Page 92 of Bishop's Queen

That last part he said with the perfunctory abruptness of a grocery store order, because that was the only way he could get through it.

“Goddamn, man.” Locke shook his head. “And you two, you and Ella?”

Wasn’t that part of their problem? “Barely any scrapes and bruises. Isn’t that some fucking shit?”

And they never spoke of it, never dealt with it, never grieved together, and never forgave one another for that night. “We were young, didn’t know how to deal. We buried Brie and acted as though life moved forward.” Failing miserably…

Teammates always knew the deepest and darkest secrets, but even his Ranger team was only aware that he’d lost a sister. Not when or how. Not like this. And nothing about Ella.

Funny, too, was that Bishop blamed that fucking phone, their need to connect at that damn second. It was stupid and emotional, but it was the truth, and maybe one of the reasons he couldn’t believe where Ella’s career had taken her: into the belly of the beast that had destroyed their lives. That monster was still hungry.

He couldn’t help but make the connection. Ella posted videos and blogged, and now a stalker had his sights set on her. Bishop’s blood ran cold. He could lose both to the same destructive force.

“Wish there were reasons when life tries to ruin us.” Locke slapped him on the back and went back to the shelves, sorting through the other options. “But if she’s yours, deal with your shit, and never let her go again.”

Heavy advice that sounded just like a warning. Bishop bit his lip. Ella was a new woman. She even came with a new name. But when they connected, all things were the same. They belonged.

It wasn’t a matter of possession.

Just fact.

Eloise Lewandowski, or Ella Leighton, or whatever the hell she wanted to be called, belonged to him. And he washers.

Jax ambled in. “Sorry I’m late.” He whistled. “The door clicked open, and I wandered into paradise.”

“Hey.” He ran a hand over his face, wanting to forget how losing Brie and Ella shredded him.

Jax did a full circle, taking in the enormity of the workshop. “This shit is wild.”

Locke had gone back to silent mode, and Bishop filled Jax in on what Sarah had said they could get into.

Jax and Locke were lost in the world of GUNS, silently working. Bishop too, but his mind wasn’t entirely in that room. It wasn’t just thousands of miles away. It was walking the outskirts of a cemetery that he hadn’t set foot in since Brie’s funeral, and man, what a piece of shit did that make him?

---