Page 17 of Ruthless Salvation

I stared at the glossy black door, then down at my broken phone, before launching the damn thing at the wall across from me. The device crashed into a large beveled mirror, which shattered into thousands of pieces, scattering loudly on the ground below.

Fuck. Me.

Present

I was soanxious about seeing Torin the next day that I almost didn’t notice the mirror missing from the entry. It had hung next to the bathroom hallway near the club entrance in such a way that it reflected light deep into the club when anyone opened the door before the sun had set. Today, the only thing shining in the light was a thin layer of dust shaped in a perfect rectangle where the mirror used to hang.

“What happened there?” I asked Jolly over the music that was already playing.

He sat at the bar, scrolling on his phone, never looking away as he answered. “Cleaning crew.”

“Good grief, what’d they do—clean the thing with a brick?” Our mirrors survived nightly encounters with rowdy drunks. I wasn’t sure how the cleaning crew had managed to break the thing.

Jolly only grunted.

“You know what, Jolly? I’ve worked here six months now, and I’m beginning to think your nickname wasn’t an ode to your sparkling disposition.”

That earned me a side-eye glare.

I beamed at him. “Go ahead, tell me how you got the name. I want to hear the story.”

He took a weary breath and leaned back in his chair. “Since I know you won’t leave me alone until I tell you, I got the nickname when I was workin’ at a juvenile detention center.”

“You worked with troubled youth?”

“Not sure I’d put it that way. I was a juvenile corrections officer. That’s where I first met Torin.”

Did I hear him correctly? He met Torin at a juvie center? I turned my head so my right ear was closer to him. “Did you say you met Torin in a detention center?”

He looked at me like I was dense. “That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”

“The hearing in my left ear isn’t great. I thought maybe I’d misheard you. I didn’t realize you two had known each other that long.” I had so many questions, but I didn’t want to pry.

Jolly chose to ignore my casual probe into Torin’s and his past. He leaned back, resting his arm on the back of his chair to get a better view of me. “You’re a bit young for hearing loss.”

“Bad ear infection as a kid.” It was my turn to be evasive. “You gonna tell me any more about that detention center?”

“Nothin’ much to tell.” He shot me a challenging look and turned back to his phone.

Message received. If I wanted to know more about Torin in juvie, I would have to ask the man himself. That wasn’t happening anytime soon, especially after our exchange.

The only man who gets a taste of you inside my club is me. Sounless you’re lookin’ to ride my cock, this discussion’s over.

I’d played those words over in my mind hundreds of times, searing them into my brain. They were crass and harsh and shockingly unexpected, but they’d also made me so wet that I’d had to clean myself up in the bathroom minutes later. The entire situation baffled me.

“Always a pleasure chatting with ya, Jolly.” I patted him on the back and continued to the girls’ locker room. Micky was already seated at a vanity in her bra and underwear, but she was staring at her phone instead of getting ready.

“Hey, Mick. How’s it going?”

“Oh my God. Tell me you have tomorrow off.”

“I have tomorrow off.”

She lifted wide eyes to face me. “Wait, are you just saying that because I told you to say it?”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “No, Micky. I really have tomorrow off.”

“Hell to the yeah. You’re going out with me.”

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