Page 297 of The Tempted

I felt her arms wrap around me and I lifted my eyes to hers.

“You going to say goodbye?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, give me a minute?”

She stood on her tip toes and pressed her lips to mine.

“Take two,” she whispered, before leaving me to my privacy.

I remained frozen once I was alone, unable to take those few steps to say goodbye. I suppose it was mainly because I had already said goodbye to Danny all those years ago when he visited me at Ryker’s and bid me farewell.

But still, a part of me wished for one last meeting. One last tackle, one last joke, one last wet willy.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have that encounter again. I don’t know if Danny and I are destined to go to the same place once life is over but one could hope, right?

“See you on the other side, brother,” I said.

Just one last encounter.

“Jack?”

I turned around, startled by the voice and looked back at Connie.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but Rob has to go back to work, and I wanted to give this to you before I left,” she explained, holding up a white envelope.

“What is it?” I asked, taking what she offered and turning it over to see it was sealed.

“When you went away Danny paid me a visit,” she began, pausing a beat. “I don’t know what’s inside. It was sealed when he handed it to me but he told me to give it to you if something should ever happen to him.”

I dropped my gaze to the envelope before taking a deep breath and slipping it into my back pocket.

“Thanks, Connie,” I whispered.

“Welcome,” she replied, before reaching out and giving my shoulder a squeeze. She moved to step around me but stopped in her tracks and lifted her eyes to mine. “I know it wasn’t your fault,” she whispered, her eyes glistening back at mine. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel like it was.”

She dropped her hand from my shoulder and I felt a load lifted from me as she walked away. The grief we shared no longer taunting me.

I turned on my heel and walked down the hill, glancing over to my left, watching as Connie looked back at me and smiled before she climbed into the car and closed the door.

When one door closes, another opens.

I wrapped my arms around Reina’s waist and dragged her back against my chest.

“You ready to get out of here?” I asked huskily against her ear.

“Yes, but we have to stop off at the store first,” she informed me.

“Later,” I growled, taking her earlobe between my teeth and giving it a nip.

“No, fuck that, I’ve waited long enough,” Riggs declared, crossing his arms against his chest. He was hanging out with Bianci too long, even held the same stance as the man. “We had a deal. I help you get the pie goddess back and I get a cherry pie,” he snarled.

“Pie’s going to have to wait,” Pipe said, walking up to us, bringing down the phone he held to his ear as a smile spread across his face.

“You better have a good fucking reason,” Riggs muttered.

Pipe turned his gaze to Riggs.

“Best fucking reason,” he assured him, before glancing back at me. “Blackie’s awake.”

Right there, in the middle of Green-Wood Cemetery, my belief in God was restored.

Thank you, I silently told my real Maker.

Thank God.

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