“What’re you doing?” I asked groggily.
“Commemorating Rebel’s first successful surgery,” Mel said, smiling.
“Only surgery,” I corrected.
“Of course.”
“Look at me,” my dad ordered. When I looked up, he took a photo, too. I groaned as the flash burned my eyes.
“Whoops,” he said, messing with his phone.
“Jesus, Gramps,” Mel teased. “I think it’s bright enough in here without the flash.”
“Oh, now I’m a grandpa?” my dad said drolly. “Not ten minutes ago you were—”
“Stop right there,” I snapped, lifting my head off the bed. “I can’t deal with any more bullshit today.”
Mel snorted loudly and Reb jerked awake.
“Finally,” I said, smiling down at my bleary-eyed baby. “Good morning, sunshine. Did you have a good nap?”
She looked at me for only a second before her eyes shot down to the IV in her arm, and before I could stop her, she’d ripped it out and was howling in pain.
“Shit!” I hissed, scrambling up to my knees.
“We need a nurse!” Mel yelled into the hallway as I gripped Reb’s arm, my thumb putting light pressure on the IV site.
“I am a fucking nurse,” I mumbled as Jan came running into the room. “I knew something like this was going to happen.”
Chapter 12
Will
By the time we’d pulled onto club grounds Saturday morning, I was a fucking nervous wreck. Molly had called and texted when we were on the road to Montana, but I hadn’t heard a word from her since. I had no idea how Reb’s surgery had gone and it was driving me insane.
I wasn’t going to call Molly. I’d already decided that when I left Tuesday morning. Nothing could come of it. She brought up too much old shit, made me feel like I was being pulled in too many different directions. With her apathy for the club, there was no way we could have worked long term. It was better that I’d made a clean break.
“Hey,” Dragon’s teenage son, Leo, called as we shut off our bikes. He was underneath one of the picnic tables out front messing with the joints.
“Whatcha doin’?” Cam called, doing a squat to stretch his knees. It had been a long day.
“Tightenin’ up these tables,” he called back. “Lil sat on one earlier and it was so fuckin’ wobbly, she almost ended up on her ass.”
“Good man,” Samson said, kicking Leo’s boot as we passed him.
“Your sister here?” Cam asked.
“Nah, she’s at your house with the boys.”
We filed into the clubhouse, and I immediately started rubbing my hands together, trying to get some warmth into them. It had been a cold and miserable ride back from Montana. Some places we rode though had fucking snow.
“Hey, son,” my dad said, coming up behind me as I headed for the coffee maker. Since it was Saturday and the weather was shit, there were a ton of people crowded in around us. Men were bullshitting, playing pool, and it looked like someone had started up a poker game in the corner. They were going to wish they hadn’t once Samson realized they were there and sat down with them.
“Hey, Dad,” I said, giving him a nod as I grabbed a cup of coffee from some woman playing bartender. She must have been new because I’d never seen her before. Long, light brown hair brushed her tits as she moved, and my eyes got caught for a second before I turned away.
“Everything good?” Dad asked, leaning against the bar next to me.
“Yep, they thought we were nuts for ridin’ up. They had no plans on working with the Russians to begin with,” I scoffed. Dad probably already knew that since we’d been in constant contact with him since we’d left town. It still irritated the fuck out of me, though. It had been a completely useless trip. “How’s Rock?”
“He’s fine.” Dad motioned with his head toward the corner, where Rock was hanging with Mel. Ah, Christ. “He’s been giving names to Duncan as he remembers, but it’s takin’ longer than they thought.”
“Why?”
“Because it was his damn wedding. He was plastered and eager to fuck his wife, so he’s havin’ a hard time rememberin’ everyone who was there,” Dad said with a grimace.
“You think he’s draggin’ his feet?”
“Nah, I think he just wants to make sure he doesn’t leave anyone out, since his deal with them depends on the names he gives.”
“Makes sense,” I mumbled.
“How’s your girl’s baby doin’?” Dad asked, making me jerk in surprise.
“Don’t know,” I said, taking a long pull of my coffee and burning the shit out of my mouth.
“You don’t know?”
“That’s over.” I froze when Dad grimaced and shook his head. “What?”
“Your ma took over a couple of Rosie’s old dolls this mornin’,” he said with a huff.
“Fucking fantastic,” I hissed, running a hand over my face. “And?”
“Far as I know, Molly didn’t say anything. She just thanked your ma, gave her some coffee and that was it.”