Page 44

Jogging down the stairs, I look and see Trig and Sweep sitting at the bar. It’s early, but we still have the same drunks we always do.

Don’t matter the time for an alcoholic. It could be ten a.m. or ten p.m. A drink is needed either way for them.

“Boys,” I say to Sweep and Trig, rubbing my hands together. “We’re going to church. It’s been a while.”

They both look at each other.

“Come on,” I say. “It’s time we go confess some of our sins.”

“They’ll throw us out, Bones,” Trig says.

Sweep flicks his Zippo and chuckles and the motherfucker never does that. He hardly even smiles.

“Let’s go anyway. Mae, get me a cup of coffee, would you?” I ask as Trig and Sweep stand up. “Ma will be glad to see us there.”

“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Trig asks.

I smirk. “I’m in a good mood. Don’t kill it.” I grab the coffee mug. “Hurry. We’ll be late.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bexley

One month three days missing

“Was Samuel good to you?” Danny asks. We’re still standing side by side. The fire is still burning in the stove, filling the room with warmth and a smoky scent.

“Yes, he was.” Samuel was always good to me. Was I good to him? No. I loved him, I did, but he didn’t have all of me like I had all of him, and that wasn’t fair.

But I’m learning life isn’t fair. You get what you get sometimes even if you deserve better.

“I never doubted he would. As much as I hated you two being together, I did know he’d treat you well.”

“Why ask then?” I say.

“It’s never a bad idea to get confirmation.”

“I get that. We did have our problems, though.”

“I remember,” he says.

I narrow my eyes. “You remember what?”

“That time we all met up at church.”

“Oh, right. You mean that time you were nosy?”

He smirks. “You two weren’t doing a good job of hiding anything.”

“No, I don’t guess we were.”

“What were you fighting about?”

“Babies,” I reply.

He frowns.

“He’d just found out that I wasn’t honest with him. I still feel bad about that.”