Page 49 of Reacher
I shrugged at him. My stomach didn’t want food. I was too on edge, and too queasy after a night of heavy drinking and very little sleep. Did I sleep at all? No idea.
He cursed. “I’m getting Tommy to send something in. Please, Reacher. We need you at your best.”
Fuck. I nodded tiredly, dropping my head into my hands.
“I need her back.”
He tapped a message into his phone and sent it.
“I know. I also know it’s not just because of what she might be able to tell us. You need her, and the sooner you admit to that, and take her as your old lady, the sooner we’ll all be able to move on.”
“It’s not like I don’t understand that. I want her. I want her so fucking much, but she betrayed me. She betrayed my trust. How am I supposed to trust her? How can I be with her without trust?”
He groaned, dropping into a seat opposite my desk.
“Brother, I don’t know. It’s not like we’re all used to this shit. Many of us are new to club life, and most of us haven’t seen much of members taking old ladies. Most of us have been too busy introducing our dicks to as many girls as possible, that it never even occurred to us, but I know this much… until things fell apart, you were happy. You were fulfilled. You were still a cranky bastard, but underneath that, you seemed settled. She gave you that, and a settled, happy President makes a settled, happy club. Shit has been up in the air since Ryder’s old lady first came on the scene, and we’re still riding the waves that she caused.”
It was pretty rare for Stitch to speak for so long, or utter a whole damn speech like that. At least in my presence.
“I didn’t know you even knew that many words, brother.”
He was smirking back at me. “I’m watching this shit from outside, Reacher, and I think I’m seeing things more clearly than you right now. You’re suffering through this shit by feeling it. I’m detached from that side of things. I can see that she loves you, and I can see that you feel the same. I could see how much it was killing you to be without her, since you pussied out and threw her away.”
“Listen, asshole-”
“I’m not saying that to be a prick… okay, the last part, yeah, but you know I’m right. You just need to get your head out of your ass, man.”
“Don’t think I won’t wipe that smug grin off your face, VP. It’s not like I don’t have the right. You’re pushing your luck, and you know it.”
He pointed at my chair, which I’d apparently hopped out of.
“At least sit back down, and rest a while. Until we find Alicia, we’re no closer to knowing anything, and letting yourself get worn out or drained, because you’re not taking care of yourself, isn’t going to help us. Or Ice.”
Ice. Yeah. The priority had to be our fallen brother. I should have gone to sit with him today, but everything had changed with the capture of the bastard in the hospital, and now nearly fifteen hours had passed, and I should have slept, but I couldn’t. I don’t think I’d ever slept as well as I did when Alicia was beside me.
“Apparently they’re managing any visible signs of detox, but god only knows what the poor bastard is going through, while he’s unconscious. They finished transfusing him at least.” My update had come from the current watch on him, being carried out by Rocket and Nick.
“Any idea when they’re waking him up?”
I shook my head, wondering when the fuck something would change, that would give us answers.
Ten minutes later, as I was tucking into a burger that Stitch had threatened to force-feed me with, my phone rang. I hit the speaker button.
“This is Reacher.”
“Yeah, we have a team enroute to you. They have the package.”
I frowned at Stitch, wondering what the fuck they were on about.
“Package…oh… you mean the human being we asked you to track down. Charming.”
The guy laughed. “ETA five minutes. Mr Rossi sends his regards.”
The call ended, and I stared at Stitch.
“The package? What is this? A fucking mafia movie? I didn’t know people actually talked like that.”
He was laughing at me, or maybe the situation, because both were fucked up right now.
