“Nix’s Mat?”

“Yeah.”

“Can ye give him de phone?”

There was a shuffling noise for a couple of seconds, and while I waited I walked toward the boys standing around the pool table. As they noticed me, I motioned with my head and they all nodded, moving off to talk to their women.

“Trick?”

“Hey, Mat. What’s goin’ on, man?”

“I don’t know,” the poor kid said quietly.

“Ye haven’t heard anythin’?”

“I’ve got a friend, she works in the ER and she was supposed to text me, but she hasn’t.”

“Maybe she hasn’t got a chance yet. Gotta give them time to see what’s what. Everything’s probably fine—just gotta be patient, boyo. I need you to stay with Amy, okay? I’m on my way, but I won’t be there for hours yet—you stay with her even if you hear from your friend.”

“I will. I will. Do you want me to call you if we hear anything? God, Trick, I don’t understand why it’s taking so long.” He sniffed hard at the other end of the line, and my stomach clenched.

Amy’s tears I understood, that was her baby boy. But if Mat was upset enough to cry, I knew that things were not good.

“Yeah, mate. Call if you hear anythin’. I’ll be on the bike, so leave a message and I’ll check back in a bit.”

“Okay.”

“Stay with Amy.”

“I will. Patrick?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“I was supposed to go with him,” he whispered. “We had plans but I wanted to stay home because work’s been so crazy. I didn’t—fuck—I should have been with him.”

I stopped next to my bike and felt my stomach roll. A small part of me wanted to yell. I wanted to tell him that, yes, he should have fucking been there. As a parent, I wanted to blame the little fucker for not having Nix’s back.

But I would never say such a thing aloud. Because I knew with absolute certainty that whatever happened was not his fault… and the guilt was going to poison him from the inside out without a single word from me.

“Could have happened even if ye were there, Mat,” I said instead. “Could be ye in there with him, yeah? I’ll call ye soon.”

I hung up the phone, and had to brace myself on my bike for a moment.

That’s where Slider, Dragon, Grease and Casper found me a few minutes later.

“I need you boys with me,” I said, grabbing my helmet.

“What’s goin’ on, Poet?” Slider asked.

“Amy just called. Said Nix got jumped.”

“Motherfucker. He alright?”

“Not sure—Amy’s worried outta her mind and they’re not tellin’ her shite.”

“They in Portland?”

“Emmanuel.”

“You need me there?”

“No, brother. Not sure how well that would go over and I don’t want to add to her worry.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Slider ran his hand over his short goatee. “You’ll let me know when you hear somethin’?”

My life from before rarely mixed with the one in Eugene. I’d never wanted Brenna to question where she’d come from or the love I’d felt for her mother—especially after we’d lost her—but the boys at the club knew Nix. Slider had taken an interest in the boy from the very beginning, when he’d first come for a visit during his freshman year in college, probably because he was Amy’s. I knew the man would be worried as hell until I got to Portland and found out what the fuck was going on.

“I’ll keep ye posted,” I agreed, then turned to the lads. “Ye boys up for a ride to Portland?”

“Yup.”

“I’m down.”

“They know who did it?” Grease asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Not yet, but I sure as fuck will,” I said roughly.

We left immediately, and even riding well over the speed limit, it still took us hours before we were pulling into the emergency parking lot at the hospital. I hadn’t heard one word from Amy or Mat, and by the time we’d stowed our colors and walked in the sliding glass doors, I was strung tight as a bow.

“I’m lookin’ for Phoenix Gallagher,” I told the receptionist, making Dragon’s eyes snap to me in surprise.

“I’m sorry sir, we can’t give out information—”

“I’m his da,” I interrupted, slapping my driver’s license on the countertop. “Where’s me son?”

“It looks like he’s in surgery. Let me make you guys some nametags so you can get there without a problem.”

We were on the move again and riding the elevator to the surgery floor in minutes, but it felt like the woman had taken as long as she possibly could to write two words on a sticker with a fucking marker.

“Lucy, you got some 'splainin’ to do,” Dragon mumbled behind me.

“Shut it, Ricky,” I snapped back, the lights of the hospital giving me a headache after riding in the dark for so long. Where was my boy? Fuck, I was losing it.

I saw Amy the minute the elevator doors opened, and my first instinct was to go straight to her and pull her against me, but I held myself back. Instead, I walked slowly toward where she and Mat were sitting quietly, not saying a word until she looked up and caught sight of me.

“They took him into surgery,” she said, standing up to meet us. “His spleen was ruptured, so they had to take care of that first.” Her hands came up to cover her mouth and I moved without thought.