Scott pushed out a long, tired breath.  “Yeah, brother, I’m not sorry you did, either.  And we’ll get through this shit like we always do.”

Brother.

It was still there.

“I spoke to Harlow this morning.”

He stared at me for a long moment.  “She told you?”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  Sorry, man.  I get the impression she’s not coping well with the loss.”

He raked a hand through his hair.  “No, she’s not, and as much as I try to figure it all out, she keeps pushing me away.  She won’t open up to me and let me help her.”

“Maybe this isn’t something you can figure out.  Perhaps it’s something you just have to live through while making sure you’re there for each other.”

“Yeah,” he murmured.

“Jesus, Scott.  Sorry, man,” Griff said.

I didn’t say anything, but rather simply watched him and took in everything I figured he must be feeling.  Losing a child would be hard enough, but for the woman you loved to shut down on you at the same time would make it even harder.

Sensing Scott’s reluctance to talk about this any further, I changed the subject.  “What’s the plan with the club now?”

“I’ve called Church for this afternoon and we’ll vote in a new President,” Griff said.

“Scott?” I asked.

Griff glanced at Scott and then back at me.  “That was always the plan, but due to the way shit went down, fuck knows if he’ll get the votes needed.”

“J and Nash are doing the rounds, working out where everyone stands,” Scott said.

“Okay, keep me updated.  I’ll call Merrick now and organise manpower for you.”

Griff nodded.  “Thanks, man.  Appreciate it.”

As I left, I realised that although I’d fucked with their plan, Scott hadn’t shut down on me.  If anything, Marcus’s death was bringing us together in ways I’d never seen coming.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Layla

“Are you okay?” I asked Sharon.  She looked exhausted and already had dark circles under her eyes.

She wiped the counter and looked at me.  “I honestly don’t know, Layla.  I killed my husband yesterday so I’m not sure how a wife is supposed to feel after that.”

“You didn’t kill him,” I reminded her.

“I might as well have.”  She stopped cleaning and sighed.  “I don’t know what came over me when I got the gun.  All the hurt and humiliation came at me, and I couldn’t stand it any longer . . . ”  Her voice cracked and although no tears fell, I knew that if she were a weaker woman, she’d be bawling by now.  Sharon Cole was keeping her shit together, but only just.

I had been going to ask her if she wanted time off, but my gut feeling was she didn’t, so I’d put her to work.  We’d had a quiet afternoon so we’d spent it cleaning the bar.  It had just turned six o’clock and the after-work rush was beginning to trickle in.

Jess had just had her break and wandered back in.  “Have you heard from Donovan today?” she asked.

“He phoned earlier to check on us and said he’d be busy all day so I’m not expecting him until late.”

“That’s a good man you’ve got there,” Sharon said.  “Hold onto him tight and don’t let go.”

I smiled.  She was damn right I had a good man.

“Go and take your break, babe.  Jess and I will manage while you’re gone.”

“Thanks, I won’t be long,” she said, leaving us to it.

A customer distracted me and when I’d finished serving him, Jess asked, “Is Sharon really okay?  She’s putting on a brave face, but her husband just died so I’m wondering how she’s managing that?”

Jess didn’t know the full story, and Donovan had given Sharon and me strict instructions not to share the truth with anyone.  I knew he’d done this for more reasons than to cover himself.  He’d vaguely mentioned something about the motorcycle club being at risk if the truth came out, and I knew he never exaggerated anything, so I kept tight-lipped.

“Sharon’s a tough woman, Jess.  She could be breaking on the inside and I doubt she’d ever show the world.  I’m just gonna go with the flow with her and take it as it comes.”

“I can see that about her, but if she does crack and can’t come into work, I’m happy to pull extra shifts to cover her.  I just wanted you to know that.”

I smiled at her.  “So you do love me,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes before grinning at me.  “Don’t let it go to your head.  I’m doing it more for me than you because you can be a bitch if you have to work too much.”

I laughed.  “Yeah, yeah, that’s just your excuse to cover your real reason.”

She shook her head at me and turned to take care of the customers who had just arrived.  I helped serve them and couldn’t stop thinking how lucky I was to have her.

***

We ended up having a busy night, which was great, but by the end of it, I was exhausted.  At eleven o’clock Donovan wandered in, looking even more exhausted than me.  I was wiping tables down and he came straight to me and pulled me into his embrace.  He placed a kiss to my forehead before murmuring, “I missed you today, baby.”