Page 25 of Torrent’s Treasure

Torrent stood up, poking his finger in Cauldron’s chest. “Not a bitch.”

Cauldron nodded, holding up his hands. “Yep, got it. You married her. She going to be your Ol’ Lady some day?” he probed.

Torrent had been wondering the same thing because the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted her to stay, but they’d only kissed. She’d been through hell. Would she ever be able to have sex? Could she even feel that way about someone again?

“Heads up. They’re here,” Cauldron alerted him, crushing his cigarette under his boot and heading down the dock. Torrent followed and quickly got involved in all the things it took to unload their cargo.

He and Cauldron moved the coffins holding the guns into their truck, working quickly to keep the time they were out in the open with the guns and coffins to a minimum. Once they were done, he handed the payment to their contact and got in the passenger seat for Cauldron to drive them back to their underground garage. Cauldron turned down the street that was on the back side of the mortuary. He hit the remote to open the garage door that looked like it was for a family’s RV, which was stored there when they weren’t taking deliveries. Cauldron drove in, closed the door, then clicked the second garage door opener that controlled the door to their underground area.

Once he’d driven through, Torrent and Cauldron unloaded and headed to their bikes, which were parked in front of the mortuary.

Torrent’s phone rang right before he started his bike.

“What’s up, Mav?” Torrent grunted into the receiver.

“You need to get back here now,” Mav urged, his voice completely stripped of its usual humor.

“Why?” he pressed, his blood running cold.

“Cecilia,” Mav dropped the name like a stone.

Torrent didn’t wait to hear more. He started his bike and tore out of the parking lot, winding his way the short distance to the front gate of the compound. The gate was open. He parked his bike, took off at a run, and busted through the front doors into the club. As soon as he entered, he could hear the screams.

“Will you shut that caterwauling up?!” Jasmine shouted as he ran by.

He took the stairs two at a time and skidded to a stop at all the people standing in his open doorway, blocking his way to her.

“Move!” he yelled. They made a path for him, and he ran through. Calliope was standing at the doorway of his bedroom, Sally’s arm wrapped tightly around her. The wailing coming from inside the bedroom broke his heart.

He hurried in, dropping to his knees beside the bed. Cecilia was sitting in the middle of the bed, holding her hands out to fend off an attack, screaming. Her eyes were unfocused. She was trapped inside her own head, and he desperately needed to get her out.

“Cecilia, it’s me, Torrent. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you anymore,” he coaxed her fiercely. He thought he saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but she kept on screaming.

“Cecilia, can you hear me?” he pleaded.

Always before, he’d figured out she was having a nightmare before she started screaming. He’d start soothing her as soon as she began whimpering. He hadn’t dealt with a full-blown waking terror like this before.

“Cecilia, please, look at me,” he begged.

He wasn’t making headway. Desperate, he wondered if music would make a difference. He started humming the Simon and Garfunkel song Cecilia loved—the one he’d overheard her listening to just yesterday.

“Hmmm-mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. Hmm, mmm, mmm,” he hummed.

Calliope’s trembling voice joined in, humming along.

He slowly inched his hand across the bed until his finger was touching her knee. He continued humming, adding a gentle tap to the beat on her knee. Moments later, Sally started humming along with them too. Torrent had no idea if this strange remedy would actually work. Cecilia’s raw, agonizing screams layered over the three of them humming made for a surreal, heartbreaking scene, but Torrent refused to restrain her by touching her anywhere else and risk terrifying her further.

Bravo appeared in the door, holding up a syringe. Torrent shook his head no. He was exhausting all possibilities before taking that route. Cecilia had been through a trauma, and the last thing he wanted to do was drug her, taking her choice away from her.

Her screaming didn’t gradually quiet. One second she was screaming and the next she wasn’t. He continued humming and tapping her knee until she turned her head and looked at him. His sigh of relief was all mental because he continued to hum until Cecilia grabbed his hand with hers.

“You back with me?” he whispered. At her nod, he motioned for Calliope to come in. She crawled up on the bed, wrapping her arms around Cecilia. He leaned close, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

“What do you need?” he asked carefully. She needed to make the decision of what would help her. It was the least he could do after he’d left her and caused this.

“Just you, sitting beside me on the bed, holding us,” she murmured.

“I’ll get you some water,” Sally offered.