Torch | Fallen Angels MC #2

Chapter 4

You guys finally met Jasmine! I hope you guys love her as much as I do.

Enjoy!

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"Daddy, are the fireworks going to start soon?"

Tori rushed up to me, Maya and Pres strolling hand-in-hand behind her. I put her sweater on top of my backpack resting on the ground and picked her up.

Pres raised his eyebrows, seemingly impressed, when he saw the woman standing next to me.

"Hi, I'm Pres. This is Maya," Pres introduced a few moments later. Jasmine introduced herself and settled her eyes on the child in my arms.

"This is my daughter, Tori. Do you want to say hi?" I asked towards Tori. She waved shyly and tucked her head into my shoulder.

"Look, Tori! She's wearing Minnie Mouse ears!" Maya pointed. Tori yanked her head away from me and gasped at Jasmine.

"You're wearing Minnie ears!" Tori said in awe. "I want Minnie ears!" Jasmine laughed softly at Tori.

"Here," Jasmine took off the headband, "you can keep them."

"It's okay, we can get Tori her own tomorrow—" I tried to protest.

"I insist," Jasmine assured.

"Thank you!" Tori put the headband on her head excitedly.

"Maybe I'll see you around," Jasmine said to me quietly. Tori was talking Pres' ear off about her new Minnie Mouse ears on the other side of me.

"I'd like that," I whispered. I didn't want to look away from her dark brown eyes, but she turned and jogged back to a group of women who began to get excited quickly.

The fireworks started a few minutes later and Tori was completely captivated.

We made it back to the hotel and Tori refused to take off the Minnie Ears. Luckily, she was completely wiped out and I was able to remove them once she was tucked into bed. I joined Maya and Pres in their room for a beer.

"So," Pres trailed off, "who was she?"

"Who?" Maya asked, turning towards him.

"You didn't see?"

"No," Maya answered.

"Torch was talking to a woman," Pres smiled. I ignored Maya's gasp and stare. "Who was she?"

"Her name is Jasmine. She's actually from Salem, Oregon," I answered and took a sip of my beer.

"Small world," Maya muttered.

"She said that, too," I chuckled.

"It's hard next to when you wait in line for a ride and hear that song a million times," Pres scoffed. I would definitely be using his hatred for that song against him in the future.

"You interested?" Pres murmured.

"Don't know," I answered honestly. I had maybe been with one or two women since Martha, and after being with her, it was hard to learn to trust again.

"Not every woman is Martha," he read my thoughts. I scowled at him—I knew that, I just had to wait for my heart to catch up.

"I'm going to head to bed. Tori is going to be up early tomorrow," I muttered. I tossed the bottle into the trashcan and changed only my pants before dropping into bed.

I had just met her. Why did I have to answer that question? I didn't even know her yet. I was overthinking this. Maybe a good night's sleep would help.

It didn't.

I woke up in the morning with turbulent thoughts and remained distracted until I went to bed that night. My mind was filled with dreams of Martha screaming so hard at me that spit was flying out of her mouth and I couldn't get a crying Tori away from her.

"Small world again, huh?" Jasmine appeared a few people away from us in line for a ride. I blinked and snapped out of my memories.

I smiled at her and squeezed Tori's hand.

"How's it going?" I asked her quietly.

"Good! It's our last day here," she murmured. "Trying to make the most of it."

"We've still got two more days left," I said. "Tori, do you want to say hi?"

"Hi Minnie!" Tori giggled excitedly. I raised my eyebrows at her and she glared at me. "What? That's her nickname!"

"It's okay, in fact, I think I'll keep that nickname!" Jasmine smiled at her. She began a riveting conversation about princesses and princes with Tori and kept her captivated until we arrived at the ride.

"Are you scared, Tori?" Jasmine asked. The ride was full of lines of three, so Jasmine apologized to a friend and asked if we could sit together. I sat in the middle.

"Nope!" Tori shouted at her. I heard Jasmine's laughter. Ten seconds into the ride both Jasmine and Tori were each clutching one of my hands and screaming their heads off.

"Listen, before I go," Jasmine started as we got off the ride. Tori ran off to join Pres and Maya near the fence. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot," I muttered.

"When you get back, I'd love it if we could go out...maybe get something to eat," Jasmine looked to the ground.

This was it: the moment of truth. My turbulent thoughts, bad dreams, and memories told me to say no. I glanced at Pres holding Tori, and Maya, and turned back to Jasmine.

"Sounds great. Here, put your number in my phone," I handed her my phone. I ignored Maya's squeals and said a distant goodbye to Jasmine before grabbing my daughter's hand.

"What?" I asked, pretending not to know what they were whispering about.

"Nothing," Maya insisted. "Let's enjoy our last few days!"

And that was the end of talk about Jasmine until we got on the plane to head back. Tori was more than upset and wailed the entire flight home.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to people around me. Some gave me sympathetic eyes while others glared and scoffed at me.

Both Pres and Maya offered to help but Tori would just get more upset if someone else was holding her. It was a long flight home, but she luckily fell asleep for the last half hour. I rested my head back on the headrest and clenched my eyes shut.

"What are you going to do about Jasmine?" Pres whispered.

"I can't think about it right now," I whispered. I got Tori off of the flight as quick as possible and put her, still sleeping, into her car seat in the rental car.

Pres drove us back quietly as both Maya and Tori napped on the way home.

"I'm going to give her to Blade when we get back, if you need me...don't," I muttered. Pres laughed quietly and finally pulled into the driveway.

"Hey, man! How was your trip? I wanted—" I interrupted Blade by slowly and carefully handing Tori to him.

"Watch her for me, hm? I really need a nap," I muttered to him. He nodded and I managed to make it to my bed before completely passing out.

I dreamt of Jasmine.

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Hope you liked it!