Keeping Meg (Devil's Knights #6) (6 page)

“Christ on a cracker, I look amazing.” Cyn jumped up and down, clapping like a seal while Marley and Jackie cackled on the couch. “I can’t believe that’s me.” I really did look beautiful. The dress hugged my curves perfectly, and the strapless bodice kept the girls under wraps and helped slim my typically boxy shoulders.

“Now to figure out the shoes. Are you doing heels or flats?” Jackie asked.

I only wore heels when I was going out, and that was few and far between. I think that last time I had worn them was when Lo and the guys from the club had crashed Cyn’s ‘Thank God I didn’t marry that asshat’ party. “Flats, but not the kind you are thinking of.” I bent over and grabbed my purse off of the floor by the small couch. I fished out the picture I had found in a magazine a week ago and held it to my chest. “No matter what any of you say, I am wearing these shoes, and I will not be swayed.”

“Come on, come on. Show us the picture, Marley goaded, holding her hand out. I stuck it in Marley’s hand and closed my eyes when she screeched.

“Holy shit she’s wearing purple Chucks,” she wailed. I was pretty sure the whole bridal shop knew what shoes I was wearing.

“No, you’re not. Not with that dress!” Gwen cried, outraged. Here I thought she would be the one who was down with my shoe choice.

“Yup. I totally am. Besides, no one is going to see them unless I lift my dress up, and that isn’t happening until after the party,” I winked.

“I, for one, love it.” Cyn plucked the picture out of Marley’s hand and studied it. “They even say ‘Bride’ on the back.”

“Mom is going to flip when she sees those.”

“Mom is going to love them because she loves Lo. And, she doesn’t have to pay for anything for the wedding so I can wear whatever I want.” I stuck my tongue out at Jackie, and she threw her head back, giggling. I had forgotten how much fun I had when I was with my sister. We still lived in the same town, but we never managed to see each other enough. She had a huge family. She was always running around, doing things, and I was, well, I was Meg, living my screwed up but always fun life.

“When did King meet your parents? How come I wasn’t invited?” Cyn asked.

      
“Probably because they wanted to meet King, not Meg’s friend,” Marley laughed.

“I’ve met Meg’s parents before,” Cyn pouted. “I was just wondering why I didn’t know he had met Karla and Mike.”

“He met them when you and Rigid were just starting to get it on. I figured you would rather be with Rigid then go hang out with my parents.” I stared at myself in the mirror, not believing what I was seeing. I was finally going to be that girl who got to walk down the aisle to the man of her dreams.

“OK!” Marley said, standing up. “Now it’s time for the bridesmaids! Now, you go sit out there, and we are going to give you a bit of a fashion show.” Marley opened the door, reaching for the hangers full of colorful dresses that were hanging on a hook outside the door and pulled them in.

“Yes! This was just what I was waiting for.” Jackie stood up and took her jacket off, tossing it on the couch. “Shoo, bridey, we’ll be out in a jiff.” She pushed me out the door and slammed it shut.

“Hey!” I protested, “You could at least hand me the chips!”
      
The door opened and a hand, I’m assuming it was Jackie’s, held the bag out and I snatched it up. “Thank you, I think,” I grumbled to myself.

I plopped down on the big couch that was in front of the dressing room and fanned my dress out around me. The beautiful and intricate stitching of each and every flower was amazing, and the dark rich shade of purple was perfection.

I opened the bag of chips, mindful of my dress, and popped a chip into my mouth. Here I was sitting on a couch in a bridal shop, wearing a fabulous wedding dress, waiting for my best girls to come out and show me their picks for dresses. I don’t think this day could get any better.

________

Chapter 9

Lo

I pulled up to my mom’s house and didn’t see her car in the driveway and sighed. I should have called before I came out here, but I figured she would be home. Hopefully, she was home. Otherwise, I had just driven out here for nothing. I pulled my leather jackets tight around me and headed up the sidewalk.

Gravel had packed up everything off the porch, getting ready for winter and mom had already put a fake tree up where her favorite chair generally sat. I tried the handle, opening the door, “Ma! You home?” All the lights were on, but there wasn’t an answer.

I walked in and shut the door behind, wondering why the door was unlocked and all the lights were on. “Ma, you here?”

“Logan,” I heard whimpered.

“Mom? Where the hell are you?” I called. I listened again, trying to figure out where she was but didn’t hear anything.

I sprinted into the kitchen and saw my mom propped up against the cupboards, shards of glass surrounding her. “Mom,” I kneeled down beside her, and she lifted her head to look at me. She looked tired and worn out, and her eyes were glassy. I grabbed her hand, needing to touch her, making sure she was still with me. Her hands were ice cold but her fingers wrapped around mine, holding on tight. “What happened?”

“I’m… just weak,” she gasped.

Weak? What the hell did she mean weak? She was one of the strongest women I knew, inside and out. “We need to call an ambulance, ma. You shouldn’t be weak. Something isn’t right.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket, and she knocked it out of my hand. It skidded across the floor and hit the fridge. “Ma, you need to go to the hospital.”

“No, I don’t, Lo. I'm all right.”

“You’re not fine if I come over and find you laying on the kitchen floor.”

“I wasn’t laying down,” she mouthed off. Even possibly dying and my mother was still being a pain in my ass.

“What the hell happened?” I looked over my shoulder and saw Gravel standing at the entrance of the kitchen, two plastic grocery bags dangling from his fingertips. “I thought I told you to sit your ass on that couch and not move, woman.”

Mom waved her hand at Gravel and rested her head on the cabinet behind her. “I needed a drink. You left me with nothing to drink.”

“I was only gone for twenty minutes; I didn’t think I needed to leave you with a survival kit.”

“Well, now you know,” she laughed. She fucking laughed.

“What the hell is going on?” I roared. “I come over and find my mother on the floor, and all you two are going on about is the fact he didn’t leave you with a drink.”

“Calm down, Lo. Everything will be fine. I’m just weak after my treatments, and apparently getting a drink is too taxing on me.”

They were talking like I knew what was going on when in fact I didn’t have a fucking clue. Gravel walked into the kitchen, setting the bags down on the table and grabbed the broom from beside the fridge. “Get off the floor, Lo, and grab the dustpan. We need to get this cleaned up before Ethel gets hurt.”

“She’s already hurt,” I bellowed.

“She’s not hurt, Lo.”

“Don’t you dare call me Lo. Only two people call me that, and you are not one of them.”

“Alright, son.” My blood boiled. Usually, I didn’t mind if he called me Lo or son, but right now I was pissed the fuck off by the fact he knew what the hell was wrong with my mom, and I didn’t have a fucking clue.

“Tell me what the fuck is going on!”

“Logan Birch, knock it off and help Gravel clean up. I’ll explain everything when I’m not sitting in a pile of broken glass.” She scowled at me, somehow pissed off. I grabbed the dustpan and kneeled down, collecting the shards as Gravel swept them up.

“Help your mother to the couch. I’ll get some drinks.”

I pressed the dustpan into his chest, and he wrapped his hand around it. “Here,” I growled. Gravel just shook his head and backed away.

After kneeling down, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hoisted her up. She leaned heavily against me, seeming as though her legs couldn’t even hold her up. “Put me in my chair.” I gingerly set her down, making sure not to move faster than she could and stood back, looking down at her. She looked so fragile and tired, nothing like the mother I had known the past thirty some years.

“Sit down, Logan. There is no point in you standing over me, scowling.” She shooed me away with her hand, and I sat down on the couch directly across from her.

“Tell me what is going on, mom.”

Gravel walked in with three glasses in his hand, offering one to me and setting one next to mom. “I made the tea. Hopefully, it’s not shit,” he gruffed, sitting in the chair next to mom. After Gravel had bought mom the first chair during Meg’s whole breaking the expensive ass bed, he went back and bought another chair so they could both have one.

I set my glass down on the table, not giving a shit about it. “Tell. Me. What. Is. Going. On.”

“I’d change your tune real quick, boy. I know that is not how you talk to your mother.”

“Gravel, stop. It’s fine. You were the same way when I told you.” She reached over and patted him on the leg.

“That’s because the God damn doctor took fucking forever to tell us. I was ready to stab the fucker with a needle.” Mom chuckled under her breath, and I just stared at her.

Her color was coming back, and she didn’t look so beaten down. “Mom, please.”

“Alright, just remember, I am not going to die.” Gravel grunted next to her and rolled his eyes. “I meant I won’t die from this, Gravel.” He nodded his head, smirking at her but let her continue. “Five weeks ago, I went to the doctor’s office. I have my yearly mammogram, and they found a lump.” My world tipped on its side at her words, but she just kept on. “After they performed a biopsy of it, they discovered it was cancerous. I have stage II breast cancer.”

Holy Fuck.

________

Chapter 10

Meg

“OK, so we’re all decided on the floor length, ¾ sleeve, plum dress, yes?” Gwen asked, twirling around in front of the mirror.

“Hell yes!” We all shouted. After three grueling hours of watching these four try on dresses, I was beyond ready to go home, slip in the shower and then slip into bed with Lo. I loved hanging out with my girls, but I missed Lo.

“All right, ladies. Let’s pack it up and get the hell out of here. I will die happy if I never have to step foot in a bridal salon again.”

Gwen slipped back into the dressing room while the rest of the girls gathered up their purses and coats, all talking at once about the amazing bridesmaid dress. We had managed to find a dress the same shade of purple that was on my wedding dress. We were going to look amazing the day of the wedding.

“I’ll meet you guys outside.” I grabbed my purse and headed out, pulling my phone out of my pocket. The last time I had heard from Lo was over three hours ago, and I missed hearing his voice.

After swiping his name, I put the phone to my ear, but it went directly to voicemail. What the hell? “Hey, it’s me,” I rattled off, “We’re just leaving the dress shop. We should be home within the hour. I’m not sure what you wanted to do for dinner, but I thought maybe we could just hang out in our room. I miss my Lo time. See you soon, I love you.” I shoved the phone back in my pocket just as the girls started pouring out the front door.

“I’m gonna head out.” Jackie pulled her keys out of her purse and beeped open the locks of her SUV. “Marcus called, wanting me to bring home fried chicken and whipped cream.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus, stop right there. I don’t want to hear anything about your kinky sex life.” I put my hands over my ears and shook my head.

Jackie hugged all the girls bye and flipped me off as she got in her car. “Ah, sisterly love,” Cyn said, tossing her arm over my shoulders.

“She loves to torture me. Even though we’re both grown adults, she still tries to annoy the shit out of me.”

“We should stop and eat. Oh, Mexican!”

“Sorry, no can do. I plan on slipping into the Lo Daze and not surfacing until morning.” I steered Cyn over to the car, eager to get home.

“Well, I want Mexican. Maybe I could get Rigid to help me cook.”

“Oh, I can help you!” Marley called.

“Abort, abort,” I whispered.

“You know what, on second thought, why don’t we grab the guys and make them take us out,” Gwen chimed in. I had a feeling that everyone knew about Marley’s lack of cooking skills.

“Perfect idea,” Cyn slid into the passenger seat while Marley and Gwen wedged themselves in the back again. “You sure you don’t want to come with us? You could always have your Lo time after.”

“I’m sure. I tried calling him earlier, and he didn’t answer. He’s probably in the garage working on paperwork or something.”

The girls chatted the whole way home, gushing over the dresses we had found today, but all I could focus on was the sinking feeling in my stomach that something wasn’t right.

________

Lo

“Yo, Cyn just called. We’re all going out for Mexican. You and Meg want to come with?”

I stared at the closed door, Rigid on the other side and took a swig from the bottle of 12 year Jameson that was dangling from my fingertips. After spending more than an hour at Gravel’s and mom’s, I was more than ready to go home. I didn’t know what to feel or think.

She kept telling me over and over that she wasn’t going to die from this, but I didn’t hear it. The word cancer just kept rolling through my head, beating me down, making me feel like I had already lost her.

“King, you in there, man?” Rigid tried the handle, but I had locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed.

“I’m staying in tonight,” I called. I didn’t want to be out, having a good time while my mom was probably at home, throwing up and losing her hair because of the chemo she was going through.

“Suit yourself, brother.” I heard his retreating footsteps and took another drink. I grabbed the stereo remote, cranking up Five Finger Death Punch.

Life sucked at the moment, and the only thing that was going to make it better was Meg and this bottle of Jameson. Meg wasn’t here, so it was time to drown in Jameson.