Page 102 of Ice
“Jesus. Permanent damage?”
Lissa
Icelookednervous,andI understood his fear, because he’d just admitted the one thing that could get him thrown out of the club to the one person he’d been at odds with, until just days ago.
“Yeah, looks that way.”
“And what’s happening now, because you’re not normally like this? You’re barely mobile, and you’re clearly in pain.”
Ice smirked at him. “More pain than you could cope with, asswipe.”
I groaned, shaking my head at my man. Stubborn damn biker men.
“Ice, tell him.”
Has-Been was watching him really closely, like intensely focused on him.
“It’s spasming, that’s what it is, right?”
Wow, he’s good. Ice tried to shrug it off, but he should have already known better than that. A curse followed, and his hands clenched.
“Fuck… this gets out and I’m done, Has. You get that, right? I’m hanging onto this club by a thread right now. Anyone finds out I can’t ride anytime they need me to, and I’m out for sure. When it’s not doing this, I can ride, but it can trigger it too.”
“So it’s not constant then? It comes and goes?”
“Does it matter? Point is, I’m half a fucking biker right now. If I had the balls, I’d admit it to Reacher, but I don’t, okay?”
Has-Been was still doing that intense observation thing.
“Sod that. Does Doc know? Maybe there’s something he can do to help. If you’re hiding it because you’re worried about being booted, then stop. I’m pretty sure that’d be put to a vote, and it’d never pass.”
“Bullshit. You know as well as I do, that it’s a universal rule; no ride, no club. I can’t fucking lose this right now. So you keep your mouth shut, if you know what’s good for you, got it?”
Has-Been groaned, glancing at me at last.
“I knew it was too good to be true. You saw that, right? I was being nice, and that’s what I get. All I’m saying is there’s no way they’d boot you, man. You’re too vital to what we do as a club. Nobody else can do what you do.”
Ice fixed him with a glare.
“Well, we both know that’s not true, don’t we? What with me being ordered to teach you and a few others what I do, so you can just put me out of a fucking job.”
This wasn’t getting us anywhere, and I couldn’t stay quiet anymore and hope they could manage this without me. I had to say something and get them back to being civil, at least.
“Guys, try to remember that you’re brothers, right? You’ve been doing so well, so please don’t fall back on old patterns.”
Forty-Nine
Maybeshewasright,I mean, as a therapist, that’s probably the sort of shit they understand better than the rest of us. Trouble is, right now we were looking at me losing my club, and it turned out I’d fight that fight to the bitter end.
My shoulder clenched again, and I cursed, because when would this agony end?
“It’s been nearly forty fucking minutes this time.”
Lissa winced, trying to lean closer to me.
“Are you sure I can’t get you something for it?”
“Like what? You know what the doc told me; I’m a fucking addict, so I have to suffer. That’ll teach me to rely on that chemical crutch you loved to harp on about!”
