Page 61 of A Love So Hard

“Yeah, he is,” I mentioned as I watched Crow chew on the straw that had come in his drink. He had been sober the past eight months. His woman convinced him he’d be a better person if he weren’t drinking constantly. In all the years I’d known Crow, been his brother, I had missed seeing that the man had indeed become an alcoholic. Sure, he was a functioning one, but only just. His personality was so much lighter now. Granted, being around him in the beginning wasn’t a chore any of us wanted to undertake. He was sick, made the word grouchy sound like rainbows and unicorns, and he lashed out like a motherfucker at anyone who touched a drop of liquor or beer where he could see them do it.

Out of respect, I still didn’t drink around him, but the other men of the club had slowly laxed and he had gotten control over himself and his addiction enough to handle that shit. “Hmm,” Merc hummed as he flashed his cards. He had three of a kind and they were fucking Aces. I narrowed my eyes on him as Crow threw his hand down grumbling about Merc being a cheating bastard.

“What was the ‘hmm,” for?” I asked Merc.

He brought his eyes up to me and then grinned. “I wonder what it’s going to be like to watch you be a grandpa.” That brought me up straight in my seat.

“A what now?” My phone was in my hand, our previous conversation forgotten. When Merc realized exactly whom I was calling he slammed his hand down on my phone before I could hit the call button. “What the fuck?”

“Not them, idiot!” He laughed as he said it. “Your boy is bringing his woman home, for the first time since they got together which has been a long while in the making. She was special enough that he kept her separate from everything here this long. Now, he’s headed to your place to set up a surprise for his mom? As if bringing a regular woman home wasn’t enough? I bet you twice that damn jackpot they’re popping a baby on you.”

I sat staring at my best friend and taking it all in. “My boy, a dad?” I asked suddenly.

Merc chuckled again. “Thought mine would be the first to give one of us a grandkid.” I frowned at my brother then. “Calm your tits, asshole. I meant J-Bird, not Deck. Although,” he added to torment me, “he is married now. I’m surprised there hasn’t been an announcement from them too.”

“Fuck you! My little girl is too young for a baby.”

“They’ve been married going on a year now,” he informed me like I wasn’t aware of that.

“And I like to think they’re still being chaste about it. Pretty sure they’re waiting until she’s 21 at least before they even think about…”

All of the men in the vicinity started laughing their asses off. “Keep telling yourself that, Papa Bear,” Crow cried out through his own laughter. Then he turned his attention to Merc. “I think you’re right. Sounds like baby news is happening.”

“Well shit!” I finally grinned thinking about how my son was going to do this dad business way better than I ever did, and he’d be there with his woman from the beginning. He was already getting a better start than I had. “Lucy’s going to be beside herself once she gets over being mad for finding out on the day she meets the girl.”

“Yeah, T-Bone didn’t think that shit through, did he?” Sandman added his two cents from where he was sitting on a couch just off to our left. He had one of the newer club whores on his lap. I rolled my eyes at him. I thought he would have finally gotten shy of that shit and started looking for a woman since he had so obviously been craving the steadiness of a good woman. I wondered what kept him from seeking it out instead of diving into the easy pussy at the club all the time.

My phone started vibrating under my hand and I glanced down to see the hospital’s number flash across it. “Lucy must have forgotten her phone again,” I offered up with a grin plastered on my face as I answered. “What’s up, babe?”

“Um, I’m sorry, this is Chandra Ellington from the Medical University’s Emergency Room,” she offered.

“You reached Charles Brothers,” I called back to her.

“Sir, there’s been an accident.”

“Lucy?” I questioned immediately coming to my feet. The men around me responded likewise, picking up on my elevated tension.

“We have a Tobias Brothers here,” she stated and my stomach dropped out from under me. He should have been at my house setting up a surprise for his mom. “He’s been in a an accident involving a motorcycle. He and the young lady that was with him were brought in. The police are here waiting to question them as well,” she hinted. “We need you to come down and give permission for care.”

“My wife is there, in the hospital now. Have her paged. I’ll be there as soon as I can get there. What the fuck happened that the police are on standby?”

“I’m not sure. It’s not something your son did though. I know that much. They’re here because witnesses said the accident wasn’t an accident.”

“What did you just say?”

“Someone did this on purpose,” she explained. “That’s all I know, Mr. Brothers.” The line went quiet for a moment before her voice, much smaller now, came back. “You should get here as quickly as you can.” I hung up and was moving out the door. Didn’t bother to say a word to any of my brothers. I vaguely heard them calling out to me as I fired up my bike and took the fuck off for the hospital. I needed to get there quick like. I couldn’t leave Lucy there to deal with this on her own.

By the time I showed up Ever and Deck were on their way inside as well. “Dad,” she called when she saw me. “What’s going on? Mom called crying, said to get here. I thought,” she choked back her emotion as I watched Deck pull her closer. “I thought something had happened to you.”

“Toby’s here. He was in an accident.

“No!” She cried out. Nothing else was said as we made our way inside and to the nurse’s station.

“Toby Brothers,” I called out to the nurse sitting behind the desk. Suddenly, Lucy was there by my side.

“Come on,” she grabbed my hand and pulled me through the double doors that led back to the treatment rooms. “He’s in surgery right now, but they set up a room for us to wait in back here,” my wife told me. We moved through and along the way Ever stopped.

“Gretchen?” She called out as we were passing one of the treatment areas closed off by just a curtain that hadn’t been fully closed.

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