Page 87 of The Vow
“It’s to raise money for the local kids shelter, April’s been working hard on organizing it, of course,” Rita said, with a flick of her pink tipped dyed hair over her shoulder. Rita’s tattooed hand passed over a small stack of flyers, printed on thick white paper, her rings and bracelets jiggling together as she did so.
“Wow Rita, as Treasurer, you’ve had your work cut out with all this.” Carmelo replied.
Rita pulled a face, “yeah, I have no clue what I’m doing, April’s helped me, Jared’s helped me, but it’s time to face the music, we’re appointing an accountancy firm.” Rita tried to sound breezy but Carmelo was sure he caught a sense of stung pride there.
“Hey, it’s no bad thing, getting a professional involved.” Carmelo shrugged.
“Hmm.” Rita glowered.
“Sounds like a good cause,” Lena said, eyeing the flier Rita had handed over. “I can get them up in other local businesses, too, if you want?”
Rita nodded, widening her eyes. She had some sort of metallic pink eyeshadow on and long, thick black lashes that Carmelo was never sure if they were real or not. “Yes! It’s $50 for a ticket and there’ll be music, a raffle with fucking high end prizes… hopefully the whole town will really get on board with it…”
“Yeah, sounds great.”
“You two are invited, obviously, as is your sister-”
“She’ll be out of town,” Lena said tersely.
“Oh, okay, well, anyway, your family are all welcome,” Rita continued, shrugging, “and it should be a really great night!”
“Great, thanks Rita!”
“Oh, don’t thank me, thank April, she’s done a fuck load of work for this! We’re going to do a Sport’s Day, too, same sort of setup, the whole town gets involved, people submit teams to race against each other, and do other silly things, they’ll be a tug of war, maybe a boxing match…” And Rita flashed them a smile before moving off into the crowd.
“Wow, so much to look forward to, this is the good part now, Carmy, just like we promised.” Lena widened her eyes and took Carmelo’s hand again.
“Yep,” Carmelo said, feeling a buzz for the future that he hadn’t felt before. He hadn’t wanted drama, and yet, now he was here, caught up in the middle of it all, he was actually pretty excited about it all. He had a family, he had Lena and Colt and the MC, and whether he liked it or not he had Pina, and Jovan and Camilla, Ardian too. And the whole rest of the MC at his back. He was one of them, and they were there for him, and that empty, broody feeling in his chest was gone.
“Well, as my mama always used to say, life is like a box of-”
Lena groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh not your movie quotes again Carmelo, honestly, I don’t even know half the films you’re referencing-”
“Well, we can watch them all, movie nights,” he said, hands going around her waist. “You know, popcorn and cozying up together under the blanket…”
Lena flicked her eyebrows up. “In between trips to Vegas to rescue Ardian from whatever trouble Pina has dragged him into and this MC black tie event. Then your day job as Sergeant and my day job as mafia criminal princess-”
“Yes yes, all of that, then coming home to each other, crashing out in our pajamas and watching movies.” Carmelo smiled.
“We’ll see,” Lena said, raising her eyebrows, an amused, doubtful expression on her face.
Carmelo winked and flicked his chin up at her. “Bring it.”
Carmelo was only meant to be a side character. A narrator, a passive watcher, an outside viewpoint for the Epilogue of each book. But, as I continued, Carmelo got under my skin. His relationship with Colt and The Black Coyotes grew, and soon I found him becoming an integral part of the MC’s life. And he was beginning to get lonely, he deserved his own happily ever after, as well. So here it is! I mean, it was never going to be simple and easy for him, and I’m sure he isn’t in for a quiet life, but love is love, huh?