Page 82 of Torch
“He disappeared. He crashed the van he stole when he ran from us, and when it rolled down the hill, he either escaped or was thrown clear. There’s no body, babe. The police are looking, and we’re looking, but if there was one, I think someone would have found it by now.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, glancing over her shoulder, like he’d be waiting in the fucking shadows for her.
“Stop that, babe. Whether he’s alive or not, he’s not coming here. He’ll be running, or he’s dying somewhere, but he’s not going to risk coming back. You’re safe now. We all are, and if anyone sees his face again, he won’t survive that.”
“But as long as we don’t know-”
“We’re going to act like he’s gone for good, because we can’t live in limbo anymore.” I grabbed her and wrapped my arms around her, trying to warm her chilled skin with mine.
“Grace, we’re going to fucking live, rather than tiptoeing around and running from shadows, okay? As far as we’re concerned, Micro is dead and gone. Good riddance to him.”
If I said it enough times, maybe I’d believe it. How could I still not hate him for everything he did? Maybe he wasn’t the defective one out of us. Maybe it was me, and maybe it always had been.
Forty-Two
ReachercalledChurchforten in the morning, so since Grace didn’t have a shift until the evening, we both headed to the clubhouse on my bike. Talk about feeling like a fucking god, having my woman on the back of my ride.
She had to wear my helmet, which made her nervous as hell, but I figured it wasn’t the best time to remind her that I sometimes didn’t wear it anyway. I liked to feel the wind in my, well… not my hair, but you get what I mean.
We made it safely, not that I ever doubted that, and I helped her off the bike, and off with the helmet, which she looked fucking adorable wearing, by the way.
“While we’re in Church, why don’t you head in and catch up with the old ladies, and after that, maybe have a conflab with Doc at last, and see if he needs your expertise or anything. I mean, I don’t want you touching any of my brothers, but maybe you can help in an advisory, hands-off kinda capacity.” She rolled her eyes at me, and I tilted her chin up.
“If I tell you I’ll make you pay for that, does that worry you? Still planning on fucking that virgin ass of yours, my filthy little cumslut.”
“That’s delightful, brother, thanks for sharing that with the whole lot of us,” Stitch said wryly from behind me, and we turned to find him with Reacher, Ry, Has, Ice, and Lissa. Well,fuck.
“I’m not an asshole, I swear. She likes it.”
“Wow, way to sound like a class A perv, man.”
“Grace? Will you fucking tell them?”
She giggled, rolling her eyes at me, and knowing that she’d definitely fucking pay for it this time.
“He pretends he’s a big meanie, but he’s a pussycat really.”
“Babe! That’s worse!”
She opened her mouth again, and I covered it with my hand, glaring down into her eyes.
“You want something to stuff that mouth of yours, I’ve got just the fucking thing.”
“And on that note, I’m out,” Ry said, heading into Church, rapidly followed by the others.
“If I could sit you on the floor in there, and stuff this sassy mouth for the entire fucking meeting, I would, but you know we can’t, so expect to choke on my dick later.”
“You say the most romantic things, Torch,” Lissa said from behind me, andfuck me, I thought she’d left. I grabbed the nape of Grace’s neck, and pulled her close to kiss her forehead.
“Don’t get up to anything while I’m in there.”
Grace
Ihadnoideawhat he thought I could possibly get up to without him, but I was keen to talk to Lissa, and she looked like she had something to say to me too. After we watched Torch disappear through that same heavy wooden door the others had gone behind, she gently caught my arm and led me to the bar to sit down, before she went around the other side of it, and expertly made us coffees, using the machine installed behind the bar.
“We need to talk,” she said seriously, once she sat with me again. She was going to tell me that she called the police, wasn’t she? She was going to admit it, and tell me I didn’t need to lie for her, but I still didn’t know if she genuinely did or not.
“I made the call,” I said firmly, leaning over to inhale the delicious coffee aroma, because we’d slept late and barely made it here in time, so this would be my first coffee of the day. Lissa rolled her eyes at me.
