Page 115 of Ice
“Nobody said you should, but I have to ask, Lissa. Is this why you’re here? Are you looking for some kind of revenge on his behalf?” He dropped heavily into an armchair, and Ice dragged me to sit on the sofa opposite with him.
Revenge? I shook my head.
“Why would I want revenge? I’m just… I guess I want to know more about him, because he stopped showing up when I was a kid, and all I remember is this scary shouty man, who my mumwas afraid of. He’d throw money at her, yell a lot, and she’d be crying when he left. All I knew was the name of his club, and that he was the president.”
Reacher took the coffee as Alicia reached him, and squeezed her hand.
“Even though it’s decaf, thanks, woman. You sit with me, please.” Once she’d passed coffees to us, he dragged her onto his lap, and wrapped his free arm around her.
“Leif was a sick bastard. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. This club was running on hard drugs, cruelty, and bloodsports. It was a bad place, and he was the reason. I joined looking for a home, for somewhere to settle after years of military service, and being displaced for so long. This wasn’t it, at least not back then, but it is now, Lissa, do you know why?”
I glanced at Ice, who seemed to be hanging on Reacher’s every word too.
“Because you took over?”
“Me and Stitch, we watched brothers dying for nothing, and killing each other, and women being brutalised by the men we’d aligned ourselves with, and we knew something had to change. There was no way he was going to step down, so that left us with one option. He died at my hand, Lissa. I’m sorry, but it was the only way. Once he was gone, we ousted everyone who wasn’t going to operate under our new rules, and we turned the club around. Made it what it is today. It’s not perfect, but the safety and happiness of our members is our priority, and always will be.”
Ice was nodding. “I needed a family I could rely on. People who could know the real me, and accept who I am. It’s home for me, and that’s because of Reacher and Stitch. I’m sorry about your father, babe, but he sounds like he wasn’t worthy of your time.”
I took the hand he offered me, feeling him squeeze mine lightly.
“I understand, honestly, I get it. What I saw of him was a man who shouldn’t even be around a child, let alone being a father, and it sounds like I saw exactly who he was. This club is amazing, full of great people who look happy and at home. You look at the photos on the walls and you can see the change in atmosphere, just from picture to picture. Don’t apologise, Reacher. You did the right thing. I… uh…”
I glanced at Ice. “You don’t want me to go, do you? I know I could be happy here.”
Reacher grinned. “Your origins, and your connection to him, don’t mean you’re a bad person too. We’ve seen the exact opposite, and I’m confident we’ve seen the real you this whole time. I still want you to feel welcome here, Lissa, but I understand if you want this to be our secret too. There are only a few members here who remember him, and the way he ran this club, but I don’t think they’d judge you for it either.”
“I don’t want anyone else to know, please. He… he wasn’t a part of my life, and I don’t want him to be now.”
Epilogue One
Itwastwodaysafter our old lady ceremony, and that bombshell she dropped on us, which kinda killed the mood at the time, but today we’d visited every one of the properties surrounding the clubhouse that the club owned. Lissa was looking for one that would suit her new private therapy clinic, and she’d finally chosen the smallest, saying it was perfect.
It had a large room, which could be a waiting area, and two smaller rooms linked to that, with a small kitchen and cloakroom at the back. She had a friend she wanted to invite to be her receptionist, and she needed a reception desk, and other furniture, but it was pretty much okay.
It was already repainted, because as we’d taken on each business site, we’d emptied each and redecorated, so they’d be ready for whatever the hell we chose to use them for, or who we might let them to.
“Isn’t it perfect?” She hurried back out of the second room, the one she’d use as her ‘office’, but I was already busy checkingout points for security cameras, and any other measures I could install, to keep her safe.
“Ice?”
“Yeah, babe. I’m just working out where the cameras and stuff will go. I can wire this up.”
“Cameras?”
“I’m not leaving you alone with anyone without some kind of security and protection, babe. You know the kinds of people you’ll be seeing.”
She giggled, stepping up behind me to wrap her arms around me.
“Yes I do. One of them is standing here right now, warning me about men just like him.”
Touché… and on that note, her touch was making me horny. I’d discovered that she only needed to lay a hand on me, and my dick was like the fucking springy bit on a mousetrap. Luckily the windows to the outside were scrubbed with concealing paint, so we were relatively hidden from prying eyes. The slight chance that we might be seen though, it was pretty hot too.
“I can’t wait to get my pictures up, and… and I think I have a name for the place too. Ice, this feels right, doesn’t it feel right?”
I slid my hand over hers, and slid it lower, down to my dick.
“I’ll show you something that feels right, Lissa.”
