Page 13 of Reacher
“That’s where we were going to pick up Tori from.”
He nodded, tucking his phone in his pocket.
“Her lease is still running, and Alicia is broke. You’re lucky, or she’d probably be a town or two away by now.”
Jesus. I nodded at him. “Thanks, brother. Torch and Micro are staying here with Ice. We’ll come back, and relieve them in the morning. They’re planning to wake him up then, if he stays stable throughout the night.”
“And then he can come home?”
I shook my head morosely.
“It’ll be days, brother, at least. He was stabbed three times in the stomach, once in the chest. He’s had surgery. He lost a dangerous amount of blood. Jesus… where’s my fucking brain? I should have warned them that he’ll probably start fucking detoxing in there.”
Ryder waved his hand at me.
“You go. I’ll brief them before I leave. They’re okay with us being there and stuff?”
I nodded. “I told them that any member of the club that I leave there is one of his brothers, and should be allowed in with him. Now, whether they listen or not, is their call. Oh, his mum did stop by, but her asshole husband dragged her away after about ten minutes, not that the bitch seemed that upset anyway.”
“Fuck. Go. I’ll sort this and go back to Tori. You can thank her later, for making sure Alicia was somewhere you could find her. Oh… here’s the key to the place.”
I shoved it in my inside pocket on my cut, then I straddled my blackNightrod, and headed away from the hospital, and to the woman who, quite honestly, needed to be put across my damn knee.
I parked up outside the building Ryder had sent me to, and headed through the small lobby to the lift. Up on the third floor, I found the door to flat number thirty-two, and listened there for a moment.
There was absolute silence inside. I hoped to hell that she hadn’t left. I almost knocked. I almost gave her the opportunity to ignore me, or refuse to let me in, but common sense prevailed, and instead I unlocked the door, and stepped inside. It was dark, but then it was almost ten at night, and the curtains were closed, and the lights were off.
I heard movement in the flat, but I suddenly had this thought that maybe there was someone else here, and she was in danger. Why didn’t she speak? She had to know it was me.
I let my eyes become accustomed to the darkness, and the tiny reprieve that the light from under the door into the hallway provided.
I moved across the floor, feeling for furniture, and hearing a floorboard creak, then another. Then I heard a panicked gasp, and a floorboard creaked a few feet away from me. I lunged forward, grabbing the intruder with both hands, then cursed when a knee slammed into my groin, and the person fell away from me. Didn’t matter.I was going down. I crashed down to my knees, cradling my poor crushed balls.
“Fuck!”
Another gasp. “Reacher?”
Suddenly the room was bathed with light, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut against it. No wait, I was squeezing them closed against the burn of tears, from the pain in my entire fucking groin.
“Jesus, Ally.” I rolled, and sat against the wall, with my hands still wrapped around my junk.
“Well, you sneaked up on me!”
She looked pale, and nervous, and she wouldn’t move closer, instead practically dancing around a few feet away.
“I came to take you home.”
She sighed, and folded her arms. Her head was shaking back and forth.
“I am home, for now at least. You should go.”
I stared down at my hands, still cradling my fucking family jewels.
“Yeah… I’m not going anywhere yet. Are you wearing fucking knee pads or something?”
She actually grinned. “I thought you were… were an intruder. I was defending myself. You should be proud of how effective I am at that.”
“Yeah, tell that to my bollocks.”
