Ice was murmuring something, and then other voices joined him. It was all just muffled noise to me, but Reacher yelled out for silence, and it fell like it always did when he spoke.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Rocket. We’re on our way, but it’ll take us a while. In the meantime, reach out to Micro, and get more brothers there immediately. Be discreet, but don’t let those two fuckers get away. You hear me? As soon as they arrive, get Has out of there, by any means necessary. Tell Micro we need somewhere nearby for interrogation and retribution.”
Fuck me. What did these fuckers do? I agreed and ended the call, casting my eyes once more over my tormented brother. He was visibly trembling, and his fist was wrapped so tightly around his beer that I feared he’d shatter the bottle, but something told me not to touch him. Not right now.
Micro answered the phone, and I turned my focus back to the task at hand.
“Pres?”
“You okay, brother?”
“No.”
I briefly explained what was happening, and Micro confirmed he’d be there with others asap, so all I had to do now was keep Has from losing his shit, and stop those two fuckers if they tried to leave. Easy, right? I tucked my phone back in my pocket and tried to angle myself so Has was looking at me and not them. It wasn’t much, and my ugly mug sure as hell wasn’t about to save lives, but if it broke their hold on him, at least for now, I wanted that for him. Whatever they’d done to him had to be fucking awful for it to have done this to him.
“Brother, can you hear me?”
Has swallowed hard, his eyes almost watering with the effort to keep them open, and focused, but on what, I had no idea. Nixie moved in my lap, whining a little like she did when she first woke, and I did the first thing that occurred to me. I liftedher over the table, and set her on Has’ lap, hoping to fuck that he wouldn’t move and drop her, or something. She moved around to climb up his chest, and then her little teeth were tugging at his shirt, like she could tell he was distressed, like she could feel his pain.
A ragged breath left his chest, and his hands twitched, knocking the beer over as he forced his hand away from it. I caught it and moved it aside, and watched, with the most extreme relief, as he looped one hand over Nixie’s back and cupped her against him.
“Fuck,”he finally breathed out, almost silently.
“It’s okay, brother. Help is on the way. It’s in hand.” I didn’t say more, because I had no fucking clue what was happening, but he blinked a few times and looked down at Nixie, releasing another ragged breath, and then another.
“I… fuck…”
“Just breathe, man. I have no idea who they are or what they did, but retribution is coming, yeah? We’ve got you.” The night had started about me and my petty problems, but things had evolved now, because Has deserved my support, and he’d get it. Whatever the hell I had going on clearly paled in comparison to his situation, because I’d never seen him like this. I never wanted to see him like this ever again.
“Jesus. I feel… I need…”
“Just hold Nixie, brother. Let her soothe you.”
“There you are! I brought Nixie’s things for you.” V had appeared beside our table, her eyes landing straight on the traumatised man holding my baby girl, while I wondered how the fuck to get her out of here without offending her. I wanted her nowhere near those fuckers and whatever they were capable of, because if they could reduce a man like Has to stone, I didn’t like the idea of them even breathing her air.
My phone kept buzzing, so I dug it out again to check it, in case it was updates from Micro or Reacher.
CallToArms: Brother in distress. All brothers to location below. ASAP.
It was followed by the address of this bar. Fuck. Shit was hitting the fan big time.
There was a separate message from Ice letting me know that they were enroute, and that a location had been confirmed already. An hour ago I’d felt like we weren’t all connected anymore, like this brotherhood was fragmented, and I’d lost what I thought I had. Even though this wasn’t about me, seeing us all come together like this, at a moment’s notice, was a huge reminder that I was full of shit. Maybe it was time to get my head out of my ass, because clearly there was worse shit going on than my issues.
“V, thanks for bringing Nixie’s stuff, but something’s going down, and I don’t think you wanna be near it.”
She glared in my general direction, but her focus was mainly on the stranger holding Nixie. Why was it bothering me that her eyes were on him, and not me? He needed support right now, and I didn’t. Has was the important one here.
“Don’t even try, Rocket. Clearly something bad has already happened here, and I think I’m needed.”
Has groaned, snuggling Nixie against his chest, and ignoring both of us. Wherever he was right now, at least he seemed to be suffering less.
“Is he okay?” V asked me in a hushed tone, as she leaned in close beside me. Fuck me, she smelled like oranges or something. A citrusy perfume that made me want to lick her cheek to see if she tasted like it too. Fuck my brain.
“No, he isn’t.”
She leaned closer, and fuck me, if she fell on me, I’d react like I was getting a lapdance, because I fucking wanted her. This was not the damn time though, and she’d probably slap me. Not that I wouldn’t be into that, but Has had to be our priority.
“The club are on the way,” I murmured to Has as he shuddered again and held Nixie closer. Focus on him. Keep my fucking eyes on him, not her.
