“You ready to head out?” Diesel asks, opening my door wider. I’m sitting on the bed, my bags packed. I really thought I was ready, but I’m not. I look up at him and I know he sees it before I say anything. “You’re not leaving,” he says, walking deeper into the room and closing the door behind him.

“I don’t think I can yet.”

“I thought you talked to her last night?”

“I did, but—”

“It’s two in the afternoon, Devil. Man, if she was going to show up, she would have by now,” Diesel says and I can’t disagree with him, not really. But… something is nagging at me.

“Something doesn’t feel right. I can’t leave yet,” I tell him finally.

“Your gut talking to you?”

“Something is,” I respond.

My whole body is tense. I feel like I’m preparing for something and I don’t have any fucking idea what it is. It’s that feeling I get sometimes that there’s a damn shoe over my head and that usually means it’s going to drop sometime soon. I thought I had pretty much gotten over whatever fascination I had with Torrent, but my time with her last night proved me a fucking liar. I felt more alive standing next to her than I’ve felt in forever. I can’t explain the pull between me and Torrent, but it’s there and from what I saw, even with everything she’s been through, she still feels it too.

I don’t know if that’s enough.

“So what’s the plan? You going to sit around here all day and try and look pretty?”

“I’m not the one of us that spends a fortune on their hair to make it soft so all the girls want to touch it and fall to their knees to worship you.”

“Fuck you. You can’t talk. You tatted your fucking cock with the sign of the devil.”

“Not my cock. Just close to the cock. Besides, there was a reason for that.”

“What’s that?”

“Well I’m called Devil for a reason. Plus, women love to play with the bad boys. I wanted to point them in the right direction.”

“You’re such a cocky bastard.”

“Never claimed to be anything different.” I shrug and he flips me off.

“So we’re going to stay in this damn place for another day?” Diesel asks, and I frown, thinking about that. I scratch the side of my face through my beard and think his question over.

“No, man. You have Ryan and I know how hard it is for you to be away from him right now. You go on home, I’ll be fine.”

“Not going to happen, Ese.”

“You’ve seriously been hanging around Skull too damn long,” I mutter at his nickname. Diesel’s not got anything Spanish about him, but he uses words here and there—most commonly Ese, because he’s heard it often, because he likes it… Who the fuck knows really?

“Let’s go find some lunch and check the town out if we’re going to stay for a few days. I like to know the lay of the land.”

“Torrent might—”

“Christ, we won’t be gone that long. Your dick can’t be so wrapped up in her already that you can’t go find dinner,” Diesel mutters and I frown.

“You need to get back to Ryan. Just because we foiled the last kidnapping attempt—”

“Crusher and Dani will keep him safe, but I’ll head back tomorrow. You decide tonight if you’re going to stay another night. If you are, I’ll give one of the other men a call and have them come down here to watch your back.”

“Don’t you think that’s going more than a little overboard?” I ask him, frowning.

“If the way Wolf was looking at that girl is any indication? Fuck, no I’m not overreacting. You’re getting ready to wade into some dangerous territory, Devil.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I respond and not to be a bigger asshole, but I don’t care what he says. If there’s a chance that I end up with Torrent when all of this is said and done, I’ll take that chance every day of the week.

Which is further proof that I really am wrapped up over this woman. The biggest problem with that is, I can’t be sure what Torrent will do… or how she feels.