TORCH

by Ashers, LeAnn

  Table of Contents

  Torch

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Coming Soon

  Sneak peek of Techy!

  Chapter One

  Acknowledgments

  TORCH

  Devil’s Souls MC Book One

  By: LeAnn Asher’s

  Copyright © 2016 LeAnn Asher’s

  All rights reserved

  Published by LeAnn Asher’s

  Designed by: Cover me darling: www.facebook.com/covermedarling

  Model on the Image: Susan Marie Brown

  Formatter: CP Smith

  Editor: Diamond In The Rough Editing: www.facebook.com/diamondintheroughediting or www.diamondintheroughediting.com

  Proofreader: Kimberly Foster Holm

  Torch is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  DEDICATION

  To the girls who thought they would be forever alone because of their disabilities. This is for you. <3

  CHAPTER ONE

  Kayla

  I place my hand on the wall, trying to feel my way, as I walk outside in front of the clothing store, where the cab dropped me off. The taxi driver left before I could grab my cane out of his car. A great start to an already fucked-up day. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m blind. I was born that way; well, at least I think so. You would think I would be used to walking around without being able to see, but I am still terrified to this day.

  Where the fuck is the entrance to the store? I swear I should have reached it before now. I asked the taxi driver to drop me off right in front of the door. Of course, he is probably a dick and dropped me off somewhere else.

  My hands are starting to get scratched up as I drag them along the brick wall. When I hear a couple of men laugh, I stop and gulp. I close my eyes and will myself to relax, but my heart already feels like it’s pounding out of my chest.

  Letting out a deep breath, I raise my face and continue forward. I walk along a few more feet until the men’s laughter abruptly stops. I stop and wait. I can feel their gazes on me; it feels like my skin is crawling. I shudder and tighten my grip on the wall.

  “Need some help?” a man asks. I can hear laughter mixed in with his voice. My heart drops to my feet.

  “No, I’m okay,” I tell him and try to keep my voice steady. I start taking tiny steps back in the direction I came from, my hands dragging along the wall leaving little cuts on my skin.

  “Let me help!” the man insists, and then I feel his hand on my forearm. He pulls me harder than necessary to my right, which I know leads toward the parking lot. Vehicles have been passing me on that side.

  Rooting my feet into the concrete, I try to stop him from pulling me. “Let me go.” I pull my arms, but his grip tightens on me. I know if I manage to get kidnapped, no one will report me missing.

  “Stop!” I say again, but this time I yell, hoping to get my point across. I feel a panic attack looming inside of me. He pulls me harder until I stumble. I raise my fist and swing out in front of me in the hopes of hitting something. More hands grab at my hips and waist. Then I’m airborne as I’m lifted off the ground completely.

  I scream at the top of my lungs and buck my body, trying to get them to drop me. I wish I could see, see anything, so I could fight back harder. I hear a man yelling and I scream louder, hoping it helps.

  “HELP!”

  A hand slaps my mouth before clamping over it. I gag at the smell of the sweat.

  All of a sudden, the man holding my shoulders jerks to the side and my head and upper body move toward the ground. Then arms wrap around my waist and I’m pulled away from the men trying to kidnap me.

  I’m set on the ground and hear a fist connecting with flesh in front of me. Fist after fist connects with flesh, causing my breathing to get out of control. I’m desperate for air. My hands claw at my neck.

  Silence.

  That’s all I hear in front of me when the sound of fists hitting flesh stops. I hold my breath waiting for what happens next.

  When hands touch my face, I flinch away instinctually. “You okay?” my rescuer asks. His voice glides over me like butter and warms me down to my toes. His smell is woodsy and intoxicating.

  I’m unable to help myself, I lean forward until my head hits his chest. He wraps his arms around me and tucks me tighter against him. His arms are huge and so warm. Most people would think I am crazy for taking comfort in a stranger like this. But do I give a flying fuck? No.

  I hear a thunder of motorcycles and hold tighter to the man in front of me. “You okay, darlin’?” he asks again.

  “Yeah, I’m just a bit rattled.” I choke out a laugh but can hear the sob in it.

  The ground rumbles as the motorcycles pull up beside us. He stands and takes me with him. My head is still on his chest, but my legs are dangling off the ground. “You can put me down.” I smile up toward his face; or I hope it’s his face.

  He sets me on the ground. I rub my hand over my face in disbelief. “I better call the police.” I reach into my back pocket, but a hand stops me from taking my phone out.

  “No need,” he says gruffly when I hear footsteps walking toward us. “What happened, Torch?”

  Torch? What kind of name is that? “I was coming out of the store across the road when I saw these three fuckers carrying this woman against her will. They were about to put her in their vehicle in broad fuckin’ daylight.” Torch grounds out each word, his body vibrating with his anger. “Look at his face, Pres.”

  “The fuck?” the dude I am assuming is Pres yells. I flinch at his tone. Torch tightens his hand on my waist. He must have felt me flinch.

  “Come on, love, let’s get you out of here,” Torch tells me and nudges me to turn around. I stumble as I trip over a speed bump and flush in embarrassment. “I can’t see,” I whisper to him.

  “Fuck… I’m sorry, darlin’.” The next thing I know, I’m lifted off the ground and am carried bridal style, which pisses me off. I may be blind, but I can walk.

  “I can walk!”

  I feel his body rumble as he chuckles. “I know, but I want to carry you.”

  Shrugging my shoulders, I decide to enjoy the ride. Who wouldn’t? Plus, he rescued me. For a brief moment, I actually thought kidnapped and killed would be how my life would end.

  He stops a moment later, and I feel the arm from behind my back shift as the truck presses against me, then hear the click of the door opening a second later. He lifts me higher until I feel the leather of the seat against my butt. I move my arm from behind his neck and into my lap.

  The truck door slams. It’s hot in
here from the air being turned off for a while. But the truck still has that new car smell. I can tell it’s a truck by the amount of room and how high he had to lift me into the seat.

  The driver’s side door opens, and I smell and hear Torch get inside. The door slams shut, then the truck roars to life with the air conditioner on full blast. I feel us moving.

  “Where are we going?” I ask, because I realize I didn’t give him my address.

  “To my house,” he says nonchalantly. Umm, what? “Umm, what?” I voice my thoughts.

  “To my house,” he repeats as I feel the truck speed up. My heart starts to beat out of my chest. “Put your seatbelt on.”

  “I want to go home,” I whisper and feel the tears threatening to break through. I feel so out of control and don’t know where I’m going. I have a feeling he won’t hurt me, but…

  His phone rings, and he answers it. I chew on my bottom lip nervously. “Hey, baby girl.”

  Pause.

  Then, “All right, be careful. Take your taser and pepper spray. Love you. Bye.” He hangs up and tells me, “That was my daughter, Paisley.”

  Grabbing my hair tie off my wrist, I tie my hair up on top of my head in a messy bun. “How old is your daughter?”

  “She just turned nineteen and is away at college. I had her when I was eighteen years old and raised her myself.” I can hear how proud he is of her.

  “Wow.” He raised her by himself when he was eighteen years old? What guy can say that for himself? Not many, that’s for sure.

  “You got any kids?” Torch asks me.

  I shake my head no. “No.”

  “You have a man?” he asks next. I hear the steering wheel crunch as if he is fisting it very hard.

  “No, I’m single,” I say hesitantly, wondering why he is acting angry all of a sudden.

  “Good,” I hear him mutter under his breath. Umm, what? Yeah, I’m not touching that.

  Then I remember I need to send some files to my formatter tonight. “I need to go home. I have to work.”

  “What do you do?’

  I know what he is going to say when I tell him I’m an author, so I’ll answer that for him. “I’m a romance author. I have a special computer and headset. I talk into the headset and it does what I want, including typing and so on.”

  “We can swing by your house and get your laptop.”

  “Okay,” I agree, but I’m not going to his house. I want to send the doc and sleep the rest of the day away to forget about this horrible day.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kayla

  “Torch!” I scream and pound his back with the sides of my fists as he carries me out of my apartment. Once he realized I was planning on staying, he lifted me over his shoulder and carried me right back out of the apartment.

  “Let me down. This is kidnapping!” I smack his back and squirm, trying to get down.

  Whack!

  I stop squirming. I can’t believe he just did that. He just smacked my butt, and hard at that. “I can’t believe you just did that,” I say in disbelief.

  He chuckles and playfully smacks my butt again. “Believe it, baby.”

  He deposits me back in the truck, sets my laptop in my lap, and slams the door shut. Of course, I open my door, but before I do, I wait a second or two for him to get to the driver’s side.

  I place my laptop under my arm and hop out. I land on my feet, but my ankles yell at me in pain from the long drop. Still, I run forward, hoping my apartment is in that direction. I barely make it two feet when I’m picked up again.

  “Oh my God! I’m going to murder you!” I hiss at him and whack him in the head with my laptop. He laughs at me then sets me in the truck again, but this time he grabs hold of my hand and has me scoot over so I can’t make a break for it. Damn you, Torch. I am going to catch him asleep and make him pay.

  Torch starts his truck and then we are off to God knows where. I cross my arms over my chest and pout. Torch laughs at me, and a finger touches my bottom lip where it sticks out. I gasp and pull away, not having expected him to do that. I uncross my arms. His hand grabs mine and lifts it off my lap, then his lips touch the back of my hand; they are full and warm. I shudder at the touch.

  I usually get to know someone by touching them. Their face, arms, hands. When I touch them, I can feel their body movements. Of course, I can hear things, too. Like someone entering a room, something being moved, or when someone is moving on the couch getting comfortable. I always count my steps from one end of the room to the other and make sure everything is in the same place; and if things are accidentally moved and are in the wrong spot, I fall, and it’s not gracefully at all.

  Sighing, I give in to him, knowing that if I fight any more, it will be futile. “Why won’t you let me go home?”

  He places our joined hands into his lap. I try to hide my reaction to that. “It’s not safe.”

  My heart stops, “What do you mean?” My voice trembles slightly. Those men aren’t going to come back, are they? They can’t know where I live, I think to myself in panic.

  Torch shifts in his seat, “Those men are part of a gang, a gang that’s a part of a trafficking ring. They have been out of the city for almost three years and still are. They could just be passing through. Still, to be safe, you need to stay with me. I will protect you.”

  Sydney told me all about her story about gang members and her being kidnapped. Could it be connected? She told me they had gang symbols on their faces.

  “Do they have gang symbols on their faces?” I ask Torch, hoping I am wrong.

  I feel his body stiffen and fear the worst. “Yeah. How did you know that?” he asks. I can feel him looking at me again, which makes me more nervous.

  “My friend, Sydney, was kidnapped by a gang and the members had gang symbols on their faces.”

  “Kane’s woman?”

  “Yep,” I mutter and rest my head on the back of the seat. Which is the middle of the seat. I still haven’t scooted over. The toll of the day is finally catching up with me.

  “Relax, darlin’,” Torch whispers and kisses the top of my head, surprising me all over again. I don’t get this guy at all. I just met him, but my stomach flutters with butterflies. I haven’t felt that since I was a teenager, which was when my crush kissed me for the first time.

  We sit in silence until we reach his house. When the truck stops, I hear what sounds like a gate opening before he starts driving again. The gate bangs shut a few seconds later. “We’re here,” he tells me. I sit up pulling my laptop into my lap. I feel Torch get out of the vehicle beside me and turn in his direction. His hand takes mine to help me toward the door.

  I run my fingers along the back of the seat as I push myself closer to Torch. He grabs my hips, then lifts me out of the truck. I stumble a bit as I step on loose gravel, but my hand is fastened tightly in Torch’s as he slams the truck door closed.

  I need a service dog. It would make my life a lot easier, but I could never afford one. I feel like I should be scared right now, because I don’t know this person. But I think if he was going to hurt me, he would have done so before now, and he sure wouldn’t have rescued me from those guys.

  For the first time in my life, I am deciding to trust a stranger, and blindly at that. I am taking a leap of faith, and that’s something I never ever do. I fear the unknown.

  “Steps in front of you,” Torch warns me.

  We walk up the front steps and then stop. I hear keys jingling as he unlocks the door then the door creaks as it opens. Torch leads me inside the house. The cold of the house hits me in the face and raises goose bumps on my arms.

  “Let’s order pizza and relax, what do you say?” Torch asks me as I sit down on the couch once I feel it touch the back of my legs.

  Smiling, I say, “Sure.”

  He makes the call before he plops down onto the couch directly beside me.

  Torch

  Kayla fell asleep after we ate the pizza and she listened to the TV. She’
s lying on her side with her head on my leg, her curly hair fanned behind her. She’s the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her eyes are the darkest green I have ever encountered. I could stare at them all day.

  I gently lift her head from my lap and transfer it onto a pillow. Bending down, I lift her up in my arms, hugging her to my chest. She moans and moves deeper into my body, startling me. Unable to resist, I bend my head down and sniff her hair, breathing in her scent. Heaven. That’s what she smells like.

  She threw me a fucking curveball when she said she was blind, which made my protective instincts kick into overdrive. Watching her almost get kidnapped will forever be branded in my brain, as will feeling the fear pouring off of her.

  Walking to my bedroom, I lay her in the middle of the bed then grab the waistband of her leggings and start to pull them down her legs. Her hands smack me, and her eyes fly open.

  She grabs at her chest and stares into nothing. I can tell I scared her. Fuck. “Shhh, baby, I was undressing you for bed. You fell asleep.” I place my hand on her arm so she knows where I am. She relaxes and settles into the bed.

  “You have something I can change into?” her meek voice asks as she runs her hands up and down her legs nervously.

  I get off the bed and walk over to the dresser, where I grab one of my shirts for her to sleep in. “Raise your arms over your head. I will help you.”

  “I can do it.” Her voice trembles. Not wanting her to be even more scared, I give in.

  “Here.” I set the shirt in her lap and watch as she feels inside of it and tries to find the tag in the back before she lifts her shirt over her head, leaving her in a bra that barely keeps her tits at bay. My already semi-hard dick is now hard enough to pound nails.

  Now isn’t the time for that shit considering the day she fucking had, but my dick has a mind of its own.

  She slips my tee over her head and then reaches down to her leggings and pulls them down, dropping them onto the floor.

  Does she know I am still here? No way in hell am I going to tell her. I am not a gentleman. Smiling to myself, I watch as she reaches under her shirt and then pulls her bra off. Damn. My eyes zero in on her freed breasts, her nipples peeking through the fabric.