“Tell me you made them beg. That you made them scream,” he said.
“Of course I did,” Smokey said. “Do you think I’d let bastards off like that? Nudge over, I’ve got to go and do something.”
“What?”
“I’ve got to go and make it right with Raven.”
Carlos agreed.
He saw that Larissa had already paid her bill, so he made his way up to the counter and put several bills into the tip jar.
Leaving the diner, he saw Smokey was already straddling his bike.
He glanced at the bakery and saw it was closed. “What’s that all about?” Carlos asked.
“Ava’s decision. She feels Harlow needed some time off, and Raven was getting too much shit.”
“From what?” Carlos asked.
“People believe she has been kicked out of the club.”
“Those sons of bitches.”
“My thoughts exactly, but I’m going to deal with it. Trust me, I will deal with it all.” Smokey turned over his ignition.
“You know this means you and I need to figure out how to get along,” Carlos said.
“We’re already figuring it out, Carlos. You and I, we can’t fight anymore. You want Raven, you’re going to have to accept that she’s part of the club.”
He already did.
Chapter Twenty
Raven was so tired.
Ava had insisted on spending a girl’s day at the spa. After her emotional vomit this morning with Jonah, Raven had struggled to just enjoy the day. She had told Jonah way too much personal information, and now she didn’t know what to do.
The town hated her.
She’d become a social pariah to all but Ava, Harlow, Jonah, and Larissa. Carlos as well if she counted him, but he didn’t count. Not today.
Staring at the graveyard ahead, she felt so fucking morbid, but it was the one place she could go where she’d be able to think. Even when she was part of the club, she came here.
Entering through the main gate, she saw that it wasn’t so busy, which she liked, but it did often make her sad. A lot of people were buried here. Sunday was the day it was usually busy. There were still headstones that didn’t get any flowers.
A few times, she’d purchased a bouquet or two and waited for everyone to leave. For all the people without flowers, she placed a single one on their gravestone. Someone had noticed them. Someone was missing them.
Her mother didn’t have a headstone. She didn’t have anything.
Tears filled her eyes, and she quickly came to an abrupt stop when she caught sight of Smokey on her bench. He didn’t look up, and Raven was tempted to leave, but she couldn’t do it.
Smokey was here.
She forced herself to keep on moving, stepping past him to take the seat beside him on the bench. As she sat, she kept some distance between them.
“How have you been?” Smokey asked.
“Fine. You?”
“Fucking shit,” Smokey said. “I don’t know how I fucked up so bad.”
“You were doing what you thought was best for Ava. I get that.”
“But I’m not just Ava’s man, Raven. I’m your Prez. Your club brother,” he said.
“Actually, you’re more than that, Smokey. I consider you my best friend.” She hated how tight and hot her throat suddenly felt.
“Fuck, Raven.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Honestly, I get it.”
“No, you don’t.”
She heard him take a breath.
“I want to tell you a little story, and I want you to listen to me good, okay?”
Raven agreed.
“There was once a young girl. She had it all. The perfect family. An amazing mother, a loyal, loving father. Only, one day, this happy family was torn apart by tragedy. The father was a soldier, and he got lost—”
“Smokey, don’t!”
“Let me finish,” he said. “The father was killed in the line of duty. It broke his wife and his daughter, but together, they made it work. They were an unstoppable team. They knew what was right for each other, and they loved one another. They made everything better just by being together. Then one day, this little girl’s mother met a prince.”
Tears filled Raven’s eyes.
“And this little girl thought that her mother would finally be happy. That he’d be able to take away the sadness that losing her daddy had caused her mother. And for a short time, everything was perfect. Only, her mother started to get sick for no reason. There were no doctors, but her mother was slowly dying, fading away. Her stepfather said that he had a way of making her mother better. All she had to do was exactly as he said.”
“Smokey, please, stop.”
“So this little girl, who was near to being a young woman, agreed. She loved her mother so much, and she would do everything she could to protect her mother. For as long as this little girl could remember, her mother had always taken care of her, and now it was her turn. So her stepfather, who she had no reason not to trust, arranged for her to be sent to someone, a man. A man with a lot of wealth. This young teenager, which is what she was now, didn’t have a clue what to do other than everything he said. Then the raping started. The abuse. There was no escape for this young teenager now because she had to do everything for her mother. To try and get her better. She never told her mother what was happening. She didn’t know that her stepfather was poisoning her mother. A little at a time, to make it long. Then he was doing everything to try to break this girl so that she would belong to him, and he’d get to use her for his own personal needs.”