Chapter 18 #2
“You didn’t ruin anything.” Her voice was warm. “My name’s Nessie. This is my husband, Jax, and our son, Oliver.” She squeezed Rainey’s hand. “We’re so glad you’re here and safe.”
Rainey opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Thankfully, Nessie saved her from imitating a fish again by adding, “You’re River’s sister, so you’re as good a family as far as I’m concerned. He was so worried about you.”
“River has a zombie sister?” The boy, Oliver, looked at her like he was simultaneously impressed and grossed out by the blood all over her.
She had a brief, dizzy memory of River at that age, watching their dad gut a salmon in the old kitchen sink and asking, “Does it hurt?” and their dad pointing the knife at him and asking, “Want to find out?”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and Nessie wrapped an arm around her.
“Oh,no.” Rainey tried to push her away. “Your dress—”
“Can be washed.” She guided Rainey toward the big house with the warm yellow light spilling from the windows. “Let’s go wash off some of that war paint, okay?”
She dug in her heels. “But… what about Evander?”
“He’s in good hands with Bear, but if it’ll make you feel better, Jax can go check on him.” She turned to her husband. “And find something to keep Oliver and Tate occupied while we deal with this. No zombie movies.”
“Ughhh,” Oliver said, sounding more like a disgruntled teenager than a little boy. “You’re no fun!”
Jax kissed his wife’s temple, shifted Oliver higher on his shoulders, and jogged toward the house with the boy already asking questions about zombies and stab wounds in the same breath.
Nessie kept her arm around Rainey’s shoulders and steered her across the lawn like she’d done it a hundred times, like blood-streaked strangers showed up at her wedding reception every day.
“Let’s get you cleaned up. You need clothes that aren’t—” She gestured at Rainey’s borrowed shirt, torn at the collar, stiff with dirt and blood.
A second woman joined them. Slender, graceful, with dark red hair swept into a sleek twist and a pale green dress that fit her like the silk had been poured onto her.
“Mariah, this is Rainey,” Nessie said. “She needs some clothes and she’s about your height. Do you have anything she can wear?”
Mariah gave her and up-down scan and said, “Give me two minutes.” Then she was gone, moving through the crowd of strangers with her head up.
From the focused look on her face, Rainey figured this wasn’t the only mess she’d managed today.
She paused only briefly to talk to a little boy with brown skin, a face full of freckles, and wild copper curls.
The boy looked in Rainey’s direction, then in the direction Jax and Oliver and disappeared in.
After a beat of hesitation, he followed them.
“That’s Tate,” Nessie said, keeping up a running commentary as she led Rainey’s toward the house. “He’s Mariah’s son and Oliver’s best friend. They’re going into second grade together this fall. Same class. To hear Oliver tell it, it will be the BEST YEAR EVER.”
Rainey nodded like she was following, though half the words slid past her without landing.
Behind them, River hovered. Every time she checked, he was there, just out of reach, and it grated on her nerves more than the pain in her ribs. She wanted him to leave. She wanted him to stay. She wanted…
God, she didn’t know anymore.
A third woman appeared at River’s elbow. Pretty, blonde hair, a warm smile like she’d never met a stranger. “Hi, Rainey. I’m so relieved you’re okay.”
Rainey stared at her blankly. Was she supposed to know this woman? “Thank… you?”
“Oh,” the woman said with a small laugh. “Sorry. I’ve heard so much about you I feel like I know you. I’m Gemma. River’s girlfriend.”
That stopped Rainey short and she glanced back at her brother. “You have a girlfriend?”
“Uh, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck just like he always had when he got caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to when they were kids. “I know. Surprised me, too. Figured I’d be a bachelor the rest of my life, but…”
Gemma hooked an arm through his and he smiled down at her. “Then I met her.”
They looked good together.
Happy.
She’d never imagined her brother whole. Not after the kind of childhood they’d had; not after the years apart and his time in prison.
Good. He deserves it.
She meant that.
She truly did.
But it didn’t stop the small, ugly twist in her chest at the sight of them—River’s arm loose around Gemma’s waist, easy in a way she’d never seen him easy with anyone, not even her.
He’d built this. A woman. A place. People who considered him family.
And all she had was a busted guitar, a failing music career, and a motorcycle club who wanted her dead.
“I’m glad you found somebody, Riv.” Even though she meant it, her voice still came out strained, and River’s smile faded. He looked like a kick puppy, but she didn’t have the energy to deal with it right now.
She turned away before he could say anything else and let Nessie lead her toward the porch. Behind her, Gemma murmured something to River that she couldn’t catch, and then his footsteps followed anyway, a few paces back, not taking the hint.
The porch steps rose up out of the dark, warm light spilling from the windows above, and they suddenly looked insurmountable.
She only made it up a few before her knees gave out the way Evander’s had.
She sat down hard on the top step. Tilly muscled between the people hovering over her and pushed in close.
Her massive block head dropped onto Rainey’s knee, and the weight of it anchored her.
“Are you okay?” River asked worriedly, taking a step forward before Gemma pulled him back.
“Give her air, Riv.”
Rainey sank a hand into the loose folds of skin at Tilly’s neck and held on.
The dog leaned into it, solid as a fence post, and for a moment Rainey just breathed—in through the cedar and crushed grass and somewhere the sugar-smell of a cake nobody would cut tonight, out slow.
The string lights swam a little at the edges. She let them.
Around her, the yard thinned. Nessie said something low to Mariah, and the two of them drifted into the house, giving her room without making a show of it.
Gemma got a hand on River’s arm and steered him back a few steps, murmuring, and this time he went, though Rainey still felt him hovering close by.
Then it was mostly quiet. The party sounds had died to the hush of a place cleaning up after itself—chairs folding, a truck door, boots crossing gravel somewhere out past the barn.
A shadow fell across the steps.