She heads down the corridor where we were brought in not that long ago from the house explosion.She stops and speaks with a man in a white coat, and I recognize him as Allison’s brother, Ian, who is a doctor here.The nurse points over our way, and he looks up seeing us standing there.Just as he is about to take a step towards us, the side door opens up bouncing off the wall and Melissa comes running.
“Where is he?Where’s my boy?”she starts looking in the cubicles franticly.
Stone sees her and rushes over to where she’s looking.She sees him coming and trains her focus on Prez.
“I got a text about Rocky.What happened?Is he okay?”she says in a rush, holding onto Stone’s upper arms.
Blaze and Allison come barreling through the emergency doors, flying past the help desk.
“What did they say?”Blaze rushes over.
Ian heads our direction, a solemn expression on his face.
“Ian!”Allison sees him, her face wet and blotchy from crying, her voice hoarse from screaming.She’s still covered in Rocky’s blood.“Did you see him?What did they say?”You can hear the pleading in her voice for him to say the magical words that we all want to hear, but I know what he’s about to tell the family.I saw that the life was gone out of Rocky’s eyes when he was laying on the street.
“I’m so sorry, we did everything?—”
“NOOOOOO!”
The wail from Melissa could shatter the glass in the entire building.You can hear her heart breaking as she crumbles to the ground.Stone and Blaze both grab her before she hits the floor.Ian wraps his arms around his sister as she sobs.Chains, Bull, and I form a wall around the family to let them have their moment with the news that we all just received.My throat burns with emotion for our fallen brother, and I can see both Bull and Chains holding back theirs too.
Rocky was such a big part of our MC here in Sweetwater.He may not have been able to ride along side with us, but he was always willing to help around the club and did everything he was asked.He didn’t let his condition slow him down, and I respected the hell out of that.
Ian nods towards a room across the way as he picks up his sister.Stone notices and does the same for a distraught Melissa.The room is labeled ‘families’ but is thankfully empty.Chains and Bull stay outside the door blocking anyone from entering.Once they get the women to take a seat, I walk two boxes of tissues over to them.
“I don’t understand,” Melissa sobs, trying to wipe the flood of tears flowing out of her eyes.“He said he was helping watch over the construction.I dropped him off this morning at your house, someone explain this to me.”She looks over at Blaze.
We all live within two to three streets of each other.The neighborhood is great and safe… or was until recently.
The door opens with a bang and Crusher comes in without his wheelchair.He’s wobbly, but looking frantic as he comes in.He looks to Stone after seeing the state of Melissa.Stone looks down at the floor to hide his tear-filled eyes then shakes his head.
Crusher sucks in a breath.“What happened?”
Melissa notices her husband and jumps up from her chair, throwing herself at him.He catches her, pulling her into his chest as she falls apart once again.She’s muttering something, but I can’t make out what she’s saying to him.He quickly finds a chair and sits down with her in his lap.
“Melissa dropped off Rocky this morning at our house.He and Annie ate breakfast together and hung out for a bit before he said he was going down to his house.Said that he had to keep an eye on things for the club,” Blaze tells his dad.
“I-I came back from dropping Annie off at school.I’d stopped at the coffee shop to get something for me and Rocky,” Allison chimes in, barely able to speak without weeping after every word.“We-we love their lattes so I grabbed him one and his favorite cookie and stopped and handed it to him on my way back home.”She sniffs then wipes her face with a tissue.“He was out on the front lawn when I stopped.We spoke for a few minutes, drinking our coffee, and then I headed down to the house.”
Blaze pulls Allison into his lap.“I was off today, working on my bike in the back when I heard the gunshots,” he tells his dad.“It sounded close so I ran inside to grab my piece and told Allison to lock herself in the bedroom.”He takes a deep breath.“I saw someone on the ground, but didn’t know who it was until I got closer.”Blaze starts shaking his head as if to try to rid himself from the images of his little brother.“He was gasping—” he chokes on the words and buries his face in his wife’s neck.
“I can take you to him if you’d like to see him,” Ian offers.I forgot he was even in the room.
“Show me,” Crusher commands.
We follow Ian down the hall through a set of heavy doors.There’s a room labeled ‘viewing,’ and Ian steps in holding the door for everyone to enter.I stay outside with Bull and Chains to give the family a moment alone.The sounds of crying and sobbing can be heard through the wall, and my heart starts to hurt.We’ve lost men before, but this one is different.Rocky was everyone’s little brother and a great person.This is going to leave a huge hole in our family for years to come.
Ian steps out and closes the door behind him.
“I’m really sorry about Rocky,” he says, and I can hear the tremble in his voice.“I promise I tried everything when they brought him in.”
I slap a hand on the top of his shoulder to try to give him comfort I don’t honestly have at the moment.
“We appreciate what you did,” Bull steps up and says what I can’t.
“I’m going to give them a few minutes.The police are going to want to have an autopsy performed, but I thought Melissa and the guys wouldn’t want to see him like that after the procedure is done,” Ian says.“I don’t know if you’ve told Raegan yet, but I saw her in the cafeteria this morning grabbing some snacks.”
“Oh fuck, I don’t think Stone’s thought about her with everything’s that happened,” I say beating myself up about not remembering her.
