TORTURE ME_ The Bandits MC(55)

Fiona shifted in her seat to face him. “If you must know, he’s…good to me.”



The words stung, but Gage nodded, pretending like they hadn’t hurt him at all. “How so?”



Fiona sighed and pushed some random strands of hair out of her face. “I don’t know. Like, if I start being stupid or something, he yells at me to stop it, and I snap out of it.”



“What do you mean, being stupid?” Gage asked, his heart picking up the pace in his chest. He was afraid of the answer, but at the same time, he had to know. For some reason, he burned with curiosity about Fiona’s new relationship, even if the line of question would inevitably hurt him.



“Like, if I start panicking about something or freaking out about nothing,” Fiona said with a shrug. “You know, like I always do.”



Gage’s heart was now pounding in his ears, the blood rushing painfully to the blood vessels nearest the surface of his skin. “So, let me get this straight. You get upset sometimes and he yells at you to knock it off? And you think that’s the right thing to do?”



“You’re making it sound bad. It’s not…he’s nice, really, I’m just explaining it wrong,” Fiona said, her tone sounding more and more frustrated with each word.



“Okay,” Gage said. “I mean, he really doesn’t sound nice, just judging from what you’ve said, but I’ll take your word for it.”



“How would you know? Seriously, how would you have any idea what he’s like? He’s…he’s too good for me, really, far too good for me,” Fiona muttered.



“It doesn’t sound like it,” Gage said sadly.



“Let’s just not talk about it, okay?” Fiona snapped at him, turning to stare out of the window rather than look at him. Gage felt a fire bubble up in his belly, a desire to say a thousand more things to her before shutting up, but he fought the urge to speak, instead nodding to himself and setting into his seat. It was going to be a long night, staring at nothing.



But then, out of nowhere, something caught his attention, some movement that he could barely perceive out of the corner of his eye. Gage turned in his seat to find the source of the motion.



A small, thin figure stumbled down the street. At first glance, Gage thought it was a homeless person, probably coming into this neighborhood to beg the rich residents for money or food or a place to stay. But something was off about this figure. She was dressed in a short white nightgown, but it was stained with blood and dirt, like she’d just been in a fight. “Hey, Fiona, look at this, look at this girl,” he said, pointing at the bloodied young woman, who started moving faster but more unsteadily, looking like she was about to keel over at any moment.



Fiona sighed deeply, apparently resentful at Gage for saying anything to her after insulting her relationship, but she turned in her seat to see what he was talking about. A second later, her jaw dropped open, and she smacked Gage’s shoulder hard with her fist before taking the fabric of his shirt in her hand and shaking him back and forth.



“Gage!” she yelled, right in his ear. “It’s her! It’s Tori!”





Chapter Fifteen




Fiona lunged out of the car, leaving Gage behind as she ran across the road. But then she realized, I’m going to scare her if I just run up on her like this. I don’t know what she’s been through. I have to be careful. So she slowed down, walking at a normal pace, deciding to let Tori approach her instead.



But instead of walking towards Fiona, Tori suddenly turned, stumbling up the front walk towards her house. Of course, Fiona thought. She’s going home. Where else would she go?



Fiona slowly followed her, not wanting to alarm the clearly traumatized girl, whose stuttering steps finally got her to the front door. Fiona watched as the girl weakly knocked before propping her head against the door, as if she no longer had enough energy to hold herself up. Maybe she didn’t. Judging from the bloody footsteps that she left on the front pathway and sidewalk, she must have walked a long way.



Gage appeared behind Fiona, putting a hand on the lower half of her back. Fiona was tempted to push him away, still feeling the aftereffects of their little argument, but now wasn’t the time to feel angry. Now was the time to take care of the bloodied, bruised young woman before them.



“Tori?” Fiona called out, keeping her voice steady and calm so as to avoid alarming Tori as much as possible. “Tori, honey? Can you talk to us?”



Tori lifted her head, but she didn’t turn around, instead lifting her fists to pound again against the front door of her house, whining a little under her breath like a beaten dog.