TORTURE ME_ The Bandits MC(32)

They walked back out towards the main road, Fiona slinging her gun over her shoulder after emptying out the bullets.

“That was…that was pretty wild,” Gage commented casually, a little worried that he might set Fiona off by asking too many questions. He knew she was disappointed that they didn’t rescue Tori. For a long moment there, it’d felt so certain, as if the killer had just barely escaped their grasp. In truth, they hadn’t accomplished anything besides scaring the shit out of a young kid for no reason. They were no closer to finding Tori’s captor. They were no closer to saving her.

Fiona didn’t answer him, so after a few long moments Gage reached up and pulled the gun out of her hands, just to get her attention. She glared at him for a second before her scowl fell, revealing how exhausted she looked underneath her bravado.

“Let me hold onto this, okay?” Gage said, taking the gun fully from her now limp grasp. “You don’t need it anymore.”

“I always need it,” Fiona murmured.

“What do you mean?” Gage asked.

“Nothing, never mind,” Fiona said, shaking her head before she began walking faster, heading back toward the city. “Don’t worry about it.”

But Gage was worried about it. Fiona seemed to slip back into darkness so quickly, so easily, just by being surrounded by it. The worst thing was that it didn’t scare Gage. Not really. The only thing that scared him was how much he loved seeing it, watching her transform into the Fiona that he knew and loved. She’s coming back to me, he thought. But at what cost?





Chapter Ten




They were back in the city before Gage spoke to her again. Fiona was glad for the silence. She needed some time to gather herself.



But eventually, Gage broke the easy, healing quiet. “Why did you…” He trailed off, apparently uncertain of what he was trying to say.



“Why did I freak the fuck out at him?” Fiona suggested.



“Well, yeah,” Gage said.



Fiona wasn’t sure whether or not she even knew the answer at first. “Nobody shoots at me,” Fiona said through gritted teeth, as if that explained everything. Not anymore, she added silently.



She was shaken up, though. She felt like all the hairs on her body were standing at attention, posed for a fight. The kid had crumbled beneath her like a cookie, falling apart under the slightest bit of pressure. I probably traumatized the hell out of him, she thought, feeling the heavy sensation of sadness descend upon her. I probably fucked him up for life. He’s going to have nightmares for years to come.



Fiona sighed deeply, wishing she could expel the negative thoughts along with the air leaving her body. Instead, she pushed the bad feelings to the back of her mind. She’d just have to deal with them later. “Onto the next suspect?” she said to Gage, applying a fake smile to her face in an effort to trick him into thinking that she was okay.



Gage stared at her for a long moment, looking like he wanted to say something else to her about the incident in the woods, but after a second, he nodded. “We’ll stop by my apartment first to drop the gun off.”



“We might need it,” Fiona argued, her fingers itching to take the gun back into her own hand. She felt safer when she was holding it, stronger. She missed that feeling.



“Maybe,” Gage said. “But it’s too big. It’ll be hard to get a suspect to talk without committing felony assault with that thing.”



Fiona suppressed the urge to grumble under her breath and just nodded, letting Gage take them back into the city and onto the subway, where they got strange looks from other riders as a result of the huge gun in their laps. Soon enough, however, they arrived at their stop and went to Gage’s apartment.



“We should try the teenage boy next,” Fiona said, thinking out loud as she stepped back into Gage’s living room. “Her ex or whatever he was. The guy who was annoying her.”



“We’ll have to call the school, get his address. Do you have his first and last name?” Gage asked as he removed his jacket and placed the gun down on the mantel above his fireplace.



Fiona shook her head. “Just his first name and his last initial. Tommy S. She referred to him that way in her text messages when she was talking to her friend Vanessa.” Fiona slipped out of her sweater, feeling too hot and sweaty to keep it on indoors.



Gage didn’t answer her right away. Instead, he just stood still in the center of the room, apparently not doing anything. What’s up with him? Fiona wondered.



In fact, Gage was looking at her, just not at her eyes. His gaze was focused on her….chest. It took Fiona an embarrassingly long time before she realized what he was looking at. Oh, fuck, he’s staring at my cleavage, she thought, immediately feeling the urge to cross her arms over her chest. But…for some reason, she didn’t. She held back, wanting to see how long he’d stare at her before he got embarrassed. It never happened, and eventually, his eyes moved upward to her face, a slight smile playing across his lips. Shit! Fiona thought. He knows that I know. He knows that I know he still wants me.