“Don’t apologize for having a heart and caring about your brother.”
***
After we say our goodbyes, I get on the road. All I can think about is Rick lying bruised and battered in a hospital bed while his sweet little sister cries over his broken body. I have to find a way to fix this.
Images rise in my mind of that cut brake line. Rage is right. We need to talk about this and figure out where the threat is coming from. It could be an old enemy rearing his ugly head or a new rival we haven’t realized was eyeing our territory. Either way, our club will figure out a way to retaliate that puts a stop to it. I’ve been around for a year and have seen how the Legion handles threats to its members. Even though Rick isn’t a fully patched brother, he’s still one of our prospects, and that means he’s under the Legion’s protection.
The hospital comes into view, and I quickly navigate my way around to the emergency room entrance. Parking up, I turn off the engine and jump off my bike before the engine fully stops. I walk briskly across the parking lot and into the lobby to find that I’m the first to arrive.
After asking at the front desk, I’m told he’s still in surgery and there is another waiting room for that area. I’m most certainly not going there with Natalie, so I walk over and stare out the huge floor-to-ceiling windows into the parking lot.
Rage comes through the doors a few minutes later. His face is flushed from the ride, but he heads straight for me. We wait for Siege and Natalie to arrive. With Rick still in surgery and Natalie’s scared voice on the phone, I feel like the two people I care most about, who are my whole world, are hanging on by a thread. Rick, physically and Natalie, mentally. I’ve got to be strong for both of them. My mind gets lost trying to figure out how to become what they each need in this moment.
I’m not entirely surprised when a horde of my brothers decide to escort them. Siege drops her off at the door and goes with the others to park his bike.
Natalie rushes to me, and when I open my arms, she steps into my warm embrace. Although I don’t know what’s going on with Rick, just having Natalie close is comforting. We stand there hugging for a few minutes too long. It’s not exactly awkward, but it does drive home for me that my feelings run deeper than I thought. Truth be told, once I have her in my arms, I don’t want to let her go. Maybe I need her as much as she needs me in this moment.
When we break apart, I wish I had the words to tell her what I feel but I don’t. Instead of even trying, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and jerk my chin towards the other waiting room. It has its own counter as well, with one woman in scrubs flipping through charts. When I approach the counter, wearing my cut, with a handful of brothers at my back, the woman frowns up at me.
“You’re Dr. Patchett’s people, aren’t you?”
I lift my chin. “Yes, we’re his club brothers. Can you tell us how Rick Mullins is? This is his sister,” I gesture towards Natalie who’s pale and shaking.
She nods. “He’s still in theater. I’m sorry I can’t say much more than that right now. But Dr. Barnes is one of the best in the county.”
I glance down at Natalie, not liking the sound of that at all. Neither does she. I can tell because her bottom lip is trembling.
“He’ll be just fine,” I say. “Rick is tough as nails.”
“I’m going to need someone to give me the patient’s identifying information and medical history, since he came in unconscious.”
“I’ll do it. He’s my friend, but I’ve known him since we were fourteen,” I answer.
She gestures towards the chairs in front of her desk. “Alright, have a seat. You can let your people know that there are vending machines in an alcove around the corner on the left. Restrooms are on the right.”
I don’t bother telling them anything because my club brothers have been all up and down this place. I ease Natalie down into one chair.
I give her a smile and reach out to gently squeeze her shoulder. I can feel her relax a little under my hand.
The nurse begins shuffling through her paperwork. Then she clicks her pen open and starts rapidly firing questions at us. Natalie and I take turns answering them. She doesn’t know anything about Rick’s medical history but knows some family stuff from reading her own file as a child. Her social worker apparently filled in her family medical history, and she memorized it. She’s a very clever woman. I never even thought of doing anything like that when I was in care.
When we’re done, I give the woman his insurance information. Then Natalie and I move to the far side of the room to sit with my club brothers.
“Any news on Rick?” I ask calmly as we drop down onto a settee together.
Rigs answers, “No. Patch sent word that the operation was going well and for us to sit tight and he’d keep us updated.”
Siege asks, “Do we know what happened?”
Glancing at me, Rage answers, “Yeah, we sure the hell do.” Jerking his chin at me, he says, “Tell them, Bear.”
“It looks like his brake line was cut,” I tell him. “It was a clean horizontal cut. I took pictures of it on my cell phone. I zoomed out on his bike and captured a few more images.” Pulling out my phone, I pull up the images for Siege to see. “I also got some video footage of the crowd in case whoever did this lingered around like the sick twisted fucks they are.”
My throat tightens, as I realize that Natalie is staring at the images as well. That’s when I realize that I’ve stopped the camera roll on a big red wet patch on the pavement with Rick’s smashed up helmet rolled off to the side.
One trembling hand reaches out to tug the phone from my hand.
“He was wearing that half helmet he likes so much, wasn’t he?”
