Page 21 of Colt

11

Ember

Iwas enjoying the quiet morning, sipping my cup of coffee, and looking out my front window. The cool mid-November breeze coming through the screen was a welcome change from the warm weather we had last week. Looking at my watch, I realized Fitz would be here in about thirty minutes to take me to work. The two of us had fallen into a comfortable routine over the last few weeks. He was now the one taking me to and from work, except for the rare times he was unavailable. We’d even started having dinner together every Thursday when I worked late. Fitz, along with Kate and Evelyn, were among a select few I would consider real friends here.

Things were starting to look up, and I was even beginning to think about making the move to Las Vegas permanent. Luckily, I didn’t need to broach the subject with my brother for a few more months. Of course, I needed to deal with the Torch situation and make sure Phoebe was safe before any decision could be made. There was some comfort in knowing both my mom and sister were being well cared for and they were loving their stay in NYC. I missed them, but I was grateful they were out of Torch’s reach.

Not everything was rainbows and unicorns, though. Torch started calling me a couple of weeks ago. And his verbal abuse increased with each conversation. A week had passed since we last spoke, and he’d ended that conversation by calling me a worthless slut, and if I didn’t start giving him useful information, I would regret it.

I knew Torch was unstable, and I felt like I was running out of time. It was clear I could no longer handle the situation on my own, and I needed to talk to Viking about what Torch wanted me to do, but I was terrified he wouldn’t believe me. Claiming a patched member was betraying the club was a serious accusation. Viking was helping me out because he’d respected my dad, trusted James, and felt sorry for me, but I had no idea how much respect and trust actually extended to me personally if I were to test him. I couldn’t help but wonder if the bond between brothers would have Viking and the others here believing any story Torch fed them on principle alone. Torch wasn’t stupid, and I was positive he had some sort of back-up plan in place. Maybe I could talk to Fitz at dinner this week and go from there.

As if he could sense I was thinking about him, my phone rang, and Torch’s name lit up the screen. With a deep sigh, I answered the phone, knowing things would be much worse if I ignored him.

“Hi, there,” I answered, pretending I was happy to hear from him.

“Hey, baby. I’ve missed you.”

That was typical Torch. He could act like everything was fine, even if our last interaction resulted in him yelling at me. You could get whiplash trying to keep up with his psychotic mood swings.

“I’ve missed you, too.” The lie was easy enough to say, but it made my skin crawl. Too bad my safety depended on me making him believe I meant every word.

“You didn’t call me last week. You’re not getting used to me not being around, are you?”

“Of course not. I’ve been busy with work. That’s all.”

“No guys have been hanging around, have they?”

“You know I’m not interested in anyone else.” It made me sick to my stomach every time I pretended to want only him.

Some nights I would lie in bed and wonder what my life would be like if I’d never shown interest in Torch. Would I be with someone I truly wanted? Or would he have found a way to blackmail me anyway?

“Good, let’s keep it that way.”

“Who are you talking to?” I heard his wife’s voice in the background.

“It’s club business. I’ll be out in a minute.”

I rolled my eyes at his statement. “I have to get ready for work, and it sounds like your wife needs you,” I said, trying to rush him off our phone call.

“Not so quick. Do you have anything useful for me?”

“There isn’t anything to share. The guys give me rides to and from work and check in on me occasionally. You know it’s policy to not talk about club business to anyone, so they don’t talk to me about that stuff. And I haven’t spent any real time at the clubhouse, so I haven’t heard anything indirectly. I’m sorry I don’t have more information for you.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard. A little birdie told me you’ve been getting real close to one of the guys.”

That caught me off guard. As far as I knew, he didn’t have any contacts out here in Vegas except for the Sinners, and none of the guys in the club seemed to be on friendly terms with him.

“I allowed you to move there because you promised to help me. Looks like I’m going to have to come up with another plan.”

“No, wait!” I blurted, wanting to explain that any guy I was seen with was on protection detail but knew how pointless it was. “I’ll try to get something for you.”

“It’s too late for that.” With that last warning, he hung up on me.

My hands were shaking so bad I had to set my phone down before I dropped it. What the hell did he mean it was too late? I let out a deep breath, knowing I couldn’t wait any longer before going to Viking, but I needed to keep Torch from following through on his plan to hurt James or Phoebe if he found out I said something. I tried to think of the best way to go about approaching Viking when my doorbell rang, startling me.

I looked out the peephole and saw Fitz standing there. He was wearing a black t-shirt under his leather cut that molded perfectly to his firm biceps. But his good looks weren’t what caught my attention. It was the scowl on his face and the way he was standing, almost like he was bracing for a fight.

I cracked open the door, trying to gauge why his mood was off before opening it all the way. Usually, I was happy to spend time with Fitz, but right now, I could feel the anger radiating off of him which had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.