Beyond the Horizon (Sons of Templar MC #4)(9)

Gwen frowned at me. “Trouble me? Lil, you’d never trouble me. It only troubles me having you go through this alone. Why didn’t you tell us your mom was sick?”

I ignored the intensity I felt from a stare from behind Gwen, from where I know he stood.

I puffed hair out of my face and shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know,” I said honestly. Why hadn’t I told my glamorous ex-boss and current friend that my mom had been battling cancer for the last three and a half years? Maybe because if I verbalized it to that part of my life, it’d make it real. It felt nice being able to have some sort of feeble escape whenever I met Gwen and Amy for coffee or drinks, and not be the girl with the dying mom. Amber may have been small, but my mom operated out of the ”normal” community and lived out of town, in a little rundown cottage by the sea. I knew her friends weren’t likely to shop at Gwen’s store or hang out with the Sons of Templar. So I was able to pretend when I was with them, pretend I wasn’t battling every day. Pretend that hospitals, cancer treatments, and watching the strongest person I knew fade into nothing was only a distant nightmare.

Her face softened with understanding, she brushed my hair from my face. “We’ll talk later. Your words were beautiful, honey,” she told me softly.

I blinked away the tears that threatened with the collision of the two parts of my life. The collision that shattered any pretend world I had constructed.

“Lils, the dude with the dope dreadlocks is asking if we’re heading to the farm now? I’m voting a massive yes,” Bex interrupted boisterously. She gave Gwen a small smile and her eyes stuttered on what I knew were the bikers behind her. I felt her form stiffen slightly, and her eyes harden, I knew she was remembering the not so pleasant ending to my night three years ago.

“Bex, this is Gwen, Rosie, Amy, my friends from Amber. Gwen and Amy own Phoenix,” I introduced quickly before she could cause a brawl. “This is Becky, my—”

“Best friend, roommate, drinking buddy, sister from another mister, and so much more,” Bex interrupted on a grin.

Bex hadn’t met my Amber friends, even though three years had passed since I met them, I didn’t exactly hold parties for everyone in my life to mingle.

“Lilmeister has told me all about you. Your lives could totally be turned into movies,” she continued with her usual lack of filter.

I cringed and my face reddened. I didn’t want Gwen to think I’d been gossiping. Luckily, she laughed.

“Yeah, well only if Rachel McAdams plays me,” she answered.

“I’d totally be down with Amy Adams for me,” Amy piped in.

“J Law,” Rosie added with a wink.

Okay, so my friends from two different parts of my lives were equally crazy, and made it somehow possible to seem like we weren’t standing in a cemetery after the burial of my mother.

“Lil?” Aiden’s voice interrupted while Bex continued chatting to the women.

“Excuse me a sec,” I said to Gwen and I failed to ignore Asher.

He was watching from further back, his eyes intent on me. He seemed like he was never going to approach, only hang back and torture me with his stare. His face turned blank and hard, at the same time I felt pressure on my waist.

Aiden turned me, both his hands resting on my hips. “You want me to give you a ride to this farm place, or do you want to go home?” he asked quietly.

The farm was a farm, it was where a big group of Mom’s friends lived. Words like ”commune” were not used to describe it, though that’s what outside society regularly referred to it as. It wasn’t that, but it was like a second home for me. Everyone there was like my mom—free spirits, creatives, artists. People that didn’t like the mainstream world. That didn’t fit. A little like the Sons I guessed, although they didn’t ride Harley’s and engage in questionable activities. They mostly made art and smoked pot. Mom might not have been as hardcore as them. Hence, me being raised in a house with just her and me, it was still our adopted family. It was also where the reception, if that’s what it was called, was being held.

“Um…” I began, not knowing what I wanted. Yes actually, I knew what I wanted. My mom not to be buried in the ground. Instead, for her to be in front of me, teasing me about the fact my ‘“boyfriend” was from a family who didn’t recycle and were, gasp, Republicans.

“It’s been an exhausting few days for you, scratch that, three years. Your words up there were beautiful, but they’ll understand if you want to go home. You need sleep,” he said.

As much as I didn’t like Aiden telling me what I needed, I agreed. I was tired to my bones. Though I didn’t think sleep would cure much. Sleep couldn’t cure an exhausted soul. It at least promised a welcome oblivion.

“Yeah, maybe I should go home,” I declared finally.

Aiden nodded, his grip tightening.

I said my goodbyes to Gwen and the rest of them, eyes avoiding Asher like the plague. He didn’t approach me, just stayed rooted to the spot, his eyes burning into me. I felt them on my back as I said the rest of my goodbyes, and as I walked with Aiden to his car. The residue of his gaze, his proximity, followed me most of the way home. I welcomed the pain that came with it, since it was nowhere near close to the agony that promised to ruin me the moment I let it in.