I knew that things would be awkward and she made it so obvious by avoiding me almost the whole time since we returned back at the house.
I too haven't been here for some time now and things looked almost the same. A lot of memories came flooding back.
The most annoying part were these biker sluts all coming up to me and trying to hook up, yeah, that's something I DON'T miss.
When I catch Shaundra out the corner of my eye look with disgust and pissed off, I can't help but feel a mix of both sad and a little guilty but also can't stop thinking of how adorable she is for being jealous and that she still cares.
After I notice her storm off towards out in the backyard, I begin to go after her.
When I get outside finally, after making it through the crowd of people, I spot her and start walking up towards her as I notice her starting to pick up beer cans and some bottles
"Here, let me help you with that." I offer as I reach down and take the trash bag in her hand and start picking up bottles and cans to put in the bag.
"I've got it." She snaps at me with a scowl.
"I know you do but I thought..." I began but she stopped me.
"You thought what?! You thought you could come back from the grave, sort-of-speak and pretend that everything is okay? Maybe even pick up where we left off?! I swear you have some nerve coming back here!" She says with so much hatred and I don't blame her.
"Shaundra, I..." I started again but she held her hand up in front of my face and again cut me off.
"I can't deal with this right now. In case you haven't noticed this is my father's funeral and I need to focus on making sure that everything is clean and...." Now it was my turn to stop her
"No you don't. Plus, didn't you hate your father? I mean, it's not like you have seen him or..."
SLAP!
I guess I deserved that. Still, I was shocked and yet also hurt at how much that stung with her painful tears in her eyes.
I could see how this was going to be a lot harder than I had thought it would be. Not that I thought it was going to be easy but, not this hard.
I don't say anything. Instead, I just nod my head and turn around to start heading back into the house and decide also that I would not stay the night like Dusty had offered. This was a bad idea for me to come and am not going to make things worse.
So I started to head towards the front when I'm stopped by Dusty.
"Clinten!" I heard Dusty call out to me while I was already halfway to my car and made me stop and turn around.
"What?" I asked.
"Where ya goin'?" He asks.
"This was bad timing and a bad idea. I don't deserve a second chance with your sister. I made her fucking believe that I was dead for fucksake." I tell him while fighting back tears.
"I know man. But she doesn't know why." He says.
"And I don't want her to. No matter what, promise me you will never tell her in what really happened." I plead.
"You know I won't. But I hate lying to her man. Besides, I know that maybe this was a bad time to have you return but I know she still loves you." He says.
I want to believe him but I just can't hurt again. The pain I had just seen in her eyes that I know were mostly from me and the way I said what I did about her dad, I was out of line.
"I'm sorry." I replied.
"Don't!" He asks with plead now in his eyes as he stops me from walking away towards my car. "Listen, the guy who killed our dad, I know he's gonna try and collect a debt that my father didn't finish paying before he died." He begins to explain.
"What debt? And WHO?" I asked concerned.
"Byron Jones." He says.
"Oh shit." Was all I could say.
Byron Jones is one of the biggest guys that the FBI has been trying to take down for years and who I have met only a couple of times but never did business with him because of the way he operates. There is no winning with him ever and he ALWAYS gets his way no matter what.
I swear, their father was the most selfish and most terrible person ever.
"Tomorrow I'm gonna sit down with Shaundra and tell her what's going on. Then figure out a way to get her to someplace safe. At least until I figure out what I'm going to do." He finishes.
It takes me a moment as I begin thinking about how great this would be for my uncle and the FBI but also, how dangerous it will be at the same time. Maybe I should even let Dusty know what's going on and see if there can be a deal made by my uncle with him as well.
"Alright, I'll stay the night. But tomorrow, we don't tell Shaundra anything, not yet. And as far as where you guys can stay to hide, you can come and stay at my place." I offer.
Next chapter will be posted soon! :)
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HIS Challenge
Romance# 7 in the 'HIS' Series (Don't need to read them in order) Shaundra has recently lost her father and other than her brother, was the last family she had left. She has been left both her father's money and his club which she doesn't care for becaus...
