Alexei wore Saint’s riding jacket and lounged between his legs, tilting his head to gaze at him while Saint smiled like Alexei had hung the moon.
God, they were beautiful. They weremine. We’d signed nothing and we wore no rings, but it was as indelibly etched as anything on this fucking earth.
“Oi.” Rubi prodded me out of my daze. “What’s got you acting like you’ve fallen in love with them all over again?”
Maybe it was the weed. I hadn’t smoked blunt this strong in forever. Or maybe it was the unbreakable, lifelong bond I shared with my oldest friend. Whatever the fuck it was, I told Rubi the secret I’d been carrying since the middle of June. “I married them, the night of your wedding. It’s not legal, but Jevon and Joe blessed us, and that’s all they wanted anyway.”
Rubi blinked. “Alltheywanted?”
The smile on my face felt so fucking good. “It was all them. Saint. Alexei. Didn’t know a thing about it until it was happening, and I’m still half convinced it didn’t.”
“Mother of Dragons, Cammie.” Rubi reached for me,carefully, mindful of River pressed against his side. “I thought I couldn’t cry any more until I get some shut-eye, but you’ve done me, you cunt.”
I chuckled, coughing a little as smoke caught in my lungs, parroting Ranger. “Don’t start fucking wibbling.”
“That’s my point. Vicky and Roo wibbled me out.”
“Guess you’ll just have to be quiet then.”
First time for everything, but the past few hours seemed to be full of them.
Rubi fell silent.
Finn’s set drew to a close. One song left. He’d taken his hat off a few songs in and put it on the hay bale beside him.
He retrieved it now and set it back on his head. “Hey there, Rebel Fest. Thanks for having me. It’s the last song, and I’m not in the mood to be alone up here. I know it’s the morning, but we’ve still got time for a rising star. Come on then, you fine folk, give it up for Willow Halliwell!”
I’d known about this but had somehow forgotten Finn’s surprise set contained a hell of a shock for Locke too, given that Willow was supposed to be in Majorca with her ma.
She bounced onto the hay-bale stage, grinning like a maniac, her guitar on her back, flowers in her hair, vibrating with excitement. “Hi, Dad!”
Locke was a better man than me, but being as free with our emotions as life allowed was a trait we shared. He shook his head at his wild daughter, already fucking crying, and cupped his hands to his mouth. “Make it a good one, kiddo. I fuckin’ love you.”
“Love you more!”
Doubted that. But we let Willow have it, and she settled in to play with Finn, Shay joining them for a cover of an old Neil Young song that got under my skin, and then another she’d written herself that brought an energy to every soul watching that I knew would set the tone for the day.
Finn played an encore, but I tuned it out a bit, succumbing to the heavy weed buzz as Rubi stretched out to take a nap of his own. Saint and Alexei remained under their tree, while Folk and Decoy had Ivy between them, wide-eyed as she watched the stage, as mesmerised by Willow as she was by every woman in her life that was nothing like her mother.
The music finished. My gaze drifted to where Mateo and his girls watched Embry ride back and forth on a unicycle, a skill I hadn’t known he possessed until yesterday.
Hope laughed, but her big eyes were already scanning the brothers around her, looking for Saint, her fascination with him growing with each day that passed.
Knew that feeling.
I moved on, searching for my sister. I found her with Logan and Remy, smiling as she watched Locke pretend he wasn’t glaring a hole in the back of Willow’s boyfriend’s skull and Nash with a baby in each strong arm, introducing them to his cousin.
Donovan Lark and the boy she’d named after Finn and Saint.
Orla.
My sister.
We were bound by blood and friends by choice, and after everything she’d been through, I’d never seen her live a moment so fucking perfect.
It got to me.
I rose from the blanket and moved away, climbing the slight incline at the back of the main field. At the top, you could see the whole festival. It wasn’t Glastonbury, but the tents and vans, the bikes, the stages, thepeoplestill stretched as far as I wanted to see right now.