Page 25 of Thirst Trap (Carter Brothers)

I watched avidly for her chest to raise, and it didn’t.

A knot formed in my throat, and I choked out my last song, meant only for her.

“You Raise Me Up.”

The moment the lyrics were finished, my brother’s voice sounded from the doorway.

“Is she…”

“She is,” I confirmed, voice hoarse.

“I’ll call the nurse.” he whispered, walking to me and pulling me in for a tight, fast hug before letting go.

I didn’t let go of her hand until the nurse arrived and asked me to give her some room.

Well, she didn’t ask, but it was clear that she needed the space to work.

I gave it to her, and wondered idly what my next steps were.

Ultimately, I decided that no one needed to know.

No one but the hospice nurse who’d pronounced her dead, my brother, and me.

My parents didn’t need to know, and we wouldn’t be telling them.

They’d made their choice when they’d taken off and had no plans to come back.

I couldn’t even tell Ande or Quinn.

Granted, Ande would want to know, but she had her own shit to deal with right now, thanks to some awful things going on in her life, and I didn’t want her family thinking that I brought her into my own personal hell.

Quinn?

Well, I wouldn’t tell Quinn because I knew he wouldn’t come.

This wasn’t the same as Addison’s funeral.

No, this was my Nonna. And to come to this funeral, he would have to see my brother, and that was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

On one hand, he might show up, and then I’d have to deal with Costas and him in the same room. On the other hand, he might not show up, and that would only break what little was left of my heart.

“What are your thoughts on a funeral?” I asked my brother.

The Justice of the Peace was called over an hour ago and had yet to arrive.

“I think we should just embalm her and bury her,” he admitted. “I don’t really have the spare cash to pop out a seven-thousand-dollar funeral.”

I didn’t either.

Not after paying for all of this out of pocket the last six months.

What savings I had was all but gone.

I hadn’t been working, either, leaving me with practically nothing to my name.

I did have a couple of jobs lined up. One at Angel Flight right in the middle of Dallas, flying helicopters for the flight medic service here. And one, surprisingly, with Keene’s brother-in-law, Winston.

The two men had formed a sort of black ops team that handled the rescuing of sex trafficked children.

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