Lilly wakes up around noon, just in time for me to want to take a nap. I leave her to her own devices and crash out in the bed. Just as I'm dozing off, the rain begins coming down, the sound lulling me into the best sleep of the weekend. The games are over by the time I wake up, and the party is just getting good and started again. I drag Lilly and the rest of our crew back to the stage to listen to the band and have a few drinks. Aaron is carting around his ice chest, with Lilly's whiskey in it and beer for everyone, although he's looking a little bit lit as he carts it around.
Conner won the bike show earlier with his green beauty, Lucy and Carrie participated in the Weenie Bite game, and I got to toss a keg further than the rest of these assholes. It was close, but I won by a couple feet. Lucifer's Hounds has a few new trophies to set up on display at the clubhouse when we get home.
I take a look around, at the family that's standing around me. My brothers with their ol' ladies. My girl. My futurewife. I'm just feeling a little bit grateful for these things that I've got.
After the band dies down and the after party is in full swing, I can barely keep my eyes open. Lilly turns in for the night with me, snuggling into my chest. I'm asleep before she finishes saying 'I love you'.
"Cass!" Lilly's voice is loud in my ear. Screeching. I wake disoriented, feeling like the bed is falling out from underneath me.
"Cass!" she shouts again, her hands shaking my shoulders rapidly. I force my eyes open and have to blink them open a few times before I can focus. It's dark. Too dark. No electricitydark. And dilapidated. Something happened. The RV is caved in. There's black smoke everywhere. It's so thick, I can hardly see Lilly right beside me.
She's coughing and shoving something off her legs. Part of the ceiling? It's hard to tell.
"Cass!" My name is being shouted from outside. I hear beating and banging. Metal clanking. A bright beam of light comes through like a beacon through a newly made, gaping hole in the side of the RV across from our bed. Shorty comes climbing through the hole, probably because he's the only one small enough to fit.
"Are you okay?" he asks, staring back and forth between Lilly and myself.
"I think so," I say hoarsely.
I try to stand, but the roof is a lot closer to my head than it's supposed to be. I crouch down, grabbing Lilly and guiding her between me and Shorty. He steps out and takes her hand, helping her out of the hole in my wall. I look at it and the longer I stare at it, the more I'm certain that my wide-ass shoulders are not going to fit through that hole.
"Come on, Prez. You can fit!" Leo hollers from the other side.
Fuck it. I turn sideways and try to finagle my way out of the hole. With a few scrapes from the shards of metal and one knot on the side of my head, I make it out of the RV. Once I'm out, I assess the damage. The black smoke billowing out of the other side draws my attention and I realize that it isn't only my RV that is damaged. It's almost all of the RVs and campers around.
What the fuck happened?
"What the fuck?" I toss my hands up.
"Moccasins," Shorty deadpans.
The fucking Moccasins. I should've known. I knew better than to let my guard down and I fucking did it anyway. Rage rises to the top of my chest.
"GODDAMNIT!" I shout, slamming my fists into the ruins of my RV.
"Get her out of here. Get her out of here right now," I yell.
"What?! Absolutely not. I'm not fucking going anywhere!" She immediately shouts and tears stream down her face. Fuck.
I press my fingers to my temples and close my eyes for a second, my head pounding. I'm half-naked, standing in the mud with bare feet and I'm covered in dirt and grime and who fucking knows what. My head feels like it’s going to explode. What the fuck am I going to do about this?
"Is anybody hurt?" I ask, glancing around at the wreckage at our campsite.
"We're all good. But some people aren't so lucky. There are a few other campers and RVs that took a hit and one of the women a few campers down is hurt bad," Leo says, pointing in the direction of the screaming that I was tuning out.
"Where arethey?" I ask.
"Long gone. They set off time-release, makeshift bombs and were gone before they ever went off," Conner informs me. He looks as dirty as I feel. Fuck.
Sirens and flashing lights draw my attention to the entrance of the park as emergency responders pile in. Someone must've heard the explosions and called it in. A fire truck with first responders parks just in front of what's left of my RV. I send Lilly over to be checked out and have Shorty get the other ladies checked on first.
Sebastian and Reaper from the Tattered Saints are standing by idly, waiting to speak to me. I want to hear whatever they have to say, too. I'm betting they saw something or they know something. Reaper's got his irons in so many fires, I'd be surprised if he couldn't tell me who did it and with what hand they set the trigger with.
Sebastian taps me on the shoulder and hands me a plain black t-shirt.
"It'll probably fit you like a sm-edium, but at least you'll have a shirt," he grins.
I flip him the bird as a thank you and tug it over my head. He was right. It's a fucking sm-edium. The damn thing is nearly cutting off the circulation in my biceps, but I feel more presentable, so I'll allow it. It'll stretch out eventually. I hope.
