Rogue (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (3 page)

When we reached the doors, a man I think
I remembered from planning the service gave his condolences and handed me a
program before we walked into the chapel. When we did, I gasped in shock.

The chapel was filled to the nines with
flowers…there had to be over a thousand flowers here of every variety. There
were beautiful framed pictures of Daddy in different stages of his life set up
on portrait stands all over the room. I looked to the right and I saw Daddy’s
old Army uniform hanging on a bust next to his casket and it looked like it had
been cleaned and pressed with the utmost care. When my eyes settled on his
casket, I began to cry hard.

I wasn’t only crying tears over seeing
my wonderful, loving father lying there, but over the casket itself. It was
breathtaking. It was a lush mahogany casket that was trimmed in what looked
like solid gold, and it had a soft satin ivory colored interior. One thing I
did know for sure through all of this was that Daddy’s life insurance didn’t
cover any of what I was looking at. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling as I
looked up at Ryder. “Did…did you do all of this?”

Ryder shrugged his shoulders. “It’s no
big deal.”

“It’s a
v-v-very
big deal,” I
choked out, barely able to speak.

He looked at me sheepishly. “I hope you
aren’t upset but I just wanted the man you loved and worshipped growing up to
have a proper send off. Are you mad?”

I shook my head and fell into his chest.
“No, I’m not mad. This is so beautiful, Ryder. I can’t believe you did all of
this for him. You are amazing,” I cried, and he wrapped his arms around me
tightly.

We took our seats up front as more and
more people started to file into the chapel. The service was beautiful and
everything was perfect down to the last detail. Ryder even got the music right,
choosing my dad’s all time favorite song, “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor, to
be played as we left the chapel and headed to the gravesite. Ryder held onto me
tightly as my dad was lowered into the ground, rubbing my arms quickly to not
only keep me warm but to keep me from losing it as I watched my dad slip away
from me.

An hour later, we were back at my house
and it was quickly packed so tight with people wanting to pay their respects
that it was hard to move. I had ducked into the living room and had taken a
seat on the couch closest to the window and just watched the snow falling
outside in beautiful fluffy flakes. I hadn’t really spoken to many people and
it was nice to just have a quiet minute to myself. I didn’t realize anyone had
sat down until I felt the couch dip down beside me. “Hey gorgeous, I made you
some tea,” Ryder said, placing a hot glass of tea on a dish on the coffee
table.

I turned to him and smiled. “Thank you,”
I said.

“What are you doing all alone over
here?” he asked me, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into his chest.

“I’m just sitting here watching the snow
fall. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked, my eyes misting.

“It’s very beautiful,” he said, kissing
my forehead. “Can I make you something to eat?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not really
hungry just yet. Thank you though.”

“Let me know,” he said, and I nodded. At
that moment, I looked up and saw Kris walking through the living room holding
hands with a very beautiful brunette. “Hi Kris,” I said, standing up and giving
him a hug.

“Hey Everleigh. How are you doing,
sweetheart?”

“I’m doing okay, I guess. Thank you for
being here.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” he said.
“Everleigh, I’d like to introduce you to my fiancée, Jessica Monroe. Jessie,
this Everleigh Stone.”

I shook hands with Jessie and was
stunned when she leaned in and kissed my cheek. “It’s so nice to finally meet
you, Everleigh. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Jessie. I
appreciate you being here.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble. Any friend of
Ryder’s is a friend of mine, especially one as sweet as you. I’ve been hoping
he’d find someone to make him happy for a while,” she said, winking at him.

“Have you all known each other long?” I
asked her.

She nodded. “We all grew up together in
Cincinnati. I’ve known these chuckleheads since I was in kindergarten.”

I smiled at her. “That’s nice that you
all stayed friends for so long. It’s been that way for Danni and me too. She’s
been my best friend since preschool.”

“Beau’s new girl…yes I met her too and
she’s a doll. Looks like my guys got lucky meeting the two of you,” she said,
smiling an almost motherly smile. I could tell that she loved these guys with
her whole heart and if she approved of me and Danni that already meant the
world to me. “Now we just need to get Jude to settle down.”

We all looked at each other for the
briefest of moments and she snorted out a laugh. “Good luck with that, Jessie,”
Ryder said, and he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Seriously, thanks for
coming.”

“No problem,” she said, smiling at him.

“Listen, we are going head back to the
hotel, but we just wanted to pay our respects and say goodbye before we left,”
Kris said to me.

I wrapped my arms around him and gave
him a hug. “Thank you again for coming, Kris. You too Jessie,” I said, moving
from Kris to hug her as well.

“You’re welcome, Everleigh. Listen, once
you’re feeling up to it, can we have lunch sometime? You, me, and Danni?”

“Really?” I asked, smiling slightly.

“Of course. It will be so nice to have
some girl talk after being around all these guys for years,” she said, smiling.

“That sounds really nice, actually.”

“Great! Get my number from Ryder and just
text me when you feel better, okay?” she asked, giving me one last hug.

“I will, I promise,” I replied. “Take
care, you two.”

Ryder gave my shoulders a quick shake.
“I’m going to walk them out. Will you be okay until I get back?” he asked me.

I smiled softly at him. “I will be fine.
Go with your friends,” I said.

He put his hands on my face and kissed
the tip of my nose softly. “I’ll be right back, gorgeous,” he said.

“No rush, rock star,” I said, and I
watched him follow Kris and Jessie out of the living room through the crowd of
people.

I was just about to sit back down on the
couch and take a drink of my tea when I felt a hand graze my neck and twirl a
piece of my hair that had fallen down. “Hey baby girl,” said a voice that sent
chills down my spine.

I flinched away and turned to face the
man that had destroyed my confidence. “What the hell are you doing here,
Scott?”

“Just paying my respects,” he said, a
wicked grin on his face. I felt sick to my stomach by the sight of him. He was
dressed in a black suit and had his dirty blonde hair slicked back. I guess he
was cute in the traditional sense but now that I knew what a bastard he
actually was it made my skin crawl to look at him.

“My dad hated you and he’d have a fucking
fit if he knew you were here. Get out,” I said.

“Well, Daddy’s dead now so what he
doesn’t know won’t hurt him, now will it?”

I gasped sharply and slapped him across
the face. “Get out of my house
now
, Scott!” I screamed, hot angry tears
pouring from my eyes.

“Temper, temper, Everleigh. I see that
piece of scum rock singer is rubbing off on you in a bad way. Tell me, how’s he
been enjoying my sloppy seconds?” he sneered.

Before I could say anything else, Scott was
jerked away from me with full force. “What the hell did you just say to her?” Jude
growled. Beau was standing behind him and John was on the right.

Scott smiled at him. “Ah, the famous
bass player. Your boy must be slumming it to fuck a girl like that one. Trust
me, she’s not that great. Strung my ass along for months before she gave it up
and even then it was fucking terrible. She must be a little better at it now
since she’s with a sex fiend like Ryder Matthews. Maybe I overlooked something
the first time,” he said, flashing a cocky smile. “You want to go find a closet
and let me see if I was wrong?”

Jude’s eyes flared with rage and he charged
at Scott, pressing him against the wall with his muscular forearm at Scott’s
throat. “Get the fuck out of this house now before you leave here in a body
bag, you got it dick?”

Beau pulled at Jude’s arm and he
reluctantly let Scott go. He still had a smug look on his face and was trying
to take a step toward me when Beau blocked his path. “Walk away, asshole. This
time it’s just a shove against the wall. Next time things are going to get
bloody,” Beau said, giving him a hard shove.

Jude narrowed his eyes at Scott. “If you
so much as talk to my little sister again, I can assure you no one will ever
find your body. Get the fuck out now,” he said. Even though the situation was
tense and I wanted nothing more than for Scott to leave, my heart warmed a
little to hear Jude call me his ‘little sister’.

John grabbed Scott’s shirt tightly and
said, “Outside, now.”

“I’m going to make sure this asshole
leaves,” Beau said, giving me a slight nod. As they led Scott out the living
room, he turned his face to me one last time and smiled an arrogant smile and
flicked his tongue at me. I felt my skin start to crawl and bile start to rise
in my throat.

As soon as Scott was gone, Jude came to
me and wrapped his arm protectively around my shoulders. “You okay, Everleigh?”
he asked.

I felt tears stinging at my eyes again
and I shrugged my shoulders. “Thanks for that Jude. I can’t believe he had the
nerve to show his face here.”

“So, I take it that was an ex boyfriend
of yours?” he asked, a playful smile on his face. “No offense, kid, but that
guy is a total douche.”

I scoffed. “I know. I don’t know what I
ever saw in him. I am just glad that Ryder wasn’t here for that. That’s the
last thing he needs.”

Jude chuckled and raised his eyebrows.
“The last thing
he
needs? Everleigh, you are the one that just lost your
dad. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that prick. I promise we’ll make sure
he stays away from you from now on, okay?”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around
Jude’s stocky form. “Thank you so much,” I said, and he hugged me back. “So,
did you really just call me your little sister?”

“Of course I did.”

“Why?” I asked him.

He smiled and kissed the top of my head.
“Because you’re family now,” he said, matter-of-factly. More tears fall down my
cheeks as I hugged onto my protector for a few moments.

Ryder came back into the living room,
wiping fluffy white snowflakes out of his hair. “Hey, who was that guy that
John was dragging out of here just now?” he asked. As soon as his face landed
on me and Jude, his eyes widened slightly. “What the hell’s going on?”

I pulled away from Jude and walked to
him. “Nothing.”

“This doesn’t look like nothing. What
the hell did I miss?” he asked.

“It was nothing, Ryder. Just forget it.”

“I leave for five minutes and I see John
dragging someone out of the house into the snow and when I come back inside
Jude has you in his arms rubbing your back,” he said, staring at Jude.

“Ryder, it’s nothing, I swear,” I said.

Jude shook his head and sighed. “It was
her ex boyfriend. Some dude named Scott.”

I turned to him and nudged his shoulder.
“Jude!”

“Hey, sorry, but Ryder needed to know. I
came in the living room and heard him saying some shit to Everleigh, so I
roughed him up a little bit and John made him leave,” Jude said.

I groaned and flopped down on the couch.
“What the hell did he say?” Ryder asked Jude, but he was looking at me.

“Look, it’s not important. The point is
that I threatened to kick his ass and he’s been told to stay the fuck away from
her. Just let it go for now, man, and be here for your girl,” Jude said,
clapping him on the shoulder and giving him a shake. “I’m going to head out
too. We’re here for you, Everleigh, okay?” he said, looking at me. My heart
swelled with love for Jude in that moment…I had always secretly wished for a
big brother and now I had three. Even though I didn’t feel like it then, I was
really a lucky girl to have these guys.

I nodded and sniffed. “Thanks, Jude.” He
nodded at me and Ryder, and then walked away.

Ryder came over to me and sat down by my
side. “Everleigh, are you all right?” he asked me, placing his hand on my lower
back and massaging it.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. This has
been
the
worst day of my life. I just buried my dad, there are about a
zillion people packed into my house right now, most of who I have never seen
before today, I’m on the verge of a migraine, and my ex shows up here and says
the most horrible things to me. What did I do to deserve this?” I asked, and I
started sobbing.