Torched (26 page)

I laughed. “Pancakes. You look…
refreshed.
I take it Neil gave you some sexual healing?”

“Well, we didn’t exactly get much sleep, but yeah, I feel fucking fantastic!” she squealed. “Thanks for letting us do that, babycakes.”

“Anytime, sweetie. Glad you guys had a good time.”

Lexi hopped on the counter. “Oh man, Liv. We did shit that would make a porn star blush.”

“I bet, you crazy bitch. Think you can save the details until
after
I finish my coffee though?” I asked, not quite ready to hear it on an empty stomach. “You want some? It should be done brewing.”

“Hell yeah I want some. You have any of that caramel creamer I like?”

“Of course. On the fridge door.”

Lexi slid down and poured three mugs, hers being the one with more dairy than caffeine.

“Mommy!” Chloe squealed as she came running in. Neil was right behind her.

“Hey baby.” Lexi picked her up and spun her around. “Did you have fun with Auntie Livie? She’s making pancakes for you.”

“Hey Liv,” Neil greeted, giving me a peck on the cheek.

“Hey stud,” I replied with a wink.

Chloe started bouncing around like a fucking Mexican jumping bean as she gave her mother the rundown. “We had so much fun, mommy,” she chirped. “We made pasgetti… and cookies…. and had a tea party… and watched a movie...”

Neil ruffled her hair. “Slow down, child. You’re using up all the air.”

Chloe had no intention of slowing down. “And Mister Torch came over on his motorcycle… and he looked for monsters… and—”

Lexi choked and spit out a mouthful of coffee. “Wait,
what
?!”

Shit.

Her eyebrows jumped as high as they could go. “Did she just say
Torch
was here?”

“He kiiiiiiissed her—”

“Oh, your naughty little butt is mine,” I declared, pointing a warning finger at Chloe. “Traitor.”

“
The
Torch?” Lex asked again. “The big, bad biker that gave it to you so good that you still can’t get off unless you’re thinking about him?
That
Torch?”

I smiled, took another sip of coffee, and put an end to her misery. “It’s not that common a name.”

Lexi’s jaw dropped.

Chloe, obviously intent on making the next few days a living hell for me, pulled out a piece of folded up paper from behind her back and tried to reach up to get it on the counter. “He left this, Mommy. Daddy says there’s a fair. Can we go? Pleeeeeease?”

Of course he left a fucking flyer for the fair, in the spare room where Chloe would find it first no less. Sneaky asshole. This was nothing but payback for making him wear that stupid hat. Next time, I’d staple pink feathers to his balls instead.

I snatched the paper before Lexi could, but she jumped around the island and grabbed it back.

“May Fair,” she read out loud, “sponsored by the Iron Serpents Motorcycle Club. Fun, food, and family. All proceeds go to Linwood Memorial Hospital.”

“Sounds like a good time,” Neil chimed in, flashing a shit-eating grin in my direction.

I scowled at him. “No. It doesn’t—”

“Pleeeeeease,” Chloe pleaded. “I wanna go.”

Lexi was flashing her own toothy smile. “Sounds like she reeeeeeally wants to go.”

Right. Like I was a moron and didn’t know exactly what was happening here. A sudden onset of itchiness had me scratching at my chest. It was some kind of weird reaction I’d always had to stress.

“Come on, Auntie Livie, it’s for charity,” Neil goaded. Yeah, he was up to the same thing as his manipulative wife.

I knew,
knew
that it would be a bad idea. I’d already dipped one foot in that wormhole and didn’t need to get sucked all the way in. But what the hell was I supposed to do? Let them go on their own? They would, just to get a look at Torch.

Shit. The absolute worst idea would be to leave those two alone with him for any amount of time. I could just imagine how that conversation would go.

“Fine,” I mumbled in defeat. “But just for a couple hours.”

“Deal!” Lexi exclaimed. “Now, fill us in.”

“Wait, let me get Chloe settled on the couch first,” Neil interjected. “Even
I
wanna the details on this one.”

: : : :

I’d wanted to ride my bike to Linwood—since having conceded on going at all—but Chloe insisted on having company in the backseat. As always, batting her pretty little eyes and telling me that she loved me got her exactly what she wanted.

At some point, I’d have to quit falling for that shit.

It seemed like the entire town was showing up. The park was packed full of families and parking was hard to come by. We looped around a few times before finding a spot several blocks over, passing by more Serpents than I could count. I’d read that the club enjoyed a lot of support in Linwood and was deeply ingrained in its day-to-day existence, but it was fascinating to see it in action.

Chloe was absolutely stoked as she eyed a little ferris wheel and bouncy castle from a distance as we walked. “Mommy, look! I wanna ride! And then I wanna go in the castle!” she squealed.

“Okay baby,” Lexi said, “let’s see if you’re tall enough to get on that thing. If not, I’m sure there’s all kind of things we can do here.”

“This is pretty sweet setup,” Neil remarked, taking in the sights and sounds. Music was blaring from speakers scattered all around, and the smell of funnel cakes filled the air. It wasn’t one of those big city fairs with lots of rides—the ferris wheel and a kiddie train seemed to be about it in that department—but there were plenty of booth games, food tents, even a stage where a band was playing. A dunk tank, face painting station, craft tables, a guy making balloon animals, and a padded wrestling ring where people could wrestle in those stuffed sumo suits, rounded out the activities. All in all, I was pretty impressed that some small town bikers managed to throw together something like it.

On second thought, it had probably been mostly the work of the old ladies. I couldn’t picture Torch playing event planner.

We reached the ferris wheel and a delighted Chloe found out that she was just a smidgen over the height requirement. As her parents got her strapped in, I did another scan of the area. It was a great place for the event—lots of green trees providing shade, a ton of grassy space for people to sit around on blankets and eat, and a rec center at the other end. We were at the edge of the park and I watched as more and more people filtered in.

My focus fell on a woman who was pushing a stroller down the sidewalk. A little boy sulked behind her, crying and pointing at the festivities, but she looked like she was putting up a fight. It didn’t seem like she was being mean, just pleading with him to keep moving. Dark bags under her eyes and messy hair made her look exhausted. Maybe she was one of the few who didn’t like the club and didn’t want her kids around it?

Out of nowhere, Torch entered my line of sight as he approached her. I would have recognized his strut anywhere. As he came up on the little family, he bent down in front of the boy, who started gesturing wildly with his hands. Torch squeezed his shoulder, then pulled out a strip of tickets from his pocket and handed it to him. The boy flung his arms around Torch like he was his hero. The mom looked a little weary and I saw them exchange a few words. It was hard to tell from a distance, but she looked sad. Downright depressed actually. Torch reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He plucked a handful of bills and handed it to her.

She looked at him, then at the money, then back at him before flinging her arms around him too.

Interesting.

I about jumped out of my skin as Lexi came up from behind. “Is that him?”

“Mmhmm,” I murmured, too fascinated and curious to turn away.

“Holy shit,” she swooned. Fucking
swooned
.

“Mister Torch!” I heard Chloe yell out from above, giving me no time to duck out of sight before his eyes shot in our direction.

He smiled and waved at her, before scanning the area and setting his sights on me. Forget knots, my stomach was in full meltdown mode as I watched him saunter toward us.

“God, I’d do him in a fucking heartbeat,” Lex mumbled.

“I’m right here, woman,” Neil protested.

“Oh shut up,” she snapped back. “You know I’d wait ‘til you’re dead.”

“Well that’s fucking comforting,” he huffed.

As the two of them bickered—lovingly in their own way—Torch made his final approach and seized the opportunity to pull me into a hug. “Glad you came, babe.”

“Didn’t give me much of a choice, did you?” I asked sarcastically, but uncontrollably melting into him like my life depended on it. “Nice play using a kid to get what you wanted.”

He chuckled. “Hey, I use all available resources. It worked, right?”

“This time. I have resources too.”

“A-hem,” Lexi faked clearing her throat.

I pulled away, embarrassment making my face flush. “Sorry… Torch, this is Lexi and that’s her husband, Neil.”

Torch reached out to shake their hands, inconspicuously sliding his free one down the back of my jeans. Good god, those
hands
. Where the fuck was a sinkhole when you needed one?

“I hear my little she-devil made you play dress up,” Neil said, shaking his head. “Sorry about that, man. Thanks for looking out for her and Liv though.”

“Anytime. It was my pleasure.” He squeezed my ass as he said it.

“Yeah,” Lexi smirked, “I bet.”

“Mind if I steal her away for a minute?” he asked. “The boss wants to talk to her.”

Lexi grinned. “Of course. You just take
all
the time you need with her, Torch. We’ll catch up later.”

Bitch. What the fuck happened to
chicks before dicks
? She knew damn well I didn’t want to be left alone with him again, I’d made it pretty clear on the ride over.

And I wasn’t ready to face the club either, since I assumed everyone now knew me as the crazy bitch who tried to shoot up their clubhouse. I knew how these stories morphed from person to person.

But Torch grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd before I could argue.

Buddha was talking to some women up ahead, but spotted us immediately. “Livia, darlin!” he greeted, his booming voice attracting the attention of everyone around him.

I instantly felt my body tense. I didn’t like being the center of attention and pretty much lived my life trying to avoid it.

Torch unwrapped his arm from my back and squeezed my hand, clearly feeling the change. “You’re fine, babe,” he reassured me in a low voice. “All these assholes think you’re a badass bitch.” It was like he could read my damn mind.

“They don’t think I’m insane?” I asked.

“You don’t have shit on any of these crazy fucks, trust me. Relax, quit worrying about what anybody thinks. I got you.”

Buddha practically pushed him out of the way and pulled me into a big bear hug as he came up on us. “Come here, you fucking beautiful girl!” he exclaimed, damn near squeezing all the air out of my lungs.

“Hi Budhha,” I replied, before three more men came up and caught me off guard by also hugging me. I recognized two of them from the other night, but didn’t know any of their names.

Buddha started the introductions. “Don’t think you met any of these ugly shits the other night. That’s Zed and Grimm. Biff wasn’t there, but he’s our usual computer guy.”

It was hard enough remembering normal names, but trying to keep all these guys straight would be a challenge.

“Looks like I got shown up,” Biff remarked. “I’m impressed. Maybe you could teach me a few tricks sometime.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Why? Why the fuck would I say that?

“You showed the prospects up too,” Grimm added. “That was hot as hell, sugar face. Maybe you can teach
me
a few tricks too.”

“The fuck did I say?” Torch grumbled. “Off limits, dickhead.”

Grimm threw up his hands and took a step back, but winked at me as he did it. The guy was huge, tattooed and pierced from head to toe. I could already tell he was the wildest of the bunch.

Zed groaned. “Since nobody’s got any kind of fucking manners, let me be the one to thank you for helping us out, Liv. We owe you.” I decided I really liked Zed, he had kind eyes. He was big and solid, similar to Torch’s size, with short brown hair and a goatee. He just had that whole teddy bear look to him.

“No biggie. Just glad I could help.”

At this point, more brothers had approached and more hugs were given. I was introduced to Squid, Mace, Gauge, Hench, Beanie, Chew, Jet, Stinger, and Toto. Apparently, none of them gave a shit how I’d made my appearance. It was gratifying. And a little terrifying.

A pretty little redhead rushed in and broke through their circle of camaraderie. “What the hell are you lazy asses doing standing around? Get to work. Things are going to shit!” She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw me, then noticed Torch’s tight hold around my waist. Her mouth curled up. “Well, now—”