One Rule

Chapter 18

I got up the next morning and got ready for work. Tommy was waiting for me out by my car when I headed out. It was a fairly normal day until around three in the afternoon when Margaret came into the ER with bruises forming on her face and a small cut.

"What happened?" I asked, trying usher to a bed so I could look at her face.

"Stay away from me," she said pushing me away. "I don't need your help."

I stopped, and realized what was going on. "It was Tara, wasn't it?" I asked. The look on her face was all the confirmation I needed. I held my hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. Not all of us took Gemma's lessons to heart. I'm going to get you an ice pack and have someone else come clean that cut."

I walked away and got the ice pack and handed it to the nurse who I sent to go take care of her. When I took my break later in the evening, I walked out to the waiting room to grab Tommy before I went to go get coffee from the cafeteria.

"Rough day?" he asked.

"I've had worse," I replied as we found a table in the back of the cafeteria.

We were still sitting there when Tommy's phone rang. I didn't give it much thought until he mentioned me."Yeah, she's actually right here. Do you want to talk to her?" There was a pause, "Here," he said, passing me his cell phone.

"Who is it?" I whispered.

"Your Old Man," he replied.

"Hello?" I answered, putting the phone to my ear.

"Are you still at work, baby?" Kozik asked.

"Yeah. We're in the cafeteria," I replied. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, but I'll fill you in when you get home. You don't need to be distracted. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he replied.

"I'm fine. It's been a typical day for the most part."

"What wasn't typical?" He sounded worried. Something was very wrong, and he was trying so hard to keep it to himself for now.

"An administrator got attacked. Tara did it," I said quietly.

"Okay. When you're off work, come straight back to the clubhouse. This isn't up for negotiation," Koz told me.

"Got it."

"I need to talk to Tommy again."

"Alright. I have to go back to work. Love you."

"Love you too."

I handed the phone back to Tommy and motioned for him to follow me back to the ER. I tried to put whatever was going on out of my mind while I finished my shift. The horrible person in me wanted to pump Tommy for information on the way back to the clubhouse.

I walked out to waiting room at seven thirty that night and Tommy and I left. The ride back was quiet. I'll admit to my lead foot taking over a bit because I wanted to know what was happening. I noticed that the lot was mostly clear when I pulled in.

"We must be out of lockdown," I mused.

"Yeah," Tommy nodded.

I pushed the door to the clubhouse open, and all of the guys, besides Jax, were standing around the bar. Jax was nowhere to be found. I assumed he and Tara had taken Abel home. Everyone was deathly silent.

"What's going on?" I asked. "You guys look like someone died."

"Abel got kidnapped," Kozik told me, meeting me as I entered the room. "And Half Sack is dead."