Torch | Fallen Angels MC #2

Chapter 1

I'm already in love with Torch and Tori! Can't wait for you guys to meet Tori's future mom :)

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Tori was extremely excited to meet Santa.

She met him every year, yet she continued to get more and more excited.

"Daddy let's go! We're going to be late."

"We're not going to be late, Tori," I sighed and checked my phone. We still had an hour. I had work I needed to get done.

"Tori, can you sit down for a few minutes? Do you want to play on my phone? I have coloring books in here, too," I flipped through a packet without looking at Tori.

"I'll take the coloring books," she grumbled. "Do you have markers?"

"No, they're at the house," I murmured. All I had in here was pencils and pens.

"Can I go see if Blade has some?" She bounced in her chair excitedly. I had found Blade on the streets shortly after Tori was born.

He was an unruly, bitchy teenager but they became close quickly.

"Go see," I sighed. "Tell him to text me when you get to him, okay?"

"Yes Daddy! Thank you!" She gave me a quick hug before running out of the room.

"No running down the stairs!" She only giggled and kept running. I got a text a few seconds later.

"Got Tori. Heading to your house to get markers."

I finished my paperwork thirty minutes later and went downstairs to find ten bikers crowded over a laughing Tori. Blade spotted me out of his peripheral.

"Tori, dad's going to meet Santa without you," he said loudly. The men laughed as Tori gasped and pushed her way through them to get to me.

"No! Daddy, wait!" Tori gasped as she ran to me. She jumped in my arms and I caught her with an audible "oof".

"Let's go," I helped her put her jacket on and put her into her car seat. The mall was only fifteen minutes away and Tori was practically vibrating with excitement when I pulled her door open.

"Hold my hand, okay? Don't let go," I repeated the instructions I always gave her when walking into a store.

A few minutes into our walk and I was grimacing at the line to meet Santa.

Tori wants to meet him, Tori wants to meet him, I repeated in my head. I didn't want to sour her mood.

About a half hour in, she begged me to pick her up. I held her for about an hour in total before she got to meet Santa.

Her excitement won over her tiredness and she listed off a fifty-item Christmas list. Tori fell asleep as soon as we got to the car.

I winced when my phone rang loudly through the Bluetooth in the SUV I was driving. I hit answer as quick as I could.

"Torch," I answered.

"Hey, man. I'm going to need you on a run in two days, everyone else is busy," Pres' voice came through the speakers. I turned the volume down almost as low as it could go.

"What is it?"

"It's a warehouse run for the construction company. They just got asked to build a warehouse across town," Pres muttered. I could hear Maya's voice in the background.

"That Queenie with you?" I turned on my right blinker to make a right onto the road before the clubhouse.

"Yeah. Hold on," there was some cursing in the background before Maya stole the phone.

"Yes, I'll watch Tori while you're gone," she was one of the few people I trusted with my daughter. Pres was another one.

"Thanks. I'm almost to the clubhouse, I'll see you guys later," I muttered. They said their goodbyes before I hung up. I pulled through the driveway of the clubhouse, past the main building, before reaching my own house.

I slowly and carefully picked Tori out of her car seat and laid her in her bed before going back outside to shut and lock the car doors.

I finished up my last document of the day and moved to the kitchen to make dinner. I made grilled chicken, along with macaroni and cheese and green beans. I left it plated on the dining table to go wake up Tori.

"Tori," I muttered softly. She stirred in her purple bed. "Wake up, Tori. Time for dinner."

As soon as her eyes opened, I knew I was in for a crazy night. Just an hour and a half of sleep and Tori would probably be up late tonight.

"Dinner?" Tori jumped up and ran down the stairs. We watched a movie afterwards and Pres and Maya came for a visit. She was almost asleep until they came bursting through the door and she was riled up again.

"She was almost out, guys," I groaned and threw my head back on the couch. Blade entered after them, making a total of five people in my house.

"Well I missed my goddaughter," Pres picked up a squealing Tori and tossed her in the air.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered. "You guys want anything? Beer?"

"I'll get it," Blade had a bounce in his step as he drifted into the kitchen. Tori was handed off to Maya who began to bring some toys out of a chest next to the TV.

"How's it going?" Pres murmured. He was gazing lovingly at his fiancé but I knew he was waiting for a response.

"It's fine. Normal," I answered.

"That's good."

"Tori's excited about Christmas as always," I chuckled. My daughter insisted that the house be decorated to a T when it came to any holiday, especially Christmas.

"Any ideas for her birthday?"

Shit! Her birthday was next month. I always completely forget because Christmas with her keeps me so busy.

"It'll have to be at Martha's house again," I started. Pres cursed next to me. "You know we can't have Tori's friends over here."

"I know, but that means we can't come. We'll throw her another birthday party here," Pres muttered. A ball of excitement landed on my lap.

"Birthday?" Tori smiled, missing a few teeth.

"We have to get through Christmas first," I fixed her hair that had gotten messed up in excitement.

Blade came back in the room and passed out beers. I denied one when he looked my way. I only drank when Tori was at her mom's house.

"If you kick them out, I'll let you watch another movie," I whispered no-so-quietly into Tori's ear. She gasped.

She stood and pulled everyone off the couch and pushed them towards the door.

"Go! I want to watch another movie!" Everyone laughed at Tori as she tried to use her small arms to push them out.

She shut the door behind them and rushed to the case of children's DVDs next to our television. It was going to be another night watching Mulan.

I couldn't wait to see her face on Christmas.

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