The Rebel of Raleigh High (Raleigh Rebels #1) - Callie Hart Page 0,129
but I can’t. I wanted to do this, but now that the time’s come…it’s just so difficult.
As if he can read my thoughts, Dad puts his arm around my shoulders, tucking me into his side. “Sure you don’t wanna go get a milkshake at Harry’s instead?” he asks quietly.
“No, no, I’m fine. I’ll be okay.” I don’t think I will be okay, though. This is going to be brutal.
The priest looks up from his open Bible, smiling tightly at us when he sees that we've arrived. I look down into the grave, swallowing back bile. The casket that's already been lowered into the frozen ground is simple, plain, and inexpensive. There's no brass plaque on the top of it like the one Mom had engraved with a quote for Grandpa when he died. There are no flowers, except for the two large sprays of white calla lilies we've brought with us. Mom and Dad set the arrangements down at the foot of the grave, bowing their heads respectfully. The priest begins immediately.
“In the name of God, our Father, we are gathered here today to commit the body of this young man to the peace of the grave.”
Pain lances through my chest, so spectacular and blinding that I have to press my hands against my ribs.
“You gave him life, Oh Lord,” the priest continues. “Now we beseech thee to receive him unto your rest. Though the path be straight and narrow, often your servants wonder. The gift of this life is challenging, filled with love and laughter, but also with much hardship and sorrow. We pray to thee to stand beside us in our grief. Bring comfort and understanding into our hearts—
At first, I pay no heed to the rumbling in the distance. It’s not until the rumbling turns into a roar that I lift my head, frowning.
“...we plead for your mercy, Father, and pray for the soul of your troubled servant…”
The roar becomes a throaty snarl, echoing around the cemetery, so loud now and so close that my heart skips a series of fluttering beats.
It can’t be…
“…accept Leon Wickman into your heart, Lord. May he find in Heaven the peace he could not find here on earth…”
I look up at Dad, about to beg for his forgiveness, only to find that he’s already smiling at me. “Go on, kiddo. Go find him. It’s all right. We’ll stay.”
I'm bolting, kicking off my shoes and running barefoot through the snow before he can even finish his sentence. My pulse races, arms pumping, legs burning, feet stinging against the cold, but I don't stop. I run faster, as fast as my legs will carry me. And then, breathless, struggling to catch my breath, I reach the top of the snowy rise by the entrance of the cemetery…and there he is.
Still straddling his bike, helmet in his hands, he looks up and sees me, and a slow, wicked smirk spreads across his handsome face.
“Alex Moretti, as I live and breathe,” I call down to him. “You weren’t supposed to get out of the hospital until tomorrow afternoon.”
He shrugs. “Hospital food’s the worst, Argento. And besides, I had to see you. I may have performed an elaborate and highly professional escape from the recovery ward about an hour ago.”
I slide all over the place as I throw myself down the embankment toward him. When I reach him, he catches me up in his arms, grunting a little as he hugs me to him. I realize too late that I’ve probably really hurt him. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting…”
He dismisses my apology by kissing me, his mouth against mine, hot and persuasive. He tucks a piece of my hair back behind my ear when he’s done with me. “How the hell can you forget, with the badass scar I’m rocking these days?” he asks.
After Alex had officially been pronounced dead, the lead EMT had charged up the defibrillator again and given it one last shot. A final Hail Mary. Screaming in a heap on the floor, I’d been too hysterical to notice the fact that they were all still working over him, but I sure as hell heard that EMT when she announced that they’d regained a sinus rhythm.
The bullet had traveled straight through Leon and buried itself deep in Alex's chest, perforated one of his major arteries, caused both of his lungs to collapse, along with all kinds of other damage to his body. The eight-hour surgery that saved his life has left him