I watch as her jaw drops, and her eyes go wide. “Why is that even a question?”
Ella makes a face and nudges her head towards me like I’m not sitting right beside her or looking at her. She doesn’t know what subtle means, obviously.
I can’t help but rolls my eyes as I snatch the paper out of her hands. “Fine! Let’s put it in the yes pile!” I snap.
Ella claps her hands excitedly. Then she gets a sad look across her face in the next instant. “You know, Stacey loved eating brownies with whatever chocolate we had on hand. Sometimes it turned out weird, but other times it was good,” she says with a sigh.
I wrap my arm around her. “I’m so sorry about Stacey. She was a great person.”
“Thanks. I miss her so much. I just wish she would walk through that door and tell everyone it was all a joke,” she says with a sniffle.
“I know, darling, me too. How about I go make you some brownies with whatever chocolate we have on hand,” I say as I make a move to stand up.
She reaches in her bag and pulls out a huge bag of M&Ms. She gives me a small smile. “How about this?”
I can’t help but chuckle as I grab the bag and make my way to the kitchen.
Ella follows behind me and some of the other club women do too.
The next couple hours are filled with stories of Stacey and good times. Ella has no problem telling us all the stuff that they did before they became part of the club.
When everyone comes back upstairs, they find us in the kitchen binging on enough chocolate to possibly rot our teeth.
Lily looks at me warily. I give her a reassuring smile and a nod. I grab a brownie and hold it over to her, and she seems to relax and walk towards me.
She places an arm around me. “No one fucks with my family,” she whispers in my ear.
“We are Vicious Snakes for life,” I whisper back.
She winks at me. “Yes we are. Are you ready to get your tattoo yet?”
I smile at her with the most confidence I have, which isn’t much. I’m scared that it will hurt and that I’ll cry and embarrass myself. Everyone has reassured me that I’ll be fine. I do want to get it done, however, for my man and me.
Colton comes into the room and puts his arms around me. I can’t help but lean against him.
He kisses me on the cheek and then whispers in my ear. “You ready to go home, baby?”
I nod my head and can feel him smile against my cheek.
I worried that he would get sick of me, but every night he isn’t afraid to show me how much he wants me. Sometimes I’m exhausted and wouldn’t want to do anything but sleep or hang out, but he still looked at me the same. There was no anger in his face when he would find out that he wouldn’t be getting lucky.
We say “bye” to everyone, and they give us knowing smirks. We pass Torch on our way out. His hair is all wet so I’m guessing that he took a quick shower.
I still don’t know how to act around him. I feel terrible that me coming here caused the death of the love of his life.
When he looks up and sees me, I stop in my tracks.
He nods at Colton and I feel Colton back up. When I’m about to turn around and ask what he’s doing, I feel Torch’s arm come around me.
I waste no time hugging him back.
He releases a shuddering breath. I hear a sniffle and then he clears his throat.
“It’s not your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself. Even though you have never said it out loud, I can see it in your eyes. You were a good friend to her from the start. She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself and you can’t take credit for the actions of others. Vince got what he deserves for taking my woman from me. You need to heal too,” he says and places a kiss on my head before turning around and walking toward his room at the club.
I look back at Colton and he just nods his head and walks up to me to wipe my eyes. “He’s right. I know it’s killing you inside. Everyone will say the same thing. It’s not your fault. Tell me what you need,” he asks, his voice almost pleading.
I look at him in the eyes. “I need to do something. Like Stitch’s brother said. Let’s take that money and make something great for her.”
He nods his head. “I’m sure that whatever you think of will be amazing. Think of something she loved to do or something she was passionate about,” he says, and I nod my head and start to think.
The whole way home I think about what I could do for Stacey. When the idea comes to me, I can’t help but smile.
I know just what to do.
Chapter Twenty Two
Trigger ‘Colton’
It has been a rough couple of days. Torch had taken off the day after we took care of business. I didn’t know how to reach my brother and everyone else looked as helpless as I did. I could only hope that there was some way for him to find a way out of the darkness that was trying to swallow him whole.
I just finished work and I’m bull shittin’ with Crash when Pyro comes in.
He looks straight at Prez, and I can tell that what he is about to say is something serious.
Prez
