Page 7 of Fury

“He was working, so he sent one of his guys.”

She smirks. “Wow. He has guys.”

“Speaking of my late shift, I saw a really old friend. He came into the hospital all beat-up.”

“Do I know him?” she asks.

I shake my head. “Reese Northman. He was from my teen years.”

“Oh yeah?” she asks, wiggling her brows. “Didn’t you say you were off the rails as a teen?”

“Wasn’t everyone?” I tease. My smile fades as I think about Reese, or Fury, as he prefers now. “He was off the rails too. We were kind of off together.”

“Friends or more?”

I grin. “More. But then he moved away, and I didn’t hear from him again.”

“Harsh. Did he break your heart?”

I think over her words, feeling that familiar twinge in my chest. “I think we broke each other’s without meaning to.”

“That’s sad,” she says, taking another mouthful of food. “What’s he like now?”

I smile wider. “Fit.”

She laughs out loud. “Are you seeing him again?”

“I took his number so we could catch up.”

“Did you have sex with him?”

My mouth opens in mock horror. “I don’t even know him anymore.”

“I mean when you were teens,” she says, rolling her eyes.

I nod. “Yeah.”

“So, catching up might lead somewhere?”

I shake my head. “Nah, I doubt it. He’s part of The Chaos Demons MC, for a start. He hasn’t changed his ways.”

“Hey,” she defends, “that club ain’t all bad. They do a lot of nice shit in the community.”

“To cover up all the bad they do,” I point out.

“Rumours,” she says, shrugging. “People fear what they don’t understand.”

“And you understand?”

She laughs. “No, but they helped my mum once when she struggled to feed us. It wasn’t the same guy in charge back then, but I think they live by the same morals.” Jorja has lived in this area since she was born, so I’d expect her to defend the stories about the club and believe they’re doing good in the local community.

“Either way, I don’t know him anymore. I might call and ask him to dinner so we can catch up properly, but beyond that, he’s just a kid I used to know.”

When I get home,I shower and then decide to text Fury. It can’t hurt to catch up and see what his life is like now. At the very least, I can fill Mum in.

Me: Hi, it’s Xanthe. Just wondering if you’d like to catch up sometime.

I hit send then groan. Why does it sound sobothered/not bothered? I shudder, but before I can analyse it further, his reply comes.

---