"I'll be on the streets looking for my brother," Cash insisted.
"Nope. Next in command. Gotta stay here."
"In the glass room, if possible," Lo agreed. "Look, I get it, babe," she said, rubbing her husband's shoulder. "You want to help. But you're important to the club. You know all the things that no one else knows right now. You need to stay here and keep safe. In case the club needs you."
In case Reign was dead.
That was what she was saying.
"If this was your crew, you would be on the streets."
"I have Chris to run Hailstorm. I've already trained her, taught her everything she would need to know to keep it going. You are that for this MC. Like it or not, you have to stay safe. If Reign isn't around, and something happens to you, this MC dies. All these men, their women, and their children, will be left hanging. Assign your teams. Then get up into the glass room where you will be safe. If you don't, I will have Wolf knock you out and drag you up there," she added, smiling sweetly.
Cash knew those weren't idle threats, either. His wife would make that happen, and his good friend would deliver the blow.
After Liv showed up and some talking was done, Cash wrote down his teams to assemble once they all got back.
"Colson, you're going to stay here," Cash said, and I had to pretend those words didn't sting my pride a little bit. Sure, I had never been the one chomping at the bit to get into dangerous situations, but I was capable of it if it became necessary.
"I can go."
"I know you can," Cash agreed, nodding. "But you're the only one here who doesn't have a partner at home for their kid. And I need someone level-headed here to balance out West."
That was fair.
West was staying because the Florida chapter was coming up, and he knew them the best.
So he was pairing that unknown crew with me, Reeve, and Lazarus to even everything out.
"Okay. I can do that."
"And keep an eye on the prospects. Fallon, Finn, and Malc will likely be looking for Reign, but I want to keep Brooks and Tyler here."
"Got it. Don't worry about them."
"I'm hoping this is all an overreaction, that Reign just fell off the map for a day. Though, even as I'm saying it, I know that isn't what happened. That isn't how my brother operates."
"No," I agreed, "it's not."
"Fuck," Cash said, raking a hand down the side of his head, looking like he could use a drink.
"I will come and update you every hour," I told him, reaching to grab a bottle of whiskey to hand to him. "I'm sure everyone else will be texting in as they move around."
"Alright. Fuck," he said, turning to walk away, then stopping. "We have to find him."
"We will," I told him, voice firm, because I knew he needed it.
He might have been the temporary president, but his brother was missing; he needed to hear someone tell him everything was going to work out.
And, quite frankly, I needed to hear those words spoken as well.
Reign had, for all of us, been a sort of big brother, if not an outright father figure. He was the stability so many of us were seeking.
Him being gone was like the world was thrown off its axis.
We had to find him to make things right again.
Grabbing a gun, I moved out into the yard, watching as men came and got their orders, got into groups, then headed off again, faces grim, eyes determined.
If anyone had a chance of finding Reign, it was the men whose lives would have been completely different without him, who never would have met their women, never would have had their children.
Left behind, my thoughts roamed.
My life would have been very different without Reign and the family he had created as well.
Freddie might have been back in jail.
Jelena wouldn't have the security I always wanted to give to her.
I would have been toiling away at a job where no one appreciated me.
He'd given a lot to me, even if I couldn't credit him for Jelly, or a woman.
The night dragged on with no answers, my phone beeping constantly with updates that had nothing good to report.
I was reaching for it yet again when I saw a name I hadn't expected on the screen.
Eva.- Would I be a terrible parent if I chained my child to the bed so I don't have to worry when I go to work? lolI shouldn't have answered.
I knew what was going on.
I might have been out of practice.
But I knew mutual attraction when I experienced it.
And absolutely everything about this—her proximity, the timing, the complication of both being single parents—spelled out this being a bad idea.
But my fingers moved to respond immediately.