Chapter Six

Kyla

Two deafening pops and Chase’s head jerked back before slumping forward. Still. Dead. I woke up screaming until my throat hurt, skin drenched in sweat, pawing at the sheet like it was trying to attack me. “No!” I froze at the feel of big, strong, and holy shit, warm arms banded around my waist.

“I’m right here, Ky. You’re okay. It’s all right.” Torch. His arms held me, his rugged deep voice whispered soothing words in my ear as he rocked gently. It was nice. It was embarrassing.

Waking up screaming like a fucking banshee definitely wasn’t the way to keep a guy like him coming back for more. Apparently energetic, all night sex was the cure for traumatic insomnia. Finally. my body stopped shaking but still, Torch’s big tattooed arms stayed around me, and his lips pressed gentle kisses to my neck. My shoulders. “Th-th-thank you, Torch”

“Aw hell, sugar, you’re welcome. I’m sorry you had to see that shit, Kyla. You wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.” Hell, I couldn’t get away from it at night which is why I definitely didn’t want to talk about it. “I just can’t stop seeing the way his head snapped back, the way his brain splattered against the wall. Poor Chase,” I sobbed into his chest. “Do you think they’ll ever find this guy?”

“Your dad is getting closer, but that guy at the restaurant?”

“Yeah?” I could hear the hesitation, the tremble in my voice.

“He wasn’t the only one.” His arms tightened around me and instantly I was both aroused and on alert. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Fuck no, I wasn’t sure. But—“I need to, don’t I?”

With a nod, he let out a long breath while I waited for his words, letting my fingers tease his silky beard. “If I were you, I’d want to know. No matter how bad or unlikely it was, I’d need to know.”

Shit. Just when I wanted to run away from my problems and lose myself in a guy, reality bitch slapped me. “Tell me.”

He nodded and quickly flipped us around so his body was on top of mine, pressing right where I throbbed for him. It was a nice distraction so I knew it was worse than I could’ve imagined. “That motherfucker Stash has a hit out on you. Fifty grand to kill you and another twenty-five if they make it hurt.”

Shit. Holy fucking shit. I knew that guy was bad news, but I assumed…hell what I assumed wasn’t important. “I thought he figured me to be some rich college girl or to scare me into keeping my mouth shut. But seventy-five grand to kill me? Even I don’t think I’m worth that much.” Then again, I understood a lot of people would do just about anything for that kind of money. “Damn.” It was all I could say.

“Yeah, I know, darlin’. But I don’t want you to think about that shit. Just be cautious and let me do the rest. I was trained by the good ol’ US of A, after all.” He flashed me a panty-melting grin and I tightened my legs around his back, loving the way his long thick cock ground against me.

I believed Torch because so far, he hadn’t lied to me. But fuck, I didn’t want to think about needing Uncle Sam type or any other type of protection. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe I didn’t need it, but I really didn’t want to think about it. At all. Especially not when I had six and a half feet of big strapping former Army man rock hard and ready to dive in. “For now, I don’t want to think about it, but soon I will.”

“I can respect that,” he said, brushing a kiss between my breasts and thrusting his hips forward.

“For now, Torch…” I arched my back and moaned when he pulled a tight nipple in his mouth, “...what I want,” I told him, licking up the side of his neck, “is to be on top.”

He flashed a happy smile. Blue eyes shining bright and aroused, such a contrast to his big, tough biker persona. But there was that naughty gleam I’d gotten used to. “Who’s stopping you, darlin’?”

“No one I hope.” He rolled over, and I wasn’t afraid to say I jumped on him like the horny bunny I was, kissing his jaw, neck, and those gloriously wide, tattooed shoulders. The salty masculine mix of sex and Torch left me feeling drunk on him. “At least not until we’re both too tired,” I groaned and slid my tongue over the brown discs of his nipples and down his stomach, stopping to kiss and lick the hard ridges of his abdominal muscles. Fuck, this was one big sexy man. His cock was hard already, jutting out against my ass, trying to join the party too soon.

My mouth watered at the thought. I wasn’t one of those girls who shied away from giving head. Hell, I didn’t even do it reluctantly. I loved it, sliding my tongue over a long, hard pulsing cock. Having a man so torn up with lust, so at my mercy while I brought him to the depths of pleasure, made me wet as hell just thinking about it. A man like Torch, so big and thick, so tough. It was a challenge to me, to make him scream and lose control, and I never shied away from a challenge. “To do anything other than sleep,” I told him, flattening my tongue and licking him from the bottom of his balls to the tip of his shaft.

“Oh fuck, Ky, I love the way you think.”

I thought he might, and I spent a good half hour making him lose fucking control. Then I rode his cock until I forgot about what I saw, who was after me, everything other than the way he filled me up and fucked me hard enough to see stars.

***

“You want me to what?” Torch looked at me as though I’d lost my damned mind, breakfast all but forgotten at my carelessly tossed out suggestion. Maybe I had lost my mind, but even days straight of nonstop fucking hadn’t been able to rob me of Chase’s final moments.

Unfortunately. So late last night while he slept the sleep of a man properly blown, I came up with a plan. “You heard me. I think we should go out into the world. Hang around Brently in public.”

“While a fuck ton of bad guys have descended on Brently to kill you?”

I grinned. “Exactly. I’ll be bait.”

He shook his head, snapping a piece of bacon in half, chewing pensively before he finally spoke. “Of all the ways I’d love to use you, Ky, bait isn’t one of them.”

Fuck. Me. Torch didn’t say much, but when he opened his mouth he said all the right things. I shivered at his words, but I couldn’t let those blue eyes distract me or that panty-dropping dimple that was useless since I wasn’t currently wearing any. But still. “It’s a good idea. These guys will keep coming until someone gets the money, right?”

He frowned, those little parallel lines in his forehead scrunched together adorably and I grinned, knowing he’d hate it if I said so. “Yeah,” he bit out reluctantly.

“If we go out in public and they try something, there’s the sheriff to step in to arrest them, plus CAOS to beat the shit out of them, right?” He opened his mouth to answer but I kept going, on a roll now. “And if we keep doing that, eventually Stash will have to come down himself and we get him!”

He smiled and shook his head. “You’ve been watching too much television, Ky.”

Did it make me weak to love the way he shortened my name and said it in that low warm honey tone? “Maybe but they have professionals who consult on those shows. Maybe they know something we don’t.”

“Is this about getting out of the house more?”

“No. I swear.” It wasn’t about that. I mean sure, it would be great to get outside and enjoy some sun, maybe spend time with other people. But this was about reclaiming my life. Getting justice for Chase. “I don’t like to feel scared all the time, Torch. I know you don’t know me all that well, but this isn’t my thing, as fun as being with you has been. Plus, I’m sure you have a life you might like to get back to. Is it so wrong for me to want this to be over?”

He froze, and I wondered if I said something wrong. “You’re ready to go home?” he asked with ice in his veins.

“What? No! Hell no, but other than when we’re fucking and sleeping, I’m terrified, Torch.” I shook my head. “I like this, being here with you, but unless you plan on keeping me forever, I need to find a new job. Get my furniture from the apartment I probably no longer have. I have things that I need to get done.” Then all the details I’d neglected in the sense of self-preservation came back to me. “I was supposed to start a new job last week. I never picked up keys to my apartment, and there’s probably a moving pod in some tow yard with all of my worldly possessions in it.”

He stared at me so long I thought maybe I had a piece of egg stuck to my forehead. Raking his hands over his dark brown beard, Torch blew out a long breath. “Shit, Ky, you should have said something. I can’t do shit about your job, but I can send prospects to get your shit.”

“How was I supposed to know that was possible, and what the hell are prospects?”

“Prospective members of CAOS,” he said like I was supposed to know, because I’m so hip on the biker lingo.

“Oh. Okay, I mean if they’re cool with it.”

“They will be,” he answered in a tone that said they didn’t have much choice.

That was a relief. I didn’t have money to replace an entire wardrobe and an apartment full of furniture. “Thanks. There will probably be a fee for the pod, wherever it is, so I’ll send a few hundred bucks with them.” And figure out how to replenish my savings while I was at it. “And the rest of it?”

“You mean using you as bait?” I nodded, and he shook his head immediately. “Sorry but that shit ain’t happenin’, sweetheart.”

I grunted and stood, taking some of the breakfast dishes to the sink to rinse them. “I’m trying to do the right thing and talk to you about this, Torch, and you’re being completely unreasonable.”

He gave me a dark look, and I knew he wouldn’t like what I had to say next. “Meaning what, exactly?”

“I’d much rather go out with you by my side, than without you.” But he had to know I wouldn’t let this go.

His look darkened, and I had to suppress a shiver. Letting a man like Torch know I was uncertain would only allow him to push his agenda on me, and this time I couldn’t let that happen. I gripped the sink until my knuckles were white and finally he said what he was thinking. “We’ll need to coordinate with your dad and Mick.”

I gave him a triumphant smile. “Fine.”