Page 132 of Coup De Grâce
CASH
“It tookthem long enough to release his body,” Red said as we stood in front of the casket at the cemetery.
“Yeah,” I cleared my throat. “Um…they had to do some further testing.”
“On what?” Eli asked, coming to stand on my other side.
I stared at the casket, trying to hold back the laughter. “They found a suspicious yellow substance coating his body. They weren’t willing to release his remains until they could identify it.”
“And you didn’t tell them?” Red asked.
I shrugged, “Fox wouldn’t have wanted me to.”
“Christ, they might have released his body days ago.”
But then, days ago, I would have had to say goodbye, and I wasn’t quite ready to do that. Thunder crackled in the distance and rain started dripping from the sky. I chuckled as the words filtered through my mind like a record that Fox would play nonstop whenever it started to rain.
“Anyone want to take the lead?” Scottie asked, smirking as he saw my foot tapping.
“You were the one who danced with him. It should be you.”
“I didn’t dance with him. It was dance fighting. It was a thing, and we killed a lot of baddies that way.”
“Sure,” I grinned. “You tell yourself whatever you have to.”
Scottie flipped me off as the rain started coming harder. ThenSinging In The Rainstarted playing from someone’s phone.
“How fucking poetic,” Rae laughed, snaking her arm through her husband’s.
I glanced up at the sky and let the rain pour down over my face. It was so fucking odd because it was like he was right here beside me. Nothing about this was right, but it was like Fox was telling us he was still here and we would be fine.
“You doing okay, boss?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Feels weird to be home, right?”
It did. Nothing would ever be the same again. “I’m thinking of asking Lock to take the reins for another month.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m taking my family on vacation. Somewhere warm.”
Dash’s eyes lit up. “Hey, you know, that’s a great idea. We could head back to Utah.”
“Actually—”
“Hey, guys! We’re going on a company road trip! Utah, baby!”
“That’s not—” I tried to interrupt, but FNG cut me off.
“I call shotgun!”
“I am not going anywhere with you,” Thumper snapped. “The last time I went to Utah with you, I nearly ended up dead!”
“That was not my fault. Obviously, you’re forgetting that it was your wife who got us into that mess.”
Thumper snarled at him. “Andclearly, you’re forgetting that the whole trip was fucked up the moment you and Dash started following me everywhere.”
