Page 145 of Stone

I nodded. “We’re busy, and it turns a good profit.”

“Clubs growing, too,” he stated. “What you up to now?”

“Sixty.” I grinned. “Good men, vets, and hard workers. I think it’s why we do so well. We gotta good team who aren’t afraid to get stuck into a job and can problem solve along the way.”

“It worked out well for you,” he murmured. “Except for…” His voice trailed off.

“Don’t, Ste.” My eyes met his, and I knew they were troubled. “It doesn’t get easier. If anything, the more time passes, the more I ache.”

He looked off into space. “Your dad always said that Stone men love hard, fast, and forever. He was right.”

I stared at my beer bottle unseeingly. “Thing is, bud. I gotta good woman in that clubhouse. She’s been nothing but loyal. A good wife and a good mother. I’d never hurt her, never leave her, and never abandon her, but I also want her to find something real. She’s lived with half a man these past ten years and never stopped smiling, regardless. Sometimes, I think about the past and what could’ve been, and I know she knows. She just smiles, pats my hand, and says, ‘One day, John.’ Adele deserves more than me, Steve. She always did.”

“Maybe she’s right,” Ste suggested. “You never know what could happen in years to come.”

I grinned as I watched Xander do a cannonball into the pool, splashing water everywhere like the fearless little shit he was. Then my eyes veered to Kit playing with his GI Joe’s by the poolside, happy as a pig in shit. Lastly, my gaze settled on Gage, who’d taken Layla by the hand again and was in the process of pointing the flowers out to her, teaching her their names. “I couldn’t lose them. Not for anyone.”

“I get it, John.” Stevie turned, clocked Layla and Gage, and raised an eyebrow. “Hope nothing’s developin’ there. Your boys are little heartbreakers already. Don’t want my Layla caught in the crossfire.” His lips thinned.

I busted out laughing. “Don’t worry, bud. With them big, silver-grey, doe eyes, it’ll be Gage getting caught. Mark my words.”

And never was a truer word spoken in jest.

I brought my bike to a halt, my stare falling on a lone figure gazing down at the grave. I knew it was her. There was nothing about Elise Bell I ever forgot, not even the way she damned well held herself. Thought about her often, like hourly. The longing never went away.

Age brought even more beauty to her features, though honestly, to me, she still looked the same as she did when she was eighteen. Maybe I saw her through the eyes of a man still deeply in love, and my mind kept seeing her as she was back then.

If only she wasn’t so thin.

Placing my helmet on the handlebars, I dismounted.

Elise either heard the bike or sensed me because she craned her neck and beamed from over her shoulder. The low winter sun caught her hair until it shone like spun gold, and my breath hitched in my throat at the pure beauty before me.

My Leesy.

My Duchess.

Always.

“He wouldn’t want you standing there, in the cold, crying over him,” I called over on my approach.

“Yeah, he would,” she bandied back. “He’d love all this attention.”

I laughed, deep and throaty, coming to a stop next to her. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

She glanced at me, and my heart clenched at the sight of her tear-stained cheeks. She was even a beautiful crier. Go figure.

“I think what gets to me the most is that Layla will never know him,” Elise whispered. “Her dad. The sweetest, kindest, funniest man in the world won’t be able to give everything he is to her. She’ll never know.”

“We’ll tell her,” I said softly. “We’ll remember him to her, and we’ll make sure she knows how much her daddy was loved.”

“It’s true what they say,” she whispered. “Only the good die young,”

“You’re right.” I laughed. “Seein’ as Bandit’s still goin’ strong.”

She shrugged. “That old coot will outlive us all.”

We stared in silence at Stevie’s fresh grave, remembering his smile, his jokes, his laughter, his advice, and his unwavering support. My bud never took sides with us. I was his best friend, but he never abandoned Elise. He loved her like a sister, and I was happy she got that from him, especially these past few years.

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