Page 36 of Micro
“My VP and three others were incoming, and outnumbered, but they were able to take down your attackers and bring you here, where you’d be safe and get treatment. I promise you no harm will come to you here, Sophie.”
I believed him, and that was a strange way to feel, with a man I barely knew.
“My… did you manage to rescue my boyfriend?” His eyes darted over to Lissa, but when he looked at me again, nothing in his expression gave me any hope.
“Oh god, please don’t hurt him. He’s a good man, I swear!”
Reacher sighed, almost reaching over to pat my hand, before he stopped himself, reaching up to rub at his eye instead.
“Reacher,” I heard Lissa say softly, and he nodded.
“I’m sorry, Sophie, by the time my men arrived, your boyfriend was dead. There was no chance of saving him, but we did retrieve one of the culprits, and he’s being dealt with downstairs right now. His time on this world has come to an end.” His tone was hard as he finished speaking, but my mind was reeling, and I felt sick to my stomach. Micro was dead? We hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye to each other. I’d been considering a future with him, and now he was just gone. It was my fault too, because I’d put him in the path of the Rogues, hadn’t I?
“On that note, I should get down there before they kill him. I need a few answers still.” Reacher nodded at me, and left the room, while I fought the crushing waves of pain, grief, and sorrow.
Lissa moved closer to me as the door closed.
“I’m so sorry, Sophie, you’ve clearly been through so much, and I’m heartbroken for you losing your love like that. I feel responsible in a way, because I could have taken action sooner, and maybe it wouldn’t have come to this. I was weak, and it cost you everything.” She wasn’t making any sense, but she took my hand, the uninjured one, and squeezed it gently.
“How can he be gone? He was right there, sending me off somewhere safe, while he went to lead them away or something. He put his life on the line to save me, and not for the first time.” I was sobbing now, and my words were probably incoherent, but Lissa looked like she understood every single one. She nodded, her eyes filling with tears in sympathy, and she squeezed my hand again.
“I’m so sorry he took him from you. He did so many bad things, but I thought he was feeling remorse, and all this time, he was just the same as our father. Rest assured the club will give you any support you need, as will I.” Her words weren’t really sinking in, and she stood up, pacing at the foot of the bed.
“Lissa? Are you okay?” I whispered, as I realised I wasn’t the only one in pain here.
“You’re the one who lost so much, Sophie. I just… I guess I wish he’d really changed, and… and they wouldn’t be down there torturing him again.”
Torturing. Changed. ‘Our father’.Oh god. It took me too long to understand what had happened. The dreadful mistake they’d made. The horrifying realisation that they had the wrong man down there right now.
“Wait. Lissa, is Micro the one downstairs?”
Her eyes widened as she turned to me, her hands fisted at her sides.
“Of course. Stitch and the others worked out he’d been with the other club, and killed your man. He… did he do that to you too?” She pointed at my wrist.
WHAT?
“Oh my god! Lissa, no! We need to stop them, right now! Please!” I tried to leap out of bed, but staggered a few feet, as the room seemed to turn into one of those fairground rides that rolls over and over.
“No, you mustn’t get out of bed, Sophie. It’s… it’s okay, I mean it isn’t, but I can’t stop them now.”
“No!” I fought off her attempts to put me back into the bed, even though my legs were barely supporting me.
“Lissa, listen to me please! Micro didn’t kill my boyfriend! He IS my boyfriend!”
Twenty-Two
Watersplashedinmyface, and I choked on it as it filled my gaping mouth, and some of it slipped down my throat. I coughed and gasped for air, not even realising that it meant the gag had been removed.
“Wakey wakey, asshole, we’re only just getting started. Cut his shirt off, brother, why should he get any dignity?”
I finally managed to drag in a breath, and watched helplessly as Torch sliced my t-shirt apart with a knife, unable to fight it, with my wrists and ankles tethered to the infamous chair of death.
“Aw, where’s his Phoenix ink? I wanted to burn it off his skin, what with him being an unworthy piece of shit.” Ugh, he’d fucking do it too.
“It’s been blacked out, but then, he didn’t deserve to wear my artwork, or the club’s colours,” Has-Been said, backing away after he spotted the covered up tattoo. I was at the mercy of Torch, with Has-Been and Stitch in the room, only Stitch was leaning against the wall, watching Torch as he prepared to brutalise me, and all I cared about was Sophie.
“Brother-”
