Nitro's Torment (Sydney Storm MC 2)

Me: No, those days are long gone.

Duvall: Fuck.

Me: Twelve at the usual place.

Duvall: Screw you, Tatum.

Me: See you then.

Duvall, of all people, should have known the devil always came collecting once you’d made a deal.

* * *

The busy lunch crowd hum filled my ears as I took a seat in the café Duvall and I used to meet at for lunch almost every day for two years straight.

How times change.

His eyes met mine, concerned, before he took another look at my bruises. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Let’s just say I had a difference of opinion with someone. I look like I lost, but I actually won in the end, so can we not talk about this anymore.”

The concern lingered in his expression, but he frowned. Duvall knew that when I didn’t want to have a conversation it was fruitless to pursue it. “Our friendship is slowly disintegrating, Tatum. I try like hell to be there for you, but you freeze me out and only call when you want something. I’m almost done.”

I ran my gaze over him. Times might have changed, but Duvall hadn’t. He still wore his blond hair cut close to his head, and he still wore the same dark suit he’d always worn. And he still refused to acknowledge or care that nearly every set of eyes in the café was on us, judging us, just like they always were whenever we met.

“I’m a bitch, but I’m a bitch you can’t hate, Duvall. Too much has happened between us for that. And as much as you might believe our friendship is dying, it’s simply not true.” I leaned forward. “Even after all this time, you haven’t told me you want to meet somewhere else, away from prying eyes. Why is that?”

“Because I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of the fact I am still your friend. But I will tell you that just because I don’t care about the opinions of others, I do care that you’re using me.”

“I’m not using you. I’m calling in what I’m owed.”

His shoulders tensed and he scowled. Raking his fingers through his hair, he muttered, “Jesus Christ, is that fucking deal ever going to stop haunting me?”

“The old me would have said yes, but the new me can’t. You know that.”

“I liked the old you much better.”

“Yeah, well you should forget her because she’s never coming back. Now we both have to deal with Billy and whatever he throws our way.”

“You have a choice when it comes to Billy, but I don’t seem to have that luxury.”

I stared at him. “You think I had a choice when he was the only one offering me a job in this fucking city?”

“You always had a choice, Tatum, you just made the wrong one. And you still are. You’re smarter than this life you’ve chosen.”

A shiver of annoyance ran through me. He had no idea why I’d made the choices I did. “You know what, Duvall? Billy might be a criminal and involved in some dirty shit, but for the first time in my life, I feel accepted, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for when I worked on the other side of the law.”

He raised his brows. “Involved in some dirty shit? That’s a fucking understatement. The man runs one of the dirtiest operations in this state. Hell, he is the definition of dirty. You’ve changed completely since you left the law—tattoos, gambling, drinking… if that’s what feeling accepted does for you, I’d hate to see what not feeling a

ccepted would look like.”

I shifted forward in my seat. “I haven’t changed. I simply stopped trying so hard to be something I wasn’t.”

“No, Tatum, you let yourself be swallowed by the filth and the grime. You took so many wrong turns that you just don’t know the right way anymore. Saying yes to the devil too many times will do that to a person.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I also believed the devil had a way of showing a person who they really were underneath all the layers of pretence society encouraged. “I just let my demons out to play, Duvall.”

His eyes turned cold before he averted his gaze, looking at something over my shoulder. He was silent for a moment except for a few angry breaths. Then he turned his attention back to me and leaned his arms on the table. “Whatever it is you need from me today, you’ve got, but if you still want a friendship with me, this is the last time. And for the record, I would have loved you, demons and all. You didn’t have to hide them or pretend they didn’t exist.”