Page 38 of Blade

Tears ran down my cheeks as Ryder wrapped me in his arms.

“I can’t, Ry, I’m not ready. I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.” Crying into his chest, I begged him, “Please don’t make me do this.”

“Ok, Beck, ok. Let’s head back. You can’t ignore it forever, but for today, this is as far as we’ll go.”

With his arm around me, we headed back out of the cemetery.

Once we got to the parking lot, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle. I looked up and saw a lone rider. He was too far away to see who it was, but I had my suspicions.

As he drove away, I heard Ryder mutter, “Asshole.”

I guessed Ryder suspected the same as I did.

“Let’s head back, get the girls and go get some pizza?”

I looked up at my friend and nodded. “Yea.”

Chapter Ten

Blade

Fucking Ryder.

What the hell was he doing taking her to the cemetery? Now that I knew he knew I wasn’t there, I couldn’t help but wonder what game he was playing? Despite being pissed at Ryder, I couldn’t help but speculate what happened at the cemetery.

I didn’t think they’d made it to my grave. They weren’t in there long enough.

I wasn’t there for my funeral. I didn’t know how many people had attended, who they were, or how they felt.

Visiting my grave was something I did right after I came back. That was a trip. Seeing my name with my birth and death listed below was surreal. Standing in the cemetery in the town where everyone thought I died had a way of making me feel my mortality.

When the club set up here in Diamond Creek, I had come to terms with my previous life. I made peace with my past and to do that I went to see my grave.

My empty grave.

Grams, Rachel, and Ryder told me that Beck didn’t handle my death well. That’s it. She didn’t handle it well.

What the fuck did that mean?

Did she cry?

Did she throw herself on the casket?

Was she even there?

Did she still mourn me?

Was I really an asshole for wanting to know how my best friend reacted to my death? Talk about ego. What made it worse was that I wasn’t actually dead, and she didn’t know.

I’d been following her for days since she left the diner.

I couldn’t help it. I kept telling myself I was protecting her. Really, I wanted to know what she was doing, who she was seeing.

She didn’t know I was following her.

Until today.

Today I let her know I was watching.

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