by K E Osborn
“Riding with you… fuck, Heeley…” it’s all he says before his lips meet mine briefly. His kiss is hard, forceful, passionate, but quick as fuck before he pulls back and grabs my hand. “C’mon, I need to see your apartment now because I know you have more surprises in store for me.”
I snort and shake my head. “I think you’re going to be sorely disappointed, biker boy. My apartment is tiny and has nothing going for it.”
He shakes his head and shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. I still wanna see everything to do with you. C’mon, show me, woman,” he demands, practically dragging me off toward the front door.
I let out a small laugh at his excitement.
This should be fun.
***
The living room is filled with a golden hue as I flick on the switch and step inside through my whitewash front door. Torque’s behind me every step of the way, and I quickly scan the room making sure there’s nothing lying around I need to make a mad dash to clean up. It all looks pretty safe, for now. There are just a few stray coffee cups. Nothing too damning. Plus, my chaotic desk next to the kitchenette, but that’s never tidy.
I let Torque move through and then close the door, locking it behind him. I take a deep breath realizing that Torque’s in my apartment. With me. Alone. Swallowing hard, I step past him, a sudden nervousness sweeping over me as I head toward my kitchenette and straight to the coffee pot. “Coffee?” I offer.
He chuckles. “You drink a lot of coffee, don’t you?” Torque walks to the various assorted mugs lying around the room and starts to pick them up. I roll my eyes but let him do whatever he’s doing and get on with making the coffee
“Helps me stay awake while studying,” I reply as I pull out the filter and replace it with a new one.
He gathers three mugs and brings them over to the sink stepping into my side placing them on my minimal bench space with a smirk. “This kitchen’s tiny.”
I let out a small chuckle. “I told you my apartment wasn’t anything to get excited over.”
He raises his brow as I continue with the pot, and he shifts over to my desk nook area and runs his finger over my textbooks. I tense up slightly wondering how he’ll take the news of me studying to be a doctor. “So, why medicine? You’re not scared of blood? Doesn’t make you queasy?”
I snort, shaking my head. “Blood doesn’t make me queasy. I’d be a pretty shit doctor if that were the case. But I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was young. Dairy just doesn’t do it for me like it does for the rest of my family.”
He chuckles and nods. “Not sure how dairy products can really do it for anyone. But, if it makes your parents and Xav happy, then good for them.”
Smiling, I set the coffee on to brew. “Yeah, exactly. Okay, so while that’s doing its thing, I can either show you around or we can just… sit?”
His eyes light up making me nervous again, and he grins. “I think you should show me around.”
Taking a small breath, I nod, walking up to him. “There’s not a whole lot to see. I glance around my tiny living room slash kitchenette and shrug. “This is the kitchen, dining and living room.” I point to the door to my left. “Through there is the laundry.” I grab his hand. I don’t miss the way my fingers tingle when they lace with his as I lead him through the archway and into my crazy, chaotic mess of a bedroom. My jaw clenches slightly wondering how he’ll take my untidiness, but honestly, I don’t really care. He’s a biker, he’s probably seen far messier than me. But I think my nerves are more coming from the fact I’m pulling a man into my bedroom. My breathing hitches slightly as I lead him in. The room is dark, and I flick on the switch igniting the room in all its messy glory. He erupts in laughter, breaking my nervous tension as I glance at him, and he raises his brow as I assess his mood.
“Why are you laughing?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“Sorry. I honestly didn’t picture you as the poster child for sloth.”
I scoff out a laugh, and turn, slapping him on the chest. He chuckles and grabs my wrist pulling me to him. I stumble on the spot slightly as I turn to face him with a smile on my face. “I… I’m just…” I search for the word, “… busy with work and study. Trying to keep burly bikers from tearing up my life. Girl doesn’t have time to clean. So sue me.”
He slides his arms around my waist pulling me to him. My arms instinctively wrap around his neck as he looks deep into my eyes. It’s only now that I glance into his eyes, they stare back at me with an intense blue. It’s captivating as I smile at him, and he smiles back. “Damn that burley biker,” he murmurs as he leans down closer to me. “I’m sorry about last night, Heeley.”
My smile drops. “Did you fix everything with those guys?”
He lets out a small groan holding me tighter to him and breaking our gaze to look up at the ceiling. “Not even close.” He looks back to me. “But at least they didn’t get what they wanted.”
I swallow hard wondering what it is they could possibly want from Torque and his biker brothers. I want to ask, but would that be crossing some sort of line we’re not quite ready to be at yet? I guess there’s only one way to find out. “What did they want?”
He stiffens slightly in my arms and looks to me, almost like he’s assessing whether or not to tell me. He cracks his neck to the side then looks me in the eyes and speaks, “Neala.”
Pushing him in the chest, I jolt back in shock. “What?”
He huffs and scrunches up his face then takes a step toward me. I don’t back off. I don’t know why I shoved him in the first place. I was just shocked they wanted his sister.
“Heeley, the thing is… being attached to bikers brings a certain amount of trouble. Neala had a target on her back last night, and the Andrettis were using her to get to us. They didn’t succeed. We got her out before they could take her.”
I let out a huff and shake my head. “Oh my God…” I put my hand on my heart. “Is she okay? Did they hurt her?”
He steps forward again grabbing my arm, and I let him as his calloused fingers rub up and down my skin trying to soothe me. It helps some but not entirely. “No, my guys were there. But I’m hoping this explains my… reaction last night. Why I needed you gone. Why I tried to say goodbye to you…” He swallows hard and looks at the floor, the tension rising in the room as my heart pounds faster in my chest. “I know this is a lot to take in, and I understand if you want me to leave and make the goodbye stick.” He looks back up to me. “Foxy, life with me in it, it’s dangerous. The men hunting us hold no bars. Your life will be in danger if you’re attached to me, of that, I have no doubt. I don’t want that for you. I never did. That’s why I reacted like that last night. But the thing is, Heeley… I can’t stay away from you.”
His words push and pull me in so many different directions all at once. It’s like my head’s spinning. The thought of being in danger twenty-four seven is so fucking terrifying I have no idea how to handle that, but the thought of never seeing Torque again is equally devastating. I look up into his pleading eyes, and they draw me in. I step forward, needing to be close to him. His eyes widen in hope, in need. I have no idea what I’m doing. What I’m feeling. What the hell course I’m setting my life on, but I know at this moment there’s only one choice I can make. So I reach up, grabbing the back of his head and pull him to me.
My lips crash into his, my mouth opening instantly to let his tongue in. The kiss is deep, it’s intense, and it’s full of adrenaline as he backs me up against the side of my built-in closet. My back hits it with a thud as his hands snake up my body, touching and teasing, sliding inside my leather jacket and around my back under my shirt. His skin against my naked flesh is igniting heat inside of me, and even though his fingers are tracing the line of my bra, he doesn’t move to undo it.
His body presses against mine as we kiss feverishly, my hands running through his hair as I let out a small moan in his mouth. It seems to shock him as he slows the kiss, his hands work their way down from my skin as he pu
lls back, breaking the kiss. I let out a small breath as I try to gather myself, looking into his shining eyes.
He stares at me with a grin. “Fuckin’ hell, you’re a spitfire, Heeley. But tonight we’re having coffee and watching television. We’re hanging out. Like we said.”
Raising my brow, I clear my throat and tilt my head slightly, surprised by this information. “We are?”
He chuckles. “Yes, because if I get carried away with you tonight, I might not be able to stop myself, and… I wanna be able to take my time with you.”
Letting out a small giggle, I nod my head and swallow a lump that’s formed in my throat. “Oookay… at least you’re straight with me.”
He brings his hand up caressing the side of my cheek, looking into my eyes. The moment, a tender side of him. “I’ll always be straight with you, foxy.” He leans in and presses his lips to mine roughly, his fingers pressing into the side of my cheek more aggressively than the sweet tone of moments before. He pulls back looking right at me with a grin. “Coffee, woman,” he demands and turns breaking away leaving me reeling against my closet as he exits my bedroom.
I pant for breath as I slump my shoulders and shake my head. “Holy shit,” I mumble to myself so low I know he can't hear as I shake my head with a small grin and turn heading for my kitchenette.
***
Torque and I had our coffee and have been sitting comfortably on my loveseat, which I never noticed was small until now. I guess because I’m normally the only one lounging on it. But now I have a hunk of a man, the size of a small barge, taking up most of the couch, I can see how the quaintness of this loveseat is now meager. My eyes dart to the side, glancing at him as season two of The Game of Thrones continues to play reruns on the television, and I wonder how it got to be like this. Not merely three days ago this man came barreling into my froyo bar looking for a place to lay low, and now he’s here, in my apartment, in a comfortable silence, enjoying a binge fest of GoT. How did this happen?
“Your staring is gonna give me a complex, foxy,” he murmurs, though his eyes never leave the screen.
My eyes snap back to the television to see the men holding a very young-looking Arya and Gendry captive, then he takes one of the fellow villagers, straps him to a chair and places a bucket with a rat against the villager’s bare flesh. I turn up my nose as a man brings a fire-lit torch and holds it to the bucket making the rat scratch and claw at the villager’s bare chest to try and get out. His pleas for mercy ring through my living room, and I glance to Torque again to see him raising a brow as a sly smirk appears on his face.
I clear my throat and fold my arms over my chest. “This kind of thing appealing to you?” I ask, and he turns to me and shrugs.
“I think I could learn a lot from this show.” His face deadpans but gradually a slow smile turns up on the corner of my lips.
“What? Like how to fuck your sister? Torque, I knew you wanted to protect her, but—”
“Okay, smart mouth, settle down.” The playfulness in his eyes makes me smile as I let out a small giggle, and he brings his arm up wrapping it around my shoulders pulling me to him. It’s comfortable, and I don’t have any hesitations at all.
This is nice.
“Umm…” I murmur as I glance up at him while I lean into his side. He looks down to me and raises his brow.
“Just ask, Heeley.”
Gnawing on my bottom lip, I take a deep breath and decide to just go for it. I’m pretty sure he’ll be honest with me. “I know you’re a biker, obviously, and that means you don’t play by the rules. But… how badly broken are those rules exactly?”
Torque looks away from me. His hand tightening around my shoulder like he’s scared I might leave, while his other comes up rubbing his chin. “I… I don’t know how to answer that.”
Pulling my lips in by my teeth, I inhale through my nose and nod. “I think you just did.”
He finally looks back to me, his eyes dark, somber. He seems concerned. I’m not sure how to take this. He’s a biker on the wrong side of the law, that’s plainly obvious. I have no idea just how deep his corruption lies. If I want to be a doctor, I need to be aligning myself with the right people. I need to be seen as a model citizen. Torque can’t be good for my career. And though everything in me is screaming for me to run the other direction and to take the moral high ground—the inner rebel in me, the girl who opposes her parents in her career choice and just about everything else, the girl who rides a motorbike even though she knows one out of seven hundred and seventy people die in a motorbike accident—wants to explore this uncharted world with him. To see the dangers of this biker lifestyle with him, and to witness the other side of the fence where most women don’t dare to cross.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Your mind working overtime there, Heeley? Wanna tell me what you’re thinking?”
I look up at him and crease my brows. “So, to be a doctor, you need to have a moral compass. You have to do things by the book. You have to do things by the law. You need to be a model citizen…” He nods, taking a deep breath, so I continue, “But can I do those things and still… live a little dangerously?”
His eyes ignite and shine so brightly as his lips turn up slightly. He shifts turning to face me more as his nostrils flare. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying… I’m not going to break the law. Will I bend it? Probably. I’m not a tight ass. But I won’t do anything that will land me in jail, that’s all. I’m saying that I don’t know what this is or could be with us, but I’m willing, if you are, to explore getting to know you more.”
His bright smile lights up his face, and he bows his head as he looks me up and down. “Well, that’s way more than I was expecting. As I keep saying, you surprise me. I thought I’d have you hauling my ass out of here by now, but I think you’re more of a rebel than you wanna let on. I’m gonna like getting to know you.”
“One thing, though. Those Andrettis… if I’m attached to you, will they come after me?”
His shoulders tense, his jaw clenching as he looks at me with narrowed eyes. “I won’t let that happen. I stopped them from getting Neala. They won’t get you, I can promise you that.”
“Will they come after my friends and family?”
His eyes bore into mine, intense and with stern confidence. “No.”
Nodding, I settle back into the loveseat and turn my eyes back to the television, my nerves not settled but eased slightly. The Andrettis coming after me, I can handle, especially knowing that Torque will be watching out for me. But them coming after Ari, Xav, Mom, or Dad… that would be a deal breaker.
“Good, now shut up. We’re missing the good bits,” I tease, and he chuckles tightening his grip around me again, and I lean my head down on his shoulder getting comfortable by his side.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TORQUE
Heeley is softly breathing on my shoulder, and I have no idea what the hell to do. I’m out of my depth here. I haven’t had a girl fall asleep on me in a comfortable closeness like this since Zoey, and it’s equal parts satisfying and scary as hell.
It’s been six years.
Six long, painful years since Zoey died.
Since my unborn son died.
Since my father died.
It’s taken me a hell of a long time to get to where I am now.
The first year was the hardest. Emotionally, I was spent. Being with another woman, though, while I wanted to think that I was a decent man, while I thought I should hold off for the sake of Zoey, I didn’t, and I threw myself into club girls to numb the pain. I hate myself for it now for tainting her memory like that, but it was the only way I knew how to cope at the time.
Bullets, boobs, booze, and bacon is what got me by. I don’t know how I pulled myself out of that funk. Surge helped, even though he was struck down with losing his daughter and his grandchild, he still found a way to help pull me from my misery, all while maintaining the club as its Presiden
t. He’s one hell of a guy.
Letting out a small puff of air, I look down to Heeley, her lips open slightly, another small sound echoing from her mouth, and I smile as I chuckle to myself. It’s been a long time since I felt a connection with someone. Not just a physical one, but a true stomach churning, can’t get them out of your motherfucking mind connection. She’s so goddamn adorable as it is. But then I find out she rides a bike and has this edge to her, this thrill-seeker side I knew nothing about. It only makes me want her more.
She’s dangerous for me. The fact the Andrettis will come after her once they know I have her in my sights is inevitable. I need to deal with that, and I’m just not sure how without Heeley thinking I’m overdoing it. I already know I’m going to have Zane tailing her stealthily twenty-four seven from now on. Enzo missed out on Neala, and now we’ve delivered Alfonso back to him, and he snitched, I’m sure we’re going to have repercussions rain on our parade. I just don’t want that shit to have anything to do with Heeley. She’s far too innocent in all of this.
A louder snore catches in her throat causing her to slowly open her eyes. I smirk looking down at her as she blinks a few times looking up at me. “Shit, did I fall asleep?”
Nodding, I smooth her hair away from her face. “Yeah, but it was cute as fuck. The little snoring noises you make are so fuckin’—”
“I do not snore!” She sits up fast, her eyes wide in horror as she bursts out of my grasp.
Letting out a low laugh, I nod and tilt my head. “‘Fraid so, foxy.”
She huffs, jutting her bottom lip out in a pout, and it takes everything in me not to fucking pounce on her right here and now. But tonight’s been tame, and I want to keep it that way. I reign my thoughts and body in and place my hand on her knee to comfort her.