Page 60 of Diamond in the Rough

The service carried on, and Jake couldn’t stop glancing back throughout. Sam gripped Jake’s knee and flicked his eyes forwards, trying to get Jake to concentrate, but he couldn’t. The late arrivals smiled and snorted loud enough to disrupt the service.

The vicar paused. “Is there something you’d like to share?”

Billy shook his head. “Sorry, I’m just thinking about Carl, the fun times we had.”

“Perhaps you’d like to tell us all,” the vicar said, gesturing to the front.

“No, it’s a bit inappropriate. I don’t think Carl would appreciate it.”

“Kindly be quiet then.”

Billy made a zipped-mouth gesture across his lips.

As soon as the service concluded, Billy strolled forward and introduced himself to Emma. Jake hovered, pretending to admire the flowers while trying to listen.

“Did Carl not mention me?” Billy smirked and lifted his eyebrow.

Emma frowned, then shook her head. “I hadn’t spoken to my brother in years.”

“Oh, really? We were good friends. Such sad news. What is this world coming to?”

“You weren’t friends,” Jake snapped.

Billy turned to Jake and looked him up and down. There was nothing there, no hint that he knew who Jake was or cared. “I assure you, we were. I was probably the last one to speak to him…”

“You sick fuck.”

Sam came out of nowhere and dragged Jake away. “None of that here.”

He could’ve easily shrugged Sam off but didn’t want to make a scene.

Sam kept a tight hold of Jake all the way to the car park. “You levelheaded now?”

“Yes,” Jake said.

“They’re taking Carl to the crematorium. Where’s Rachel?”

She rushed towards them with tears in her eyes. They weren’t the despair tears that had dropped down her cheeks for the past hour but were angry.

She screwed her face up and bared her teeth. “I don’t like that evil bitch.”

Sam huffed at the sky. “You as well, you can’t talk like that here.”

“What did she do?” Jake asked.

“Singing ‘Burn baby burn’ under her breath.”

Jake gritted his teeth, and the same anger burning in Rachel’s eyes no doubt began to burn in his. “She what?”

“Look, both of you,” Sam started, “I have no idea who those two are—”

“They were smirking and laughing through the whole service,” Rachel spat.

“Grief affects people differently,” Sam reasoned. “Nervous laughter, perhaps.”

“They don’t care, Sam, they think it’s funny.”

Jake looked over to Billy and the blond woman. He leaned in close, whispered something into her ear, and she burst out laughing.

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