Page 20 of Ryder
I glared at him then. “What do you think? Intolerant asshole, even though we weren’t gay. And I was pissed. Hanging onto my fucking temper by a thread.”
Reacher growled under his breath.
“Just get on with it. Tell me. You beat on the guy? Jesus… did you kill him?”
I suddenly felt like I actually wanted to see his face when I told him. Like I wanted to see his horror, the shock. I wanted to see how ashamed of me he’d be. I wanted his anger, and his hatred.Maybe even needed it.
“I beat on him. Yeah… and then I figured, why not show him what being gay feels like.”
Reacher’s jaw dropped. “What the fuck? Tell me you didn’t.”
Yep. There’s that horror, like he doesn’t know who the fuck he’s looking at right now.
“Torch stopped me,” I finally said, but it didn’t make him lose that look.
“Before, or after?” He growled, his tone deadly.
“Before. Don’t worry, I didn’t rape anyone.”
He slammed the coffee down, his fists clenching.
“You stupid fuck. You know why clubs like ours have a bad name? Shit like this. Did he see your club patches? Are the cops gonna be hassling us again? You know we’ve got some illegal shit going on right now. You know they love riding us. Now we’re gonna have rape cases, and attempted rape cases, because you’re so pissed that you can’t keep your head straight?”
I shrugged. “We were wearing our cuts, Pres. He must have seen them, but I think he’ll be too scared to talk though.”
“Or ashamed? I mean, you nearly did to him what you’re still fucking reeling from yourself. Not quite in the same way, but the end result is the fucking same. You’re on more than house arrest. You’re staying in this fucking room, until I say otherwise.”
“What the fuck!”
He stood up; his coffee forgotten, mug of sludge that it was.
“Be fucking grateful that I’m not locking you downstairs. You can’t be trusted out there right now.”
“I need to find this bitch,” I snapped, shooting up from the chair to glare at him.
“This right here? This is how I know you’re off your fucking rocker. Getting in my face? A day ago you’d never have dreamed of it. Now you think you’re the hard man, but you’re gonna get put down.Hard.”
I grabbed the coffee he’d made for me, and turned, throwing the mug at the wall, splashing dark liquid all over the wall, and the floor, ceramic shards flying.
“Yeah. Really fucking impressive. I’m not sending a prospect to clean that up.”
“Fuck it, it can rot for all I care.”
Reacher sat back down, the move heavy and exhausted.
“This isn’t you, brother. You’re dealing with something that you can’t get your head around, and you’re coming at every one of us, when we try to help. You need to get your head straight, but I don’t know how to help you. I know the doc wants to run some tests though.”
“What the fuck for? We know I was roofied.”
“STDs, Ryder. You weren’t with it, so you wouldn’t have been able to suit up for it. I’m guessing she didn’t bother. She could have had all sorts.”
Fuck. That had never even occurred to me, and for that matter…
“Jesus… what if she did it to get pregnant? What if right now she’s carrying my fucking baby?”
“Then I guess we’ll know who she is when you get hit for child support,” Reacher muttered glibly.
“Yeah, thanks. That’s helpful.”
