Page 85 of The Secret's Out

“Mum,” Maya cried. “Mum,” she sobbed and next she was in her dad’s arms, her face buried in his stomach and she held on for dear life as she wailed. I stood and went back to my men. I rested my head against Caden’s chest and held Eli’s hand.

“Cody, here boy,” Talon ordered.

Looking over to Cody, he stood off to the side, his head still down and he shook his head.

“Cody,” Talon’s tone was soft.

Cody looked up and glared at his dad. “Why him? Why someone who is so good? Why not some fuckin’ arse who does bad shit?” He turned and punched the wall, his fist going through the plaster. He was his father’s son.

“Cody,” Talon growled.

“Leave him, Talon,” Mum said. She placed Ruby, who was taking it all in, in Mattie’s arms and got up. She walked to Cody. Her hand went to his back while he leaned his forehead against the wall.

“Cody,” she whispered.

“No,” he uttered.

“It’s okay,” she choked.

“It’s not, Grandma. It’s not gonna be okay. It’s not fair.”

“You’re right, my child, it’s not and we can get pissed all we want about it. We can scream, yell and swear because none of it is fair. Your grandpa should not be gone from this world, but he is and what’s not fair about that is there’s nothing we can do about it.” She sighed. “But, Cody, what you need to learn is, you’ve got to let the pain out. You can’t bottle it up and take it out on everyone or items in my household. You’ve got to let it go, Cody.”

He spun to face her, his face red. “No, I can’t. If I do, it will be real,” he yelled, tears in his eyes. “It can’t be real. It can’t be.”

“Oh, baby,” Mum uttered, a sob caught in her throat. “But it is real.”

“Fuck,” he yelled. “Goddammit,” he screamed and then...oh, God, then he fell forward onto Mum’s shoulder and cried.

That was when I let myself go once again. It was too hard seeing the pain through such a young person’s eyes.

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The day of our dad’s funeral was the hardest. The night before I’d gone to bed with my men and they’d hugged me all night long. I had been worried about having them both in my bedroom, especially with the children around, but Mum told me not to worry about it. They needed to see the love around the house. They needed to see the support we all gave each other and she was right.

Dressed in a knee-length black dress, I walked from the bedroom to the kitchen where Talon, Blue, Clary, Mum, Zara and the kids were, all dressed in their best clothes. Even Talon and Blue had on suits, something I thought I would never see, except for the day they got married. Which was coming up for Blue and Clary.

Blue and Clary hugged me tightly. Clary pulled back and gave me a sad smile as the front door opened and in walked my men.

Goodness. My hand went to my chest. They had always looked amazing, no matter what they wore, but that day they were also in suits and they looked incredible.

“Everything organised at the compound?” Mum asked. We had decided to have Dad’s wake at the compound. It was the biggest and best place for it. Dad did love going there.

“Yeah, Nance. Simone’s there with some brothers organising the whole thing.”

Simone. She had been wonderful. When my men weren’t with me, she was.

“Good.” Mum smiled. As she walked past me to the front door, she stopped, took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You have the perfect people surrounding you, Josie. I’m so glad.”

“I am too.” I nodded, kissed her cheek and followed her out the front door to the car.

When we pulled up to the funeral home, I wasn’t sure we would find a park, the area was surrounded with Harleys and other vehicles. We drove past many familiar faces, Vi, Travis, Warden, Griz and Deanna with their baby boy, Nickolas. Nary was there with Stoke, Malinda and Josh. Also Mrs Cliff showed, alongside her was Dallas, Dive, Killer, Ivy, Dodge and many more biker brothers.

Talon parked his car first in the three reserved spots left. He had Zara and the children in it. Next was Blue’s, in it with him was Clary, Mattie and Julian. Our car was last to park, Caden had been driving with Eli in the front next to him and I was in the back, holding Mum’s hand.

We got out of the car. Maya came over and took Mum’s other hand. Mum smiled down at her grandchild, lifting their joined hands and kissing it.

Making our way in, we received a lot of sorrow-filled messages as we passed by many people. Mum sat up in the front on the end. I sat behind her in the middle of my men, while the rest of our family surrounded Mum. Where everyone else sat I didn’t take notice because Talon suddenly appeared on the podium standing at the mic and next to Dad’s coffin. The lid was closed, which I was grateful for.

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