Twenty-Eight
H e stared at me for such a long time that I thought he was going to refuse to answer, and that pissed me off so much, I nearly punched him. We’d been so close, like brothers, real brothers.
The biggest question I had was why. Not all of it, but the part about me. How could he stick a knife in the back of a guy he’d hung with for two fucking years?
Micro sighed finally, lowering his head.
“That ate me up, man, it really did. It never would have been you, but you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Bullshit.”
He rolled his eyes at me, as he lifted his head again.
“The one time I’m being honest, and you don’t believe me. I guess I deserve that. I wish it had been anyone but you. I don’t know what I thought would happen, once I took out Reacher and Stitch, but I guess I always saw us staying friends. Did I misjudge your loyalties?”
What the actual fuck? He was being real with me, and that was part of the problem, wasn’t it? He meant what he was saying. He’d really planned to take out our Club President and VP, and stupidly thought I’d side with him?
“Why the fuck would you think I’d back you for betraying our club, man? The colours you wear, you should be fucking honouring them.”
“I don’t honour cowardly fuckers who-”
“Kill people? You hypocritical asshole. You did way worse than anyone here ever has. So they killed off the bad seeds in the club, maybe they had good reason to. I’ve heard about what this club was like before I joined, and I never would have come near that club. Don’t get me wrong, I like crime. I like being a bad fucker some of the time, but I draw the line at forcing women into shit. But you? You raped Chrissy!”
Micro winced, shaking his head at me.
“I didn’t fucking rape her! We had rough sex, that’s all. She was into it, but…” he sighed heavily, staring at the wall, “she told me after that I wasn’t good enough for her. That she was lonely, and she lowered herself to get off.”
Jesus . Micro continued, without me prompting him.
“I was so into her, man. Every time I saw her go with Ryder or Has, I wondered why the fuck she wouldn’t look at me. So many times I tried talking to her, but she always blew me off. That night… fuck… that night, I thought she’d finally decided to see me for me.”
I glanced at the door, wondering if I should lock it before we had intruders. Grace loved me, but she’d also do the right thing, and she thought the right thing wasn’t this.
“So you killed her?”
Micro groaned, staring me right in the eyes, wanting me to see the truth in his words.
“I didn’t mean to. She made me mad, and I got defensive, and then she started mocking me, and I just… I didn’t mean to do it, but I guess I’m my father’s son, right? That hair trigger thing. She was dead before I realised what I was doing.”
He had the hots for her? He’d hidden it well whenever I’d been around. He might have said stuff about how he’d ‘hit that’, but he usually said that about any woman, even some of the old ladies.
“I couldn’t believe it. She’d been so full of life, and suddenly she was just silent. Still. Her eyes were open, but there was nothing left of her. I did that, and I think it broke something in me.”
His eyes were wet, like he was revealing something he’d been suppressing, and I could see the man I’d loved like a brother, sitting before me right now. A noise outside the door caught his attention, and right in front of me, I saw the walls going back up, and the bravado returning.
Stitch stepped into the room, wearing sweats and a t-shirt, with his cut.
“You guys finished your girl talk session? You shouldn’t be in here, man.”
“He came for a hug,” Micro said, winking at Stitch. Asshole. He almost had me then. He almost fucking had me feeling sorry for him.
“We were talking about-”
“Yeah, I know. He’s got a lot to answer for, man, there’s no redeeming him now. Don’t let him get in your head, because that’s what he wants.”
“Next you’ll be saying I want in his pants. Trust me, that’s not my thing. I like a nice hot pussy, personally. Don’t even care if it’s wet.” Stitch’s face turned to stone, and he turned in Micro’s direction, but I caught his arm.
“I just wanted to see if he’ll give up Tommy’s location.”
“Yeah, you really should worry about the poor little boy. Without me coming back to him, he’ll die of dehydration soon enough, and that’ll be on you. I was looking after him so nicely.”
“Where is he, you asshole?!” Stitch grabbed Micro by the throat, shaking off my hold like I didn’t have a grip on his arm.
“Micro, seriously, just fucking tell him.” Instead, the bastard just laughed. Why the hell wasn’t he giving us what we needed, so this didn’t have to be so rough on him?
“Come on, man, please. Remember who you really are. You’re not this asshole.”
Micro fixed me with a glare, trying to pull out of Stitch’s hold.
“This is exactly who I fucking am, man. I played you. I played all of you, just to get my revenge, and you can all get fucked. Tommy can die in the fucking tunnels, and-”
“Tunnels? What fucking tunnels?” Stitch blurted out, wrapping his other hand around Micro’s throat and shaking him. He made choking, hacking noises as he struggled against the grip on his throat. I rested a hand on Stitch’s arm, earning myself a savage glare from the man.
“VP, come on. You kill him now, and we don’t find Tommy.”
Micro coughed and gasped for air, once Stitch released him.
“Tell you… what… I’ll tell some… one. Not you. Neither… of you.”
“If you say one of our women, I’ll forget we need you alive,” Stitch hissed at Micro, and he laughed, again a ragged, pained sound.
“Has-Been. I’ll talk to that pussy, and only him.”
Grace
T orch came storming out of that room, and wouldn’t even look at me, as he marched past and walked away from me. Stitch reappeared just after him, closing and locking the door. The poor man looked just as exhausted as Reacher, when he stopped beside me.
“He’s pissed, but not at you, darlin’. This fucker is just stringing us along, and we all know it. Trouble is, if Tommy’s alive somewhere, we need to get our hands on him. He probably needs medical attention.”
I opened my mouth to offer my skills, and he smiled.
“Doc will obviously take the burden on, but I’m sure he’d appreciate the help. The infirmary’s pretty well kitted out.” I was pretty sure whatever they had would be woefully inadequate, but I nodded anyway.
“Should I follow him?”
Stitch shook his head, dialling someone on his phone.
“He’ll be back. He’s gone to drag Has down here. I need to update Reacher.”
“My god, I’m so sorry. I feel like I pushed Torch into this somehow, and destroyed everyone’s chance for a rest.”
Stitch rested a hand lightly on my shoulder.
“Don’t take any of this on yourself, Grace. Nobody can make Torch do a damn thing. The big problem here is that he’s closest with Micro, and this has rocked his world right now. He’s going to need you way more than he realises, so please, bear with him if he tries to push you away at the moment. He’s putting his focus on finding Tommy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t gonna crash hard at some point. You might be the only one he allows to see that happen.”
Noise down the hallway distracted us, and Stitch moved away from me, as he lifted his phone to his ear.
“Reacher, we have a development down here. I’m letting it proceed, because we might be able to save Tommy.” He walked further away from me as Torch reappeared, storming back in our direction, with Has-Been behind him. He wore a grey beanie with his clothes and cut, and looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
Stitch held a hand up, to make them wait while he finished his call, and I moved closer to Torch, needing to know he was okay. He glanced at me and sighed.
“I want you to go to bed, babe. Get some rest. This’ll go on for hours, because he’s in no hurry to tell us, and he’s gonna just string Has along too.”
I shook my head. “I want to be here for you. You might need me.”
Torch caught my chin in his hand, and leaned close.
“I don’t want you anywhere near this fucker, you hear me? He’s already tried to hurt you once. I want you away from here and safe. Hell, you could safely go back home now.”
He was doing exactly what Stitch had warned me about. Trying to push me away.
“You… you want me to go home?”
He leaned so close, his lips touched my ear.
“I want you safe, but I also want you spread out and fucking naked in my room, like my little whore. I’ll let you choose, but if I find you there, I fuck you. Hard .”
He grabbed me and kissed me firmly, leaving me under no illusions about whether he wanted me to stay or not, and showing that he wasn’t mad at me like I’d expected. Maybe he was more evolved than even Stitch realised.
“So you’re not mad at me?”
Torch sighed, cupping my cheeks as he gazed down at me with affection.
“Babe, you did what you thought was right, and I can’t hold that against you. I’m a mess right now, and I know that, but I’m man enough to know you’ve got my back. I just need you to leave me with this shit for now, and go rest up. You’re going to need it, trust me.”
How could I say no to that?
“Wait. Grace?” Stitch joined us and Torch released my face so I could turn to look at him, even though he looked like he wanted to stand between us. Possessive is hot as hell on my man.
“Reacher wants you to check in with Doc, and run through what equipment he has on hand for whatever the hell we might find, and work together to make sure we’re prepared.”
I opened my mouth to point out how vague that was, because we didn’t even know what state Tommy would be in, and Stitch grinned.
“I know, I know. Still, it doesn’t hurt to make sure Doc’s got a good setup, right? Can you help us with that, darlin’?”
Torch practically growled beside me, but I nodded.
“Of course. Right now?”
Stitch shrugged. “If he’s in the infirmary, but if not, get some sleep and get with him in the morning.”
He told me where to find the infirmary and I found myself being sent on my way. Away from danger and drama. Away from the man who’d attacked me. I was smart enough to know this was their way of keeping me away from Micro, but I chose to accept it.