(Lindsey) *NOW*
I HATED CEMETERIES. I hated death. I hated everything about it. But if King wanted to meet me at his brother’s grave, I had to see him. The last week together had been different. It was almost like I had some kind of sickness and he was afraid to be near me. Yet not a day went by that he wasn’t present in some form. There to make sure I was okay. That I was alive. Other than that, it was nothing.
I knew something happened with the Reap.
So I walked through the cemetery, hugging myself, looking for Tito’s grave.
It wasn’t all that hard to find.
Not with King standing there with his arms crossed, looking a second away from killing someone.
I walked between the gravestones, keeping on a narrow path, telling myself that if I stayed there I wouldn’t be stepping on any dead bodies. It was childish, but when you grew up like I did, all this shit freaked you out bad.
“I’m here,” I said to King.
“If I was gone for forever, could you make it without me?”
“What?”
“You heard the question,” King said. “It’s simple.”
“Simple? Nothing about you or me is simple.”
King pointed to the headstone. “This is what is left of my brother. A guy that I worshipped. Because he was the only one around. I know the truth of everything, Linds. The Reap went after Tito. The guys in charge of Tito fucked over the Reap and took Tito out. The guy I shot? It wasn’t my bullet that killed him. I have all the information.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I just set up a meeting with Anderson and the Reap. I don’t know what the hell is going to happen. Anderson is going to try and arrest me again. Just to play it off because he thinks he’s taking down the Reap. Uncle Jakey has something planned but won’t tell anyone. We just have to be there.”
“Why are you telling me this? And why here?”
King stepped forward. He reached for me, touching my hand. My chin started to shiver. I was freaked out in the cemetery and even more freaked out by King’s sudden desire to be open about his club’s business.
“I’m telling you all of this because I love you. Because I know what it all means to you. You want to be in on my life, sweetie, this is it. I’m not a murderer. I don’t belong in prison or on death row. But that’s where I’m going to end up if anything goes wrong here. Why are we here? So you could see me walking away from my brother for the last time. He was the most important person in my life. But the more I look back and think back, he never really did much. He was afraid of everything. The coolest guy I knew but yet he was terrified of his own fucking shadow. He ended up hitting the streets, becoming a lowlife dealer, an even lower junkie, and then he wound up killed. That’s not my life. Not the life I want. So I want you to know something, Linds. If this goes south in any way at all, I need you to move on. I need you to find someone. You deserve happiness. You deserve a good life. You deserve to be loved and feel loved.”
Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t remember ever seeing King this raw before.
I reached for his face, blinking fast.
“King… you’re the only one,” I whispered. “That’s how it’s always been for us.”
“I don’t want that for you.”
“It’s my destiny,” I said. “To forever love you. To forever want you. To forever need you in my life.”
King slipped a hand around to my back and pulled me close. “I don’t know if you’re stupid or crazy, Linds. This could destroy the Reap. This could destroy me.”
“I’ll be waiting for you,” I said.
King pointed to Tito’s grave. “And if I end up there?”
“Then we’ll come visit you every chance we get. And I’ll make sure your story is known. My King. A man who loved me with every ounce of his heart and soul. A man that took care of me in a way that will carry for the rest of our lives.”
“What are you talking about… we’ll come? Who is the we?”
I couldn’t help but smile.
A cemetery wasn’t the right place for what I had to say.
But I had no choice.
Our lives were forever changed… again.
34
(Lindsey)
*AN HOUR AGO*
“YOU’RE HIDING something from me.” Aunt Jane pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. “I know that look.”
“What look?” I asked with a smile.
“That look,” she said. “I remember you many times sitting across the table from me with news. When you were failing classes. When you wanted to go on birth control.”
I laughed. “Well… funny you bring that up.”
“What?”
I reached into my bag and grabbed the four pregnancy tests. They were all positive. Easily positive. Four different brands. Four positive tests.
I slid them all across the table at Aunt Jane.
She looked at the tests and then looked at me. “Wait… are you… no.”
She grabbed one of the tests and jumped up. Her chair fell over and crashed to the floor.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked.