I didn’t see one lasting long without the other—especially knowing the other had died so brutally.
Verity’s hand on my knee, circling it with one blunt fingertip, brought me back to the present, and I buried my fingers in her hair, wishing this thing would be over with already.
But it didn’t happen fast.
It was the slowest funeral I’d ever been to, and I didn’t know if that was due to the fact that there were actually two funerals happening at once, or if the people that spoke were just talking for irrationally long times.
Whatever the reason, by the time it all ended over an hour and ten minutes later, I was practically jumping out of my skin.
My body itched in this brand new, long sleeved dress shirt. I had a suit jacket on that restricted my movement, and the pair of pants I was wearing were one size too small.
Verity’s presence, though, kept me comfortable, and she stayed with me the entire time.
By the time the funeral coordinator gestured for the family to leave, I was already on my feet and urging Verity to walk quickly—which she thankfully did after she got out of the pew.
My brother and sister followed suit, keeping up with my retreating back, and piled into the same car as me.
“Mom’s going to kill us,” Trent muttered, looking at the crowd that started to seep out of the auditorium’s doors.
“Mom can suck it,” I mumbled, leaning back into the seat and staring tiredly at the roof. Remembering my manners, though, I leaned forward and took Verity’s hand. “Verity, this is my brother, Trent, and my sister, Marnie.”
Marnie waved her fingers, and Trent gave her a nod.
“This is the girl that you were talking about?” Trent asked after a while.
I nodded and brought Verity’s hand up to rest on my thigh as I stretched my own arm out behind her on the seat.
Bikes started up around the car we were in, and I relaxed even further.
“Are you going to be all right?” Verity asked softly. “You don’t look too good.”
“Big brother here doesn’t like crowds,” Marnie offered. “It took everything he had to be in that building with all of those people. That was thanks to our Aunt Eloise and our mom, though. If we’d have had our way, we would’ve had a wake like Pop and Grams wanted, instead of going through all this.”
Verity blinked, then opened her mouth to say something.
However, nothing came out.
Instead she just shook her head and gestured to the bikes.
“What’s up with the biker brigade?” she continued to ask questions.
“They’re my club,” I answered. “They’re here for moral support.”
Her mouth lifted up into a smile.
“Well, they’re doing a damn fine job keeping everyone away from you.”
I looked out the same window that Verity was, my mouth twitching when I saw the crowd heading our way.
However, Big Papa and Aaron were holding them off with a scowl covering their faces.
“You’re lucky they’re here, big brother.” Marnie whispered.
I was.
I was also lucky Verity was here.
I wouldn’t have been able to get through the last hour and a half without her soothing touch calming me down.
Making me see reason.
That was until Kenneth shoved his way between Big Papa and Aaron, making his way to the car.
Aaron gave the stupid man an annoyed look, but let him by when I waved him away.
“Here we go,” Trent mumbled.
Verity turned her face into my arm, and I became irrationally annoyed at the fact that that man had the nerve to say a goddamned word to me, or even approach the same vehicle that I was in.
“What do you want?” I asked, rolling the window down just far enough to hear him and he could hear me.
“I wanted to make sure that Verity was…”
Verity’s head popped up, and she glared. “I’m fine. Or I would have been had you left me alone. I’m here to offer Truth support on one of the hardest days of his life. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to please leave.”
I laughed and rolled the window up. Apparently, she didn’t need me to fight her battles for her.
“I sense a story…” Marnie murmured. “And since we’re stuck here until the cars move, why don’t y’all tell us the story of how you met.”
Verity’s smile wasn’t forced any longer.
“As long as Truth has no problem with me telling it…”
I shifted my fingers back into her hair, leaned my head back, and urged her on with a wave of my hand.
“After you.”
***
Two hours later, my mother, father, sister and her good friend who’d driven down with her, as well as my brother, Verity, and I sat around the table, eating in silence.
Though, the rest of the men and women at the table, including the members of my club and their women, filled the silence around us—making the awkwardness of the past four days all but disappear.
Verity and I were at the end, and she was leaning into me as she listened to something Sean was telling the rest of the table.
My mother and father, finally deciding to join society, were listening to him talk about some patient he had, and I was thankful to finally have their attention off of me.
“What’s going on with your parents?” she asked.
That was something I did not want to answer.
I hadn’t spoken to my parents in over four years, and it wasn’t because of lack of trying on my part.
It was due to the fact that they didn’t like my life choices and had no problem letting me know it.
My brother and sister had been fairly neutral about the way I lived my life, but ultimately, they stayed out of it—which meant that they didn’t choose sides, and saw all of us, just separately.
“My parents are upset that I chose to throw my life away to do a job that they didn’t approve of,” I finally settled on.
When I didn’t expound, she chose not to pursue the topic, likely fearing I’d freak out and leave just like I’d done the last time we were together.
“I quit my job yesterday,” she said into the silence. “I had a bad day, and my boss made a derogatory comment about a photo that’s floating around the Internet of us…and I just snapped.”
My stomach clenched. “I saw the photo,” I murmured. “And I wasn’t very happy about it.”
She sighed.
“It’s life,” she finally settled on. “That’s not to say that I wasn’t extremely upset about it when I saw it.”
I should really tell her that I found the guy who’d started the cruel photo circulating, but I didn’t want to admit that I was the guy who caused the little shit-for-brains to be put into the hospital.
Instead, I blurted out what was on my mind, like usual.
“You wouldn’t be willing to run a business, would you?” I teased her jokingly.
Her eyes widened.
“I would…if you needed me to. I’ve done it for years with my mom, and I’ve been in customer service for eight years now,” she surprised me. “What would you need me to do?”