Page 101 of Ice
“Eat me.”Ice’s response made us both grin, because there was no malice behind it, just wry humour. It was banter, and it was exactly how it should be.
“We don’t mind. I only just boiled the kettle.”
Ice groaned. “You might as well say yes, or she’ll just keep asking.”
Has laughed. “I just had a coffee actually, but I’ll sit with ya for a minute.”
We all sat down, but I noticed that Ice was still moving carefully, and flinching every few minutes. I was starting to realise that this was a really bad idea, but it was too late to change our minds now.
“So what’s going on, brother?” Has-Been turned to answer Ice, just as he winced and grabbed his shoulder again.
Forty-Eight
Heknew,thebastard.He could see it in seconds. That was the thing about Has, he was super fucking smart, way smarter than me.
“You okay, man?” Lissa cleared her throat, sliding my coffee at me, successfully drawing his and my attention.
“So, Has-Been… is everything okay?” He shot me a side-eye, telling me he wasn’t letting it go, but turned back to Lissa.
“Well, my dick doesn’t appear to be on the internet today, so there’s that. I was just coming to thank Ice for his hard work, because I think it’s finally working.”
He looked at me again then.
“She called me, begging me to forgive her for posting the videos. Says she never meant for them to go online, but well, she’s in some trouble, and she was forced to.”
“Forced?” Lissa looked worried about the bitch, but I felt no concern for her, because there was always a way out of shit, right? I was learning that at last, so she should have too.
“Yeah, she’s asking me for my fucking help now, can you believe that? Like I’m gonna go bail out some woman, who turned me into an unwilling porn star.”
I dug my phone out of my pocket, and opened up a search window.
“Who’s doing it? Not asking to help her obviously, but because if someone else is behind this, then that’s the one who attacked the fucking club.”
Has opened his mouth to speak, and another spasm tore through my shoulder so viciously that I flinched sharply enough to fumble my phone, dropping it on the floor.
“Okay, that’s it. What’s going on?” Has looked from me to Lissa, and she grimaced.
“You’re hurting or something, brother. What happened?”
“I’m fine.” He wasn’t buying it for a second. Fuck me, if I told him, why didn’t I just tell the whole fucking club? Not because he was guaranteed to tell, but because he wasn’t even who I’d have confided in if I wanted to tell someone. Telling Doc was bad enough, because he could still out me to Reacher and Stitch, and lose me my place in the club. I felt like an axe was hovering over me already with just him knowing.
“Ice, come on. I know we’re still at the ‘baby steps’ stage of whatever the fuck kind of relationship we have now, but you’re in pain. Do you need me to get Doc? I saw him earlier, so I know he’s here right now.”
Lissa was gesturing wildly at me, I think to try and encourage me to trust him, but I didn’t know if I should.
“Ice… tell me, or I’m getting the damn doc.”
I groaned, my heart thudding in my chest as I finally bit the bullet and outed my secret to him, the one person I hoped I was right to start trusting.
“I can’t ride, man, that’s what’s fucking wrong.” There, I’d said it now.
He frowned at me for a moment, then looked at Lissa, who stayed silent, leaving this up to me, and up to him. When he looked at me again, he cursed.
“That’s not what I fucking asked, dickhead. Why? You come off your bike or what?”
“Yeah, remember a few years back?”
I could see his mind whirring, as he absorbed my point.
