Under Locke

“County hospital.”

My spine snapped up to standing, the muscles along my back tensing. "What?" I'm pretty positive I screeched out the words.

"The county hospital, babe. Some lady found him by the park unconscious this mornin' and called in an ambulance for him," he explained.

Without even thinking about it, my legs became unglued and started leading me around the bed to skip the whole packing thing and find So

What the ef constituted a little concussion?

I was going to be sick. Breathing in and out of my nose a few times, I looked up at Dex's eyes to see if I could catch a hint as to whether he was being honest with me or not. Those fathomless dark blue eyes were intent and clear in a challenge of the wills, like he could tell I was trying to catch him in a lie.

"He's okay," Dex insisted, nudging me back with the muscles of his forearm. "Finish up, babe."

Holy crap. He probably wasn't lying. For about the hundredth time in five minutes, I nodded, pushing back that sickening sensation in my chest again. “Okay.” Zipping the bag halfway, I yanked it off the bed and looked at him. "I think I have everything, I'm going to go hunt this moron down."

I didn't bother waiting for a response before I took off down the hallway to the opened door of So

But it wasn't until I rounded the bed and saw the side of his face that made me gasp. "What the hell, Son?"

His cheek was swollen to twice the size it should have been. The skin was broken and purple, only slightly worse than the awful split on the corner of his mouth. Yet, he managed to give me a little grin out of somewhere.

"Ris," he greeted me in a lower voice than usual. He patted the bed. "I'm fine, kid. Come sit down."

"My ass you're fine," I told him, taking a step to stand in front of him.

So

"I've had worse, believe me," he argued softly. "Come here and quit worrying."

I gave him a look that said it'd be a cold day in hell before I stopped worrying about him.

"C'mon, I don't have a lot of time before Trip gets here," he said, patting the bed again.

I wanted to argue with him but logic told me not to. My poor, poor brother looked like complete crap. It made my stomach tense horribly, like I was having contractions or something. My hand was out and clinging to So

"You remember I told you the sperm donor came down and asked me for money?"

Like I'd forget. "He asked Luther for money too, right?"

So

"How much was it?"

It looked like he tried to make a face but immediately stopped the effort once he remembered he looked like the Elephant Man's cousin. "Ten grand."

An ugly guffawing noise sprang out of my throat. "What?"

So

"So what does that have to do with you exactly?" I asked him hesitantly.

"It turns out this wasn't the first time dear old daddy asked for money. A few months ago, he'd come down and borrowed a healthy chunk from the Reapers."

Oh crap. Oh boy-crap.

I'd never heard of the Reapers before but the puzzle pieces were making too much sense. "Those men?"

He sighed. "Yeah, Ris. Daddy didn't stick to the payment plan, and from what Trip figured out today, they aren't exactly happy that he came into town, and then bailed. They want their money."

This had to be a bad dream. An awful dream.

"But you don't even—" What was I going to say? That he didn't matter to our father? It was the harsh truth.

He must have known what I was trying to explain because he lifted a shoulder in lame agreement. "I know, Ris. I know. But I'm not paying for his shit, and I'm not lettin' them come after you next now that they know you live here. I'm sure they know you're his too."

I gagged, earning a slap to the back from my brother.

"Quit it, kid. It's fine. I'm go

Every minute just seemed to make this entire scenario seem so much more like a dream. A very hard dream that I couldn't swallow. "So we're going to go find him?"

So

The sound that came out of my mouth sounded like a squawk. "What?"

"You're staying with Dex. The house isn't safe and I don't trust you to stay with anybody else in the Club," he explained, squeezing my shoulder. "Hopefully I can find him in a few days."

But what would he do once he found him? The old man had obviously taken off because he didn't have the money to pay back the Reaper assholes. I almost, almost asked So

So making Curt Taylor find ten grand was going to happen one way or another. Of that I suddenly didn't have a doubt.

"Shit, So

The hand on my shoulder tightened. "Ris," he whispered, pulling me closer to him. The side of his forehead rested against the top of my head. "I'm coming back, all right? I swear to God I'm not leaving you here. I'm just go

The intent behind his words weighed my sternum down. He was leaving. Leaving me in a new city all alone with his friend. I wasn't going to have a panic attack. I had a panic attack once when Will had first left, and then I'd dealt with it. But So

"It's only for a little while," he promised.

Leaning into his side, I nodded against him. I couldn't remember the last time anyone had hugged me like this. With so much reassurance and promises that I didn't doubt even a fraction that he wouldn't come back. It wasn't at all like when Will left. My own full-blooded little brother who gave me the quickest hug in history and pinched my arm before leaving.