He nodded and I left the office to find Wolf.
Locating him in the clubhouse bar, I took the seat across from him. His exhaustion had set in harder than when I’d seen him this morning. Grief was strangling him in much the same way regret had its claws in me. That it had taken Lily to make me open my fucking eyes weighed heavy on my mind. I’d sworn I wouldn’t make this kind of mistake again after I’d let Nitro down, and here I was, repeating fucking history.
Wolf lifted his chin in greeting and murmured, “King,” as I sat.
“You’ve got a flight to catch in two hours. Nash will take you to the airport.”
His brows pulled together. “What’s going on?”
“Kick will be waiting for you in Sydney when you arrive. He’ll drive you down to Wollongong where Cherie and the kids are with her parents.” I slowed my words as I said with determination, “I want you to take some time off and spend it with your family. I also want you to find someone to talk to about your father. The club will pay for whatever you need.”
What I said irked him and he fired up. “I don’t fucking need to talk to someone, King. This isn’t shit that’ll be fixed after I tell someone how I fucking feel. And I sure as fuck don’t need time off.”
“Yeah, you do, Wolf. And you’re not coming back until I say.” I stood. “I’ll make sure your bike makes it home safely.”
As I headed out of the bar to look for Hyde, Lily sent me a text.
Lily: This wedding can’t happen on Saturday.
Me: Why not?
Lily: No dress, no location and it’s fucking flooding.
Me: You sort the dress. Leave the rest with me. This wedding is happening this weekend.
Lily: You are the most difficult and painful man I know.
I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I checked the weather forecast on my phone. Turned out she was right about the flooding. Parts of Sydney were going under, as were parts of the coast road.
“Hey.” I glanced up at Hyde’s voice. “I heard that Havoc found our guy. You ready to take care of him so we can get the fuck home before this rain closes the road between here and Sydney?”
Another text came through.
Lily: Seriously, check the bloody weather, King! Even you can’t control that.
“Fuck,” I muttered, looking at Hyde. “Does Monroe give you grief over shit that doesn’t need worrying over?”
His mouth curled up in the kind of grin I never saw on Hyde’s face. “Fuck me dead. Never thought I’d see the day you bitched about a woman.”
Nitro joined us, looking as ready for blood as I felt. “We leaving now?”
Hyde shifted his attention to Nitro. “Yeah. King’s just dealing with a situation at home first.”
“What kind of situation?” Nitro asked.
I rubbed the back of my neck and stretched it. “The kind that gives me headaches.”
Another text.
Lily: King! Are you even reading my texts? I’m about to cancel the wedding FYI.
I worked my jaw. “Gimme a minute,” I said before stepping aside to call Lily.
She answered as fast as I hit the phone to dial her. “Did you check the forecast?”
“Yeah, I checked it. The rain’ll be gone by the weekend.”
“You’re making shit up, King. There’s no way you know that.”