“Was that Fury?”

“Yeah. I told him he didn’t need to come up after all, that we’d be leaving in the morning,” Diesel answers. “Unless you’ve changed your mind again?”

“I thought we agreed, I should back away?”

“Never thought you were the kind of man to give up that easily,” Diesel says with a shrug.

“Man, you’re giving me whiplash with your back and forth,” I growl at him. It’s not him I’m frustrated at—it’s myself.

“The same could be said about you, Ese,” Diesel smirks.

“Don’t I know it,” I mutter, leaning back against my pillow.

I’m propped up on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with two pillows behind me. Diesel is sitting at the table beside the bed and I’m not sure why. He has his own room, or hell, he could be gone by now. I’m trying to get the image of Torrent in another man’s arms out of my head and not being that successful at it.

“We need to get you out. You’re worse today than you were yesterday.”

“We could head back now,” I respond. “Not like I have anything holding me here,” I add with a shrug.

“Now you’re talking. How long will it take you to pack your shit up?”

“Gee, let me think about that. Two minutes?”

“You’re such a smart ass. I’ll grab my gear and meet you at the bikes,” Diesel says, opening the door. He’s gone before I even get the energy to get up myself.

I go over to the dresser and grab my bag—which is really a ratty, blue, Walmart piece of crap that I shove down into my saddle bags. Then I head into the bathroom to get my deodorant and shit. I barely make it to the door when the knocking starts.

“Diesel, fuck, you just left. I’ll be ready to go in a minute. You haven’t even given me two—”

I stop as I open the door and see Torrent standing there. She’s wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt with a leather jacket—though thankfully not that fucker Wolf’s cut. Her hair is brushed down her back and she doesn’t have as much makeup on today. I can definitely see a few light bruises on her face and I flex my hand behind the door, trying to keep control of the anger it makes me feel.

“Hi…”

“Torrent. I didn’t really expect you to show up.”

“You’re leaving,” she says.

“It didn’t seem I had anything to hang around for. You coming in or are you going to stay out there?” I ask her, stepping back from the door.

“I’m coming in,” she responds.

She walks in and behind her I see Diesel.

“I take it we’re not leaving anytime soon?” he asks, but he’s grinning.

I flip him off and close the door on his laughter.

I turn to face Torrent. She looks nervous and I smile because I’m a bastard and I kind of like that she’s nervous around me right now.

“Does your boyfriend know you’re here?”

“He’s not my boyfriend—at least not yet,” she grumbles, giving me a defiant look.

“And does he know you’re here?” She doesn’t answer, but she looks down at the ground and that gives me enough of an answer. I give a short laugh. It’s not funny, but then again the look on Wolf’s face if he ever finds out Torrent sought me out would be. “I didn’t think so.”

“He’s the reason I’m here,” she mumbles, rubbing her hands down the leg of her pants, nervously. I’m sure she doesn’t mean to call attention to her curves, or the way those pants cling to her body like a second skin—but she does.

“Now that, I didn’t expect and I don’t want to call you a liar, Angel. Got to say though, I find it hard to believe.”

“He doesn’t like you.”

“Now that I believe. But, if you came all the way over here to tell me that, you kind of wasted your time. I kind of already knew that,” I joke, walking over to the bed and sitting down where I was before. I fluff my pillows and then fix them again against the headboard, all before turning back around and looking at Torrent.

“Comfortable?” she asks, obviously put out with me, which makes me strangely happy.

“I’m getting there. I’d be better if you’d come over and join me though,” I tease, patting the bed beside me.

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Eh, maybe not right now.”

“It’s never going to happen, Logan.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you that you should never say never? Besides, that’s kind of a challenge for me.”

“A challenge?”

“Yeah, now my goal will be to make sure I get you on the bed with me.”

“Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but you shouldn’t look for that to happen. Especially since you will be back home and I’ll be here.”

“That’s semantics, besides we’re both here right now.”

“Yes, well. That’s why I’m here. Wolf doesn’t like you.”

“You’re starting to repeat yourself, Angel.”

“You’ve got on his radar.”

“I have no idea what that means. Did I mention there’s room here on the bed for you?”

“Devil, will you try and be serious for a minute? Wolf isn’t a man you should cross.”

“Angel, it sounds like you’re worried about me. I can’t decide if I should be offended or flattered. Now, about this bed…”

“Will you stop being an idiot. This is serious. You don’t know him like I do. He’s very… protective over me.”

“I think the word you’re looking for, Angel, is possessive.”

“Whatever. Listen, Wolf is a good guy really, but he can be…”

“Torrent, I don’t really want you to defend your boyfriend to me.”

“You need to leave.”

“You carted your sweet little ass over here to tell me that?”

“I felt the need to warn you,” she mutters. “Though now, I’m starting to wonder why.”

“Because you like me, even if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe I do. Will you take me seriously, please?”

I let out a deep breath and turn to put my feet on the ground and face her.

“You don’t need to worry about me, Torrent,” I tell her seriously, leaning my hands on my legs and watching her.

“You don’t know Wolf like I do, Logan, you don’t understand how he can be,” she says and she looks lost. I get up and walk to her. I pull out the chair that Diesel had earlier and basically force her to sit down. Then I slide down on my knees in front of her, bracing my hands on each arm of the chair. I have a lot of questions I want to ask her, but somehow when I open my mouth only one comes out.

“And that leads me to one question, Torrent.”

“What’s that?”

“Just how well do you know, Wolf, Angel? And did you know him when we met?”

I stare up into her eyes and wonder exactly why I need to know the answers.

I only know I do.