Page 62 of The Grief We Hold

Sue is smiling when she sees me. “I was just about to call you.”

“Did you go somewhere, Mom?” Fen asks, the worry on his little face tugs at my heart.

“Just the launderette. This was the easiest way to carry everything.” I look to Sue. “Sorry I’m late back.”

Sue waves my apology away. “Oh, it’s fine. We literally just got here and knocked. And it’s been so lovely having Fen over. He was such a polite little boy.”

I smile at my son. At least I’m doing one thing right. “That’s good to hear. Good job, bud.”

Fen doesn’t smile.

“Anyway,” Sue says. “I need to go home to make dinner. We’ll see you soon.”

Fen and I wave as she drives away, before Fen turns to me suddenly and throws his arms around my legs. “I thought you’d gone too.”

Tears sting my eyes as I drop to the cold sidewalk, tugging my boy to me. “I’m not going anywhere without you, Fen, I promise.”

20

WRAITH

“Why are we all here so fucking early?” Catfish asks, nursing his mug of coffee like it’s liquid life, two days later.

“Just sit,” Butcher says.

“Morning, cocksuckers,” Smoke says and plants his ass in his chair.

Atom slaps the back of his head as he walks by. “You’ve got no right to be so fucking jolly this morning given what you spent the night doing.”

Smoke grins. “Just making Isla feel better now that Wraith is done with her.”

I flip him the bird. “Don’t give a shit how she feels, just that she got the message.”

Grudge lights a cigarette, then blows a slow and steady stream of smoke into the air. “You make things right with Raven?” he asks.

I’ve thought about how to do that over and over in my head so many times, I’m not sure which way is up. “No.” But I’m gonna work on it.

Butcher saves me from having to say more by slamming the gavel. “Can you fuckers settle down?”

Will comes to the door. “You told me to come?”

Butcher nods. “Sit next to Atom.”

The guy looks confused, so I throw him a bone. “We’re patching you in.”

It was my suggestion. I was looking at the organization structure. We have a lot of older members with full time jobs. We need some fresh blood among the leaders of the club and Will has experience as a construction project manager.

A wide grin almost splits his face in half. “For real?”

“Not if it takes you a day and a half to actually take your seat after I told you to sit down,” Butcher says.

“Shit. Sorry. Yeah.” He hurries to the chair next to Atom and sits. Palms on the table in front of him, he rubs the table like it’s a magic fucking lamp. “So, this is what it feels like?”

There’s a raw emotion to his voice. Like he knows he just got given something incredibly rare and important.

Catfish slaps him on the back. “Welcome to the club,” he says.

There are more cheers of welcome, and Butcher finally slides his cut across the table to Atom, who stands up and holds it out for him to put on. “Welcome to the club, Taco.”

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