Ten
E pic bad fucking timing. I finally got to touch her, to kiss her… and some asshole was interrupting us. I glared at the bastard standing there, the pretty boy fucker, with his white-blond dreads pulled back from his face. Of course it was him. Fucking cock-blocker.
“Church,” he muttered, taking in my angry face, and the flustered looking woman behind me.
“I’m on fucking house arrest, remember?”
He shrugged. “Reacher said to call you in. It’s an update on the uh… Rossi thing.”
Jesus fuck. I turned to look at Lissa. Doctor Chase .
“I suppose you’re gonna leg it, if I go to this meeting?”
She frowned at me.
“Are you keeping her here, Ice?” Has sounded frustrated, and worried at the same time.
“Mind your own fucking business, and get out of my face.” We’d never got on, and it didn’t seem like the time to try and fix that right now, not when he was cramping my style so badly.
My ‘brother’ shoved past me, holding out his hand to my Doc.
“Hey, I’m Has-Been. If you need out, I’ll get you out.”
“What the fuck!”
They both ignored my outburst.
“Melissa Chase. Uh… Doctor Chase. And I don’t need rescuing, thank you.”
Has looked from her to me.
“Oh fuck, Reacher was hoping you’d be finished by now.”
“Well, clearly he’s fucking wrong,” I snapped, stepping between him and my doc. Lissa. Jesus. What do I call her now? Melissa. Lissa. I like it. It’s pretty like her.
“Ice?”
“Just fuck off, yeah? I’ll be down in a minute.” Has shrugged, nodding again at Lissa as he left. I pushed the door closed, and turned to look at her.
“Church?”
I shrugged. “Biker meeting. Dunno why it’s called that, but it always has been. Uh… it might be like half an hour or something. If you’re willing to wait, I’ll buy you lunch downstairs. Tommy is a great cook.”
She smiled suddenly. “Well, I think that’s the least you can do, don’t you, Ice?”
Sassy too? I fucking love it. I crossed the room, and stood right in her fucking way again, close enough to touch her.
“I’m willing to do a lot more than that, Lissa. Please stay.”
I waited until she nodded, and then I pointed out the bathroom, and told her to make herself comfortable, and to help herself to whatever in the kitchen, then I hurried downstairs. It wasn’t my first time in Church since I’d been back, but it was the first time I’d been allowed to be involved in club business, so I couldn’t miss it.
The room was full, and my chair sat empty and waiting for me. Thank fuck. I slipped in and dropped down into my chair with a quick nod at Reacher. Actually the room wasn’t full. Stitch wasn’t in his usual seat. I glanced around, but nobody else seemed to be bothered by that fact, so I figured they already knew where he was.
“Okay. Now we’re all here, we’ll begin.” Reacher glanced at Stitch’s empty seat and sighed.
“First things first. Stitch has been called away on… personal business . He’ll be back as soon as he can, but we’ll need to manage without him for a day or so. So let’s get to it, Torch, update?”
Torch launched into a rundown of their attack on the cartel warehouse, and the resulting fighting, and success for our mafia friends, and I struggled to stay interested in what he was saying. Looking around, I saw cuts and bruises, but nobody was missing, apart from Stitch, so I figured it had gone in our favour.
“Ice?” I glanced at Reacher, and realised he wasn’t the only one staring at me.
“Uh yeah?”
“I was just saying it’s great to have you back at the table, brother. I take it things are going well with your therapist?”
“I’ll say,” I heard Has-Been mutter in response.
“Hey, fuck you. There was nowhere else for her to meet with me.”
Reacher frowned at our interaction.
“Say what?”
“Just saying, they looked pretty cosy in his fucking bedroom, that’s all. I thought therapists were supposed to talk shit out, not fuck it out.”
I launched myself out of my seat in his general direction, although I never made it that far, with Ryder and Micro grabbing me.
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.” Reacher’s tone wasn’t one you disobeyed, not if you wanted to be able to walk back to your room.
I jabbed a finger in Has-Been’s direction.
“He’s making assumptions, like the prick he is. She came here, because everyone fucked off for the mafia job, and I wasn’t allowed to take myself to my fucking appointment. Yeah? She did that to help me. And yeah, we sat in my room, because why the fuck would I share my innermost secrets in front of assholes like him?”
Reacher rubbed at his piercings.
“Fuck’s sake. Gonna arrange marriage counselling for you two next. Has, shut it. It’s none of your business.”
“Beg to differ, Pres. If she’s acting unethically, then she’s breaching boundaries that could do him more harm than good.”
He received a Reacher glare in response, and then he aimed it at me.
“Is she… uh… breaching boundaries, Ice?”
Lissa
H e’d been gone long enough that I’d rethought my situation completely. Why was I waiting in his damn bedroom for him? He was a client, a patient, however I described it, the fact was that he was vulnerable, and looking for help. This wasn’t the kind of help he needed. I shouldn’t be here. It was a mistake, and his brother’s response had been the right one.
The big guy was oddly familiar, but I didn’t know where from. Certainly I didn’t think we’d met before, but I knew his face. What was his name? Has-Been? What the hell was that about? I grabbed my handbag and headed for the door, and as I pulled it open, he did it again. Ice was standing right there, and scared the crap out of me.
“Going somewhere?” He looked angry, and I instinctively backed up a step.
“I’m sorry. This is… this is unprofessional of me. I’m taking advantage of you, by being here.”
He cursed, stepping inside and closing the door behind him.
“You sound like Has. Nosy prick. Don’t worry, he’s been told to butt the fuck out of my business. President’s orders.”
I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He tugged at his spiky hair.
“Of course, the other presidential fucking order was that we’re to use his office, if you come here again. No more meeting in my bedroom, in case fucking boundaries get breached. I swear to god, they’re so fucking involved in my business.”
I put a hand on his arm, and he flinched. He curled his other hand around that shoulder, and took a breath.
“Look, I’m sorry. I understand if you want to leave. It’s not like I’m keeping you here. I just… it was nice that someone cared enough. Not about the club, and not about my duties here. But about me, you know, as a person. Because I am. I’m a fucking person, with needs and desires, and fears, and yeah… anyway, thanks for being here. I’ll make sure I attend my next appointment on time.” He was shutting down on me, and it was jarringly sudden.
“Ice, what happened? Are you in pain?”
He shot me a sidelong glance.
“Aren’t we all, Doc? Isn’t life about being in pain? Suffering? Struggling every fucking day, for the odd moment of happiness, before it’s all taken away again.”
I reached for his arm again and he moved back.
“Please don’t touch me.”
I stepped closer, and he retreated. I dumped my handbag on his kitchen counter, as he turned and headed into his small kitchenette.
“Ice, did someone hurt you?”
He barked out a harsh laugh.
“Did someone hurt me? I’d like to see them try.”
He reached up into a cupboard, but I noticed he was doing everything with the other arm. His left arm was down at his side. The same arm he’d clutched before.
“Ice, what happened to your arm?”
He cursed, gripping the top of his shoulder with the other hand.
“Nothing.”
I swiped the box he’d grabbed from the cupboard. Seriously strong painkillers.
“Jesus, Ice. What is it?”
He sighed. “You can’t tell. If anyone knows, I’m out of the club, and I can’t lose them. I have nothing else. My mother and step-asshole are my only family, and I don’t want to be reliant on them.”
My god. I guided him away from the cupboard, closing it before he caught his head on it.
“Tell me. I already told you I’ll keep your secrets. Even if it wasn’t my job, I would.”
He stared at the box of pills in my hand.
“They’re old. I rarely take them, but then I’ve had a chemical fucking crutch for so long that I’ve not really needed them.”
I looked up from the box. “They’re out of date.” He tried to shrug, and cursed, cupping his shoulder.
“Doesn’t matter. I need them.”
“Ice… I’m not sure if it’s safe for you to take something this strong. You’d be replacing one substance for another.”
He let out a low groan, and when I met his eyes, I could see the pain in them. Real pain. Physical pain, I mean. Whatever was wrong, it was agony .
I grabbed a glass from the counter, and half filled it with water, then I popped two of the pills out, and passed them to him, holding up the water, so he could wash them down.
“I need to sit. They’ll hit me like a sledgehammer.”