Read Torn - Part Two (The Torn Series) for Free Online Page A

wasn’t an overthinker, I was a doer, and this was better than doing nothing. I sent a quick, misspelled “watsup” and stuffed the phone back into my pocket with violent force.
     
    I ripped it back out when it vibrated with her reply. “Working. Coconut Cup tonight. That’s near your place, right?” I smirked - she knew damn well it was near my place. I didn’t even bother replying, I simply turned heel and strode in its direction, gym bag and all. It was a twenty minute walk - I could have taken the train, exhausted as I was, but the weather was finally cooling down, making the outdoors more appealing than the stuffy subway platform for once.
     
    My stupid heart was racing when I walked through Coconut Cup’s front door, and not only because I’d worn myself out. No, I wanted to see her - was excited to see her. It was unsettling.
     
    “Hey!” Riley called, waving from behind the bar, my view of her face slightly obscured by the hanging palm leaves and a string of tiny lights. She looked as good as always, though distracted by her work as she stuffed fruits into a blender for some misguided customer. I’d tried one of the frozen concoctions before - they needed about a cup less sugar.
     
    The entire bar smelled too sweet overall, and looked like a box of Hawaiian decorations vomited right in the middle of the narrow space. I don’t know how she stood it. I would have lost my mind and ended up wearing floral shirts and flip flops for the rest of my life.
     
    “Hey,” I said, sliding onto a stool at the end where I could watch her. She poured me a beer from the tap without asking, just remembering which one I liked best and sliding it down towards me before finishing up with her other customers - a couple who looked like they’d just gotten out of work.
     
    She finally came over to me after they’d paid. “You look tired,” she said with a shy smile.
     
    “Hey now,” I said, “How would you feel if I said that to you?”
     
    Her smile broadened. “Sorry. How was practice?”
     
    “Long. Should have taken the day off.” I raised my glass to her. “You wore me out.” Her cheeks turned red and I couldn’t help laughing. “Still shy? Really?”
     
    “Don’t make fun,” she said, drifting away but hiding a smile. I let her go - I didn’t want to interrupt her while she was working. But I felt more content sitting there than I had in a long while. Warning bells were going off in my head - getting too attached again, go home, don’t do this to yourself - but I ignored them. I wasn’t going home until I was sure she was coming with me. Self-preservation be damned.
     
    When she returned, she asked, “So Thursday’s okay? We’re playing at Guitar Bar again.” She said it with a grimace - that was the bar where she’d been groped a couple months back.
     
    I gripped my glass tight. I wanted to kiss that unhappy look off her face, until her lips turned back up into a smile. I wanted to beat that guy down in the street all over again. “I’ll be there. What time?”
     
    “We’re on at quarter to nine but we’ll probably get there around eight.”
     
    “Well then I’ll scope the place out even earlier,” I said with a wink. That earned her smile back. “How late are you working?”
     
    “Midnight.” Jesus, I’ll never make it. It wasn’t even eight yet and I was ready to droop out of the stool and onto the floor. I had an idea, though. I pulled my keys from my pocket and slid them across the bar to her.
     
    “I’ve got to pass out for a bit,” I said, “But why don’t you come wake me up when you’re through?”
     
    She bit her lip. “Are you sure?”
     
    “Of course I’m sure,” I said, brow furrowed.
     
    “I just didn’t want to bother you,” she said in a rush, “I do want to come over but I want to give you space, too. I mean, I don’t want to be a pest, that’s all.”
     
    That explained why she’d taken off at first at the party, why she was