Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Riley
I groan as I wake up, feeling a bit like I was run over by a truck.
But when I roll, I end up sliding into Torin’s arms where I feel extremely comfortable.
It really is so nice in his arms. His grip tightens on me when I slowly open my eyes, expecting Kit to be asleep, but instead, she’s staring at me like I’m the most interesting thing to have come from Earth.
And that’s not all. Beyond my face that she’s scrutinizing in detail, I see that Torin is staring at me, and behind him, Mickey is also staring at me.
“Did we have a threesome last night that I don’t remember?” I ask, highly confused.
“I wish,” Mickey mutters. “Instead, you slept like a baby all night long—hell, it’s nearly lunchtime—while the two of us fretted over you.”
Torin raises an eyebrow at Mickey. “Every time I looked at you, you were asleep.”
Mickey shrugs. “Fret sleeping.”
“I had the strangest dream,” I whisper. “You foolishly went through that Door and hauled me across the…”
I trail off. Torin’s and Mickey’s expressions when Kit looks at them are enough to tell me that maybe it wasn’t a dream at all.
“Please tell me it was a dream.”
“Which part? Because if anything seemed to go well in your dream, that part was definitely a dream,” Torin says as he sits up. I begin to sit as well, but before I can do anything, he pulls me close to him, like he’s afraid to let me stray too far from him.
Mickey looks annoyed by this and kind of tries to crawl over Torin’s other leg so he can get in on hugging me. “I need to be comforted too.”
“Not with that on your chest. Make that creepy thing stop staring at me,” Torin says.
“What creepy thing?” Mickey asks, shocked by the accusation. “Are you talking about Toast?”
I look down at the animal attached to his shirt. “Oh my god.”
Torin nods knowingly. “It’s horrifying. I bet he pulled it from the depths of hell,” he says with a shudder.
I hesitate, unsure whether we’re seeing the same thing. “It’s just a little bat, Torin.”
“Bats are long items used to beat things… sometimes asses and sometimes during sex. That is not a bat. You might still be disoriented.”
“No, bat as in an animal. It’s not some… bizarre creature. It’s a literal bat. And it’s adorable. It’s so tiny and cute.”
Torin still looks absolutely disgusted by the cute little thing, but Mickey appears pleased.
“Thank you! I think he was someone’s familiar or something because he’s really smart.
But he’s mine now that I brought him back from the dead.
Well, now that you’re alive and Torin’s done letting me join your spooning to reassure me, I’m headed to bed.
Yay for being alive.” He gives me a half-hearted wave of his hands, which is rather confusing, before heading out.
Now I’m worried Mickey’s just going to fall asleep and forget that the small creature is on his shirt, but I guess it’s good that it’s already dead and he can easily bring it back to life if he does.
I turn to Torin, who reaches out and rotates me so my back is to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Not wanting to face you.”
I fight against him for a bit before he eventually loses, and I manage to face him while holding Kit in my arms so we can both glower at him. It’s evidently quite a powerful look since the god seems to deflate in front of me. “Torin, that was so reckless. What if you’d gotten hurt or killed?”
“You needed help, and I had to do something about it. There really wasn’t an option,” he says, and I want to tell him that there definitely was an option, but wasn’t I just as bad when I went running into that same world to help him a mere week ago?
I plan not to bring that up and simply hope he forgets so he doesn’t turn this around on me.
“You did the same thing just last week,” he says, as though he’s read my mind.
“I did no such thing,” I mumble under my breath.
“Don’t act like if you say it quietly, I won’t hear it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you that this is what happens when you eat too much pizza. Memory loss and other issues.”
“You just don’t want to eat any more pizza! And that’s fine, I now want lobster.”
“You went from one extreme to the other,” I complain. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten what we were talking about.”
“I remember nothing,” he says. “Memory loss, remember?”
“No, you’re supposed to remember the things I tell you.”
“Selective memory loss… I selectively forgot that you told me not to go into that world… although you only said I couldn’t go without you, and I definitely took you.”
“I was unconscious for most of it. Start from the beginning. I want to hear it all.”
“It went really well. I just kind of… strutted in there and was like, ‘I need Riley’s horse,’ and they were like, ‘Hell yeah, you do.’ And I was like, ‘Ha, you’re so funny.’ And then that was that.”
The look I’m giving him hopefully conveys that I believe absolutely none of that and doubt any part went well. Because the moments I semi-remember all seemed to be a shitshow.
“Okay, how bad was it?” I ask. He fills me in, and I realize that “How bad was it” barely scratched the surface because it was beyond “bad.” I sigh. “I’m so sorry I put you through so much.”
“Oh… I’m not done,” Torin says. “I was just doing the pregnant pause thing to build up the tension, and you leaped onto it in hopes it was over.”
“I was really hoping it was over.”
“Oh, no, definitely not.”
“Please don’t tell me it gets worse,” I mutter, but his expression tells me it definitely gets worse.
When he gets to the horse part, I raise an eyebrow.
“Now I know you’re lying because there’s no way in hell I’d ever go hug a horse.
” I shudder at the thought. I still have nightmares from the horse Torin made me ride to the library.
“You were going to leave me for him. You were like, ‘See ya, bitch, thanks for risking your life to get me here, it was nice knowing you. Do you want to go for a romp in the hay before I kick you out?’”
“Oh, did that last part happen? I’m just… I know for sure it definitely happened. There I was, all dying and shit, and my last thoughts were a romp in the hay with you.”
Torin grins at me. “Nah, you were holding on to that horse leg like a stripper on a pole.”
“Please, no. It was a mistake.”
“You were all, ‘Thank you for being my bitch and carrying me to this point, but you are no longer needed.’”
I laugh as I shake my head. “You know you are very much needed. I couldn’t do any of this without you.”
And so he finishes his story before tapping something that feels warm on my chest. I instinctively look down but since Kit isn’t on my shoulder, I can’t see it right away until she gets the hint and turns her head to face me.
My hands ache while I reach down and pick up the hourglass and examine it.
Kit gets quite close to scrutinize it in detail then licks it for some reason.
I contemplate the hourglass. If I hadn’t seen the god do the very same thing to Conquest’s horse, I might have questioned it, but there’s something about this that draws me to it. I feel almost hypnotized by it.
“Do you think this will help? I mean… I get that this isn’t ideal, but the horse is now in my possession… will it be enough?”
“I don’t know,” Torin replies. “But I have my doubts. I’m afraid you’ll likely have to find a way to free him before things get much worse.”
“I’m guessing the god won’t happily let him go for me,” I say as I tip the hourglass just a little and watch the sand slide.
Then I wrap my hand around it and feel the warmth…
it’s so soothing and it makes my hands ache just a little bit less, but there’s also something sad about it.
Something that makes me feel upset while I’m the one over here who doesn’t even want a horse.
But that doesn’t mean I like seeing him imprisoned.
Torin cups my cheek. “It’s okay, we’ll find a way to fix this. We’ll get him back.”
“He bit you and clearly doesn’t like you, yet you still want to help him?” I ask. I’m pretty sure Torin is more eager to free him than I am.
“Of course I do. How could I ever blame him? I took away someone dear to him. Could you fault Quill for hating someone if they killed me?”
I debate reminding him that the person I’d reincarnated from did kill a part of him, and still, Quill seems rather fond of me… or fond of pestering me. I don’t bring it up, though, because I don’t want to feel any guiltier than I already do. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am. I’m always right. It’s a burden I must bear.”
I ignore that and stare at the hourglass for a little while longer before tucking it beneath my shirt. “What… do we do now?”
“Maybe have sex? Sex always helps me think.”
I laugh and dive at him, using my momentum to push him down on the bed before I wrap my arms around him and lie down on top of him. “I don’t have the energy for sex. But we could just lie like this for a minute.”
Torin wraps me up in his arms as I lay my head against his chest and close my eyes a split second before there’s a knock on the door.
I groan but roll off before telling them to come in. Joy enters and gives me a warm smile.
“I’m just here to let you know that your phone is blowing up with calls from your favorite person ever… Lt. Lindsey.”
The noise that escapes me tells anyone who can hear how displeased I am by this. “Did you tell her I was busy?”
“She scares me, so the moment I answered and she was like, ‘Where is Riley?’ I immediately caved and rushed off for you. I’m not even sure I hung up first. I can’t tell whether I find her dominating persona scary or sexy.
A bit of both. I think that’s why I would have sex with her, even though I’ve never been with a woman. ”