Page 32 of Ice
“Consent?” Fucking asshole. “CONSENT? Yeah, because nobody ever does anything around here without a person’s fucking consent, right? Nobody here has forced anyone into anything they didn’t want to do?”
Reacher turned to Alicia, and muttered to her, clearly telling her to get out of the bar, because she sighed and walked away, heading for the stairs.
“Listen, asshole-”
“Me listen? No, you fucking listen! Nobody asked my fucking consent when they forced me to detox in a fucking coma! So now you care about fucking consent? Just because it’s him? Just because it’s his fucking dick all over the internet? So it’s only me and Ryder getting forced into shit without our ‘consent’?”
The silence that fell was heavy, and intense, as I realised just how many brothers were now in the room and listening.
Lissa
Flashingbluelightsbehindyour car when you’re driving are never a good thing, and being pulled over while driving, when you know you had more alcohol than you should have? Terrifying. It was my first time in the back of a police car, when the breathalyser proved I was over the limit, and they arrested me.
Being arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol was even more terrifying. Knowing that my licence had been confiscated until my hearing was the worst part yet, and I was stranded at the police station.
There was nobody I could call. The only people I knew were connected to the rehab centre, and I couldn’t ask any of them to pick me up. I checked my purse for cash for a taxi, and that was when I realised I’d left my cards at home. I had no money.
So it was out of desperation that I dialled the only person I could think of to bail me out, and the last person I should be calling.
“Doc?”
Just his voice was enough to send a thrill through me, even as I had to beg him for help.
“Doc? Lissa? Are you okay?” I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly eleven at night.
“I’m sorry to call so late, Ice.”
I heard movement, but it didn’t sound like he was in bed. It wasn’t the rustling of bedclothes. It was a chair scraping back on a hard floor.
“Lissa, what is it? Are you okay?” Was I?No.
“No,” my voice was a whisper, but he heard me.
“Where are you? Do I need to uh… do you need me to come to you?”
I walked out of the police station, standing in the street. It was dark, but a perfect summer evening.
“I’m… I’m at the police station.”
I heard a sharp intake of breath.
“What the… did something happen?”
God yes. Panic and humiliation coursed through me, as I admitted it out loud.
“I… I need a ride.”
He cursed, and I heard him yell something to someone.
“Stay right there. I’m on my way. You hear me, Lissa? You wait for me.” He didn’t say goodbye. He just ended the call.
I sat on the curb outside, and waited for Ice, wondering if he’d turn up on a motorbike, and I’d have to ride on the back, with my arms wrapped tightly around him.
Fifteen
AftermouthingoffatReacher, and getting a gobful of anger from him, I backed down and sat at the new tech station they’d set up, away from my damn room. It didn’t take me long to take the videos down. It was a simple hack, to get into the back end (pun intended) of the porn site, and shut down the channel, but there were two issues there.
One, I had no idea if she’d posted them on other sites. Porn sites are like crabs. They’re everywhere. Secondly, I needed to find my way into her system, to find out where she’d stored the videos, and delete all copies, and even then, I couldn’t guarantee that they weren’t stored on separate memory devices. It was a minefield, and all for that prick, Has-Been. Of all of my brothers in the club, he was the one I was least likely to bend over backwards to help.
