I think that was why Reign would sometimes throw the jobs at me that no one else wanted. Cutting down trees that were dead in the yard, cleaning the gutters, organizing the supply closet in the basement.
I tried to tell myself that it made me an equal. But, clearly, these guys had stayed the night, had put their heads together, had done the work. While I sat my ass at home.
"You figure shit out with Jelly?" Virgin, my sister's man, asked.
"She called to talk to Freddie?" I asked, sighing.
"Freddie agreed with you about special circumstances when it came to the babysitter situation," he told me, shrugging. "But if you ever need her, you know Freddie is around."
"Alright," a female voice said, making us all turn to find Summer standing in the doorway, the sun making her red hair look like it was on fire. "Where is he?"
"Where's who?" Edison asked in that growling voice of his.
"My husband. Your president? Where the hell is he? I've been calling, but you know how he is about that phone if no one reminds him to charge it."
"Reign went home," Sugar said, stiffening in his seat. "Around midnight last night."
"Well, seeing as I was home around midnight last night, and he didn't come home, no he didn't. You're sure he's not sleeping it off in his room?" she asked, already moving toward the hallway to go check, still light, calm.
While everyone else was moving to stand, shoulders getting tight.
Reign didn't just disappear.
He never took off without telling someone.
"Call Cash and Wolf," Pagan demanded, nodding toward West who got up, moving outside to do just that.
"You're right," Summer said, coming back into the common area, eyes getting big, jaw going tight.
"Maybe he had bike trouble on the way home," Roan suggested.
"I came from home. I didn't see him."
"Accident?" Virgin asked, the only one with the balls to suggest it to his wife. "Did you see any debris on the road?"
"No. And, I mean, the hospital would have called. Unless, I don't know. Unless he got driven off the road? Is in the woods. Oh, God."
"I'm on it," Edison said, already making a beeline for the front door.
"I'll call around to the hospitals," I offered, reaching for my phone.
"What if he's not in the woods? And he's not in the hospital?" Summer asked, looking over at Lazarus who had been silent so far.
"Let's not go there yet," he said, but I could see him swiping through his contact to find Lo's number.
Because if Reign was not in the woods and not in the hospital and not at home or in the clubhouse, something had to be wrong.
"What's going on?" Fallon asked, moving in from the backyard, picking up on the tension in the air immediately.
Summer's gaze went to her son, shaking her head. "I don't know. Dad never came home last night. And no one has seen him. Fallon—" she called when he threw the door open again and disappeared.
"He's just going to look. Which we are going to all do," Lazarus said, trying to be a calming voice of reason. "We are going to call everyone in, and then we are going to go look. Maybe you should call Ferryn?" he suggested.
"Right," Summer agreed, already reaching for her phone.
Over the next twenty minutes, the men filed in. Cash, uncharacteristically serious, barking orders out as the other men showed up. Because in Reign's absence, Cash was in charge. It wasn't a role he necessarily was made for, but when the situation called for it, he got the job done.
"Nothing," I told Cash as he moved in beside me, looking down at the list of hospitals I had called. All of them in the area plus the two closest trauma centers. No one had anyone matching Reign's description.
"Shit," he hissed, raking a hand down the side of his head, an old tic from back when he had long hair on one side.
"Hey, Cash," West said, moving in at his side. "Florida is on their way up. They want to be here in case we need a hand with anything."
"Yeah, good," Cash said, only half paying attention. "Tell them we'd be happy for their help."
"What are you thinking?" Repo asked, moving in.
"I'm thinking we need to send the wives and kids to Hailstorm. At least until we know something."
"Right," West said, nodding. "I will get Gus to tell everyone. And have Chris arrange it."
"Jelly," Cash said, looking over at me.
"In school right now," I reminded him. "Armed guards at the gates. She's fine for now. Freddie can bring her up to Hailstorm later."
"Okay. Good. Shit. Where's that list?" he asked. "We need to go through it and figure out who could possibly have the balls to take Reign."
"Why don't you just let me take care of them all?" Janie asked a few moments later as we were all trying to decide who could possibly stand to gain something by going to war with the entire club.