Maddox made himself known when he entered the room. Jeans and a t-shirt on his figure, not his usual suit and tie. It was weird for me to see him that way. But I also understood why he wasn't wearing a suit. We were doing right by Caleb today.

“I had some of the guys build a place where we could bring him and rest him, so we could send him off properly, the way he wanted. I don't know if you want this to be private or public. That's your choice. He was your beloved.”

“Anyone who loved him, served him and stood by him for even a moment should be allowed to pay their respects.”

“I will send out a notice then, before we begin. I just wanted to come make sure you were ok with having a couple of the henchmen take him away now.”

Touching his check one last time, I zipped up the bag and nodded at Maddox. Cementing it further by speaking.

“Yes, they may take him now.”

“Alright. I'll let you know when we are ready.”

“Ok.”

I left the freezer to go back to the office. I needed to check on all the people Caleb had been looking after, or treating while I was gone to get a clue about the shoes I was filling now. I knew they were deep shoes, but I had been around here now long enough to know how things were done. I just needed to get caught up, that was all.

Flicking through everything on the laptop. The man's skills for not properly documenting his work killed me. He put just enough to understand the premise of what he had done medically, but not enough for a detailed overview. I was just lucky I knew his notes and how he wrote them, so I wasn't so in the dark about it. But it still filled him with sadness.

In a little time, it would be like Caleb had never even been here, and that was terrifying. Knowing a future without Caleb was painful now, and I was sure it would get no better for me as time moved on. Maybe the pain I felt was payback for taking our time for granted.

It made me sick.

Wiping my tears away, I swallowed the lump in my throat. Pulling out my phone, my lock screen smiled back at me. Caleb, laying on the couch, the happiest smile I had seen on his face the entire time. He looked happy and healthy, but he wasn't. But I had been too ignorant to notice his illness.

Caleb had treated a few people in the time I was gone. Some stitches, some pain meds, some other wounds, all the normal things. I was going to have to follow up with all these people, but first I really needed to check on Sasha’s hand. I had put it off longer than it needed to be.

I knew better than to call Sasha about it. I called Ryer. He answered almost right away, and he asked how I was. I ignored the question, asking him to bring Sasha down so that I could look over his hand quickly. Ryer said he was on his way before hanging up on me.

As it was, Maddox was referring all members to the local hospital while all this was going on and that was depressing to me. I was supposed to be the one to help all those people. Instead, I was helping no one, not even myself.

The door opened. I heard it, and I didn't have to guess who was coming. The bitching alone told me Ryer had brought Sasha like he said he would. Sasha had shaken off my comment in the car when he got me about checking out his hand before. Now, he didn't have the option.

Ryer smiled softly at me when I stepped out of the office, into the medic wing.

“Come this way, I'll have a look at that hand and you can tell me how your back is doing.”

“Fine.”

Sasha walked into the room first, Ryer following, then me. There were gloves and everything on the wall inside the room. Sasha sat up on the small bed, rolling up his sleeve. He had some bruises I could see as I slipped gloves on my hands.

“You need some damn sleep. You and that cousin of yours, sleep, aren't optional.” Sasha said, studying me.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Have you eaten anything yet?”

I shrugged my shoulders, not sure if the tea I had at my dad’s with Lukas counted as food. But chances were that it wouldn't. I lightly grabbed Sasha’s hand and manipulated all the fingers and his thumb and everything moved the right way, and he didn't seem in any discomfort, at least not at the moment.

“Do you have any pain while you're moving it? Any trouble moving it at all?”

“No, just the bruise and a little pain here and there.”

“Well, I don’t think it's broken. I think you have a sprain, but the bruise is pretty nasty. What happened?”

“I punched a concrete floor.”

“Right. Ok.”

An x-ray seemed like the best option, but Sasha wouldn't hold still for that. He was the best guess to his own pain, and he said he was fine. Things moved the way they were supposed to, and he didn't have pain. That was enough for me to be pretty confident he was fine.

“Yeah, I think it's just a sprain, and some broken veins from hitting the floor, but again, if it gets any worse, please let me know Ryer, since we both know Sasha won't.”

“Of course, I'll be the first one to bring him down if anything changes.”

Ryer was the one who left first, Sasha lingered behind.

“Alessio, if you need anything, hell, even someone to just eat with for comfort, you know where we are. You are always welcome, no matter the fucking time. You don't need to suffer in silence, or even alone, for that matter.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

He left after one more look at me, and I was aware of how I looked. My hair was messy. I replaced my usual outfits with a sweater and sweatpants, and then my bare feet. My phone vibrated on the desk softly in the next room. The private office and I moved to answer it quickly.

“Hello?”

“We have everything set up now. If you want to come down to the lawn. Far back of the yard, by the start of the forest.”

“Alright. I'll be there shortly.”

Shoes were important, but so was getting dressed appropriately to send off Caleb. Dark jeans replaced the sweatpants and a nicer sweater replaced the one I had on before. Shoes on my feet as I made my way around the side of the house to the side yard.

Maddox had filled the entire side yard with people sitting or standing around. It was shocking to see. I didn't expect this many people to turn up for this. But it made sense. Tears welled up again in the corners of my eyes, seeing them all.

My dad and Maddox met me halfway down the yard and both of them wore black suits. They were dressed for a proper funeral, even though this was far from normal.

“How did you manage to get this many people…?”

“I just sent everyone a message about it. This is everyone who came to pay their respects to him and you.”

My dad took my hand. He looked at me.

“Let’s send him off right.”

Many of the people nodded or smiled sadly at me as we walked by, up closer to the body. I could smell the gas or whatever Maddox had the body covered with to burn quickly. The body bag was still zipped up. I was happy that they had left him there.

It would be less horrifying for everyone to watch that way.

Lukas had a few of the kitchen chairs on the lawn and he had a space one for me. He took my hand as I sat down and held onto it tightly. On the other side of him were Creed and Alexi. Alexi gave him a sad smile, though he didn't seem sure how to. This entire process was still new to Alexi, but the man knew my pain. He had almost lost Creed. He had feared the worst for hours, that turned into weeks until the man woke up. I had heard all about it.

Maddox spoke about Caleb and his service to the family, and plenty of other people spoke. Maddox asked me if I wanted to speak, but I couldn't. If I got up there and tried to speak, I was going to lose it.

My entire body was shaking and both my dad and Lukas held me in place when Maddox had someone light the fire under Caleb's body. It was hard to watch everything disappear. I just wanted to hold on to him.

That time has long passed now, though. He was gone, free from his pain and suffering. Mine, though. Just started.