Page 2 of Protector

“A camper?” Slim asked, his lip twitching as it curved up into a smirk. “You’re tellin’ me that you’re going to willingly put yourself in a small space with your Ol’ Lady and two daughters for an undetermined amount of time? Shit, Grey, you’re takin’ more risks now than you ever did as Pres.”

Bear cracked a smile. “What I’m about to do is a piece of fuckin’ cake compared to that shit. Thanks for the pep talk, Grey. I needed it.”

I climbed off the stool, stumbling slightly as I straightened. “Yeah? Well, fuck you two. I’m gonna sleep this off and get on the road—”

“Who the fuck is this?” Wolverine snapped, bolting up on the couch across the room, cell phone pressed firmly to the side of his face. His long hair poked out like spikes from where he’d been laying on it.

“Fuck me, I thought he left hours ago.” Bear propped his arm under his head, watching the old man with amusement. “Didn’t he say that he was out?”

I shook my head with a sigh and leaned against the bar for support. “You know him; never—”

“Where are they right now?” Wolverine growled before looking around the clubhouse. When his eyes landed on me, a cold chill ran the length of my spine.

Something was wrong.

Shit had gone south for someone within the club, meaning I wasn’t going to be getting home as quickly as I’d planned.

“You listen to me—take them to breakfast and—no, dammit, you can’t fuckin’ stay there. Do you want them seein’ that?”

“Looks like someone didn’t get the memo that Wolverine ain’t a mornin’ person.”

When Slim made no move to hand over the bottle clutched in his fist, Bear hopped off his stool and walked around the back of the bar, whistling loudly.

I opened my mouth just as Slim snapped, “Shut the fuck up, Bear.”

I glanced back and saw that the smile was gone from his face. “You heard from Comedian?”

He nodded. “About two hours ago. That ain’t him.”

“How much blood?” Wolverine pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned over. “Fuck!”

“Somethin’ happen with his boys?” I quietly asked.

Slim shook his head, watching Wolverine intently. “Kids are home for Thanksgiving break. Lucy’s had them on a tight leash with family activities. Besides, he would’ve recognized the number. Bear, you checked in with Molly?”

“Yeah, talked to her right before she fell asleep.” He paused before screwing the lid back onto the bottle of whiskey and replacing it on the shelf. “The fuck’s goin’ on?”

“Who would be callin’ this early that he didn’t have a number for?” Slim left the question dangling in the air.

The liquor soured in my gut when Wolverine jumped up and began pacing, never once taking his eyes off of mine. “You get them as far away from this as possible, you hear me—I know what it fuckin’ looks like!”

In just a few short hours, I was turning over the entire club to Bear. By all rights, none of it was my problem anymore. I knew better than to involve myself, but that didn’t stop me from pushing off the bar and stalking over to him.

Wolverine lowered the phone and ran a hand over his face. “Jesus, fuck—”

“Give it to me.”

“Jamie…” He mashed his lips together and swallowed. “You need to get home.”

“I ain’t leavin’ you to ride on your own. I’ll stay for whatever the fuck you need me to do—”

The phone fell from his hand, and I saw something I’d never seen before in his eyes—dread.

Wolverine had faced other clubs and done time with little to no emotion. Whatever had happened was worse than anything we’d ever encountered.

I was sure of it.

My face went numb, and I swayed on my feet as my mind raced with worst-case scenarios. Slim put a hand on my shoulder to steady me before asking, “What happened?”

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