Rooster nuzzled against his face, scratching him with his beard. “My thoughts exactly. Give me a minute, and then we can clean up and talk.”
Emmett yawned loudly, his body growing heavier by the second. “Okay, Daddy.”
The last thing he remembered was Rooster chuckling and kissing the back of his neck.
8
Rooster felt weird sitting in the clubhouse, pretending to read a book as he watched the door, but he was tired of Knuckles dodging him. They were going to have their conversation because he was really starting to get worried.
When he’d arrived an hour ago, he texted Viper—his barely willing spy—and she’d let him know that Knuckles was working on a piece for one of his regulars but shouldn’t be too much longer. He didn’t mind waiting.
Emmett had gone to get his hair cut after work, and then he and Ollie were going to meet up with CJ and Kenneth for dinner, so he had nothing better to do than sit and wait for his friend to return and then interrogate him. For his own good. Even if Knuckles didn’t see it that way.
He got a couple of strange looks from people as they passed by, but he mostly ignored them, waving a hello or upnodding anyone who acknowledged him, but keeping most of his focus above the pages of his book and on the main entrance to the clubhouse.
His patience won out in the end, Viper giving him a heads-up that Knuckles had just headed out of the shop. A few minutes later, his prey arrived. Knuckles was on his phone, a deep furrow between his dark brows, and he didn’t notice Rooster throwing aside his paperback and jumping to his feet.
In fact, he didn’t notice Rooster until he was about five feet away, his head jerking up and eyes widening before darting around the room like he could find an escape.
But Rooster was on him before he could make a decision on where to run. “Hey, man. Let’s chat.”
He didn’t slow his steps, clapping a hand on the back of Knuckles’s neck and forcefully steering him across the room toward the stairs in the back that led up to the second level. There were bedrooms for people to crash in up there, but then there were also rooms for anyone who wanted to stay longer. Six had been living at the clubhouse for years, and now Ollie had joined him, the two of them seeming perfectly content in their tiny one-room home.
Knuckles was a frequent flyer who’d been staying more frequently lately, instead of staying with whatever woman he was dating at the time. As far as Rooster knew, he’d been sleeping full-time on the second floor for months. That alone was unusual and potentially troubling behavior.
“What’s happening right now?” Knuckles asked.
He tried giving Rooster a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Rooster couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him smile for real. Knuckles had always been the kind of guy with a quick smile or an easy joke, someone who didn’t mind being the center of attention, who thrived on it, in fact.
But for the last year, he’d gotten… quiet.
Rooster had almost cornered him last spring. He’d noticed Knuckles losing weight with bags under his eyes and no real interest in club activities. The medic in him had gotten damn worried. But before he’d had a chance to confront him about it, he’d seemed to start getting better.
But then he stalled out. Things hadn’t gone back to as bad as they had been, but he also was still nowhere near his normal self. Something was bothering him, eating away at their happy-go-lucky friend, and Rooster was going to find out what it was before the man pierced anything else on his body.
“We’re going to have a conversation,” Rooster said, his voice gruff. He kept his eyes forward, even when Knuckles jerked his head around to stare at him, stumbling a little on a step.
“About what? I don’t know what I could have done to piss you off,” Knuckles said, trying to grind to a halt.
Rooster kneed him in the back of one of his thighs, making him grunt as he stumbled up a few more steps.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Knuckles yelled, his agitation rising. He tried to twist out of Rooster’s hold, but he just tightened his grip.
“Stop fighting me, and this will be a lot easier.”
“I don’t know what you think I did, but it didn’t happen. I haven’t been mean to Emmett or anything, so what the hell, man?”
Rooster almost laughed. It was a good guess.IfRooster was actually mad at him, then it probably would have been becauseof something happening with his boy, but that wasn’t the case, and this was serious.
When they reached the bedroom Knuckles had been staying in, Rooster threw the door open and shoved him inside, finally releasing his hold.
“Jesus Christ.” Knuckles almost tripped over what looked like a small mountain of dirty clothes, catching himself with his hands on the end of his unmade bed.
Rooster closed the door and leaned back against it. Technically, Knuckles could make a run for it through the bathroom the room shared with another, but he was confident he could catch him if he tried.
Knuckles spun around, face red and blue eyes furious. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem,” Rooster said evenly. He took one step away from the door, pointing a finger at Knuckles. “Sit down.”
