Page 103 of Blade

“Beck.” I heard Rachel call out to me, and while I was mad at her too, I needed my friend right now more than I needed my anger. Rachel pulled me from the sheriff, leading me over to sit on the couch.

“Honey, the girls and I are staying with you tonight. Tomorrow we can work out all the details, ok?” I nodded, letting her know she could stay.

“Becca, I need to know you’re ok.” I glared up at Micah.

“Sheriff O’Rourke, can I have someone arrested for trespassing if I have told them they can’t stay and they refuse to leave?” I asked, never taking my eyes from Micah.

“Come on, Blade, she doesn’t want you here right now. I don’t know what you did to piss her off, but she’s going through enough right now.” The sheriff attempted to lead Micah from the room.

“I’m not fucking leaving her!” he bellowed, yanking his arm out of the sheriff’s grasp.

“King, get your boy under control before I put him in a cell for the night.”

King grabbed Micah by the back of the neck, putting their foreheads together, and whispered to him. Whatever he said must have been enough because Micah looked my way again, and then walked out the door.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. This is temporary,” King warned and then kneeled before me, placing his hands on my knees. “I won’t make excuses for him, but you need to hear him out at some point. Right now, let’s get through this. We will all miss Willow. She was family. You are family. Family doesn’t walk away when things get hard.”

Standing up, he looked at me once more, then turned and walked outside. Another brother in the club I hadn’t officially met walked up. He sat on the coffee table in front of me and introduced himself.

“Beck, I’m Anthony Gallagher, my road name is Matlock. The club’s lawyer.”

I said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

“I was also your grandmother’s lawyer. She planned everything out. I have a list of people to contact, including your mother. Willow didn’t want you to have to do that.”

Another tear ran down my face, thinking about Grams taking care of me and running interference even in her death.

“The club will take care of everything, and after the funeral, we can go over the will. You, your mother, King, and Blade, are the beneficiaries.”

I guess that answered my question as to whether or not she knew. Now I’ll never get to ask her why she chose not to tell me.

“Thank you, Matlock. When should we have the funeral?”

“Once the coroner releases the body, I will make all the arrangements. He will probably do that tomorrow and things will move pretty quickly after that. The funeral could be as early as Wednesday or Thursday.”

“Let’s do Friday. She always loved the weekend. Friday was her favorite day of the week,” I said, thinking about how Grams would always wake up extra early on Fridays because she said she wanted to start the weekend as soon as possible.

“Ok, once the arrangements are complete, I’ll contact you.” He stood, heading for the door.

“Matlock?”

He paused and looked back, this time waiting for me to continue.

“Could you hold off contacting my mother until Wednesday or Thursday? I don’t need her here too early.”

“Of course,” he replied with a bow of his head, then walked out the door.

I hadn’t noticed everyone had left until it was just Rachel, Lily, Grace, and me. They had slipped in during the chaos.

I was glad they were here.

“I’m so sorry, Beck. Willow was one of a kind. We will all miss her so much,” Grace said, sitting down on the other side of me.

“I can’t believe she’s gone. When she called me to come home and help, I thought she just wanted me to come home. I didn’t think she really needed the help.”

“Let’s order some food and drink to Willow,” Lily suggested.

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