Page 73 of Reacher
He tried clearing his throat, and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Sorry.” His voice was no louder, but I didn’t want him to keep trying.
“Don’t worry, Ice. We can hear you just fine.”
“You’re going to be fine, brother.” Stitch leaned over him. “We’re all here for you.”
Ice blinked again, letting out a slow breath.
“Really… fucked… up.”
I glanced at Stitch with a frown.
“Are you saying you fucked up? You didn’t. You couldn’t have seen this coming, brother.”
His heart rate was a little faster, but I didn’t know if that was because he was awake, and talking, or if there was something else going on.
“My… fault…” His croaky voice was barely audible, but we both caught his words.
“What was? Ice, don’t keep trying to talk. Just answer one question for me.” Stitch rested a hand on Ice’s shoulder.
“Please.” Ice squeezed his eyes shut again, and a tear dropped from one.Jesus.
“Are you in pain?”
He blinked groggily at me, his head twitching to the side a little.
“No… yeah… used to… it…”
I looked at Stitch again. Was this normal? Was he even in the fucking room with us right now?
“What does that mean?”
Stitch sighed, waving a hand in the air at me.
“Shelve that for a moment. Ice, look at me, brother.”
Ice’s eyes moved again, but I noticed that no other part of him moved at all, just his eyes. Couldn’t he move? Was there damage we didn’t know about? That the doctors didn’t know about yet?
“Ice, did you see who did this? Was it the cartel?”
Ice’s eyes widened, and his breath caught. His heart was racing now.Jesus.
“Calm down, brother. You’re safe here.”
“I’m… sorry…” He stared at the ceiling again, but there was another tear. Was it just some reaction to waking up, or the detox? Or was he actually crying?
I glanced at Stitch worriedly. None of this seemed like the man we knew, and it scared the hell out of me.
“Get the doc.” He disappeared, and I leaned closer to Ice, taking hold of his hand, which felt cool to the touch.
“Brother, relax. You’re safe, and none of this is your fault, okay? The cartel are after Alicia. This isn’t because of you or anything you did.”
His eyes fixed on me, but it seemed like focusing on me was a struggle for him. The doc did warn us he’d be out of it, but being told that, and seeing what my brother had been reduced to, were two very different things.
“My… fault… told them… didn’t mean to…” His voice sounded like every word physically hurt him.
“Brother, don’t try to talk. We can do this later.”
