Page 60 of Torch
Stitch and Has both started moving for the door, but I hesitated.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Stitch fixed me with a glare.
“Not a good idea, man. You’re too close to him.”
“I’m hardly gonna release him, VP. Unlike him, I’m not a traitor.”
“Oooh burn…”Micro murmured, but we all ignored him. Stitch shot me a warning look at he opened the door.
“He also needs to be alive when you finish with him. We’re not done with him yet.” I rolled my eyes, because not only did I think I’d struggle to torture him, but I’d also struggle to kill him.
“Sure thing, VP. I’ll only kill him a little bit.”
Once the door was closed behind him, I grabbed the bottle of water from the corner and brought it over to Micro, lifting it in question. He nodded, tilting his head at me.
“You’re actually going to let me drink some?”
I opened the bottle and lifted it to his lips, letting him take a few large gulps.
“Go easy, because I’m not holding it if you need to take a leak.” Micro snorted, clearing his throat a few times.
“Thanks, man.”
I dumped the bottle back by the wall and turned to face him once more, arms folded, mostly so he wouldn’t see my fists clenching and unclenching.
“So… something you want? I gave up Tommy, didn’t I?”
“Be real with me, man. You were before, you know, until you had to front again with Stitch in the room. You singled out certain people for your little vendetta, and I don’t fully understand why.”
The man who’d been such a close friend for two years sighed, looking all at once completely exhausted, and a little lost.
“Jesus. I never expected to have to talk to you about this stuff, man. I guess I kinda figured if you guys ever caught on, I’d be dead right away. What do you want me to say?”
I groaned, sitting down on the cold hard floor, resting back against the wall.
“I just need to understand, because we rode together, we hung out, we drank together, we fucking held each other up through difficult times-”
“Difficult times? What about when my father was murdered in cold blood, huh? What about when his club, my fucking birthright, was destroyed, and this bullshit replaced it? Where were you then?!”
He knew I wasn’t around then, and I knew he wasn’t genuinely asking me that question, but it was his reminder that he’d been through shit too.
“I’m sorry that happened, man. I don’t think Reacher and Stitch are bad guys though, I mean, they’re kinda the opposite, right? Did you seriously think the club was better before? Do you know how hard we had to work to get any club girls back here? So many of them were brutalised by the old club, we had the kind of rep that meant women fucking avoided us. Even when the club was established for a few years, women were still staying away. That’s the club you were proud of?”
Micro rolled his eyes at me. “You’re not such a boy scout, Torch. You talk like you’ve never pushed things too far with a woman, and I know that’s bullshit. There’s always that moment when you should probably step back, but you’re already in it and racing for the finish line.”
Fucker. “That’s called rape, asshole. I have never, and will never, push a woman past the fucking line of consent. If she says no, I will always stop. You saying you make a habit of ignoring them? Was Chrissy not the fucking first?”
Micro suddenly snarled at me.
“I never fucking raped her! I told you that! I wanted her, I wanted her so fucking badly, but she was always keeping me at arm’s length. That night, I just lost my temper. All she had to do was be nice.”
Grace
Thedocwasn’tinthe infirmary like I suspected he might not be, because it was late and most people should be sleeping. I did take a quick look around, and it was rudimentary at best, but in most circumstances, the supplies there would be sufficient for most injuries that didn’t send the patient to the hospital.
I figured I’d go over that tomorrow with the doc, whoever the hell that was, so I returned to Torch’s room, and made a coffee and climbed into his bed alone. I felt weird about being naked in this place without him, so I kept my underwear on under a t-shirt of his from his drawer, and figured if he was pissed about it later, he could undress me.
