Six
I wanted to fuck her again already, but I wanted it to be in my bed, our bed , back at the clubhouse. I didn’t like being away from there, especially with Ice in hospital. It didn’t feel right, but it wouldn’t feel right if I went back there without her either.
“Please, Ally. I need to be back there, and I don’t want to go alone. We’re hoping they’ll wake Ice up tomorrow. My brothers need their Pres home with them.”
Her face fell. “Oh my god. I’m such a selfish bitch. I haven’t even asked about Ice. Tell me.”
I stroked her hair back from her face.
“You’re not. You couldn’t be.” I let my hand drop, moving past her to grab her bags, before I cursed. I couldn’t take those on my damn bike.
“You need anything desperately from these before tomorrow?” She shook her head.
“I’ll get a prospect to collect them in the morning for you. You have any other things to collect from anywhere?”
She shook her head again. I was determined to move her the fuck in, before she could back out. It was only a tentative agreement, but that was enough for me. I could make it permanent.
“Tell me about Ice, Reacher.”
I took a deep breath, feeling my chest literally aching for the poor kid.
“He was stabbed in the stomach and chest. They say he’s lucky that they missed organs, but he doesn’t look fucking lucky right now. He’s being transfused overnight, but if he remains stable, they’ll wake him tomorrow. I need to be there for that. He needs to know that we’re there for him, and that we’ll find the culprits, and rip their fucking hearts out of their chests.”
Her eyes widened, then she nodded.
“If they even have hearts.”
Good girl. She was definitely meant for me.
“Exactly. Let’s go home, Ally. I want to fuck you in our bed before we sleep.”
I caught the way her breath hitched at that thought. Excellent. These days I needed a bigger gap between fucking sessions than I did in my twenties and thirties, but I was still going to fuck her every chance I got.
Having her on the back of my bike was an experience I wanted to repeat every day for the rest of my life. Her arms were wrapped tightly around me, her body pressed against my back. It made the ride so much more enjoyable, having her there. Could I justify taking her everywhere with me, just to feel that over and over? I was damn well gonna try.
Back at the clubhouse, I was taken aside by Doc almost instantly. It was god-awful timing, but clearly important. I kissed Ally on the head, and sent her to our room to wait for me. She didn’t argue, for once in her damn life, and I appreciated that so much.
“What’s up?”
He glanced around us. “Can we talk in the infirmary?”
Jesus. I followed him, and when we entered, there was one prospect in there, organising the cupboard with all the dressings and shit. He glanced up, saw our faces, and didn’t wait to be dismissed. Good kid. He’d go far.
“So what’s this about?”
Doc pointed to a counter, where he’d laid out a lot of medicines. No wait, that was the shit from Ice’s bathroom cabinet. He pointed to the plastic tubs of pills.
“So, we knew he was on uppers, and shit like this. No surprise here.” He moved on to point at bags of powder.
“No prizes for guessing this is cocaine, and again, we knew he was using that. I’ve tried talking him into cutting back, but you know him. If there isn’t something chemical flowing through his veins, he thinks he’s missing out.”
I nodded. We’d all worried about his addictions, but he wouldn’t listen to a single one of us. That was about to fucking change though.
“Yeah… where’s this leading?”
Doc pointed to two disturbing syringes, filled with liquid. Oh, I remembered seeing those, and wondering what the hell they were.
“Not of the norm, I’m guessing?”
Doc shook his head. “Now, I can’t be sure, because I’ve never seen anything like it, and I can only run limited tests here, but it seems to be similar to GHB, and other drugs commonly used to incapacitate someone. It’d likely either relax the body, or knock the person out completely.”
Shit. I pressed my fingers against my eyebrow piercings, letting the small bite of discomfort sharpen my concentration, despite the exhaustion I suddenly felt. This was going to be bad, because there was no good fucking reason he had that shit, was there?
“Is it something he’s taking? Or something he’s using on others?”
Doc groaned. “That’s the problem. I have no idea. Even if he was using it, I probably wouldn’t find it if I took blood on his return, especially since he lost so much of it. Whether he came off his bike because he was doped on this shit, and that made him an easy target for a mugger, or something, I have no idea.”
“A mugger would take his bike, or at the very least, his phone.”
Doc nodding, gesturing again to the syringes, and already I knew it was too much to hope for that I’d never have to fucking see those again.
“We need to question him about this shit as soon as he’s awake. He knows the club rules about drugs. Nothing harder than what we supply. If this is something he’s using on others, we definitely have a problem. I wouldn’t have thought him to be the type, but he’s taken so much shit over the years, who knows what it’s doing to his brain.”
Fuck. “You gonna destroy that shit?”
Doc shook his head. “No. Not yet. I might be able to get a friend at a lab to test it for us, find out more about what the hell it is. I’m on the case. It’ll be locked up though, and nobody knows it’s here, except the two of us, and Nick, and he’s too close to a patch vote to risk telling anyone.”
Yeah… that’s the thing about club life. It goes on. Everything keeps coming and happening, and we have to stay on top of it.
“Jesus. Okay, they say they want to wake him up tomorrow, so I’ll see what I can find out. Not sure how good his brain’ll be after all this anyway.”
I went back to my room, sighing with relief to find Alicia there. She was wearing just a t-shirt of mine, and was messing around in the kitchen.
“Perfect timing.” She turned around with two plates, and fuck me, she’d cooked us something. Hell yes. I didn’t even realise how starved I was until I caught a whiff of food.
“Woman, you look after me like this, and I’ll never let you leave.”
Her response was a pleased smile, or at least that’s what I’m gonna call it. The food looked great; steak, mash, vegetables, a full damn plate too.
“You never told me you could cook.” I sat down at her insistence, while she grabbed two beers from the fridge.
“You never asked, and to be fair, I wasn’t looking to be showing you all of my skills in one go.”
I grinned, watching her sit down.
“Oh, I’m sure you have plenty of hidden talents, woman. I’m looking forward to discovering all of them.”
She picked up her fork and stared at me.
“Not going to eat?”
I followed suit. “I was raised with manners, but that doesn’t mean my stomach isn’t fucking eating itself right now.”
We ate in comfortable silence, and damn it was good. Beautifully cooked, full of flavour, and filling a gaping hole. Did I even eat today? I couldn’t remember.
I insisted on cleaning up after we’d finished, and silently cursed the number of things she’d managed to use, just to cook one meal, no matter how delicious. Times like this, I really fucking appreciated the dishwasher in this place. Nobody else had one, but I’m the Pres, after all. Once it was all dealt with, I brought two more beers over to the sofa and joined Ally.
“Gotta say, I’m loving seeing you in my t-shirt like that.” I caught a flash of underwear, which was a shame, but I’d soon have her out of them.
Alicia grinned. “I had a shower, and figured, since most of my clothes are in suitcases in the… uh… what did you call it? Hovel? Yeah, I’d just keep borrowing your stuff.”
“What’s mine is yours.”
She raised her eyebrows, and I sensed that she was about to challenge that statement.
“Really? Hmm… let’s see if I can prove you wrong.” She glanced around the room.
“I mean it. Anything in here you want, you take it.”
She grinned at me. “Anything?”
I nodded, waiting for her to try and push her luck. I was too stuffed from dinner to fuck her right now, but I’d play the game, especially since I suspected I knew where this was going.
“What about your cut?”
I knew it. “You want my cut?”
She leaned closer, trailing a finger over the leather.
“What if I wanted to wear it while you’re fucking me?”
I grinned, grabbing that finger, and bringing it up to my mouth.
“Only if you let me fuck your ass while you wear it.”
And damn that woman, she just shrugged.
“Whatever.”
I honestly thought she’d say no. Most women usually argued or resisted, at least until they’d tried it, and had it done right.
“So, you’ve been fucked in the ass before then…”
Alicia grinned, winking at me. “I’ve been around the block a few times, Reacher. I’m hardly a young woman.”
Damn. “And you liked it?”
“Honestly? I like how it feels when it’s right. When the man knows what the hell he’s doing, and makes an effort to make it feel good.”
I sucked her finger into my mouth, grazing it with my teeth, before I teased it with my tongue. I slowly released it, my breath catching, as she ran her damp finger down my chest.
“How do you think I’ll do? You think I’ll make it feel good?”
She caught my hand with hers, moving it down between her legs, and pressing it against the outside of her underwear, which was warm and damp.
“Does that answer your question? The thought of you taking my ass makes me really fucking horny, Reacher.”
I rubbed at her through her underwear, grinning as she dropped her head back, and moaned quietly.
“You’re lucky I seem to be horny all the time lately. It must be an effect you’re having on me.”
I pushed at the thin fabric over her pussy, easing the tip of my finger slightly inside her, soaking the gusset of her underwear at the same time. Then I lifted my hand, inhaling the scent of her arousal, before I licked her taste from my skin.
“Jesus Christ, Reacher.”
“We didn’t discuss something earlier, and we really should have.” I hated breaking the mood, but it was important.
“Oh… you must be talking about the fact that you fucked me without a condom? Or the fact that you never even considered discussing it first?”
Ouch . “I’m sorry. I should have been more responsible.”
She shrugged, failing to hide her grin.
“I have a birth control implant, so I’m covered for a while, and to my knowledge, I’m not diseased or anything.”
I grabbed her hand. “I… it’s been a while for me. Not really one for doing the club girls, although everyone has to suit up anyway to use them. Club rules.” Or rather, my rules. The previous president hadn’t cared much for the wellbeing of club girls. It was probably the reason that we only had a handful even willing to service the boys these days. Bad reputations are hard to shift, even if it’s been almost a decade since things were that bad.
“So what you’re saying is, you probably didn’t give me the clap, or get me up the duff, so I should let you do it again?”
I fucking loved that sassy mouth of hers.
“Well, either that, or I want to fuck your mouth, and keep you from sassing me for five minutes.”
She poked her tongue out, which was supposed to be cute, but just made me groan at the thought of that wily tongue on my dick.
“Still… you wanted me in your ass, and I’d hate to disappoint you.”
Alicia sat back in her seat.
“Not until I’ve digested, or you’ll have to roll me over to the bed.”
I smirked, reaching for my phone as it buzzed in the front pocket of my cut.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Torch, Pres.”
Shit . He was calling from the hospital, and that sent a shot of icy terror down my spine. I sat up straighter.
“Everything okay?”
There was a moment of silence, and then a different voice.
“Mr Anderson? My name is Dr Patel. We need to discuss Mr Silver.”
Shit shit shit. Don’t die on me, kid.
“Is he okay?”
Alicia sat up too, grabbing my knee in a tight grip.
“Mr Silver is showing signs of early detox. I know your club members warned that this could happen, but I wanted to talk to you about options at this point.”
“What kind of options?”
He sighed. “Detox is rough at any time, but he’s recovering from serious injury, and he’s still currently medically comatose. My preference would be to keep him that way, until the worst has passed. It’ll be much easier on him, than if we wake him now to go through it.”
Fuck. I stared at Alicia in horror.
“How will you know how much he’s suffering though? I don’t want him going through some silent hell, thinking we’ve all fucking abandoned him.”
The doctor muttered something to someone in the background.
“We’ll use medications to treat the common symptoms, so that he shouldn’t feel pain, or experience the worst of the symptoms. It’s the best I can offer. If we wake him anytime soon, he’s going to be in hell for days, and honestly, the risk of him trying to get out somewhere, and take the easy way out, is one I’d like to avoid. For his sake.”
He was right. He was more than right. But shit… we needed answers, and now we’d have to wait even longer for them. That desperate need for retribution was burning inside me, like it was for all of Ice’s brothers, but his health had to come first right now. The time for bloody murder would come though.
“Can one of our guys be with him through it? None of this bullshit about short visits, doc. We don’t leave our guys to deal with shit alone.”
The doctor muttered something away from the phone again.
“We’re moving him to a different ward, still ICU, but with staff better equipped to monitor and manage his withdrawal symptoms. I’ll make sure they know that one of you will be with him at all times. We’ll need full names of everyone in advance, but I can get those from one of your men here.”
“Thanks, doc. I appreciate you talking me through the options, and taking care of our brother. He’s very important to us. I uh… I’ll arrange a rota, so someone is with him at all times.”
“Understood, Mr Anderson. I’ll make sure everything is in place for him.”
I lowered the phone after the call ended, and stared at the floor for a moment while my mind raced along with my heart. Poor Ice.
I know that some would say addiction is self-inflicted, and maybe it started that way, but once it takes hold, it’s like a constant battle. An illness. And we’d all enabled it. We’d allowed it. We hadn’t fought hard enough to keep him from that black hole, and now he was paying the price. We failed him.
“Reacher?” I felt my phone being moved from my hand, and then Alicia climbed onto my lap, straddling me, her arms around my neck. I let her comfort me, because my mind was spinning, and I needed something. Maybe I needed exactly this. Her .
We sat like that for a minute or two, and then she sat back up, so she could look at me.
“What happened with Ice?”
I stroked her hair from her cheek, feasting my eyes on her. How was this beautiful woman with me right now? What had I done at some point to deserve her?
“He’s detoxing, so they want to keep him under for the worst of it. It’s safer for him, or apparently less hard on him. I don’t know. My options were that or let him wake up, and suffer every hellish moment of withdrawal, and risk his recovery from his injuries.”
“And you agreed to keep him under for it? That’s the right call, Reacher. Easier on him should always be the right call.”
She cupped my face in her hands.
“How can I help, Reacher? Tell me what I can do.”