“We’re going to take Rain back to Maggie and Panther’s place. No one is to bother us unless we ask,” Aspen says, looking right at me.
I nod, silently telling her I understand.
I watch as the women walk away, Rain sandwiched between them.
God dammit.
I rub my hands over my face as someone claps me on the shoulder.
“Come on. You look like you could use a drink,” Panther mutters.
Panther pushes me toward the door, and as he does, I look over my shoulder, watching the girls disappear from sight.
When we get inside, we head straight to the bar where Eagle pours me a shot of whiskey and slides it toward me. Without hesitation, I grab it and toss it back.
“Another,” I say as I set the glass on the counter.
Once. Twice. Three times.
The liquor burns as it goes down, but it feels good.
This is fucked. Seriously fucking fucked.
“I asked the lawyer for the will,” Meek says as he comes to a stop next to me.
“And?” Panther asks.
“Airtight. I don’t see how they can avoid the marriage clause, not without Rain losing everything and Ridge losing the bike,” Meek says.
“I don’t give a fuck about the bike,” I snap.
“Dude, I need you to explain how the fuck this happened. I honestly can’t wrap my head around it,” Eagle says as he leans against the bar.
Sighing, I grab one of the barstools and sit down.
“Where do I even start?” I mutter.
“The beginning is usually a good place,” Yak quips.
Raising my hand, I shoot him the middle finger.
“Like I said out there, I spent a lot of time with him in the end. I hated the thought of him being alone.” I clear my throat. “Mustang always made it known that he wanted Rain and me to get together. He thought we would be perfect for each other.”
“You two fight like cats and dogs,” Meek unhelpfully points out.
“I know, and I pointed that out to him, but he kept bringing it up. It started as a comment here and there years ago. ‘You would be better to her than the guy she’s seeing. You two would keep each other on your toes for sure. When are you going to make an honest woman out of my daughter?’ Shit like that. Then I would remind him that Rain and I aren’t even friends. We’re enemiesat best. He would wave his hand through the air and say that we would get over that shit as soon as we got out of our own way.”
Eagle slides another shot toward me, and I take it.
“So when he got sick, I thought it was like every time he mentioned it before. I would steer him to a different topic, and all would be okay. But about two months ago, he told me that he was going to put it in his will that Rain and I needed to get together, or she would lose everything. I told him that would be mean, and she would hate him. I reminded him that we don’t see each other that way. Honest to god, I thought he was joking. If I knew he planned to go through with it…”
I don’t tell them about the other request he made. The one that is not in the will, but that he expects to be followed nevertheless.
“You would have given her a heads-up,” Panther says after I trail off.
I nod, looking down at the bar.
I could have, but Mustang asked me not to. He said he was still figuring the will out. I thought that meant he had changed his mind. I was wrong.
