Page 64 of Reacher
Has-Been was beside him, and slammed a fist against the heavy table.
“I say we kick their fucking asses. I know I’m not Ice’s biggest fan, but he’s my brother, and I want to avenge him.”
There were more heads nodding than I’d expected.
“I am definitely planning on retribution, brothers, because nobody fucks with our club, and gets to tell the tale. Ally is going to help me with details, and all the shit I need, for us to plan an attack, and when we go in, we take no fucking prisoners. No fucking drug cartel is moving into our territory. This would have always come down to a turf war, so don’t let that fact escape you. Regardless of Ally’s involvement, nobody horns in on our fucking trade.”
Stitch leaned forward then, and all attention fell on him.
“Let’s not forget, without Ally, we wouldn’t even know who they were before they tried to take over. And also thanks to her, we have a pretty big fucking bargaining chip.”
My fucking brother backing me, and backing Ally, even after my asshole move this morning.
“Thank you, brothers. I know this is a fucked up mess, and I know times have been tough lately. I know that we have a brother in a serious condition right now, and our priority is getting him home, and getting him well. Beyond that, we’ll work out how to put a stop to the cartel. Now…”
I cleared my throat.“On the subject of my taking Ally as my old lady…”
Twenty
Thatdidn’tgowell,not at all. I mean, it started off okay, and it slowly got better, but then it went to crap.
“Reacher, calm down. You had to know this would happen.” Stitch had followed us back to Reacher’s room, and he was doing his best to diffuse the situation.
“Of course I didn’t know it would happen. I thought my brothers were a little more open-minded than this.”
He went straight for the bottle of bourbon on the kitchen counter, and poured several shots. We all grabbed one, before I went back to sit at the dining table. Even though the conversation literally included me and my future, I felt removed from it.
This was really about Reacher, and the fact that his brothers, his family, had just voted against me being his old lady. Who even knew that could happen? I sure didn’t. I felt numb. I felt like if we’d fought through what had happened between us, to reach the point where I actually really wanted to be his, and hewas finally not pushing me away, how the fuck could it now not happen?
“Pres… think about it. Of all the times to mention that you were claiming her… after telling everyone about the cartel, and her connection to it, probably wasn’t the optimal time.” Stitch was making good sense, being logical, but Reacher was too angry to see it. And me? I was hurt. Hurt by their rejection, and even more by the fact that their feelings could affect whether I had the relationship I wanted, or not.
“What am I supposed to do, Stitch?” Reacher leaned on the kitchen counter, staring at his VP like he’d have all the answers.
“Look… I don’t think it’s a definite no forever. I think it’s more like, right now, they can’t see past what’s happening with Ice… with the cartel. Once we clear all of that shit, then maybe they’ll feel differently.”
I drank the bourbon in my glass, and stared morosely at the table surface.
“Maybe they’ll never change their minds, and who could blame them? I’m hardly an asset to the club. I’m just another fuck up. Another mess that needs clearing up.”
“Jesus, Ally, don’t look at it like that. We’ll… I don’t know… it’s no for now, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on you. They’ll come around, like Stitch said.”
“So why are you losing your shit right now? It sounds more serious than you’re trying to make me believe.”
Stitch came over and poured me another drink.
“Look, we’ve had a lot of crap to go through lately, and right now we need to get Ice home, and keep him from falling back into all of that shit he’s been caught up in. And at the same time, we need to somehow keep a drug cartel from either attacking and killing you, or other members of the club, or from decimating our market in the local and connected areas. The drug trade makes up a large chunk of our monthly income here.”
I hadn’t even known they were involved in drugs. How did I run from a drug cartel, straight into the arms of a biker club who also dealt in drugs. Why was everything about drugs? I’d never taken anything myself, but of course, I’d supplied Tori for her rapetastic endeavours, so maybe this was my karma, for helping her do those things.
“I could contact Raoul, and see if I can make a deal,” I offered, watching Reacher’s face darken with rage again.
“That’s him? The fucker you were doing?”
Wow, really? “This is what you’re pissed about? Not the fact that I’ve fucked up everything, but that there was one other man I fucked this year?”
He drank another glass of bourbon before he answered, like he was steeling himself, or biting back something he shouldn’t say.
“I don’t want you even speaking to the fucker.”
