Page 189 of Falling in Reverse

No.

No, we’re not.

But it feels like it.

I’ve always had a connection with this man. I’ve always loved him. I’ve always wanted to be his little girl and have nothing but pride in his eyes for me.

Guess he wouldn’t so much now if he known what I was doing.

“Just for that, Pops, I’m not playing Connect Four with you today.” He jerks his head to Torin, hinting that he’ll just have him take my spot. “No.”

“H-hur-ry up…I’m…hun?—”

“Hungry,” I scoff, shaking my head. “I just fed you.”

“Watching someone fix a car is exhausting,” Torin chimes in, propping his spine along the edge of the bench with my phone in his hand. “I’m starving too.”

“Too bad you’re only here for fifteen minutes before you have to blow.” I march to him and snatch my phone out of his hand. On the screen, he was about to play Elton John.

My dad loves Elton John.

I eye him suspiciously, not that I have my dad’s likes and dislikes on a website somewhere but, call me paranoid as fuck, I don’t like it.

“Might have some extra time,” Torin replies, his lips coiled in another cocky ass smirk.

I play the song of his choice and pivot for the car. I’m not going to argue with him in front of my father, but I sure as hell can piss him off to leave on his own.

Stepping up on the front bumper with my knee, I lean over the frame of the car to get back to my water pump, when Torin brushes his hard bicep against mine. “We need to talk.”

“We don’t talk.”

“I’d rather do it alone where I don’t scare the fuck out of your father.”

I slowly turn my head to him. “Why?”

“Come with me,” he orders, straightening his spine and disappearing from my side. I don’t listen, still trying to find the same bolt that I can’t see. “Bay.”

“Oh my fucking God, dude, wha—” In the middle of me about to rip into him, I feel the barrel of the gun pressed into my thigh. Our eyes lock, his full of frustration, but he doesn’t glower down at me like he normally does.

“Come...here.” Slowly, I do what he asks because there’s a gun in the garage where my dad currently resides and there’s no room for human error right now. I’ve seen what he did to Travis, the sheriff’s fucking son, and he’s still walking around like never did anything. Torin backs up a few steps, the weapon still pointed at me from his hip. “Closer.”

Hesitantly, I move, and when I’m within an inch of him and freeze, waiting for the rest of what he wants.

“I’m not saying this only because I’m trying to keep you away from my family. I’m also doing it for many other reasons that I won’t divulge to you. However, if you like being alive, you’ll stay away from Emilio and my brother. Ramsey seems fine right now to you, but he wears a mask of normalcy as well as I don’t hold a grudge against South Shore. You’d do well to stay the fuck out of The Landings. Whatever you think you’re gonna gain, you’re not.”

I want to tell him the reason why I’m doing all this so he leaves me the fuck alone. That my mom is an asshole and Emilio wants to tie The Landings and South Shore together while threatening my baby sister if I don’t comply, but the agreement was to keep my mouth shut.

And I won’t do anything to risk the safety of my family.

“What if I don’t?” I mutter softly, the exact opposite of what my heart is doing in my chest. “Are you going to kill me?”

“I might have to,” he deadpans.

“What if…” The words clog my throat because I know the dangers of the rest. Emilio might have pull on Torin to stay out of my way, but it doesn’t look like the dynamic of their relationship is a strong one.

“What if, what?”

“Pretty Boy...I’m not looking to take your throne, your gang, or whatever else you have. I’m not interested in you. You’re not on my radar. Emilio won’t leave me the fuck alone.”

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