Page 43 of Ice
“He… I had an incident tonight, and he came to my rescue. Him and uh… Ryder, I think his name was?”
“Of course it fucking was. Any shit going down in this place, and Ry is right in the fucking middle of it.” Alicia shot Reacher another glare, and patted my shoulder.
“He brought you here?”
I nodded. “He wanted to look after me. Uh… we talked for a while, and then he offered me something to wear so I could sleep here.”
Reacher was rubbing at his brow.
“Did you fuck?”
“Reacher! That’s not our business.”
“Like hell it isn’t. He was clean. He’s been clean for nearly a fucking month, and she’s just fucked it all up. I swear to god, if he uses again-”
“You’ll what? Kick him out? You know you won’t. You know we’ll fight to get him clean again. It’s what family does, Reacher, and stop taking it out on… on… I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name.”
I cleared my throat, disappointed to be dragged back into the conversation so soon.
“Lissa. Uh… Melissa Chase. I’m so sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”
Reacher rubbed at his pierced eyebrow again.
“So let me get this straight, you’re his therapist, but somehow he rescued you, brought you back here, fucked you, and then what? You rejected him? Is that what sent him into a tailspin? Got what you wanted, and discarded him? Had your bit of rough, though, right?”
I couldn’t even find that inner strength that allowed me to be so sharp with him before. He was terrifying when he was angry, and I was out of my depth, because it was all my fault.
“Of course not. I’m not some evil bitch who wanted to destroy him. I… I like him. I feel drawn to him, and I care for him. I wanted to be with him, but I’ve been trying to fight it, because I know it’s wrong. I know that I shouldn’t enter into a relationship with someone I’ve been treating, but…”
Reacher cursed, running a hand over his short hair.
“This is a fucking disaster. We had a lucky fucking shot before, because he was unconscious and couldn’t argue with us. We could force him to detox, we could make it happen without him fighting against it. But now? Now he’s gonna go out there, and get fucked up again, and maybe this time we won’t be able to save him.”
He fixed me with a newly fierce glare.
“Anything happens to him, and it’s on you. Hear me? I’ll make sure everyone fucking knows how badly you fucked up, and the damage you’ve done.”
“Reacher!”
He glanced at his wife, and then turned, heading for the door.
“I want her gone. She doesn’t set foot in here again.”
The door slammed behind him, and I practically crumpled into a heap, with Alicia catching me as I fell.
Twenty
Theplacedefinitelysmelledlike hell, but once I sank into the sweet relief of my drug of choice, everything else was irrelevant. Two lines of pure fucking oblivion. It burned as I inhaled, drawing it into me. My nose burned even more as I breathed in again, feeling the easing of my spirit as the cocaine hit my bloodstream. My head spun, and I dropped to my knees, feeling the hit so much more intensely than I had for so long.
My heart pounded in my chest, my blood racing through my veins, as I gave in to the sensations flowing through me. I felt invincible. I felt like me again. Like I could do anything.
Dizziness hit again, and I landed forward on the filthy floor on my hands.
“Fuuuck…”
Everything went black, but it did it in increments, with flashes of red, like it had to taunt me by showing me that I was gonna pass out, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Lissa
