Chapter 5
Torren
“Son of a bitch!” I suck the blood trickling down my finger—the third finger I’ve nicked today—and peek into the waiting area to find two older women looking at me like I’m a damn heathen. “Sorry,” I mutter in their direction.
I grip the bumper and slide the creeper out from under the car I’m working on, then make my way to our first-aid kit.
For the third time today.
At the rate I’m going, I’ll have Band-Aids on all ten fingers. My mind can’t focus on work. All I can think about is him.
The monster within me roared when I saw Felix. I could feel it gnashing its teeth. Why?
It’s not because he’s the mayor’s son. I only said that to push him away, but I wouldn’t hold him responsible for his shitty father. It’s not like my adoptive parents were any prize.
It was something else. Why did he wake this up?
I clench my eyes shut, willing my mind to forget him. But when I reopen them, the dark walls of my shop remind me of the Kays’ cellar, and the memories come flooding back—the damp floor, a steamy haze of sweat and fear, and the faces of the men who used Tobias and me like playthings…
The Kays didn’t just take us in; they ensnared us in a twisted scheme of child sex trafficking until we took matters into our own hands and ended it.
“Take the knife, Torren.”
“No, I can’t do it. Don’t make me–”
Tobias pulls me close, his desperate eyes meeting mine. “I can’t do it alone. They’re all drugged. They can barely stand. They deserve it!”
I cover my ears, trying to block out the mumbling and slurred catcalling of the men downstairs.
“They’ll do it to others,” Tobias adds.
My breath hitches, and my mouth turns dry and chalky.
“Even if we run, they’ll find others. These are the kind of men who find a way to hurt kids like us.”
And that’s when my mind goes from panicked to still.
Frightening still.
Methodical and determined.
My gut vibrates, sending ripples of adrenaline throughout my body.
Tobias is right. It’ll happen to more kids if we don’t do something.
My eyes meet his. “It ends tonight.”
He nods and reaches for my hand. Together, we descend the stairs leading down to the cellar.
Gabriel, dropping a wrench, pulls me out of the memory.
I stare at the blood dripping down my finger, remembering the jubilation I felt when I ended those sick perverts.
That moment marked the beginning of my descent into darkness.
I let the wicked rage that consumed me morph into something violent and wrong, and I’ve been trying to keep it locked up ever since.
I believed I could control it, but today…
Today changed everything.
Fuck me!
I never wanted to be violent. I never wanted to be a criminal.
I left the Hellcats to end all of that!
Tobias was always the one who wanted the Hellcats to be an empire. He thrived on the power, but I didn’t. I never wanted to be that.
I just wanted a family. I just wanted to be loved.
Instead, the Kays broke my heart and turned me into this. That’s what happens when you put your heart on the line. I thought I’d succeeded in leaving it all behind me.
Until I saw him.
He made me feel those same urges again.
Felix Hargrove doesn’t know it, but he’s in danger. Something inside me isn’t right, and I don’t want him anywhere near it.
I wish I could have him, but I can’t.
It’s not safe for him.
I need to push him out of my mind.
Focus on the work, Torren.
My days are mapped out—not a moment isn’t scheduled because it’s the routine that keeps me focused, and, right now, I should be focusing on work.
I have three cars that need repairing before the end of the day.
My clients count on me to get shit done in a timely fashion—that’s why they come to me and not one of those soulless chains across town.
I make them feel like a person, and I know they don’t have a pot to piss in, so I’m upfront about costs.
I’m slowly developing a reputation as a businessman, rather than a criminal.
I can do this.
Gabe saunters over with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What?”
He rolls his eyes, then makes the ubiquitous sign for sex by pumping a finger through a hole made with his other hand.
I should have known he’d read me like a book. Son of a bitch. “You’re fucking crazy. I don’t want anything to do with that little pissant.”
He makes a “Mmmhmm” sound before finger-fucking the hole even faster. Then he starts humping the table, making soft moaning sounds, and the ladies in the waiting room gasp.
I shove him away from the table. “Enough! No more! We need to get back to work. Now.”
He shoots me another smirk, then makes his way back to the car we’re working on.
Close your eyes and take a breath, Torren.
I do, and the image of Felix clouds my imagination again, my body burning with need.
Control it, Torren.