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

playing it cool. I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. Just come over tonight. Take a cab, okay?”
     
    “Okay.”
     
    “And chill out.” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I want you to come over.”
     
    This time she laughed. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”
     
    I grinned the whole damn way home. Turn it down, dude, the logical part of my brain warned, but that part of my brain wasn’t in charge anymore. The dick part was. And some other part - the part that liked her, the part that I wasn’t ready to acknowledge again just yet. My guts and my heart, idiots that they were. They were what had gotten me into trouble in the first place. Stop it. Chill out. I hated all the stupid conflict within myself, but I couldn’t seem to push her away. Just tonight. Then I have to focus on the fight again. Quit all this messing around.

CHAPTER 6
     
    I slept like a dead thing. Surly was home and let me into the apartment, and I warned him that Riley might be showing up before I woke. He said he didn’t think he’d be awake much longer either but that he’d warn Lockett as well if he saw him.
     
    Then I passed out. It was dark and my room was warm and despite the anticipation churning in my gut, it was lights out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
     
    I was still in a dreamlike state when she woke me, knocking and softly calling my name.
     
    “Leave the light off,” I mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes. She shut the door behind her and kicked off her shoes at the edge of the bed. I started to push the blankets away but she stopped me.
     
    “Shh,” she said, “I’m getting in.” Stripping down to just her panties, she crawled beneath the blankets and pulled them over us both before settling with her forehead against my chest. I ran my hand along her arm, her skin still cool from the fall night’s air. She slung a leg over mine and said, “Back to sleep, Mal.” She kissed me softly then winked, her face barely visible in the moonlight. “I’ll wake you up early. Promise.” I closed my eyes as her fingers stroked through my hair.
     
    This was bad. This was letting her get too close again. But it felt too damn good to deny. Surrounded by her warmth, her whispered promises and her soft and soothing touch, I sank right back into sleep as I pulled her close and breathed her in.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    I woke first - a fact I was grateful for. I snuck out to the bathroom in a pair of boxers only to find Surly scowling at infomercials on the television - just standing there, frowning and staring off into space. “Something wrong, man?” I asked.
     
    He jerked, startled by my presence. “Oh. No.” He shook his head. “Riley here?”
     
    “Yeah,” I said, pointing a thumb towards my room. “Sleeping.” What the hell is bugging him so much? I didn’t want to pry but I did want to know. “Is it Dee?”
     
    His shoulders slumped - that was it. He’d probably heard from Dee, or from someone who knew her. The poor guy was still all wrapped up in the blond bombshell I’d only met a couple times myself, and that had been months ago. “What happened?” I asked.
     
    “Nothing at all,” he said. “No one’s heard from her. No one’s seen her.”
     
    That wasn’t a change, that had been the case for a long time now. “So…”
     
    “She’s gone quiet on social media and everything,” he said, running a hand through his dark curly hair. “Her roommate just texted me wondering if I’d contacted her recently, she can’t find her, hasn’t gotten any rent money from her. I think she’s living on the streets, man.”
     
    “Fuck.” That was some heavy info for seven in the morning. “What do you want to do? Anything I can help with?”
     
    He sighed. “We’re overdue for a rest day.”
     
    “True. Want to take the day off?”
     
    “Yeah. Just… I don’t know.” I’d never seen the big guy look so helpless. But what could he do? I don’t think he