Two
W as it a suicide note? I wasn’t sure. I read it a few times, but it appeared to be more like a diary entry. It was just that it sounded pretty final and apocalyptic, especially for Ice.
“Fucking hell. Can we get his phone tracked right now? I have some ideas of places he’d go, but… I don’t know him massively well. We mostly just wind each other up. It’s pretty much our thing.” Ryder looked really worried.
Alicia looked to me for Ice’s number, and I read it out to her so she could enter it. The system took a minute or so to track, and pinpointed a location, so Ryder and Stitch ran from the room, to go and check it out.
I pulled up a chair beside Alicia, and we reread that document together. It referred to his addiction, and the fact that he saw no way out. That death might be the only thing that saves him from it. Was this really how he was feeling, and why the hell hadn’t he reached out to me? To anyone, but especially me, since I was his fucking Club President, and responsible for all of them. All he had to do was fucking ask.
“He really needs help, Reacher.”
I nodded, a deep seated panic settling inside me, because I was responsible for a lot of guys, and this whole club relied on me, for a lot of shit. Addiction wasn’t uncommon among bikers, and it wasn’t always drugs, but the drugs were the toughest to kick, and Ice was in really fucking deep.
“We find him first, and then I’ll figure out a way to help him. This isn’t something he planned for any of us to see, so we need to respect that.”
“Or it was a blatant cry for help. He doesn’t normally leave for so long, but the one time he does, this is just sitting on his screen? Waiting for the first person to come looking for him, and spot it? And look at this place. It was the result of a person who’s giving up. Who can’t see the point in picking stuff up, or doesn’t care that their living space is just fucking eroding around them!”
Jesus. Now I was even more freaked out.
“You think so?”
“Pres? You better see this.” One of the prospects had just checked out the bathroom, and I really didn’t want to fucking see what was in there. I looked at Alicia, who shrugged, and turned back to the screen, clicking on shit that I didn’t understand. Thank god she knew what she was doing.
I got up and reluctantly joined the prospects in the bathroom. It was pristinely tidy, and that in itself was a surprise, with the state of the rest of the place.
It was the open medicine cabinet that had them freaked, because it was jammed with stuff; pills, packets of powder. Jesus. Maybe this was normal for him, and we just didn’t know. The scariest part was the set of syringes filled with some strange-coloured liquid. They didn’t look like anything I’d seen before. They were carefully bagged up, and set aside from the other shit.
I grabbed Rob, one of the prospects.
“Go get the doc. I wanna know what all of this shit is. Warn him we might have an intervention coming of the forced rehab variety.”
My phone was ringing so I grabbed it; Stitch.
“Tell me something good, brother.”
He cursed. “I can’t. Uh… we have his phone. His bike’s here too, but there’s no sign of Ice. And fuck… it’s dumped in the middle of nowhere. Well…”
“Talk to me.”
He sighed heavily, sounding very much like he didn’t want to let the words out.
“We’re a short walk from the river, and the footbridge over it. If uh… if someone wanted a way out, uh… it wouldn’t take much effort.”
Fuck. “Brother, I…” I stopped speaking instantly, as Alicia yelled my name.
I joined her beside the tech shit on the table.
Her hand was shaking as she grabbed my arm.
“I… uh… I rang the hospital, and he’s been admitted there. Uh, he was admitted last night, but they won’t tell me anything.”
I glanced at the screen, and saw that she’d pulled up some file of Ice’s that showed his real name and date of birth. Without those, she’d never have been able to check. Damon Silver. Sometimes it’s easy to forget my brothers even have ‘real’ names, because nobody uses them. Except Ryder, whose road name is also his real name.
“Reacher, you still there?” I’d forgotten the phone, and Stitch.
“He’s in hospital. We’re heading there now. Meet you there.”
Alicia
R eacher grabbed the back of my neck to pull me close, kissing the top of my head, and then he was walking away.
“Wait! You’re going to the hospital?”
He stopped, glancing back at me from the doorway, pure bemusement on his face.
“Well, yeah, of course.”
I followed, stopping a few feet away, wanting to touch him, but hesitating because we weren’t together, were we?
“Should… I mean, I feel like I want to come with you.”
His eyebrows raised. “You don’t need to do that, Ally. You’ve been a huge help though.”
He walked away again, and I followed once more, getting pissed off, because I wanted him to listen to me.
“Reacher, dammit!”
He practically growled, stopping at the top of the stairs.
“This is fucking important, Ally.”
I thumped his shoulder, making him turn to glare at me.
“I know that, dickhead. I’m saying I… I need to see… to know that he’s okay.”
His jaw clenched, and he stepped closer to me, backing me up to the wall.
“You got some attachment to Ice, woman? Something I need to fucking know about?”
His arms caged me against the wall, and again that surge of attraction warmed up all of the neediest parts of my body. How long had it been since I’d had sex? Too fucking long. I wet my lips, almost preparing for the hard kiss that I knew would hit me any moment now. I could see it in his eyes, in the way his gaze moved, to focus on my lips.
“You into him?” He whispered, bending his arms to reduce the space between us, heat leaching from his body into mine.
“No,” I practically breathed the word at him, my hands sliding up the front of his cut, my hips even trying to seek his out, to feel that hard length pressing against me. I needed it. I needed him .
“Good,” he muttered, before his lips touched mine. It wasn’t gentle, and it was exactly what I fucking wanted. I practically melted against him as his body pressed tightly against mine, pinning me against the wall, and his mouth owned mine, his tongue just as forceful as I’d imagined.
One of his hands moved to grip my face, under my chin, tilting me to deepen the kiss, and soak my underwear all in one swift move. It was everything. It was all I’d wanted. Well, not all. I wanted him naked, thrusting inside me, hard enough for me to feel it long after.
“Jesus, sorry.” Whoever the hell had just interrupted us, was going to be in a world of pain, as Reacher pulled his lips from mine, and cursed at them.
“Sorry, Pres. Everyone’s waiting to leave.”
“Shit.” He tightened his grip on my face, his eyes never having left mine. “We will continue this later, woman. You can fucking count on that.” My breath came out in a ragged gasp, and I nodded. I think I’d do pretty much anything to get to feel that again.
Reacher moved his arm, adjusting his jeans, making room for that hard dick I’d felt prodding at me, no doubt. Then he grabbed my hand, and dragged me toward the stairs.
He barked at a prospect to get a spare helmet for me, and then he led me to his bike. The others were waiting, presumably because they’d ride behind their President.
Reacher hadn’t let go of my hand yet, but he briefly did so to straddle his bike, and put on his helmet. Once the engine was running, he reached out to help me climb on the back, just as a prospect appeared and passed a helmet to me.
“You need help with that?” Reacher practically yelled back at me, over the noise of the bikes. I fastened the helmet, leaning forward to wrap my arms around him in response, and then we were moving. It was a strange feeling. I was on the Club President’s bike, leading a convoy of bikes down the road toward the hospital. I loved being on a motorbike anyway, but somehow, riding in this way, I felt a sense of importance, and value. Like I mattered when I was here with him like this.
We were at the hospital far more quickly than I’d imagined, and then the bikes were being parked up alongside two others; Stitch and Ryder. They were both waiting by the bikes, looking pissed off.
“Did you stop for lunch on the way?” That was Ryder muttering at us, but we ignored that, instead all following Reacher into the hospital. To say people look wary when they see a whole bunch of bikers striding into anywhere, is a massive understatement. They did look pretty intimidating. I’d have been nervous if I hadn’t got to know so many of them, during my stay at the clubhouse. Oddly, it was starting to feel like home, and I just wished like hell that I could stay.
Someone checked at the desk for information on where to go, and was told to head to ICU. That wasn’t a good sign. Again, they wouldn’t give any details, but Reacher just shrugged it off.
“Anyone called his mum yet?”
Stitch nodded. “She’s on her way, with that no good husband of hers.”
Hell. Even I knew by now that there was bad blood between Ice and that prick. It was part of the reason he rarely visited her. I’d been around long enough to hear all kinds of things, and I knew Ice hated him.
We made it up to ICU, and Reacher strode up to the desk there.
“Checking in on Damon Silver. I’m his next of kin; Jacob Anderson.” He was his next of kin? I turned to look at Stitch curiously.
“It’s a club thing. As our President, he’s next of kin for all of us. We’re family, and we spend almost all of our time together, so why risk him and the rest of us, not being allowed to visit in hospital? And you know… make decisions and shit.” Wow, what an enormous amount of pressure on one man’s shoulders. No wonder he was always so cranky. Idly I also wondered who was his next of kin, if he was everyone else’s.
“Okay, Mr Anderson. I had to check that out, but I’m sure you understand.” The nurse was brisk and business-like, and Reacher, or Jacob , nodded just as briskly in response.
“So… what’s his condition?”
The nurse was checking something on her computer, reading out aloud.
“He was found with multiple stab wounds, and almost bled out. He’s in a critical condition right now, I’m afraid.” I heard cursing from most of the bikers crowding around us, and could almost feel the palpable shock surrounding them at this news. Stabbed? Who the hell would have done that?
“Stitch, get onto this. I want to know fucking everything.” He turned back to the nurse. “Is he conscious? Can we see him?”
She frowned deeply, rechecking her screen.
“I can maybe get you in there in a bit to sit with him for a while, but just you, and I’m afraid he’s not conscious. He’s in a medically induced coma right now.”
My stomach clenched, and I grabbed Reacher’s hand, squeezing it tightly at the horror that I saw reflected on his face. I could feel the stunned tension in his body, wishing I could ease it somehow.
“Jesus. Is he gonna make it?”
The nurse looked way too serious.
“The injuries themselves were not too severe, they missed his major organs, and only minor surgery was required to repair the damage. The problem was the blood loss, because I’m afraid we don’t know how long he lay there, before he was found.”
My god. Poor Ice. How horrifying to be stabbed and left alone to die.
Ryder and some of the others were cursing up a storm, and the nurse fixed them with a glare.
“This is an intensive care unit, people. You can’t all stay, and those of you who do, had better curb the foul language. Other visitors to this place are in their own personal hell already.”
Everyone looked suitably spanked, with several quiet apologies coming her way, and Reacher backed away from the desk, thanking the nurse.
“Jesus.” I stepped into his arms and held him, letting him feel comfort from me, as well as helping him save face; by looking like he was comforting me, rather than the other way around. There were six bikers left in the room.
I recognised Ryder, obviously, but there were several I didn’t know very well. Another I knew was Torch, and he looked like he wanted to go and find the culprit, and carve him up. I wondered why he was called Torch. Actually I wondered where all of their road names came from. They had meaning, I knew that much, but what could Reacher’s mean? He reaches for things? He reaches people in need? I had no idea, and now was not the time to ask, I was certain of that.
Reacher felt so tense and frustrated, and I wished I could do something to help. Even if he pissed me off more often than not, I was starting to care for him, and while I knew that was a danger for us both, I just couldn’t help it.
“Need anything?” I whispered to him, pressing my face into his neck, so only he’d hear me. A shudder ran through him, and he sighed heavily.
“Answers,” he muttered finally, and I wished I could give him that. This whole experience had been pretty sobering, but the lowered inhibitions remained. I still wanted him, and I still wanted to risk it, even though I knew I should be running the other damn way.
“Blowie in the bathroom?” I whispered, my lips right against his ear, and he cursed, his arms tightening against me.
“Dammit, Ally, you do this to me now?”
His voice was almost as low as mine.
“It might help ease some of your tension.” I grabbed his hand, pulling away from our hug.
“Will you take me out to get some air please, I’m getting a bit lightheaded.”
Ryder was the only one paying attention to us, and he nodded at Reacher.
“I’ll ring you if anything happens. She does look a little flushed.”
I bit back my grin, as Reacher let me drag him from the stuffy waiting area. From there, I dragged him directly for the unisex bathroom I’d spotted by the lifts, and shoved him into one of the small rooms. They were completely enclosed, so would be perfectly suitable for what I had in mind.
He was blinking slowly, looking a bit out of it, so I locked the door, and pushed him against it, immediately dropping to my knees in front of him.
“I’m not going to mess around here, Reacher. Quick and dirty. That’s all we have time for, but it’ll help, I promise.”
He stared down at me, his forehead creasing, as I unfastened his jeans.
“Ally… you don’t have to do this.”
I grinned as his cock sprung free the second I loosened his underwear.
“But you’re really up for it, Reacher. Be a shame to let it go to waste, right?”
He groaned as I wrapped a hand around his shaft, and stroked it lightly. A shudder ran through him, and he rolled his head back for a moment.
“Fucking hell, woman. You’ve got the devil in you.”
I smiled, lowering my head to take him in my mouth. Maybe I did, but right now I really liked it.