Chapter 9

If you’re going to get in trouble for hitting someone, you might as well hit them hard.

-Fact of Life

Truth

My parents and my brother and sister made it in time. Even though we weren’t quite sure if my sister would or not.

I suppose that was to be expected when you were in the middle of the ocean on an aircraft carrier, and it wasn’t as easy to leave as someone who was on land could.

My brothers were at my back: Sean, Aaron, Big Papa, Ghost, and Tommy Tom.

The rest of the community—those who adored my Pops and Grams as much as I did—were also there.

Police officers. Paramedics. Firefighters. Plumbers. Even the fuckin’ mayor was there.

The hall that we’d settled on to hold the service in was filled to maximum capacity, and my heart swelled knowing that the place was packed.

I heard a familiar voice say ‘excuse me’ from somewhere behind me, and I turned in my seat next to my mother, freezing at the sight that awaited me.

Verity, in a black dress that hugged her curves and came to a stop right above her calves, was taking a seat about four rows from the back, next to a few of my Grams’ bingo partners.

They smiled at her, scooted over, and made her feel welcome, causing my chest to ache.

I should’ve called her myself, but if I was being honest, I was using the death of my grandparents as an excuse. A convenient excuse that allowed me the time I needed to figure out what exactly I was going to tell her.

She looked up then, her eyes searching the room, and froze when she found me already looking at her.

She smiled and gave me a small wave.

I continued to stare, causing her eyebrows to furrow.

Then I lifted my hand and motioned my fingers at her, ordering her silently to come to me.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head furiously.

The old ladies around her, though, saw that I wanted her, and all got up as one and ushered her out of her seat.

Not even five seconds later, Verity was on her feet in the middle of the aisle.

She was left standing there, looking at where she used to be sitting, wondering whether she should run for it or follow directions.

I leaned forward in my seat, then stood, gesturing to my mom to scoot down, which she did without another word.

“Verity,” I said, my voice barely audible. “Sit.”

She turned on her heel, and walked up to the pew I was standing in the middle of.

“’Scuse me,” Verity said to my brother.

My brother stood, swiping his tie down against his chest as he did, and moved without a word.

Kenneth, who was on the end of the pew behind me, stood, and stared at Verity with a look of shock crossing over his face.

She looked damn good.

I agreed with his assessment.

What I did not agree with, however, was him reaching for her.

“Trent,” I said quietly.

Trent, seeing that Kenneth was reaching for Verity, moved in front of Kenneth and blocked his way, allowing Verity to slip past him and my sister, Marnie, before coming to a stop beside me.

She smiled timidly at me, and I dropped my mouth down to hers, giving her a quick, soft kiss.

She had no clue, but she’d just saved my sanity.

Having to deal with my sister, brother, mother and father, as well as having Kenneth and my cheating ex at my back, was hard in and of itself.

But having to do that while also laying my grandfather and grandmother—people who had been like second parents to me—in the ground was tipping me over the edge of reason.

I didn’t have any patience today, and I hadn’t had much for the last five days since my grandparents had been murdered.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I told her, taking her hand, and pulling her to the pew beside me.

She crossed her left leg over her right and leaned into me.

“Are you okay?” she whispered in my ear.

I squeezed her to me, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, and held on tight.

My sister, who was curious by nature, stared at me over the top of Verity’s head, and I winked at her.

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I felt something tight in my chest relax.

Marnie, Trent, and I had had a knockdown, drag out fight with our parents over the last two days about whether we should cremate my grandparents or not.

They agreed with our aunt, Kenneth and Eugene’s mom, that they should be buried in a cemetery next to each other.

I’d argued that that hadn’t been what the two of them wanted, and Trent and Marnie had agreed.

In the end, my parents finally settled with us, and we’d outvoted our aunt, but it hadn’t been because they were agreeing with us. It’d been because the lawyer had butted in and informed my dad and aunt of their parents’ wishes.

The music that’d been playing changed, and my body jerked at the realization that the service was about to start.

The funeral home had gone over everything that they were going to do, down to the last detail, and I knew the sound of my grandparents’ wedding song signaled the beginning of the service.

My eyes went to the screen above the microphone, and my heart ached when I saw the first picture was of my grandfather and me fishing.

The next was of my sister, him, and my grandmother riding on a motorcycle, almost exactly like the one that had been plastered all over the Internet with a rude, derogatory comment right above Verity’s ass.

As the pictures flowed through the slideshow, Verity leaned her head against my chest and rested her hand on my thigh, completely ignoring the angered eyes of Kenneth.

I turned my head slightly once to see him staring at Verity, and I turned back. Without flipping him off, might I add…though it was close.

As the slideshow came to a close, another song started to play, and I immediately stood, as did the men two pews back.

The National Anthem.

My grandfather had served twelve years in the Army while my grandmother had served eight. It’d been where they met.

My grandfather had come to my grandmother, a nurse, after a suspicious case of gout had nearly brought him to his knees.

And the rest was history.

They spent nearly every waking moment together from that point on and had even died on the same day.

Which, I guess, was a blessing.

I didn’t see one lasting long without the other—especially knowing the other had died so brutally.

Verity’s hand on my knee, circling it with one blunt fingertip, brought me back to the present, and I buried my fingers in her hair, wishing this thing would be over with already.

But it didn’t happen fast.

It was the slowest funeral I’d ever been to, and I didn’t know if that was due to the fact that there were actually two funerals happening at once, or if the people that spoke were just talking for irrationally long times.

Whatever the reason, by the time it all ended over an hour and ten minutes later, I was practically jumping out of my skin.

My body itched in this brand new, long sleeved dress shirt. I had a suit jacket on that restricted my movement, and the pair of pants I was wearing were one size too small.

Verity’s presence, though, kept me comfortable, and she stayed with me the entire time.

By the time the funeral coordinator gestured for the family to leave, I was already on my feet and urging Verity to walk quickly—which she thankfully did after she got out of the pew.

My brother and sister followed suit, keeping up with my retreating back, and piled into the same car as me.

“Mom’s going to kill us,” Trent muttered, looking at the crowd that started to seep out of the auditorium’s doors.

“Mom can suck it,” I mumbled, leaning back into the seat and staring tiredly at the roof. Remembering my manners, though, I leaned forward and took Verity’s hand. “Verity, this is my brother, Trent, and my sister, Marnie.”

Marnie waved her fingers, and Trent gave her a nod.

“This is the girl that you were talking about?” Trent asked after a while.

I nodded and brought Verity’s hand up to rest on my thigh as I stretched my own arm out behind her on the seat.

Bikes started up around the car we were in, and I relaxed even further.

“Are you going to be all right?” Verity asked softly. “You don’t look too good.”

“Big brother here doesn’t like crowds,” Marnie offered. “It took everything he had to be in that building with all of those people. That was thanks to our Aunt Eloise and our mom, though. If we’d have had our way, we would’ve had a wake like Pop and Grams wanted, instead of going through all this.”

Verity blinked, then opened her mouth to say something.

However, nothing came out.

Instead she just shook her head and gestured to the bikes.

“What’s up with the biker brigade?” she continued to ask questions.

“They’re my club,” I answered. “They’re here for moral support.”

Her mouth lifted up into a smile.

“Well, they’re doing a damn fine job keeping everyone away from you.”

I looked out the same window that Verity was, my mouth twitching when I saw the crowd heading our way.

However, Big Papa and Aaron were holding them off with a scowl covering their faces.

“You’re lucky they’re here, big brother.” Marnie whispered.

I was.

I was also lucky Verity was here.

I wouldn’t have been able to get through the last hour and a half without her soothing touch calming me down.

Making me see reason.

That was until Kenneth shoved his way between Big Papa and Aaron, making his way to the car.

Aaron gave the stupid man an annoyed look, but let him by when I waved him away.

“Here we go,” Trent mumbled.

Verity turned her face into my arm, and I became irrationally annoyed at the fact that that man had the nerve to say a goddamned word to me, or even approach the same vehicle that I was in.

“What do you want?” I asked, rolling the window down just far enough to hear him and he could hear me.

“I wanted to make sure that Verity was…”

Verity’s head popped up, and she glared. “I’m fine. Or I would have been had you left me alone. I’m here to offer Truth support on one of the hardest days of his life. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to please leave.”

I laughed and rolled the window up. Apparently, she didn’t need me to fight her battles for her.

“I sense a story…” Marnie murmured. “And since we’re stuck here until the cars move, why don’t y’all tell us the story of how you met.”

Verity’s smile wasn’t forced any longer.

“As long as Truth has no problem with me telling it…”

I shifted my fingers back into her hair, leaned my head back, and urged her on with a wave of my hand.

“After you.”

***

Two hours later, my mother, father, sister and her good friend who’d driven down with her, as well as my brother, Verity, and I sat around the table, eating in silence.

Though, the rest of the men and women at the table, including the members of my club and their women, filled the silence around us—making the awkwardness of the past four days all but disappear.

Verity and I were at the end, and she was leaning into me as she listened to something Sean was telling the rest of the table.

My mother and father, finally deciding to join society, were listening to him talk about some patient he had, and I was thankful to finally have their attention off of me.

“What’s going on with your parents?” she asked.

That was something I did not want to answer.

I hadn’t spoken to my parents in over four years, and it wasn’t because of lack of trying on my part.

It was due to the fact that they didn’t like my life choices and had no problem letting me know it.

My brother and sister had been fairly neutral about the way I lived my life, but ultimately, they stayed out of it—which meant that they didn’t choose sides, and saw all of us, just separately.

“My parents are upset that I chose to throw my life away to do a job that they didn’t approve of,” I finally settled on.

When I didn’t expound, she chose not to pursue the topic, likely fearing I’d freak out and leave just like I’d done the last time we were together.

“I quit my job yesterday,” she said into the silence. “I had a bad day, and my boss made a derogatory comment about a photo that’s floating around the Internet of us…and I just snapped.”

My stomach clenched. “I saw the photo,” I murmured. “And I wasn’t very happy about it.”

She sighed.

“It’s life,” she finally settled on. “That’s not to say that I wasn’t extremely upset about it when I saw it.”

I should really tell her that I found the guy who’d started the cruel photo circulating, but I didn’t want to admit that I was the guy who caused the little shit-for-brains to be put into the hospital.

Instead, I blurted out what was on my mind, like usual.

“You wouldn’t be willing to run a business, would you?” I teased her jokingly.

Her eyes widened.

“I would…if you needed me to. I’ve done it for years with my mom, and I’ve been in customer service for eight years now,” she surprised me. “What would you need me to do?”

I thought about it for a second, and finally nodded, thinking it could work out great to have someone there I trusted.

“The pub already has a manager, kind of a service manager,” I answered. “Really, I would just need you to be the person to make business decisions during the day when I can’t be there, and be the boss man that everyone goes to with their petty problems. Like calling in sick, and complaining about customers…you know, stuff like that.”

“What about payroll?” she asked, turning to face me.

“That’s mine,” I said. “I’ll do that on Fridays before class starts, and if anyone has any problems with that, I’ll take care of it Friday afternoon when I get out of class.”

She nodded, her eyes distant as she thought about what I’d just offered her.

“I won’t take anything over what I deserve,” she finally said. “You can’t pay me anything exorbitant.”

My mouth twitched. “I’ll pay you what I think you deserve.”

Which was a lot, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Well, okay,” she settled into my side once again.

“So when are you opening the pub back up?”

That was my father, always asking the hard questions.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was just discussing that with Verity.”

My father’s eyes narrowed on the woman at my side.

“What does she have to do with when you’re opening it?”

I clenched my teeth.

“Since I just asked her to be the fucking boss man,” I snapped.