Passing the Torch (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 1)

There really wasn’t much to tell. “Just a few things that happened and then the name just stuck.”

“Details,” Reva drawled.

“You’re pretty demanding when you’re drunk.”

She grabbed my nipple through my shirt and twisted.

“God damn, woman,” I laughed. I knocked her hand away, and she smiled evilly up at me. “Keep it up and you’ll never see my butt naked.”

“You wouldn’t,” she gasped. “You can’t take that away from me.”

“We won’t get into you wanting to bite my ass either.”

“It’s not really bite,” she insisted. “More like a nibble.”

“So you want to nibble on my ass?” I couldn’t even get the words out without cracking up.

She buried her face in her hand. “Oh, Lord. Never mind.”

I settled back into the bed and sighed. “They call me Hero because for a while I was trying to be everyone's hero.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”

I shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly doing it for the right reasons, though. I was young and thought if I helped everyone it would make me look like a hero. Though looking back on it, it doesn’t really make any sense.”

“Who called you it first?” she asked.

“My dad. He could see what I was doing. He called me it so I could see I wasn’t a hero.”

“Huh?”

Maybe this wasn’t a story to tell when Reva might not remember it in the morning. “I was doing everything for the wrong reasons, Reva. I would help to get recognition. To get that pat on my back. I wanted to look like a hero to everyone.” I sighed and thought back to the day when I was helping Dad fix his bike and instead of actually helping, I had just fucked things up even more because I thought I knew better than he did. “He told me I wasn’t a hero. At least, not to the people around me. I needed to stop trying to save everyone to get attention. If I kept seeking out the attention, I was going to get the wrong type of attention.”

“So your dad told you to stop helping people?” she scoffed. “That doesn’t seem right.”

I chuckled. “No. He told me to stop helping people for the wrong reasons. Help because I wanted to help, not to get a pat on the back.”

She moved her head side to side. “I guess that makes sense. But then why did he start calling you Hero if he didn’t want you to be a hero?”

“Because that was my dad’s ass backward way to continue to remind me to knock it off. And,” I laughed, “it was better than what they were calling me.”

“What were they calling you?” she asked.

“That’s a story for another time,” I laughed.

Reva groaned. “You can’t say that and then not tell me.”

I ran my fingers through her hair. “If I tell you everything now, what will we have to talk about later?”

“I’m pretty sure we have a ton to talk about.”

“Nah, I think I’m going to keep that to myself for a while. Make sure you stick around.”

She sighed. “Fine. Whatever. I was gonna stick around anyway.” She laid her hand on my chest. “I think I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Sounds like a solid plan, Sunshine. You gotta work in the morning?” I asked.

She groaned. “Yes. Grooming while hungover. I can’t wait.”