Page 50 of The Aftermath

“My sister. She isn’t much older than you are now. Back then, she was just a kid. A kid who didn’t know what was happening to her was wrong. I remember the first time I saw her after it all happened. She lay there, bleeding out and shaking. That’s the day I prayed to the devil to take my goddamn soul.”

“Who was it?”

“My dad.” I nod my head, not asking any more questions. We sit in silence for a long time when Hoax walks over.

“What are you two doing?”

“Just talking.”

“I went over to the site of the car crash. Got some ashes,” he announces as I look at him like he’s crazy. “What?”

“You went and collected ashes?”

“Yeah. Thought you guys might want them.”

“Of the car?” Hunter asks now. I almost laugh, but I can see how serious Hoax is looking right now, so I bite it back.

“You think I actually got car ashes? What the fuck kind of person do you think I am?” Hoax asks.

“I don’t know, man. I wasn’t too sure what the hell you were doing there for a minute.”

“They’re Levi’s ashes, you fucking asshole.”

“And you know that how?” he glances at me, and I raise my eyebrow, now interested to know how he knows this.

“Let’s just say I know the difference between people’s ashes and car ashes.”

“And how exactly do you know that?” Hunter asks again. This time I do bite my lip not to laugh because Hoax looks just too damn serious right now.

“Fuck, Hunter. You know I used to work at a crematorium.”

“And they just let you fucking look at someone’s ashes?” Hunter asks. Now I lose it. I can’t help it. I start laughing, covering my mouth to stop it. Hoax looks from me to Hunter before he speaks again.

“Hell no, they don’t let you look, but I did it anyway. I needed it for research purposes.”

“What exactly were you researching?” he asks him.

“Do you want the fucking ashes or not?” he snaps this time. I stop laughing and nod my head.

“Yes. We’d like the ashes. Thank you, Hoax, for doing this for us,” I tell him.

“He wasn’t just your friend. He was ours, too.” With that, he turns and walks away, leaving me with … an urn.

“Where did he get an urn?” I ask, a little unsure now.

“Angel, there are just something’s you shouldn’t ask answers to.” Now I laugh once more until I look down at the fucking urn. The laughs turn to cries as I sit holding one of our oldest friends. Hunter stands, resting a hand on my shoulder before leaving me alone.

Chapter 25

Silas

We’re healing. All four of us. We moved into Rylan’s old house for now. The girls weren’t ready to separate yet, and I wasn’t ready to force her to do anything. We called Becky and gave her the option of staying in Florida or coming back here. She chose to come back, and now she’s in Levi’s house. They were married, so everything he had went to her. Not that she has anything to worry about anyway. We’ve already talked it over, and whatever she and the baby need, they’ll have. It isn’t just Becky’s baby. That baby was Levi’s, too, and there’s no way in hell we’d let it go without.

Some days are harder than others, knowing he isn’t here and he’s not coming back. There’s an ache in my chest I don’t think will ever go away. It’s a good thing, that ache. I need it there to remind me shit can turn bad at any second, and at any given minute, any one of us could be gone.

Ry and I have been doing what we can with the society. Not really much to do after we got rid of the cancer that was in it. Everything else just fell into place. We held meetings, introduced ourselves to some who might not have known us, and then we made changes to what we needed to. We still do shady shit. That’s just a given for us and our way of life. Nothing is going to change that, either.

Angel and I are planning to get remarried in a few months. She’s happy as hell about it, too. She and Tamsyn have gone over every little detail down to the fucking tablecloths. It’s good to see her smiling and happy, though. There were some days I wasn’t sure I was going to see that smile on her face again. There were days when she was so fucking lost not even I could pull her back. But she’s doing better, and for that, I’m grateful.

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