T he next day when I was in my dad’s old office working, I wouldn’t allow myself to think about Stone. I didn’t want to think about him being in the clubhouse only a short distance away. Even if he was there, what did it matter anyway. He had made it clear nothing would happen, and I was OK with that because I didn’t want anything to happen anyway .

My dad barged into the room swinging the door open roughly. He looked panicked. He started walking around the room as if he was looking for something but he wasn’t sure where to look .

“Dad? Are you OK?” I asked standing up .

“Get Memorial on the phone!” he shouted as he started rifling through a stack of papers .

“Oh my God, you’re scaring me… what’s going on?” I said looking up the hospital’s phone number on the internet. I grabbed my cell phone and tapped in the number as quickly as my fingers would go .

“It’s Stone. Something fucking went wrong,” he said ripping the phone out of my hand .

My heart sank into my stomach and my mind started to go through all the things that could have gone wrong. Was he OK? Was he alive? Oh my God, what if he was dead? I didn’t want a relationship with him, but I didn’t want him dead. I didn’t want anyone in the club dead .

My dad started shouting into the phone at whoever was on the other end. He scribbled down some information and handed the phone back. I followed him through the house. He poked his head in and out of rooms and when he found my mom he grabbed her. My dad probably carried her through the house while he attempted to tell her what he knew, which didn’t seem to be much .

“I’m coming along,” I said hoping they wouldn’t question me as to why I cared. I thought they rub my disdain for all things club related in my face, but they didn’t bother. They were too worried to care .

My dad sped through the streets and we drove in silence all the way to the hospital. I heard my mom clicking her fingernails together, so I knew she was worried sick about Stone .

My dad was recklessly weaving in and out of traffic so dangerously that I was surprised we hadn’t gotten pulled over at least once by the time we had gotten to the hospital. But then again my dad had a special relationship with the sheriff. There were probably several things he’d look the other way for, even though they might have had to pull him over just for appearances .

There were officers on the force that wouldn’t look the other way, but thankfully we hadn’t run into any of those. I took in a deep breath as my dad haphazardly pulled into a parking spot .

I’ve known for about as long as Stone has been involved with the MC that he didn’t have any living relatives, at least none that he spoke to. So it would just be the club at the hospital, but as far as they were concerned they were his family .

When we got inside several club members greeted us in the lobby. They hopped to their feet the second my dad made his grand entrance .

“Where is he? Is he OK?” my dad bellowed as if he was the only one in the hospital with someone in rough shape. Everyone in the waiting room and behind the reception desks looked at him .

Pike stood next to my dad as we walked down the hallway. He shook his head and tried to say something but nothing came out .

Stone and Pike had been close friend for as long as I could remember. I didn’t know Pike’s real name, but they had been prospects at roughly the same time. If I remembered correctly, they had been friends long before they were part of the MC .

Rager and Dust joined our little circle, and they didn’t look they wanted to talk either. Rager was shaking his head. He was a forty-fire year old man with thick-framed glasses and he looked as tough as nails, but even he seemed torn up .

I was about to freak out. What was going on? If he wasn’t OK someone should tell us. Rager looked at me as if he was confused about my presence but spoke to my dad anyway .

“They haven’t told us anything yet, man,” Rager said glancing at the receptionist briefly. “The ladies over there say the doctors will talk to family as soon as they can. Which I think means they won’t tell us anything .”

My dad looked around the waiting room as if he was doing roll call, “Where’s Stretch ?”

“We don’t know,” Rager said after a long pause. “Hoping Stone will know .”

“You know he was out there with him right?” my dad said the frustration and fear obvious in his tone. I could only guess he was worried about why only one of his men came back. And he came back via trip to the hospital. Hell, no one even knew if he was OK yet .

If either Stretch or Stone was dead, there would be a club war. There was no doubt about that .

“We know,” Dust said rubbing at his nose. Dust was the member I’d overheard my parents talking about. He was working on getting himself clean. My dad even footed the bill for one of his stints in rehab .

It works for awhile, but then Dust always seems to fall back into his old ways. Especially in times of stress. I wondered if this was one of those times .

“See if you can get in touch with Stretch. If you can’t, I want you and Dust to go and see what you can find out. Stay out of trouble and stay away from The Henchmen,” my dad said pointing his finger at them. “Don’t come back until you have something for me. Go !”

“Yes, sir,” Dust said yanking Rager’s leather jacket. I hope that they were going to take one of the club’s cars so that Dust wouldn’t be out riding his bike. Last thing the club needed right now was Dust getting into an accident when he was strung out .

After about ten minutes of pacing back and forth, my dad finally sat down next to my mom. She took his hand into her and rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb .

I grabbed a magazine, but I couldn’t read it. My fingers flipped at the pages as I glanced at the pictures. I was basically just going through the motions since I was too worried something was wrong .

My dad had gone up to the nurse’s station so many times that the last time they spoke to him, three nurses gathered together, and told him if they heard anything they promised he’d be the first to know. He practically growled at them before he hit the desk and walked away .

They probably had experience in dealing with my dad. This wasn’t the first time he’s had to come in because someone from the club was being treated. They were fully aware of the fact that he was the president of the well-known Brother’s Rebellion MC in Greenwood Pass. Everyone knew my dad even though many wished they hadn’t .

With all the ‘injuries’ and ‘accidents’ the club has had over the years the nurses were probably on a first name basis with my dad. But this time since he was close to Stone, it was different. And the nurses seemed to realize that .

“Mr. Vincent?” a man wearing blue scrubs said as he walked towards my father. I was pretty sure he must have been the doctor that had been treating Stone. He shook my dad’s hand. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out that they had worked together outside of office hours if a club member got hurt and they didn’t want anyone to find out about it .

“Yes. Tell me doc, just tell me straight,” my dad said standing next to him as he towered over the doctor by nearly a full foot .

“Come,” the doctor said leading us out of the waiting room. He didn’t even question who I was or try to stop me from following along. It was OK with the doctor if it was OK with my dad .