Fifty
H as-Been was striding along the hall beside me.
“I only did it so she’d hit me, man, you know that, right?”
I flipped him off, but kept my focus on not flinching. My shoulder was heading for a fucking hour of spasms, and it was pissing me the hell off.
“I mean it… and that shit you thought you said quietly enough… about wanting to fuck her, about forcing her. Ice…” He moved ahead of me and stopped, pressing a hand against my chest.
“That was all fucking talk, right? You don’t hurt her, do you? Because if you do, then this new friendship of ours is gonna end, with my foot firmly lodged up your ass until you beg me to stop.”
I grinned, gripping his wrist lightly.
“Brother, I already know you’re an ass man, but you can’t have mine, okay? It’s not anything awful, it’s just a thing we do. She likes me to chase her, and she pretends to fight me, although she soon forgets to do anything but take it, but it’s a game, yeah? That’s all it is, and she started it.”
He frowned at me, but he did retract his arm at least.
“Like a primal thing? Like you hunt her, and take her down?”
I shrugged, and winced lightly.
“I dunno, but she likes it and so do I. We’re here, so we need to not look friendly when we go in, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “Just follow my lead, dickhead.”
He shoved the door open, and strode into the room full of our seated brothers.
“All I’m saying is, try it again, and I’ll rip your arm from its socket. Got it?”
“Blow me, asshole.” I reached my seat across from his, noticing that Stitch still wasn’t back.
“Are you two fuckers at it again?” Reacher sounded thoroughly fed up, looking us both over.
“Just a little spat, but I think he learned his lesson, right, brother?” Has looked pointedly at my shoulder, and I rested a hand on it.
“Gotcha. If I want to keep my arm in its socket, blah blah blah. All I said was your dick looked tiny online.”
There were scattered laughs, before Reacher slammed a fist down on the table, silencing us in a heartbeat.
“Look, brothers, I’m gonna keep this brief, because I’ve had it up to here with most of you these days. Stitch wanted me to talk to you all, so here I am. He’s coming back. Our brother is coming home to us, but he wanted me to explain why he’s been away.”
I knew about Stitch’s situation, so I knew that the news wasn’t good, but I stared at him just the same, pretending I had no clue.
“Is he okay?” That was Ryder, and he frowned as Reacher shook his head.
“I’m not gonna tell you his personal business, but he’s had surgery, and he’s waiting on really important test results. Depending on what the verdict is, he may be forced to leave the club-”
Voices started raising as my brothers reacted to the news, and for a moment Reacher just let them. He sat back and let them get it out of their system, and when they fell quiet again, he nodded slowly.
“Brothers, the last thing I want is to lose him. He’s family, and he should never have left to try and deal with this alone, but he’s a stubborn bastard as you all know. He’ll be back in the next day or so, and he can’t ride for a while, but he’s still our fucking VP, right? If anyone gives him bullshit about not riding, I’ll personally drag you along behind my fucking bike until even your mama won’t recognise you. We clear?”
He stood up. “Don’t ask him shit, don’t push him to talk, and don’t fucking give him shit about anything. He is in hell right now, and we’re not gonna make it worse. Now, his sister has been looking after him, and she’ll be coming along to stay with him for a few days, so again, if anyone makes the slightest comment that I feel is inappropriate, I’ll cut your fucking tongue out. Anyone got a problem with that?”
Stunned silence was his response.
“On that note, I’m closing the meeting, everyone out, except Ice and Has.”
Everyone looked like their world had been shaken, and it fucking should. Stitch’s had, so why shouldn’t they feel some of the fear and horror that he has suffered for however the fuck long he’s been aware of his condition. Many of them grasped Reacher’s shoulder or nodded at him as they left, and then the heavy door slammed.
“Do I want to know?” His words were more than tired, they were drained, exhausted.
“We were just messing around, Pres. Part of our new friendship thing, whatever the fuck that is.”
I smirked at Has, and he flipped me off.
“Yeah, it’s just how we show love, Reacher, nothing to worry about.”
“You didn’t hurt him enough that he can’t ride, right? I can’t have another fucking member unable to ride right now. If Stitch… Jesus… I can’t even think about that right now. Get lost, you two. I need to think.”
“Want me to send Ally in?” Has did the shoulder grip thing on his way past, and I saw Reacher nodding.
As I reached for the door, Reacher called me back.
“Uh… do you think Lissa might be able to spare a little time for me?” The fuck? I opened my mouth to tell him to keep his fucking hands off, and then common sense prevailed. He just wanted to talk to someone who would listen, and didn’t he deserve that?
“I’ll ask her to check in with you, Pres. Tomorrow okay?” He nodded, thanking me as he waved us both away. Has went in search of our President’s old lady, and I went back to find mine.
Lissa
W hen Ice came back, he closed and locked the door and turned to stare at me, his gaze turning predatory in a split second. My lady parts clenched as I rose from the chair I’d been curled up in.
“Ice?”
“You don’t want my dick, you better run, little vixen, because I’m planning to ram you hard until you beg me to stop.”
Wow … I glanced around the room, which was barely big enough to really escape him, but then wasn’t that the point? I didn’t want to escape.
“Lissa?”
I stood my ground. “Stay back, Ice, I don’t want you to touch me. No… I said stay back!” I held up my hands as he approached me, a dangerous look on his face. I actually trembled a little at that look in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to devour me, and I really wanted that.
“Ice?”
“I get hold of you, I’m gonna fuck you, Lissa.”
“Are you sure you should? Your shoulder…”
He rolled his eyes. “You want to do this now? I have to reclaim my woman after Has hit on her, do you think I give a fuck about my shoulder right now?”
“What if you need to stop?”
He laughed.
“I won’t.”
“What if I do? We never talked about that stuff.”
He groaned and dropped down onto the sofa.
“Fine… do you want to stop?”
I giggled. “Obviously not, but what I’m saying is that we need a word or a phrase, that you’ll recognise as me needing to stop, you know if you’re going to ignore ‘no’ and ‘stop’ and stuff like that. A safeword.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Safeword, huh? Sexy. Okay, you got one in mind?”
I grinned at him, backing up a few steps.
“Yeah, but you won’t like it.”
He got up and started following me.
“Woman…”
“Vanilla! You know, like uh… the singer… Ice Ice baby …”
He laughed. “I thought you meant, as opposed to kinky, but yeah that works too. Kinda reminds me of my mug though, and I think you’re still due a punishment for that. What say I fuck that tight little ass of yours instead?”
“No. No no no no no!” I was shaking my head as I backed away from him.
“No as in Vanilla no?”
I backed around the kitchen counter.
“No.”
“Good.”
He followed me, but at that slow prowling pace serial killers used in movies. It was unnerving, but intense and sexy too. A few times I forgot to move away from him as he approached, because I wanted his body against mine, his heat leaching into me, his hands tearing at my clothes.
“Lissa…”
I giggled and turned, running around the kitchen counters, back into the main room. As I reached the door, and started tugging pathetically at the lock, I felt him suddenly surround me with his body, crushing me against the door. God yes… I’d never get enough of him touching me.
His fingers threaded through my hair, and he tugged my head back.
“Looks like you were too slow, little vixen. Guess what happens now?”
I shuddered inside at the thought of what he’d do now he’d caught me.
“You can’t have me, I’ll fight you.”
“I’m counting on it. Don’t hold back, because I’m not planning to.”