zero fucks to give, because this is all about my girl.
After the graveyard, we head back to Sariah’s grandma’s house, joining the throng of bodies crowded into her small living room, before Sean pulls us out to the backyard, leaving the oldies inside. Theo and Caz sit on a wobbly wooden bench while Galen and I take a couple of patio chairs beside Ashley, Chad, and Jase. Lo gingerly lowers herself onto my lap, and I carefully wrap my arms around her.
She’s wearing a fitted black dress that clings to her enviable curves with black tights and her beloved black biker boots. Apart from the raised, bruised, scabbed-over grazing on her left cheek and the fact she’s a little hunched over in pain, you’d never know she was injured, or that she just narrowly escaped death.
A familiar red haze sweeps over me, and I fucking hope we find that slut Taylor sooner rather than later.
I’m itching for payback—Sainthood style.
Forcing those murderous thoughts aside, I focus on the beautiful, sad girl on my lap. “You need any pain pills, princess?” I whisper in her ear. I charmed the nurse into giving me a few to tide us over until we can fill the script at a pharmacy.
Lo shakes her head, and waves of her glossy dark hair tumble over her shoulders. “I’m okay.” Her lips pull into a smile, but it doesn’t meet her eyes.
My girl is hurting, and I hate I can’t do anything to help. I rub my thumb along her plump lower lip, choosing not to call her out on the lie. Our eyes connect, and simmering chemistry pulses in the air between us reminding me there is one thing I can do,wecan do, to help, but it requires privacy and the new big bed Theo had delivered to the barn yesterday.
I brush my lips across her lips, because I can’t go another second without tasting her, but I pull back before it develops because this isn’t the time or place. Lo sighs, settling her ass back into me, and my cock instantly stirs to life. A devilish glint flashes in her eye, and I bring my mouth to her ear. “Is my dirty girl entertaining dirty thoughts?” I whisper.
She leans down, running her fingers through my shorn blond hair as her mouth hovers millimeters from mine. “Always,” she rasps. “Never doubt that.”
Her sexual confidence, and the way she makes no apologies for her appetite, is one of the things I love most about her.
She pulls back as Emmett emerges from the house with a bucket of beers. There is no love lost between me and him, but I set my personal feelings aside and nod affably as he offers me a beer.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Sean says, his eyes downcast as Emmett passes beers around. Galen declines, unsurprisingly, but Lo accepts one, and I subtly shake my head at Theo when I see his lips parting to say something.
Lo needs this, and we’re not her dad. If she wants a fucking beer, she can have one.
“Me either,” Lo adds. “I hope they throw Beth and those other bitches in a cell and they never see the light of day again.” The girls were already arrested and charged with assault, which will now automatically get upgraded to a murder charge. They will get what’s coming to them, and I hope it’s the maximum sentence.
“You can fucking bank on it, Lo,” Sean says, his eyes full of hatred. “They will pay for what they did to my girlfriend.” He chokes on a sob at the end, and tears pool in his eyes. I bleed for the guy. If this was Harlow, I would lose my fucking mind. Scorch the Earth and burn all the motherfuckers responsible.
Tense silence filters through the air until Lo extracts her cell. “Sar wouldn’t want us moping.” She looks at Sean. “She would kick our asses if she saw us right now.” Sean nods, and there’s a hint of a smile on his mouth. Lo glances at Theo. “There’s a loudspeaker in Sar’s room. Would you grab it?”
“I’ll get it,” Sean says, standing. “And you’re right. Sar would hate this. Let’s get fucking drunk and dance and remember how fucking amazing she was, because she was a girl in a million.” He hangs his head as emotion threads through his words, and I share a look with the guys.
I know we are all thinking the same thing and feeling guilty for our selfish thoughts.
Sean comes back with the speaker, and Lo hooks up her cell, playing one of her and Sariah’s playlists, and we hang back, swapping stories about Sariah over a few beers.
Day turns to night, and Lorna joins us when the rest of the oldies have gone home. Lo sings along to Sariah’s favorite songs, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Theo takes my place when I need to go inside for a piss, and I seize the opportunity to grab some water, handing the bottle and a few pain pills to Galen. He’s quiet, not complaining, but the sweat beads on his brow attest to his pain. His ribs were already fucked before they took another battering, so it’s obvious he’s hurting.
I’m just about to suggest we head home when my cell vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and read the text message from one of the junior chapter members.
“We’ve got to go,” I say, repocketing my phone.
“What is it?” Lo asks as Theo gently lifts her off his lap.
