Forty-Nine
M aybe she was right, 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!”
She flinched like I’d just slapped her, and didn’t that just make me the asshole in the room. Hell, maybe it was always me.
“Sorry, babe. I don’t mean to snap at you, I’m just so fed up with this. Years… fucking years of pain, and nobody can fix it.”
Has was doing that thing where he looks like he’s miles away, but he’s deep in thought.
“Don’t worry about it, man, I’m used to it. I’ll be fine soon. It never goes past an hour.”
“So up to an hour of pain is bullshit? I disagree, and if doc knows, why not get him to look into it further? Maybe there’s something you haven’t thought of yet.”
“Stop trying to fix me, yeah? I’ve been to the doctors, and hospitals, I’ve had scans and xrays, and all kinds of shit, for them to tell me they don’t have a clue why it does it. And there’s no way to fix it, because they can’t find any fucking damage to fix.”
He looked shocked. Yeah, join the fucking club. That was me back then, and it’s me every damn time the pain starts again.
“That’s fucking ridiculous.”
“Tell me about it. Anyway, doc knows, but short of telling me I can’t take strong pain relief, because I’m a junkie, yeah… there’s exactly fuck all I can do about it.”
A fist thumped against the door, and someone yelled out that we were to meet in five minutes in Church.
“Fucking hell.”
Lissa was up instantly, and panicking.
“You can’t go down there like this. They’ll know! They’ll see it.”
Has smirked suddenly, and I knew the fucker was up to something.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered, brother.”
He stood up, and looked me over.
“Yeah… you can’t help me with this. Lissa, darlin’, lay one on me.”
She backed up, her frown wrinkling her face adorably.
“Lay one what? I’m not kissing you!”
I got his point though, and it just might work.
“Babe, he wants you to punch him.”
She was shaking her head. “No… I… I’ve never punched anyone, why? Why do you want this? It doesn’t make any… oh …”
“See, darlin’? Doesn’t have to be a good punch. Just enough to leave a mark of some kind. I’d try and do it myself, but well, I’d like to not break my own nose, because that fucker you love will never let me live it down.”
“Won’t let you live down being punched by my girl either. Just saying.”
Lissa
T hey were insane. It made no sense at all, I mean apart from the sense that it made because they could use a fight to cover up Ice’s pain, but still. They wanted me to punch him? I’ve never punched a person in my life!
“I can’t.”
“Babe, I’d do it, you know I would. I actually really enjoy punching him, but I can’t jar my shoulder right now.”
Has-Been followed me as I backed around the room.
“Has to be a punch, Lissa, not a slap, you understand that, right? Ice wouldn’t slap me. He’d give me a girly little fist to the face, bless him.”
“Asswipe. Just punch him, babe. Do it for me. Do it for all the shit he’s spouting about me. Defend your man’s honour like an old lady should!”
What did that even mean? I wasn’t his old lady, was I? Wasn’t there like some kind of process before that was the case?
“Okay, we need a plan B, man, she doesn’t have the balls for this.” Hey!
I thumped the big guy in the chest.
“Go to hell, Has-Been!”
He groaned. “You were supposed to punch me. Go on, mess up this pretty face of mine. It’s much prettier than his. Why are you even into a loser like him, huh? He can’t give you what I can. I’m all the man you need, babe. Why don’t you give me a go… bet I can get you off faster than he can. I’ve got skills you can’t even imagine.”
He was advancing on me in a predatory way, unnerving me, even scaring me. I tried to catch Ice’s eye, but Has-Been crowded me against the wall, and I panicked, hitting out with both fists, catching him on the jaw with one, while the other missed completely. He backed up, rubbing at his jaw as he moved it from side to side.
“Yeah, that ought to do it.”
“I’ll put your lights out for that later,” Ice growled, shoving his way between us to pull me against his chest. I was still shaking a little bit, because even though I’d finally figured out what Has-been was up to, it was still scary as hell to have a big guy like him coming at me like some kind of sexual predator. The irony of that, when I enjoyed role playing with Ice as that predator, wasn’t lost on me.
Has-Been watched as I pulled back from Ice’s embrace.
“You do know I was just pushing you to react, right?” He lowered his hand and I took some pride and satisfaction from the red mark on his jaw. I did that, and I barely noticed how sore my hand was, because I did that, and I did it to protect myself from a predator. Maybe I was stronger than I thought.
“Lissa?”
“Yes, just don’t do that again, okay?”
He held his hands up.
“Promise. Ice, we gonna go, man?”
Ice leaned close to me, his forehead against mine.
“Kinda feeling the need to reclaim you as my woman after that, so you just bear in mind that when I get back, I’m gonna need to fuck you until you forget what he looks like. And if I need to chase you down, and force my dick inside you, you know I’m going to. Right?”