Page 27 of Colt

I hadn’t spent much time with him, but I did have some memories of his father, Falcon, from when I was younger. The club had suffered a great loss when Falcon and his wife were killed in a horrible accident a few years ago. Wolf reminded me a lot of his dad. They were both outgoing, never shied away from a good time, and above all else, were loyal to the club. But right now, that fun-loving guy was nowhere to be found. Instead, he looked emotionally drained. He had dark circles under his eyes and I could guess he didn’t sleep at all last night either. I was sure the other guys looked similar.

“Viking’s asking for you.”

He didn’t wait for a response from me; instead, he turned on his heel and walked down the hallway. I didn’t want to keep Viking waiting, so I brushed my teeth and hair quickly and grabbed a couple of painkillers before I went out to search for him. I checked in the main room and didn’t see anybody, so I headed toward the kitchen. A couple of voices speaking in hushed tones forced me to stop before I entered the room.

“We need to send her back to Reno.” I recognized Colt’s voice right away. It wasn’t a surprise he was ready to send me packing. He wasn’t happy I moved here in the first place. But, that knowledge didn’t make his words sting any less.

I entered the room, acting as though I hadn’t heard Colt. Both him and Viking turned toward me, and I noticed they were the only two in the room. That put me a little more at ease. I didn’t want an audience for whatever Viking wanted to discuss. Especially if he was going to send me back home.

I took a good look at both of the men. Colt’s hair was in disarray, and his brow was furrowed as he sat there in deep thought. Viking didn’t look much better. His shoulders were slumped as though he was carrying the weight of the world. And maybe he was. Not only did he lose a brother yesterday, but now it was his responsibility to find out what happened to Fitz. I knew he wouldn’t rest until he found all the answers.

“Hey, darlin’. I talked to Torch last night,” Viking said. “He’s heading down here soon. He wants you to come home. He’s pretty pissed that you were almost killed and doesn’t think you’re safe here anymore.”

“What?” My voice wavered, the panic threatening to take over my body.

“You can’t be surprised,” Colt started, but Viking interrupted.

“Torch might be right. We don’t know what we’re dealing with right now and we need to figure out what happened to Fitz and who’s involved. Our resources will be focused on that task.”

I completely understood Viking’s matter-of-fact stance and even agreed. I was a distraction they neither needed nor wanted. But if I went back home, I would never be able to break away from the monster waiting for me there. Going to New York wasn’t an option either since that’d put Phoebe back in Torch’s line of sight. So if there was any chance for me to stay here, I needed to tell Viking the truth about Torch.

“Can I talk to you? Privately?” I asked, looking at Viking.

“Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of me,” Colt answered for him.

Viking nodded his head in agreement with Colt. It looked like I was going to have to do this in front of him as well. I prayed they both understood why I hadn’t said something before, but more than likely they would both be pissed off. Or in Colt’s case, more pissed off than he already was.

“Yesterday, when Fitz told you we were coming over so I could speak with you, it was about Torch. There’s something you need to know before you send me away.”

I told Viking the whole story just like I’d done the morning before with Fitz. I didn’t leave anything out, including the more embarrassing details that made me look like an idiot. Neither man could hide their anger at what I was saying, but whether at me or Torch, it was hard to tell at this point. I prayed they believed me and didn’t send me back to a death sentence.

“During our last conversation, Torch mentioned having a source that told him I was spending a lot of time with Fitz. He thought I was more focused on hooking up with someone than getting him information. He threatened me and said if I didn’t start giving him something he could use, he would come up with a different plan.”

“Do you think he had anything to do with what happened yesterday?” Viking asked. His body was tense, and he looked like he was going to explode at any second.

The question caught me off guard. I hadn’t thought of it before, but there was a possibility Torch might know something about what had happened because he made it clear he was watching me, but it never crossed my mind he could be behind the shooting. But he had threatened me, and now Viking had me questioning what really happened. Could Torch be involved? Would he be stupid enough to take out one of his own club members?

“I’m not sure. I can’t imagine what Torch would gain by doing something like that.” But then I thought a little bit more and a shudder ran through me. “Maybe Fitz wasn’t the intended target. Maybe I was.”

How many times did Torch threaten to harm me in the past? Maybe he was tired of waiting on me and decided to tie up his loose ends. Or perhaps the sociopath finally lost his mind.

“Fuck!” Viking roared. “If he’s behind this, he sure gave a good show when I was on the phone with him earlier. Give us a bit so we can talk about this. I don’t know what’s going on, but you might be in just as much danger as we are.”

While I was relieved to have finally told Viking the truth, the fact that I was still in danger wasn’t remotely comforting. As I left and looked back at Colt, if looks could kill—I’d be dead already.