Tortured Souls (Rebels of Sandland 2)

She liked me.

She said she loved me, but I knew not to get my hopes up on that front. People said things in the heat of the moment. I wanted to believe that a girl like her could love a guy like me, but judging from my past history, I knew I needed to prepare myself for a fall.

When I knocked on Zak’s door a little while later, Ryan answered and walked away without uttering a word when he saw it was me, leaving me to close the door myself.

“Nice to see you too, fucker.” I slammed it shut and Finn jumped out of his skin.

What was his deal?

“Thought you’d gone AWOL again, mate.” Ryan smirked as he sat his ass down in the seat I always claimed as mine whenever I was here. Fucker knew it’d piss me off, but he didn’t care.

I sauntered across the room to stand over him. “I think you’re in my chair.” He just folded his arms and stared back up at me, grinning like a motherfucker.

“You can have it back when I leave. I can’t stay long, anyway. Em is in court today. She’s got to give evidence at her dad’s trial.”

I would’ve argued my case, but I figured he’d probably have enough stress without me adding to it. Sitting in a courtroom watching Emily’s dad worm his way out of a long stretch in prison for fraud and manslaughter was enough to push anyone over the edge.

“How’s that all going?” Zak asked as he tapped away in the corner on his laptop and kept his eyes glued to the screen. Ignorant fucker. I sat down next to Finn and took the can of Coke out of his hands to take a swig. He didn’t complain. He never did.

“It’s not going great for him, I’m not gonna lie. Her mum’s due a wake-up call too when he eventually goes down for it. She’s convinced he’ll get off. Doesn’t matter what we tell her. The woman is a nutcase.”

Ryan knew as well as the rest of us that this trial was a fucking joke, a circus for the media. The odds were stacked against Emily’s dad. We’d made sure of that. The sooner they locked him up, the better.

“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” I laughed, handing Finn back his empty can of Coke. “So, why are we here? Did you miss my handsome mug? Is that it?”

“Make the most of it, mate. Once Murphy has you fighting for him, you’ll look more like Gollum than ever before.” Ryan thought he was fucking funny, but he needed to leave the comedy to the experts. I was about to tell him as much when Finn cut me off.

“You’re fighting for Pat Murphy? I thought you said you wouldn’t do that?”

Why did the disappointment on Finn’s face hurt more than anything else? You’d think I’d kicked his puppy by the way he was eyeballing me.

“I didn’t tell him,” Ryan added, looking anywhere but where I was sitting. “Figured it was your news to tell. Sorry.”

I rubbed my hands over my face. I knew Finn was a sensitive little fucker, but I didn’t think he’d be bothered about something like this.

“It won’t affect anything with us,” I said, turning to face him on the sofa. “Pat’s gonna schedule fights around our business. Don’t worry, mate. You’re still my number one.” I grabbed his knee and gave it a shake like he was a kid, and I was putting his mind at rest.

“And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything,” Zak piped up, and I threw him a filthy look. “Pat will do what Pat wants to do. Good luck to you, though. You’re gonna need it.”

I huffed out on a grin and shook my head. Was he for fucking real?

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I won’t need luck, though. I have skill.”

“I don’t mean luck with the fight. I’m talking about the business side of it.”

I co

uld see Ryan out of the corner of my eye watching Zak and probably second guessing that I was moments away from calling him out on his bullshit advice. So he cut in, doing what he always does best; distracting me from making a dickhead of myself.

“Have you told Harper yet?”

Zak stopped typing to look up and I felt Finn’s eyes burning holes into me. Ryan really was good at keeping things on the downlow. Looked like they didn’t know a thing about me and her.

“Nope.” I kept my poker face in check and waited for one of them to scoff at the ridiculousness of her being with someone like me.

“So, its official?” Zak asked. “You and her? You’re a thing?”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”