A Boy I Used to Love(77)

"You both know I made the right decision back then," William said. "If we stayed there and you two were left to run wild, it would have been a mess."

"I guess we'll never know," I said. "The past is gone, William. All we have is the future. And I'm pretty certain of my future."

"A life of struggling for everything," William said.

"I'll be waiting, Lacey," I said, ignoring William. "Take your time. No rush, darlin'."



       
         
       
        

I had one foot out the door when Lacey spoke.

"River, I'll be right there," she said.

"Lacey," her father said. "Let me talk to you some more. We can figure this out. I'll write you a new check. Right now. And I'll close my eyes to River. It won't matter what you do with it."

"No," she said. "You can't buy me. I don't even know if I'll miss my mother. You two took a lot from me. And you're rich enough to find me if you need to talk to me again. Do yourself a favor and pick up the phone yourself. Don't have the hired help call."

I held my hand out and Lacey took it.

It felt right.

I looked at her, almost in disbelief. She turned down a lot of money to be with me.

A poor, illegal fighter, criminal-turned-tattoo-artist.

I walked through a house that was worth well into seven figures. I knew William had much more than that in his bank account.

But I was the one who was rich.

Because I held Lacey's hand.

But life has a funny way of turning on a dime …  breaking you right back down to size.



There must have been something in the air. I was finishing up yet another animal tattoo. This time it was a picture of a kitten on a woman's shoulder. Her name was Mary. She said the story was personal and I left it at that. She was a beautiful woman, too. Slender shoulders with a long arms and fingers. She listened to music, talked very little, and offered me a large gratuity for getting her on my schedule basically last minute. She literally walked in and begged for a tattoo. I was about to head out and meet up with Lacey for something to eat when Tate asked me to hang back and help.

I didn't mind helping.

There was a part of me that wondered what was really going through Lacey's head after the debacle with her parents. It was sad that her mother died so suddenly, but Lacey promised me that it didn't really bother her. It just angered her that because of her parents being such snobs, if there was a time when me and Lacey had kids, they wouldn't have grandparents. There was something about the family dynamic that seemed so fucked up now and it left me feeling like I would have to change that someday.

Someday, River. Not today.

I walked Mary to the door and returned to find Prick standing in my doorway.

"Meow," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Get it out of your system."

"What?"

"That cat thing. I tattooed a pretty woman. She got a cat. I'm sure there's some pussy joke hidden in there somewhere."

"Hey, you brought up the word pussy, not me," Prick said.

He let out a little snicker. 

"What do you want, Prick?" I asked.

"Want to help me with my next piercing?" he asked. "Woman is coming in and she has some huge fucking ti-"

"Jesus Christ," a voice boomed down the hall.

I hurried and opened a door to find Tate standing with his hand on his head and a cell phone to his ear. His eyes were wide in shock.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Shit, brother. No. Fuck. I'll shut it all down right now … "

Tate looked at me. He looked ready to cry.

"Okay, brother. You hold tight. You just …  fuck … "

Tate took the phone away from his ear and threw it to Prick. Prick juggled the phone and then put it to his ear.

"Hello? Axel? What's … "

I looked at Tate.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Axel's mother died."





Lacey





PRESENT DAY





The scene always played out the same way. Always. But this time …  I felt like the air had been ripped from my chest. An ambulance waited in the narrow driveway, along with a couple other vehicles. I climbed out of the car as Andrea walked Ava out of the house. Ava clutched tight to her, almost unable to walk.

I hurried to Ava and threw my arms around her, letting her cry.

She collapsed into me and wept uncontrollably.

Andrea mouthed to me, she was here.

Meaning Ava had been present when Bethany took her last breath in the world. I looked around, looking for Axel, but I didn't see him yet.

I rubbed Ava's back. I spoke no words because when grief was raw, words were nothing but a waste of good breath. It was better to wait for her to speak.