Keep It Classy (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 7)

“I know.” She mock glared at me. “It’s just frustrating. I wanted to be there, wedding or no wedding.”

“You also wanted the fairy tale wedding,” I pointed out. “That would’ve been ruined had I said something.”

Which was a hundred percent the truth, and she knew it.

“Yo, Cas!” Jubilee barked. “Come in here and sit down.”

Castiel stopped at the door.

“My leg hurts,” he said. “The stab wound is hurting like a bitch today.”

I frowned in concern.

“Then prop it up on the couch right there,” she pointed. “Walking on it is only going to make it hurt worse.”

She had a point.

Castiel sighed and did what she asked, sitting on the couch that was a couple of feet away from where I was sitting.

I’d spent a lot of time on that couch—napping.

It was a comfortable couch for sure.

He sighed when the pressure of standing left him, and then moved his leg so that it was propped up on the arm of the couch. His head was on the opposite arm, and he had a pillow off the back of the couch now propping up his shoulders.

“Please, get comfortable.” Jubilee rolled her eyes.

“I am, thank you.” He sighed as he settled himself farther back down into the couch.

Once I was finished watching him, I turned back to Jubilee to see her studying me.

“Ready, Freddy,” I told her.

“Casket or cremation?” she started.

I thought about that for a long moment.

“My mother never said that she wanted to be buried,” I admitted. “Which one is cheaper?”

A sound came from the couch beside me and I turned my head to see Castiel’s eyes wide.

“What?” I asked.

“Your dad is rich. If you want to cremate her, fine. But don’t do it because it’s cheaper,” he said.

I thought about that and shrugged. “I didn’t want to use his emergency credit card to pay for my mother’s funeral. He’d have to see it and be reminded of it all over again.” I shook my head. “And I don’t have ten thousand dollars to pay for the cost of the funeral that I know is more expensive.”

“If you know which one is more, why’d you ask?” he teased.

“Because I wanted to get the full customer experience?” I teased back. “And because I knew that Jubilee was about to offer the entire thing for free, and I wanted to give her a hard time.”

“I am offering it for free,” she said. “Employees get free services, too. I can’t offer anything else incentive wise since my business is death. I guess I could start giving away holiday hams.”

“What would I do with a turkey?” I questioned her. “And a ham wouldn’t fit in the freezer of the RV anyway.”

Castiel chuckled.

“Sometimes the way your mind works astounds me,” he informed me. “Did she talk to your dad about what she wanted to happen to her once she passed away?”

“No,” I said. “He told me to do what I felt was right.”

“Then do what you feel is right,” he suggested.

Jubilee’s smile was soft as I turned back to her.

“I think cremation,” I told her. Then narrowed my eyes. “And no, you can’t pay for this. I’m paying, end of discussion.” Then she shifted in her seat and completely changed the subject. “When I die, I want to be cremated. I also want my ashes to be spread in every state capital in the southern states.”

“Why just the southern states?” Castiel butted in again.

I turned once again to look at him.

“Because they’re closer than the northern states.” I shrugged. “And the only ones that I’ve been to.”

He nodded as if that made perfect sense.

I turned back to Jubilee.

“I want to be floated out onto a raft in the middle of the lake, and then my body set on fire all Viking style,” Jubilee declared.

“I want to be spread off the back of the Sea Blaster,” Castiel said. “I used to go there when I was a teen with my parents. The boat ride was the best fun I’ve ever had.”

“What’s the Sea Blaster?” I turned my chair this time so I didn’t have to keep turning just my head.

“It’s a racing boat that’s parked at one of the docks in Destin, Florida,” he said. “You buy tickets on it, and the boat races you around the Gulf. It’s lots of fun.”

I smiled at his recounting.

“I’d like to do that,” I admitted.

His eyes smiled as they met mine. “I’ll take you.”

I felt things in my belly start to flutter, then my mood soured.

“We were going to Disney World,” I said. “She was so excited. She’d never been, and when we were babies, Dad was too busy with his racing career to take time off to take us. This would’ve been all of our first times.”

There was silence for a few long seconds, then Castiel said, “I’ve never been to Disney World. I’ll go to that with you.”