Page 78 of Reacher
A nurse appeared in the doorway then.
“What’s going on in here? You should be resting.”
She started fussing over me, and messing with the machines and the tubes, when what she should be doing is fucking releasing me to find my old lady.
“Update!” I barked at Stitch, who cursed, and then immediately apologised to the nurse. She actually blushed, giving him a sidelong look. Oh great. Here I am, laid up, while my old lady is missing, and he’s making moves on the fucking nurse.
“Got as many brothers on this as I can, Reacher. Well, except for Ice, and the guys still here with him. The hospital were kindenough to let us see the security camera footage of the entrances though.”
The nurse frowned, and I figured he was probably spinning things a little for me. More likely he harassed the hell out of them until they did.
“Continue.”
“Sir, you need to rest. This can wait.”
I caught her eye, and she hesitated.
“The woman I love is in danger. Waiting isn’t going to save her.” Her face fell, and she glanced at Stitch again.
“Try to keep him as calm as possible. This was a warning, and further stress right now could push him into a cardiac event.”
They made it sound like a fucking party by calling it an ‘event’, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like one.
“Thank you,” I muttered, as she sighed and left us alone again.
“Footage showed a bunch of smarmy looking bastards, Spanish, I think. They led her out, I’m guessing at gunpoint, what with your old lady being a feisty mama, and they got into a van outside. I’ve got people tracking it already.”
“We don’t have that capability without Ice or Ally.” Jesus fuck, we were crippled once more by not having more people able to do that shit!
He sighed, lifting his hands in front of him.
“Look, we know someone who can, and I was out of fucking options. Alright?”
“Rossi? Jesus… they got anything?”
“Not yet. Look, I’ll be straight with you, brother. You’re in a hospital bed in a cardiac ward, because you had what looked like a heart attack. You’re not going anywhere for a couple of days, and you’re definitely not going searching for your old lady. You’re gonna have to trust that we have your back, and hers, and we’ll find her. Now… can I trust you to keep your ass in that bed,and do what the doctors say, so that I can concentrate on finding Ally for you? I can’t do that and keep watch over you.”
What a fucking dilemma.Stitch sure knew how to use the guilt card, the fucker. I nodded, because for now, I couldn’t even muster up enough strength to pull the damn tubes from my hand, let alone get out of bed, and race out there to save her. The second I could though, all bets would be off.
“I want constant fucking updates, and anything happens, someone tells me immediately. That’s the only way I can sit here like a fucking lemon, while you guys do what I should be doing. She’s my old lady, and I should be the one saving her.”
It was killing me to fucking sit here and even say those words. She was mine to fucking save. Mine to love and protect. Mine.
He sighed, pressing my shoulder again, which apparently had been trying to leave the pillows once more, using what little strength I had right now.
“Please calm down, brother. I can’t do this job without you, so if you get your stubborn ass killed, or you drop dead from a heart attack, I’ll fucking revive you, so I can kill you myself. Got it?”
I snorted, relaxing back against the pillows, just so I could try and rebuild my strength.
“The very second they say I can leave, I’m out of here, and that’s only if I don’t feel strong enough sooner.She’s relying on me.”
Twenty-Six
Herecoveredfartoosoon, lunging up from his prone position to throw me back on that bed, slapping my face hard before he hovered over me.
“I know you think you’re too good for me, or I don’t know, smarter than me, but face facts, Alicia. I won, and I have you. I have you, and I’ll get the drugs back. I’ll use you until I’m tired of you.Oh… and as a bonus, turns out your biker guy is dead.All in all, I’d say you have nothing left to fight for.”
Dead. Dead? What the fuck? How could Reacher be dead? God no, please, no.
