Page 4 of Hap

“A priest?” I ask, raising my brow.

“I don’t know. I thought maybe we needed a little faith right now.” Star sniffs as she turns into Ghost, her head leaning on his chest as he wraps his arm around her shoulder. He leads her outside, and we all follow, every one of us in black wearing our cuts.

Chairs are arranged in lines outside in front of Bambi’s coffin, with a priest standing at the head of the coffin. I don’t know how they managed to convince a priest to come here, butthat was a question I wasn’t going to ask. We take out seats, and each of the brothers has their ol’ ladies held close to them. Tiny takes a seat beside me, and the chair creaks under his weight. I know he’s struggling with his own guilt. I slap my hand on the back of his neck, patting it a few times before giving it a squeeze.

“Stay strong, brother,” I encourage.

He exhales a breath and shakes his head. “I’m not sure I can do this,” he mutters.

“It ain’t going to be easy, but you’ll get through it,” I assure him.

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t think I can stay with the club,” he adds.

I look at him, raising my brow in question before I look down at the club tattoo on his arm. “You go, that’s it. There is no coming back,” I remind him.

“I know,” he answers solemnly.

“Today we remember, uh...” the priest states, pausing.

“Bambi,” Star informs him.

His brows furrow for a moment before he shrugs and sways a little on his feet before he continues. “We are here to remember Bambi. I can see from the attendance here today that he must have been loved. I’m sure he was an okay guy considering,” he adds with a wobbly smile.

Ghost stands, and the priest immediately stops talking. His face pales as Ghost glares at him to move out of his fucking way. Ghost didn’t give a shit if he was a priest or the fucking pope. In his eyes, we were all headed for hell, so why pretend? He stands there and places his hand on the coffin.

“Bambi, fuck, he was a pain in my ass.” He scoffs out a laugh, and we all release a chuckle. “But he was loyal; he proved himself to be a part of this family, and there is nothing he wouldn’t do for any of us,” Ghost states. He holds up a cut, a patched in cut with Bambi’s name on it. “He would have been patched in if hehadn’t been taken from us.” He lays it across the coffin, placing his palm over it. “Keep riding those roads to hell, brother. Until we meet again, until we fucking ride together again,” Ghost says, patting the patch on his chest, his voice hoarse and cracking with emotion.

“You can’t say that,” the priest stutters beside him. “I’m the priest, and I’m here to do the service for Thumper. No. Simba. Lord.” He sighs. “Bambi!” he shouts with a grin. “I remembered,” he beams. Brothers around me grumble, each of them wanting to slam their fist into this priest’s face. Ghost looks at him and glares as he takes one step towards him. Before he can speak, Star moves in front of him, placing a hand on Ghost’s chest.

“Easy. He’s a priest,” she states, trying to calm him down.

“I don’t care if he’s almighty God himself; he cannot and will not tell me what I can say in my own fucking club, and I will not have this dick disrespect Bambi like that,” Ghost growls.

Star nods, lightly patting his chest. “I know. I know,” she soothes.

“Pfft! May the Lord have mercy on your soul! Evil! You don’t need a funeral; you need an exorcism,” the priest snorts with laughter.

Star whirls around to face the priest this time, her face hard as stone as she points her index finger at him, her perfectly manicured long nail just inches from the end of his nose. “I suggest you shut your fucking mouth right now,” she seethes. The priest clutches his Bible in fear to his chest as he makes the cross motion with his free hand. Star leans in and sniffs. “Are you drunk?!” Star snaps.

The priest winces. “I may have had a little holy wine.”

“Are you even a priest?” Star’s eyes narrow on him.

He swallows anxiously. “I’m David Wenslow, an actor. You may recognise me from various shows on TV. I have just landeda role acting as a priest. I like to do a little bit of method acting before the cameras start rolling.” He grins like he’s proud of himself for fooling us. “I’m not drunk, either. Well, I’m not drunk drunk. Although I did have a few glasses of wine.”

Star’s chest begins to rise and fall rapidly, with her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Shit, this guy is going to end up meeting a fucking demon.

“Darlin, it ain’t worth it.” Ghost tries to pull Star back, but she just shrugs him off. He sighs and looks to the sky.

“Where do you think you are right now?” Star asks through gritted teeth.

“Well, I’m at some biker club. I’m guessing Flounder here had a bike accident and sadly lost his life. It’s a shame.” The guy exhales and tuts, shaking his head back and forth.

“You think this is some fun, friendly club that meets up once or twice a week?” Star asks, looking at him like he’s the biggest moron she’s ever met.

He shrugs. “Yeah, I mean, that is what you are.”

Star smiles. “Can you read this?” she asks, pointing to her cut that all the ol’ladies are wearing today.

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