Chapter 4 #2
Cruising through traffic, I split the lanes and take a light just before it turns red.
The motorcycle stays close, but we’ve lost the car, and I smile behind my full-face helmet.
Take that fuckers. Twisting the throttle causes the front wheel of my bike to jump up a bit, but I lean forward, drop it back down, and cut off the next car before making a quick turn into the art district before heading toward campus.
I honk as I pass Frozen Tattoo and Piercing, seeing Wryan walking out with her baby daddy.
She waves, but I don’t wave back, keeping my hands on the bars as I take another turn more quickly.
Checking my mirrors, the bike behind me doesn’t seem to be there any longer. That prospect will get an earful later.
I continue speeding faster than I probably should, the campus finally coming into view. Parking in the lot adjacent to the dorms, a bright smile graces my face, and I feel alive today.
I swing off the bike and laugh out loud as I remove my helmet. Looking around, I don’t notice any of my tails anticipating my return home. They’ll be back later, but for a few moments I’m by myself, and I love the thrill of it. I practically skip to the dorm, my backpack bouncing against my back.
Passing other students in the hallway on the way to my room, I smile at them as well. No RBF on me today. I dance and hum to the music still pumping through my earbuds. Opening my door to the darkness, I reach for the light switch.
“Don’t panic when you see me,” a deep, dark voice greets me, and I squeal from fear.
Slamming the door, I whip my head around to find Torch sitting at my desk. He’s leaned back, his long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. Moea rests at his feet, and her tongue lolls out of her mouth as she gives me her doggy grin.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demand before dropping to my knees.
“Come here, Momma’s sweet baby potato,” I call her, and she wags her butt while walking toward me.
Moea’s big body presses into mine. “How’s my baby girl?
” I bury my face in her scruff and whisper in her ear, “Did you bite that Barbie bitch for Momma?”
“What was that?” Torch asks, and I look up at him as he now stands over me.
His eyes flare, and I watch something cross them as he stares down at me on my knees in front of him.
I want to imagine myself being here with his thick cock between my lips, but I can’t as long as he’s with her.
He reaches his hand down, brushing along my sweat-dampened hair from my helmet and working out. “Princess,” he growls.
The nickname hits me hard, and I slap his hand away as I stand and turn to drop my helmet on the table and collect myself before facing him again. What I don’t expect is him to be right there again, pressing me back into the door. His massive body overwhelms mine, making me feel small.
I try for sassy. “I asked what you’re doing here. How did you get into my room? Don’t you have a girlfriend to bother?”
“I’ve always had access to this room, and you should know that. I don’t have any women in my life except you.” He steps back, and that’s when I notice my bed covered in my partially packed bags.
“What the fuck, Torch? Why are my bags packed? I’m not leaving.”
“Yes, you are. Your brother just called in your return.”
“So, you are here to take me back. No, I’m not going.”
“The fuck you say. His woman was attacked tonight, and you’re on her boyfriend’s hit list to gain control of her. He’s taking her in.”
“Wait, Evie was hurt?” I pause as his words hit me. Evie. Oh shit. I pull my phone from my jacket pocket, but he swipes it from my hand. “Hey, give me that back. I need to check on her.”
“No, you don’t. Double-check that I have everything packed for you. A prospect for Shiver of Chaos will come finish what I leave behind.”
“He’s taking her to the compound? What about our classes?” I move past him and rush for my closet.
Several of my clothes are still on hangers, so I pull off a few that I like and don’t want to wait for.
Moving to my drawers, I see most of them are open except for my panty drawer.
I open it and grab several pairs, dropping them into my luggage, which is packed with several outfits, minus the panties.
I look at him and wonder if he didn’t want to touch them, but his look of disgust makes me wonder what about the lacy thongs bothers him.
“Don’t tell me your girlfriend goes commando for you. I wear these.” I hold up a thong, and he snatches it from my hand.
“I told you over and over, no girlfriend.” He looks at the red scrap of material, then fists it and drops it into my bag. “I’ll explain later. As for Evie, yes, Judge is taking her to the compound.”
“Well, let’s hurry. I need to check on her.” I rush to the bathroom as I hear him grumble something that sounds like almost didn’t have them. I shake my head, not sure about his meaning, then notice all my cosmetics are already packed. “Darn, I wanted to take a quick shower before we hit the road.”
“We don’t have time. Hammer just messaged.” Torch stares at his phone. “Justin is on his way here. You can shower when we get there.”
“Okay. What about classes? I need to contact my advisor and coach.”
“Judge has all that taken care of. Let’s go, princess.” Torch reaches for me, and I rip my arm from his grip.
“I hate you calling me that. Let’s go,” I grumble, knowing he uses that name to remind himself that I’m the Princess and we’ll never work out. That he’s not meant for me.
I pick up a couple of my bags along with Moea’s lead and move toward the door. Torch grabs the rest, and I’m about to stuff my cell phone in my backpack, but he shakes his head.
“Leave it. Mal will remote wipe it.”
“I need to call Evie and check up on her.”
“Nope. Judge has probably destroyed her phone already.”
We leave the dorm building and pass my bike on the way to his truck, never noticing it had been parked a couple rows over from my spot. “I’ll take my bike and follow you out of town.”
“Leave it. Shiver is on their way to get it now. Let’s go.
” Torch grips my arm and pulls me along.
Again, I shake off his hold and wait while he opens the crew cab’s back door.
Moea jumps in as he drops my bags under the tonneau cover in the truck bed.
My backpack gets tossed in the back, and he walks over to open the passenger door, helping me in after taking the bags from my hold.
His meaty hands grip my waist, and I try to fight him as the warmth of his body behind me burns through my jeans.
“Let me go. I can climb in myself.”
He leans into my ear, his scruff tickling the sensitive skin. “Princess, I’ll always want my hands on you.” With a nip of the lobe, my clit immediately throbs. I lean back slightly, giving him more access before the image of him and Barbie flashes behind my closed eyes, and my body jerks away.
“Don’t,” I bark out. “You have a girlfriend, and I won’t be the other woman for any man. Not even you, Torch.”
He twists my body; I land in the seat, then he pushes his way between my thighs and grips my chin.
“Princess, we are going to get one thing very clear. I’ve told you repeatedly.
I’m. Not. With. Anyone. But. You.” He enunciates each word clearly.
“I lied before. I’ve only ever been with one woman that wasn’t you, and I regretted it from the moment it began.
” His eyes focus on mine, and I want to believe him.
Everything in me wants to believe he would never truly lie to me, but then that would mean she lied.
“I don’t know why you don’t trust me, but I swear on a stack of Bibles. On my father’s grave and on my life.”
“But…” I pause. “Barbie. You two were together.”
He rears back, dropping his hand from my face. Pain tinges his eyes.
“That lying bitch. I never slept with her. I didn’t fucking kiss her or even lead her on. She’s been chasing after me for over a year.” He straightens me in my seat. “We’ll finish this when we’re safe. Come on.”
He closes my door and walks around the truck. Studying him, my feelings are all over the place. He slept with only one woman. When was that? He says that he and Barbie were never together. Never?
I look out at the darkened campus, trying to reconcile what he’s just admitted and what she sneered at me.
Her words from last summer play through my mind.
She insinuated that they’d been together for months.
That she thought they were going to have a baby together.
Wait, she said she was pregnant. Doing the math in my head from June to now in November: if she got pregnant in May, she wouldn’t be due until February. Could she have made it all up?
“Princess?” he says, using the nickname that bothers me.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I need to focus on Evie.” I grit the words through my teeth.
He reaches across the console and touches my knee. I tighten up, ready to push it away, but he grips me. “Give me time.”
I look at him, then return to staring out the window. I’ve never not trusted him; why am I now? Because he declared we could never be anything. He insinuated that I was just a child. He claimed so many other things that day…except me.