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“What are we going to do, brother?” Myles asks.
Emma remains in the doorway, minus the kids. Inhaling deeply, I tell him, “You’re gonna go hold your old lady, be with your kids. She wants to be here for you. Go let her.”
“What are you gonna do? Are you gonna call Aspen? You know she’ll come home without question.”
Victoria’s truck comes through the gate. “I’m gonna tell our sister Grumps is gone too, after that… I have no fuckin’ idea.”
We hug it out before he walks toward Emma, and I walk over to my sister’s truck.
Luca climbs out and slams his door shut, but Victoria’s swollen eyes are solely on mine as she remains in her seat. I open her door, lean in, and hug her.
She shudders against me, and I hold her tighter.
Looking up, I meet Luca’s eye as he unclips River’s car seat from the back seat.
“You have my sincere condolences, brother. If you need anything, I’ll make it happen.”
I nod once, not letting go of Victoria.
As brother-in-law’s go, Luca is probably the best we could have gotten. Not only is he fiercely loyal to our sister and loves her too much, but he’d have mine and Myles’s backs, no questions asked.
“Victoria, there’s something else I need to tell you.”
I pull back from her and perch my ass on the edge of her seat.
“If it’s about you and Aspen, I already know. I saw her before we left the city.”
I wish wholeheartedly it was just that.
“It’s Grandpa,” I say, her eyes filling with tears. “He passed away last night in his sleep.”
Her mouth opens, no doubt to argue it or disbelieve it, but a chest-racking sob escapes her, and her body twists, trying to curl up in the tight space.
“Not both of them. I can’t… No… Mase.”
Pulling her back against me, I murmur, “I know, sis, I know.”
I don’t know how long we sit here, me holding her, her sobbing. It’s not until Luca squeezes my shoulder I sit up, and he takes my place.
“Babe, your dad, and Pope are in the bar. You wanna see them? Tell me what you wanna do,” he pleads, and it’s the only time I see humanity in Luca Jackson.
He’s feeling every ounce of her pain, and I have to look away before it reaches my own.
“Your dad’s forehead has been covered. Don’t move the cloth,” he tells her.
He thinks of everything when it comes to her.
“Stay with me?” she asks.
“You fuckin’ know it.”
He helps her out of her truck, and her chest rises with such a deep inhale that it takes a hot minute before she exhales.
“This has to be a nightmare because life can’t be this evil to us,” she murmurs, neither Luca nor I reply.
They enter the bar first, and I remain in the doorway. Thank fuck they’ve taken my dad out of the coffin, Victoria doesn’t need to see that shit yet.
Tables have been pushed together, and my father and grandpa are laid side by side in the middle. Brothers surround the large makeshift table, and drinks are already surrounding them. The old ladies are with my mom at Dad’s side, and Myles and Emma are beside her. I swing my gaze back to Victoria and Luca. She clings to him as he holds her around the waist, keeping her upright.
