Page 67 of The Grief We Hold

And I’m shaking.

I place my hands over his, and he entwines our fingers.

“Love the way you feel against me,” he whispers against my ear, like we aren’t in the middle of being attacked.

I turn my head to look over my shoulder at him, and he winks.

Again.

It’s as though I’ve been sucked into a vortex. It should be noisy.

Terrifying.

But it’s as though I’m lying in silence, utterly detached from everything going on around me.

Lips press firmly to the top of my head. A large hand covers my ear, to block the noise, I assume.

And then it’s over.

Like a tornado has blown through, the silence is now overwhelming.

“I’m gonna move us now, okay?” he asks.

But I cling to the arm wrapped over my chest even tighter.

“Let me go, Blue. They’ve gone. I need to get you up off the ground.”

I ease my grip, and Wraith finds a way to his feet. When he offers me his hand, I take it, and the world around me rushes in.

Tanner is radioing for help.

Margie is being held by Floyd as she weeps. Her diner is ruined.

Two customers lie in pools of blood.

And by some miracle, I’m still alive.

Then I turn to face Wraith.

“Oh my God. Sit down,” I gasp when I take in the blood dripping down his arm and the cuts on his face.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Some of the glass got me is all.”

The scent of gunfire hangs heavy in the air.

“I told you it was only a matter of time until someone else in this goddamn town got killed because of you,” Tanner says to Wraith as he places his fingers to the deputy’s pulse, confirming what we all know from the bullet wound to the side of his head. That the man is dead.

“Go help,” Wraith says to me. “I’ll be back.”

I glance up at the clock. “Fen?”

“Catfish,” he says. “Go get Fen from school.”

Catfish jumps over two patrons still on the floor and disappears without a word.

“They’re not going to let Fen leave with a biker. I should?—”

“His sister is the principal. But make the call to the school now to let them know Catfish is grabbing Fen if you need to. His real name is River Haines.”

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