Page 33 of Colt

I felt her trembling hands reach out and grab the back of my cut. I felt a small burst of pride that she reached out to me for comfort when she was scared.

It also didn’t escape my attention that he didn’t falter when he said he sent her here to keep her safe. Even when he was raging, he managed to not let anything slip. He may have been smarter than I gave him credit for.

“Everyone needs to calm the fuck down. You will not come into my clubhouse and treat a woman like that,” Viking said, and we all took a step back from each other.

I didn’t let Ember get far, though. Instead, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her to me. She huddled into my side but wrapped her arms around her middle, shaking. Fitz had been right and I’d been too blind to notice: She was terrified of Torch. He glared at the two of us while his nostrils flared like a bull ready to charge.

“If it’s okay with Colt—Ember, mind explaining?” Stone asked while trying to maintain some calm while his acting president freaked out. “This development is clearly a shock, especially to Torch.”

She looked up at me before she spoke, and I nodded for her to answer. “Um… it just sorta happened. I knew Colt from when we were younger. Since I’ve been here, we got to talking, and things just went from there,” she explained, coming up with a pretty good cover story on the fly. Maybe the two of us should have come up with something earlier.

“You mean you acted like a slut and spread your legs for the first guy that came around the minute I left you alone. I warned—”

Torch didn’t get to finish his sentence before I was throwing him up against the wall. I got right in his face and spoke quietly so only he would hear me. “You better watch what you fucking say. Do you understand me, motherfucker?” I growled while tightening my hand on his throat. “Ember’s my old lady now, and don’t ever forget that.”

“Get the hell off me!” he gritted out between clenched teeth.

“Colt, let him go,” Ember spoke softly as she placed her hand on my shoulder, and for some odd reason, that calmed me. I released the jerk and took a couple of steps back, keeping Ember close to me.

I turned to Stone and addressed him. “You need to get him under control. If he doesn’t start showing some respect, we’ll throw him out of here. Don’t give a shit if he’s a Desert Sinner or not. This is our fucking house.”

Stone nodded his head. He didn’t look all that pleased with what had just gone down, but he and a couple of their guys directed Torch outside before the situation got any more volatile.

“Just wait until your brother hears about this!” Torch yelled as he walked out.

“He can’t tell James anything, it’ll drive him crazy that he doesn’t know what’s going on,” Ember said, but I wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or me.

Ice hearing about me claiming his sister was the least of her problems. I wondered how Ice was going to feel when he found out everything she sacrificed for him and their sister. I’m sure he would be grateful, but more than that, he would feel guilty as well as angry that she had gone to such lengths to protect him. In his mind, it was his job to protect her, not the other way around.

“Okay, boys, let’s go talk. Torch can meet with us once he’s cooled off. The ladies here are going to make dinner. Hopefully, we can enjoy a simple meal together without anyone coming to blows,” Viking said, directing his glare at me.

His words were laced in warning even though he didn’t need to issue one. I wasn’t going to fuck this up. I didn’t say anything to Torch other than he needed to watch how he talked to Ember. I figured that reaction was acceptable given I was supposed to be with her now. No Desert Sinner would tolerate someone speaking to their woman like that.

We moved into the room where we met for church. The long table provided more than enough room for all of us. For the time being, we decided to leave Fitz’s seat empty. While it pained me to look at the chair he’d occupied for years, it also gave me the strength to continue on the path we were on. He would want us to protect Ember at all costs.

I was doing this all to find out what happened to Fitz, if Torch was behind it and what his endgame was. I wouldn’t rest until I knew everything and we’d dealt with the person responsible for his death. I prayed it wasn’t Torch. Not because I wasn’t willing to take that asshole out, but because of the problems it would bring for Ice and the entire club.

My worry was also for Ember, which felt sudden, but also reminded me of when we were younger. It left me confused as to why I cared so much about how all of this would impact her. I attributed these random feelings to emotions running high and being thrown off with my new role as Ember’s old man. Once all this was solved and handled, she could go back to living her life, and I wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.

That’s what I wanted… to return to normal. But now I didn’t know what that looked likebecause things had changed and it was all up in the air. I had no idea where that left Ember and me.

My mother had left me and my dad, an old wound that never really healed. And more recently, my wife had left me, I was fighting for more time with my children, one of my best friends was gone, and then there were the feelings I was struggling with daily for the girl who had come back into my life. Everything was spiraling out of control, and I didn’t know what to do.

However, one thing became very clear to me in an instant: Torch would never touch Ember ever again.

* * *

We waited a while for the guys from Reno to join us. Torch was still seething and when we made eye contact, I thought he might dive across the table and have another go at me. Stone kept his hand on Torch’s shoulder and led him to an empty chair as far from me as he could get.

“Before we get down to business, I want to say how sorry I was to hear what happened to Fitz. I always liked that guy. Whatever you need, we’ll help you out,” Stone offered before taking a seat.

“Appreciate it, man,” Viking said, assessing the Reno men closely. “We’re going to need all the help we can get if we’re going to find out who’s responsible.”

“Do you have any leads?” Stone asked.

While Viking and Stone talked, my eyes never left Torch. He seemed disinterested until Stone’s last question. His eyes flicked to Viking as he waited for his answer.

“We don’t have anything solid yet, but we’re confident the Phantoms are behind it.”