CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Lake
The hot summer sun beat down on the backyard of the clubhouse. I’d taken off my shirt and lay sprawled on the steps leading to the back porch, watching our friends celebrate Independence Day.
Hung was grilling burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and some of the guys had started up a game of soccer. Stephen currently had control of the ball and was dribbling it with his feet across the long expanse of yard toward the goal.
Blaze’s aunt Shirley sat talking with Sara and her boyfriend, Rex. I really liked her. Blaze and I had been to her house for dinner several times in the past few months, and she made the best cookies I’d ever tasted.
And she treated me like a mother would a son, which meant more to me than I could ever say.
“Look,” B said. He held up his red bucket full of sand. We’d bought a sandbox shaped like a turtle that he used every time he came over.
“That’s cool, buddy. Are you building something?”
“A castle,” B said with a nod. I smiled at him. He was a good kid and obviously hadn’t inherited any of his father’s shitty genes.
Blaze walked over with two beers from the cooler, handed me one, and sat down beside me.
“You’re gonna burn,” he said before taking a swig.
“Not with all that sunscreen you slathered on me.” The beer was ice cold and delicious.
Blaze picked up B’s Yankees hat, dusted off the sand, and put it on the little boy’s head. “That’s so your nose won’t get red,” he told B.
“You’re such a mom,” I said, and grinned.
I’d managed to move out of Khan and Stephen’s and into my own place a month ago, but I spent a large amount of time at the clubhouse. Blaze wanted me to move in, but I thought it was too soon. Besides, having my apartment was really handy when we wanted some real privacy.
Tony came running up wearing a pair of navy bathing shorts. “B. Want to run through the sprinkler? It feels really good!”
B stood up and eagerly stepped out of the sandbox. Tony pulled off the little boy’s shirt and led him to the corner of the yard where the sprinkler was jetting water in a slow arc.
B squealed when the water hit him. Tony took his hand and the two ran through the spray only to turn around a few feet out and go back the other way.
I noticed Cane leaning against a nearby pin oak, beer in hand, watching the two play. Tony and Cane’s scene had been wildly popular. Nobody was sure why Tony refused to do more.
“Could be Tony just doesn’t like to do porn,” I said aloud, and Blaze followed my gaze to the sprinklers. Somehow, he connected the dots.
“Could be,” he agreed.
I looked at him. “Not what you think?”
Blaze shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve always thought it might have more to do with who he’s doing the scene with.”
I looked toward Cane. “Can’t say I would blame him. Cane might be hot, but he doesn’t have much in the personality department.”
Blaze wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Still waters run deep, though, right? And stop ogling Cane.”
I laughed and looked at Blaze. “Maybe you should ask Tony to do a scene with someone else.” I wondered if Tony would do it and what Cane’s reaction would be if he did.
The roar of a dozen or more motorcycles filled the air, and the soccer game came to an abrupt halt, the ball rolling into the bushes. Hung turned down the heat on the grill and picked up a baseball bat lying nearby.
Blaze stood, and I got to my feet too.
The rest of the Hedonists stood waiting as the motorcycles pulled up on the edge of the property. The guy in front got off his bike. He was big and burly and had a long beard tied in several places with elastic bands. He took his mirrored sunglasses off.
“I’m lookin’ for the leader of the Hedonists,” he said, and Blaze stepped forward. My stomach knotted.
“That would be me,” Blaze said.
The man’s eyes flickered over Blaze and then at Hung, Ax, and the others.
“Name’s Wallace. I’ve taken over the Pistons.”
“What happened to Spoons?” Blaze asked. Matteo stepped up to stand beside him.
“Don’t know or care. Disappeared a couple of weeks ago. Club’s been without a leader, so I decided to give ‘em one. Thought I’d make my presence known.”
“This is Hedonist territory.” The way Blaze said that made my cock stir.
“I get that. Just passing through to give a friendly notification of the change in leadership.” He nodded at Blaze and walked back over to his bike. The next few minutes were filled with the revving of engines and the roaring of motorcycles into the distance.
When they’d all disappeared out of sight, and we could barely hear them anymore, the guys relaxed.
“Well, what do you know?” Matteo said with a smile. “Spoons is out of the picture.”
“Good riddance,” Zeke said, wrapping his arm around Morgan’s shoulders and squeezing him.
“What do you think happened to him?” I asked.
“Nothing good,” Blaze said. “He tried to pick up business where Turk left off and got a lot of very dangerous people angry. I suspect he’s not doing very well.”
I glanced to a group of maples where Isaac and Caleb had been sitting with the big dog, Duke, before the biker’s arrival. They were no where to be seen now.
“Be back in a minute,” I told Blaze and headed into the house.
I found them in the living room. Caleb was visibly upset, and Isaac was talking quietly to him. Duke had his head resting on Caleb’s leg.
“They’re gone,” I said. “They were pretty scary, weren’t they? But the leader was pretty nice. He was just introducing himself.”
“Who were they?” Isaac asked.
“The Pistons. Spoons is gone.” I smiled at Caleb like it was no big deal. I was pretty sure Wallace had been posturing, making sure Blaze and the rest of the Hedonists knew what a tough motherfucker he was.
“You okay?” I asked Caleb.
“Yeah,” he said softly and nodded. I turned to see Axel looking in the door from the screened porch. I gave him a discreet thumbs up before walking into the kitchen and pulling out the cole slaw and potato salad from the refrigerator.
“I think the food’s about ready!” I called to him and Caleb before walking outside again. I put the food on the long picnic table where Hung had set the burgers and hot dogs, and Sara was arranging plastic plates and utensils. Dante pulled open a bag of chips and poured them into a big red bowl. Everyone lined up and eagerly began loading their plates.
“I hope you got some good fireworks,” Skitz said to Dante.
“Oh, I did. Don’t you worry.”
“Did you get sparklers?” Tony asked around a bite of hot dog. “I love those, and I’ll bet B will like them.”
“Yeah. I got plenty of those.”
When Skitz started ribbing Dante about almost blowing his thumb off one year with a cherry bomb, Blaze led me to a shady area where we flopped down on a cool patch of grass. As we ate, I watched Khan and Stephen laughing with the others and marveled at how well everyone meshed together.
“You look happy,” Blaze said. “You hardly ever scowl anymore.”
I smiled. “I’ve got nothing to scowl about these days.”
Blaze looked so serious my heart flipped over. His eyes rivaled the blue of the sky.
“I’ve got food, for one,” I said teasingly. I’d admitted to Blaze long ago that I’d been so hard up when he’d come into my life, I’d hardly eaten at all. I’d gotten the feeling he’d already known that.
Blaze picked up my hand and played with my fingers. “Food, huh? That what’s got you so happy?”
I pursed my lips and frowned in thought, then made a face like I’d just remembered. I held up my beer. “Plenty to drink, too. I never pass out from dehydration anymore.”
Blaze looked at me sternly. “I should hope not.”
“And I don’t have an asshole neighbor terrorizing me,” I said, setting aside my plate and lying back on the grass. A welcome breeze rustled through the leaves overhead and blew my hair across my face. Blaze reached up and tucked a strand behind my ear.
“That all?”
I sighed. “I suppose I’m kind of happy because…well, there’s this guy.”
“Do tell.”
“He’s big and muscular and handsome. And he fills my ass so well.”
Blaze growled low in his throat. “Watch it, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder and take you to my room.”
“Then what?” I asked, breath catching in my throat.
“You know what,” Blaze said, voice thick with desire.
We stared at each other a few long seconds until Blaze broke the moment by standing and offering his hand.
“There’s something I need to do first. Go for a ride with me?”
“Sure. Where’re we going?” I asked, following Blaze around the house to where his bike was parked and mentally telling my dick to stand down. Plenty of time for that later.
“You’ll see.” He handed me the extra helmet, and we climbed on.
I had no idea where we were going until the cemetery came in sight. Acres of green grass dotted with monuments and tombstones as far as the eye could see were cross-sectioned by narrow roads which Blaze navigated without hesitation, letting me know this was a place he’d been more than once. We passed several fancy lots and crossed over into an older-looking section of the cemetery before Blaze brought the bike to a stop and switched off the engine.
I took in the line of graves beneath a large magnolia tree before turning to Blaze with a questioning look. Blaze grasped my hand and tugged me forward. When we got closer, I could see the names on the stones all ended with Harrington.
I sucked in a breath, and crouched to study each in turn.
Karen Taylor Harrington, beloved wife and mother.
Nelson Edward Harrington, husband and father.
Timothy Edward Harrington, son and brother.
I looked up at Blaze. His gaze was on the stones.
“This is your family,” I said.
He nodded. “I come here most holidays.”
I stared at the three stones. How sad to have your entire family buried before you.
“Hey,” Blaze said, running his hand over the top of my head. “It’s okay.”
I shook my head and stood. “No, it’s not.” I couldn’t stop the tears from smarting my eyes. “Both your parents and your brother. It isn’t fair.”
Blaze pulled me into his arms and kissed the side of my head. “I’ve come to terms with it. I wanted to bring you here to see them.”
I swallowed my tears. The whole thing was just so fucking sad. I couldn’t stand it that Blaze had to suffer that pain, and I didn’t even have a family to offer him to make it any easier.
Blaze wrapped his arms more tightly around me. “We’ll be all right,” he said, as though reading my mind. “We have each other and the club. And our friends.”
“And your aunt,” I added.
Blaze chuckled. “Yeah. We left before she took out her famous strawberry shortcake. I hope there’s some left when we get home.”
We stood there for what seemed like a long time, but I was comfortable. In a way, it really did seem like we were visiting Blaze’s family. After a while, Blaze took my hand again, and we started to walk under tall shade trees, heading into the richer, more populated part of the cemetery.
When we crested a hill, we approached a large slate monument with the name Wentworth engraved on it.
I frowned. “Who’s buried here?”
Blaze brought me to the side, away from the double grave, to a headstone that stood all by itself.
“Jake Allen Wentworth,” I read the name.
Blaze smiled. “I always kidded him about his initials spelling Jaw. I’d wished he could be a senior, so he could add an S to it.”
“Your best friend,” I said, feeling even sadder.
“You can see where my abandonment issues come from,” Blaze said jokingly.
I turned and wrapped my arms around him. “You have me. You’ll always have me.” Who was this sentimental person that had taken over my body?
After another warm hug, Blaze nudged me to face the tombstone.
“J, this is my boyfriend, Lake,” he spoke to the gravestone. “I’m not sure you’d figured out I liked guys as well as girls before you died, but I kind of think you did. I’ve spent some time looking back, and I’ve come to the conclusion that you knew I had feelings for you.”
Blaze had told me about what he’d felt for J. He’d also said he realized it had just been a crush.
“I think you were pushing me away from the idea as best you could, and part of that meant getting involved with Vanessa, someone I was forced to see you with constantly. I think you just couldn’t bring yourself to discuss it out loud, and that’s okay. I’m happy, J. I’m in love with Lake, and we have the MC. Everything’s good. I just wanted you to know that.”
A songbird landed on a nearby branch and trilled before taking off again.
“I’ve heard sometimes that souls visit the living as birds,” I said, watching it fly away.
“Really?” Blaze smiled. “I’d like to believe that.” He squeezed my hand. “Ready to go home?”
I smiled and nodded. The sun was setting, and in the distance someone began shooting off fireworks, the spray of whites, blues, and reds bursting over the hills. The sadness that had overcome me earlier had faded away to be replaced by a sudden euphoria, and I realized for the first time in my life I was looking forward to the future, now that Blaze was in it. I was still in therapy, although I didn’t go as often these days. My past felt less like a burden than it had before.
Pulling Blaze close, I kissed him long and deep, making him a promise with my eyes before we climbed on his Harley and rode out of the cemetery toward home.
THE END