Page 83 of Reacher
He paused for way too long.
“Fucking tell me, dammit.”
He lowered his eyes, and I didn’t like him fucking dodging me like that. Something bad had happened, hadn’t it?
“Alicia was injured, but I’m not sure if it was during the rescue, or beforehand. She’s on her way here… as an emergency.”
Fuck. I felt ice moving through my veins, chilling me from the inside out. Fuck no, I couldn’t lose her.
“Jesus… is she gonna live?”
He rubbed his beard, meeting my eyes at long last.
“I don’t know, brother. She… it sounded pretty bad. They… uh… the knife was still in her stomach when they found her.”
The pain in my chest had returned, my heart racing, and bringing a nurse running, but I wasn’t sure if it was something they could even fix.
Twenty-Eight
WhenIwokeup,I was in a stark room, with an irritating beeping sound, and a sterile smell that told me exactly where I was. A hospital. In a bed. Alive. I blinked fast, until the blurriness eased off, and I could focus again.
I was alone, and it was surprising how awful that felt, but then Raoul’s words came crashing back. Reacher.Reacher was dead. So of course there was nobody here with me. For me. The club would be mourning him, and I would be the last person anyone would care about right now. There was no feeling lonelier than realising you had absolutely nobody in the world who cared if you were alive or dead.
I tried moving, and winced, as a sharp pain in my stomach stopped me. I found the controls for the bed, and pressed the one that looked like it’d call a nurse, or someone to tell me what was going on.
It was a few long minutes before a nurse appeared.
“Ah you’re awake, love. How are you feeling?” I swallowed, my throat dry and sore. I opened my mouth to speak, and only managed a croaking noise.
“Looks like someone tried to strangle the life out of you, love. Your throat must be so sore. Let me get you some water.”
After some water, I was able to whisper, but that was all.
“What happened?”
The nurse checked the tubes in my hand, and fussed with the bedding.
“You were admitted with a single stab wound, and underwent minor surgery. Everything will be fine, love.”
Oh. I vaguely remembered the pain.
“How did I get here?”
She frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t know, love. My shift only started an hour ago.”
I wanted to ask if anyone cared that I survived, but I didn’t want to know the answer.
“Anyone you want me to call for you, love?”
I wish.I wanted Reacher by my side. I wanted him always by my side, and my heart broke all over again at the knowledge that I’d never see him again. A crushing wave of grief washed over me, and I began to sob, even as my stomach screamed at me to stop everything.
They sedated me in the end, and I woke hours later from a blissful sleep, where my dreams were full of the man who wasn’t dead at all, but was right by my side.
Waking up was the worst part, because I didn’t want to be awake. I didn’t want to bealive. Not without him.
Someone tapped on the door, and poked their head into the room.It was Stitch.
He grinned at me, stepping inside the room, and how could he even smile, with Reacher dead? I thought they all loved himlike a brother, a father even. Surely he hated me for causing his death, for taking him from them all.
