Page 4 of Torch
I knew, deep down, that she was right, but I couldn’t take the risk. It had taken me six months to try and rebuild my life, and my credit rating, and another wrong decision could destroy everything again. I’d moved to this hospital to take a higher paid job, with the added benefit of working alongside a good friend, but I had to be smart.
“He’s a mistake. I mean, he’d be a huge mistake.”
She smirked then, wagging her eyebrows.
“If it’s huge, you should definitely go ahead and make it with that uh…mistake.”
“Shel! This is exactly what you need to be advising me against! So he’s hot, so what? He’s a biker, so he’s definitely bad news. He’s exactly what I should be avoiding right now.”
She turned to stare out of the window again.
“I’m just saying, if he’s as good a ride as he kept suggesting, maybe it’s worth the risk. Just don’t give him access to your bank accounts, right?”
Ugh. Like I was dumb enough to do that again. Why the hell did I trust Ashton with my life like that? He’d literally cleaned out every account, and left me not only penniless, but with debts he’d accrued in my name. I couldn’t risk making a mistake again, and trusting a criminal.
“No. I need to get my head out of my underwear-”
“His underwear, you mean,” she sniggered, even as I glowered at her. She’d never been intimidated by me, but maybe that was because there was nothing intimidating about me at all. Unless I was in doctor mode, and then I could scare everyone off. Especially a sexy biker, who’d probably destroy my heart, and my future, all for a ride on his, uh, bike.
Three
Itseemedreallyunwisefor them to make a big deal of my return, but Reacher and Stitch were determined to act like nothing was going on, even while we all knew the club was under attack.
“Just a few pints, and I’m going up to my room to rest,” I muttered as Stitch followed me to the bar, which was too fucking full of my brothers, and felt too fucking oppressive right now. I’d only been back an hour, barely had time to shave my head, and get freshened up, and now I was expected to make nice with a roomful of people, while I know that one of these fuckers tried to kill me.
How was I supposed to smile and shoot the shit with everyone, when I knew that one of them was a cowardly fuck who’d literally stabbed me in the back? I should just fucking ask them to own up, so I can sort this shit out. See how they like being fucking stabbed, and left for dead.
“Torch… what’s,fuck… what’s going on?” Stitch dragged me back away before I could even get into it with anyone.
“VP?”
He groaned, shoving a hand through his long blonde hair.
“Brother, this isn’t the time, yeah? Just let them welcome you back, and we can figure out who did it, so you can kick their ass, okay?”
It was pissing me off that it had taken even this fucking long, and we still had no idea who the fucker was. Were they just sitting around and waiting for this asshole to own up, or something?
“Tell meyoucould just do this, man. That you could really just walk up to these guys and pretend like your shit is all together, when you know, you KNOW, that one of them stuck a fucking knife in your back, and left you to die.”
I could see he understood where I was coming from. I could see that he fucking got it, but still he expected me to make nice with these fuckers, and suddenly I was wondering if I trusted a single fucking one of them.
“Torch-”
“No, fuck this. I’m not… I can’t just fucking banter with them, knowing I could be talking to the one person who wanted me dead, and I won’t know.”
I shoved past him and headed back to my room, slamming the door hard once I was safe inside my personal space. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the ‘hiding in my room’ kinda pussy, but what was the alternative? Hanging out there, like I was just begging for another knife in my back, another attempt to kill me. Surely to fuck they didn’t think that was the right move!
“Torch?” A light tapping on the door preceded a face peeping around it at me. A face I barely recognised, and with good reason. Once upon a time, you’d never have seen Has-Been with a fucking beanie on his head, but the same fucker who tried to kill me gave him a head injury serious enough that they had to shave off his fucking dreads, and left him looking like a stranger.
“Hey, man.”
“Can I come in? I brought beer.” Like I’d say no to that. I waved him in, and he shoved the door closed behind him.
“Is Elise safe?” I knew he wouldn’t leave her alone if not, because that fucker had tried to take her twice too.
“Yeah, she’s with Stitch and Cammy. They thought you might be open to me hanging with you.”
“Like I need a fucking babysitter or some shit?”
