Page 12 of Reacher
“Yeah, I’ve called him that a few times too.”
“Why? Did he go cold on you after you sucked his dick too?”
His face was a picture. It was almost funny, the way he opened his mouth, and closed it again. Blinked. Then cursed.
“Jesus. That’s between you guys, and hell no, I’ve never sucked his fucking dick. Look, it’s a bad day. He’s freaking out about Ice, you know that.”
“I get that. It’s why I was trying to help him relax. I’ve never seen a guy shut down so fast, after something like that. He treated me like a fucking whore.”
Ryder looked like he wished he’d never bothered coming to find me.
“I’m not leaving with you, so you might as well go home, or wherever you plan to go next.”
He ran a hand through his hair, standing up and pacing for a moment.
“I go back without you, and honestly, the next place I will go is probably on the floor, with a bruise the shape of Reacher’s fist.”
I forced myself to shrug carelessly.
“Not my problem, kid. He made his disgust with me perfectly fucking clear.” Hell.Don’t cry. Don’t fucking cry.
I scrubbed angrily at my eyes, trying to hide the wetness from Ryder, but he didn’t miss it. His face softened, and he sat down again.
“Dammit, Alicia. You obviously care for him, and I know he cares for you. More than cares. He wouldn’t have meant to push you away like this. Jesus. He’s so fucking wrapped up in the whole Ice thing, he probably doesn’t realise that he hurt you at all.”
I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat.
“But he did, Ryder, and this is only the beginning. Every time there’s some biker problem, am I going to be the one he takes it out on? I made a huge effort today, to try and get closer to him, despite all of the common sense inside me, telling me to get the hell out, and he discarded me as soon as he got off.I’m nobody’s whore, Ryder.”
He stood up again. “Fucking hell. Look, I don’t want to leave you here upset, but I can’t force you to go with me either. God knows, I actually wish I could. He’s gonna be a mess when he gets back, and you’re not going to be there, and that’s just gonna push him over the fucking edge.”
“Well, it seems he’ll know where to find me, Ryder. I have nowhere else to go right now. I’m out of options, but I do, however, need sleep, so can you please go now?”
He glanced at the door, cursed, then nodded.
“Fine, but later when you’re back, and you see the mess he leaves me in… don’t feel like you need to apologise or anything.” He was trying to be cute, and I appreciated the effort, but I felt more and more bruised by Reacher’s rejection by the minute. I knew more tears were coming, and I couldn’t break down like that in front of Ryder. He’d never leave.
It was only after he’d left, that I realised that being alone felt even worse than him being here. By then, of course, it was too fucking late.
Five
IleftTorchandMicrowaiting at the hospital with Ice, and made sure the ICU team had my number right, since I’d never had a damn call from them to tell me he’d been admitted. Somehow they’d had a single digit in my number wrong, and that had been the difference between me being there for him, and searching all over, freaking out because I couldn’t find him. I’m his Club President. It’s my job to be on top of all of this shit, andI fucking failed him.
Ryder met me outside the hospital, and he looked nervous. Had he not fucking found her yet?
“Tell me.” My voice was practically a bark at this point.
“She won’t come back, Pres. She’s hurt. She… she feels rejected by you, by whatever happened when you guys went out ‘for air’.” I ignored the cutesy quote marks he did when he spoke.
“I didn’t fucking reject her. Far from it.”
“Jesus, I can’t believe I’m talking to you about this, but apparently chicks really don’t like it when we distance ourselvesfrom them after getting a blow job, Pres. Might want to think about that, if you plan to have a woman for keeps at some point.”
I ignored the urge to punch him, because it never solved a damn thing.
“Where is she?”
He sent a text to my phone with an address.
