Thirteen
I ce marched up to me as I stood outside the clubhouse, cursing my bad luck because now it might curse her too. Why did the prospects even fucking let her in here? Did they not understand their fucking assignment?
“You fucking idiot! Do you really think she deserved that?”
I glanced around us, wondering if anyone was in earshot.
“What else was I supposed to do? I don’t want her getting hurt by this fucker.”
He rolled his eyes, gesturing around us, like I wasn’t completely fucking aware of where we were, and who might be watching or listening.
“I get it, man. Why do you think I made such a big deal of it? I want whoever this fucker is to think she’s a nuisance, and nothing more. It’s how she stays alive, and out of this shit.”
Ice looked about as frustrated as I’d ever seen him. I mean, for a guy who’d spent the last few years hyped up on some junk the whole time, the new sober version of him was definitely crankier than ever. Mind you, he wasn’t getting any sleep before this shit started, so who knew how he was coping now, without drugs, and with more pressure.
“Lissa says she wants to talk to you,” he said suddenly, and I realised he’d pulled out his phone to check something.
“Yeah, not really feeling like a therapy sesh right now, brother, but thanks.”
He slapped the back of my head as I turned away, and Jesus fuck, I almost took him down for that alone. Nobody fucking slaps me like a little bitch.
“I swear to god-”
“ Grace wants to see you, dickface. She’s waiting at Lissa’s place. I don’t know what you think, but I personally think she deserves an explanation, and an apology, but hey, do whatever the fuck you want. Just make sure you’re civil to my old lady, or I’ll shove that clenched fist down your throat and give you a fucking sex change.”
I stared at him for a full minute, trying to figure that shit out, finally just shrugging at him, but the bastard had killed my anger, hadn’t he? Probably just like he’d planned too.
“Yeah, I was gonna say I’d pull your dick in from the inside, but yeah, it kinda got away from me. I never said I was good at this crap, but give me a computer, and I can do anything. Now, are you coming over to see your woman, or am I telling her you’re too much of a pussy to face her?”
“You need help. Maybe do some talking to that old lady of yours, see if she can fix all that crazy shit going on in that head of yours, yeah?”
“Fuck you.”
He unlocked the door of the clinic when we arrived and locked up again behind us, then he pointed at Lissa’s office.
“Go on, I’m staying here, and well out of your shit.” Cowardly asshole. I flipped him off as I approached Lissa’s door, and tapped on it. She opened it, and gestured at me to join Grace, before she left the room and pulled the door closed.
One look at Grace had me wracked with guilt, because she was curled up on a sofa, hugging her legs, and her tear streaked face told me just how much I’d hurt her. I fucking hurt her . All I wanted to do was keep her safe, and I fucked it up.
I stared at her for a moment, wanting to approach her, to hold her, to apologise, to beg her for forgiveness, but not even sure if I should touch her. Did I have a right to? Did I have any fucking right to even speak to her?
“Grace,” I hesitated, wishing someone could just fucking tell me the right thing to do here. She chewed on her lip, watching me silently just like she always fucking did these days. What happened to that feisty woman who’d verbally kicked my ass every time I saw her? What had changed so that she’d become so nervy and quiet around me?
“Grace, Ice said you wanted to talk,” I tried, moving over to the sofa and sitting on the edge of it, as far from her as I could, even though I wanted to fucking occupy the same few inches of the seat. She nodded, but didn’t volunteer anything.
“Babe, this means you have to say actual words. I’m not a mindreader, and I know I hurt you earlier, but I swear, it was to keep you safe, I promise.”
She nodded. “I’m trying, Torch, I swear. I… it’s just… it’s you.”
What the hell? “Me?”
Grace
N ow he was here in front of me, I was back to struggling to put words together. Something about him intimidated me, but not in a bad way. It was more like he was so exciting and intoxicating that words failed me, because my mind was purely on him, and what he could do to me.
“Grace, for god’s sake. I said I was sorry, well, I guess I didn’t actually, but I am. I mouthed off, but it was for a damn good reason. Someone’s trying to kill people in the club, and our women are at even more risk, and I was just trying to-”
“I… ‘our women’? Is that how… am I your woman, Torch?”
He edged closer, his hand coming down on my knee.
“Babe, as far as I’m concerned you were going to be mine, but I won’t get in the middle of some other relationship, okay? I know I’m a biker, and you expect me to be an asshole, but I’m no homewrecker. Deal with that shit first, then look me up.”
Wait, what? Confusion welled at his words, and lifted me a little out of that intimidated daze he always seemed to knock me into. Relationship?
“What relationship? What are you talking about?” I sat up straighter, easing my legs down from my defensive pose. He was sitting so close now that I could smell him, that delicious scent of leather and oil or something like it. A scent that filled my senses, making me want to move closer. He was everything I shouldn’t want, and all I actually wanted.
“Babe, I get it, and as much as it pissed me off, it makes sense. A woman like you, you don’t slum it with a guy like me, and if you do, it’s a bit of rough on the side, before you go home to your normal rich guy boyfriend or whatever.” He’d pulled his hand back, and the loss of his warmth felt like too much to lose right now.
“What boyfriend? I don’t understand, Torch. You saw my house, I live alone. Why do you think there’s some other guy in my life?”
He leaned an elbow on the back of the sofa, facing me sideways, so he could look me in the eyes. His eyes were dark brown, and so intense, they could have burned right through me. His shaved head suited him, which probably sounded weird, but he didn’t need hair to look hot, and that disturbing tattoo on his scalp? It was unbelievably sexy, even though it’d probably scare most women, and probably should scare me.
“Babe, why’d you freak like that afterwards? It was like you couldn’t get rid of me fast enough, and get rid of the evidence. Like you knew he was coming home, and you had to hide what you’d done. I mean, it hurt at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised I should just be grateful that you at least gave me that much time with you.”
“Stop, Torch! I swear, there’s no other man. There hasn’t been since… well, in a while. There’s never been another man in the house I’m in. It belongs to my parents, and they don’t live in town anymore. They were letting it out, and when… when I was forced to move back here, I rented it from them. I… have you been thinking, this whole time, that I was just some unfaithful bitch woman who cheated on her man, then hid it after like a dirty secret?”
He shrugged, looking a little embarrassed, and it was adorable, that slight flush in his cheeks as he looked away from me. This big, strong, deadly guy was embarrassed for feeling used by me.
“I’d never do that, Torch. I’m not that kind of woman.”
“So what kind are you?” He asked suddenly, fixing me with a glare again. Why was that so hot?
I felt that spell of his settling over me again and gasped, covering my eyes, even though I immediately knew I looked like an idiot for doing it.
“Sorry, I just… don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what, babe?”
“Like you’re owning me with one look. I can’t concentrate, or even speak, when you get so intense. I don’t know why, but I swear I only asked you to leave the other day because I have a problem with messiness, and suddenly I was aware of how I was-”
“Covered in my cum and your spit, and looking so fucking sexy I wanted to keep you?” Holy shit.
Torch edged closer, taking my hand and squeezing it lightly.
“I liked seeing you like that. I liked knowing that you were that much of a mess because of me, and I really wanna get you messy again. I know you might struggle with that stuff, but I promise to get you so completely out of your head, and blissed out, that you don’t even know what the word mess means.”
Oh god. If he kept saying stuff like that, I’d never be able to stop myself from jumping him, and right here in Lissa’s office of all places. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want sex mess on her sofa though.
“I have pretty bad OCD, Torch. It means that messes are something I have to fix, or I can’t focus on anything else. It means that I have to have absolute order in my home. That’s just part of how fucked up my head is.”
“So you don’t want me to cum all over you, after I fuck you into oblivion?” Oh god oh god!
He grinned then, a wicked, one side of the mouth, kind of grin.
“Or is it okay if I coat you in my cum like my perfect little whore, as long as I help you clean up after?”
I think this is the moment in movies, where they’re at dinner, and the guy lifts his hand and says ‘check, please’. Yep, I wanted to do that right now, and I was already climbing into his lap for it.
“Fuck yeah, babe, bring that fine fucking body over here.” Torch pulled me fully into his lap, straddling him, and dragged my face to his, kissing me like he wanted me naked right this very second. God, yes please.
“Uh, nope, not in this fucking office, you dirty bastards.” We pulled apart to see Ice in the doorway, glaring at us. How did he know? Oh, he explained that part next. He actually had a camera set up in here, to keep an eye on Lissa if she needed him, and he’d decided to peek, because we’d been quiet too long.
“Where’s your car, babe?” I let Torch drag me up with him and haul me out of Lissa’s office.
“You can’t go anywhere, man. What about lockdown?”
“Fuck lockdown. I’ll be at Grace’s place, but don’t look it up unless you have to. I don’t want her in your fucking system, got it?”
I didn’t get another word in, as Torch dragged me in the direction of my car, shoved me in the passenger seat, and drove us away from there like his ass was on fire.
“Torch, what’s the rush?”
“My cock, babe. My cock needs in you, and I’m not about to let him down, get it?”