Silent Heart (The Vlasov Bratva #5)

Chapter 20 – Harley

“ P ass the potatoes,” Rosa instructed.

Kenny was about to flick a spoonful at her, when a sharp look from our grandmother stopped him. It had been a long time since so many of us gathered for a family meal that wasn’t a holiday get-together. Fifteen of my twenty-seven first cousins piled around the extended dining room table. Gran had brought home an extra ham hock and sides from the Piggly Wiggly when she found out at church that a chunk of the clan was dropping by for a visit.

They’d come to snoop on my guest.

The fluttering in my stomach made me think I wouldn’t be able to eat a bite. But when the warm rolls were passed around, I grabbed two and slapped a healthy dab of the freshly churned butter Grandma made yesterday between them. Things like bread and butter were never storebought around here. And even the most anxious stomach couldn’t resist the succulent goodness.

Still, they were about the only thing I managed to eat.

Nothing terrible had happened…yet. Unless I counted the time Dallas grabbed my hand to show Ottis there still wasn’t a ring. Thankfully Kole had been talking to my grandma in the kitchen and hadn’t seen the incident. Now Dallas had a sore jaw as thanks for his stupidity, and my knuckles would be tender for the next few days. But it was worth it to silence him.

“I hear you have a big old boat,” my grandpa tutted, coming up behind Kole and me.

“Yes, sir.”

My grandfather grunted. “Do any fishing on it?”

Grandpa set a glass of milk beside my plate, chucking my chin as he passed.

He’s in a good mood. And he was making an effort with Kole, which was huge. I thanked him and began to sip the milk. It was raw and frothy, chilled and no doubt fresh from the teat as of this morning.

“I’m more of a hunter than a fisherman,” Kole said.

That launched into a lively debate about sportsmanship. I tuned them out and focused on the dinner rolls and milk. Kole was making brownie points with everyone, even if he hadn’t driven the boat over, much to my cousins’ disappointment. His truck, however, impressed the hell out of them. Especially when they saw the mud up in the wheel wells. They didn’t expect something like that from a pretty cidiot. When Kole said his brother blew up his last truck, their eyes went wide. He left the explanation vague, but something about a prank at a storage unit that resulted in the vehicle’s destruction had them awestruck.

I liked that he could tell tall tales.

In fact, Kole seemed completely at ease with the flow of things. Maybe his rich family was just as crazy as mine. The urge to know consumed me.

Crappola, I’m in over my head. This was more than a summer fling if I felt this strongly about knowing his family. But there were so many questions!

Right as the youngest cousins began to clear the dishes, Aunt Beatrice sat back in her seat and brought down the temperature with her question. “So, Dad, I heard the developer out of Lake Forest made you an offer on this place.”

The braver souls shot my grandfather glances.

“Bea,” Gran scolded. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Why? Martin is here, so is Jacob. That’s three of your kids, and we can relay the message to the others,” Beatrice countered before taking a long pull of her New Glarus—one of the only acceptable beers allowed at the dinner table. It was my aunt’s fourth, and knowing her, she’d likely made a mixed drink with some of the cousins downstairs before dinner began.

“Dad, we know you’re having trouble coming up with the taxes,” Martin began.

“I’m not entertaining the idea of selling.” Grandpa cut his hand through the air. “Drop it.”

That was our signal to go. All thoughts of grabbing a third dinner roll vanished as I scooted from the table with a handful of the other cousins.

“I’m going to saddle my mare, if you’re still up for that trail ride?” I asked Kole quietly.

His focused gaze steadied me. “Sounds perfect.”

It took dodging questions and turning down cousins’ and their kids’ offers to come with us before we escaped to the barn. Even then, Abigail’s five youngins begged to go on a horsey ride.

“Have your dad saddle one of the ponies and put him in the corral,” I said with exasperation, shooing them out the barn door.

I already had my mare and the biggest quarter horse we had partially tacked in anticipation. I moved quickly to their stalls to finish the job so we could escape before any more little ones bothered us.

“This is my mare, Lilac, but I call her Lila. You’ll ride Governor,” I quickly made the introductions.

It was sexy the way Kole walked right up to the beast of a quarter horse and began to pet him. He was good around animals too. A family and animal man? Where did creatures like him grow?

Shouts had me hurrying. The kids would be back here any moment, and if I knew my cousin, which I did, he wasn’t going to saddle a pony for them. I tugged on the saddle cinch. But lazy brute that he was, the quarter horse only wanted more oats. He puffed himself up, resisting my efforts to secure the saddle. I had to use my knee to make the gelding suck in his stomach.

“You like kids?” Kole stroked the horse as I tightened the cinch around Governor’s belly.

“I do,” I huffed. “But there’s a lot around here, and their parents seem to think it’s okay for them to run wild because we’re on a farm. That means they get into trouble, and I’m not their babysitter just because I’m the old maid auntie.”

Kole’s voice lowered, the rich sound sliding over my skin like a caress. “You’re not an old maid.”

“I’m thirty-four and single. That equates to an old maid.” I yanked the strap and managed to buckle it before the quarter horse got any more ideas about puffing his belly out, the sneaking brat.

A sudden buzz at my back told me Kole was right behind me. His touch drew down my arm, over my elbow, and brushed on the inside of my wrist. “You’re wild and untamed, Harley. Not the same thing.”

I sighed. “I wish that was true.”

“You know what you want and you go for it with unapologetic determination.” Kole’s fingers inched back up my arm, tracing over the spaghetti straps of my top. “I admire that about you.”

His hot breath fanned over my neck. His mouth hovered over my pulse. Heat spread between my legs, and I shifted back into his body.

A yell, a scream, a child bursting into tears—the little ones shattered the moment.

Letting out a strangled groan, I gathered the reins. The sooner we left the mess that was my family behind, the sooner we could go back to more touching.

“You ever ridden a horse?” I asked, stepping aside so Kole could mount. He was tall enough and wouldn’t need a stool.

“Not recently.”

Another nonanswer. I was becoming apt at reading his tells. He fought hard not to have any, which meant I could pick them up when they were there. That evasion tactic was one of them. He’d ridden horses before. How many, how often—those were guesses. But the way he settled into the saddle, didn’t reach for the pommel, gripped the beast with his knees…this man knew how to ride.

More of that liquid heat buzzed between my legs as I drew Lilac from her stall. I nudged Governor forward so I could close the door behind my mare.

“Going riding, I see,” Ottis observed.

No shit, Sherlock . “Yep.” I eyed my cousin where he held one of the sobbing kids. “Have them move out of the way. I don’t want them spooking the horses.”

“Daddy! I want to ride,” the child wailed.

I adjusted Lilac’s straps, knowing the exact words that were next to dump from my cousin’s mouth.

“Hey, how’s about you let them sit on your lap, Harley?” Ottis gave me a sly grin. “Take them up and down the driveway before you go on your ride. Ya know? Make the kids happy.”

I swung into the saddle and something snapped. “You know what, Ottis? No. These are my horses, I take care of them. This is my one day off from the clinic, and I’m going riding with a friend.”

My cousin gaped at me. But the floodgates were open.

“I’m not here to make your kids happy. That’s your job. Be a parent for a freaking change.”

“Harley! What the heck’s gotten into you?” My cousin slid a look to Kole and back at me.

He probably assumed I was trying to impress the rich man.

I wasn’t.

I couldn’t take another screaming kid and a family member asking me when it was my turn, while they would rather drink beer and relax because they were so stressed out. Well, I was tired too.

“I work my ass off all week. I’m working again tonight, and I’m taking this afternoon for a little me time. I’m not here to entertain your kids,” I snapped, and with a sharp kick to Lilac’s flank, I bolted through the barn door.

Good horse that she was, she gave the oblivious, spoilt kids a wide berth. The clipped sound of rapid footfall sounded behind me. When we were halfway down the drive, Kole urged Governor beside me.

“Sorry, you had to see that.” I pulled up on Lilac, slowing her to a walk. “That cousin in particular just grinds my goat.”

“Does he sell cars?” Kole asked, flicking the reins easily. Expertly .

“No, why?”

Kole shrugged. “Something about him.”

I could see it. “He’s a manager at Walmart. Drives a Lexus that he can barely afford and thinks he’s better than us.”

Kole hummed, and we fell into a comfortable silence. I knew someone would talk to me later. The whole family was probably buzzing about my new friend. They likely made assumptions about how I was putting on airs, and thinking I was better than I was. The truth was, I was just at my breaking point.

No one asked me about my plans for the fall. Not once the whole dinnertime. At Easter, the news was still fresh enough that I’d been the juicy topic. But everyone disapproved of my career change, so they decided if they ignored the situation, it would go away. It was the silence before the storm. This fall, all hell would break loose.

“Are those edible?” Kole’s question broke through the turbulence in my mind.

Looking at where he pointed, I let out a long laugh. “They’re delicious.”

Stopping Lilac, I swung off her back, stooped, and plucked a sun ripened berry off the stem. I held it out to Kole. Before I dropped it in his big palm, I noticed the calluses, the bumps and ridges, and the scars. I knew how warm they felt against my skin. How their strength leached into me with those touches.

“Are they some variety of berry?” Kole examined the deep red fruit.

“They’re wild strawberries. That’s why they’re smaller and have more seeds, but I promise the flavor is a million times better.” I was already bending, searching for more. There were plants growing right off the trail. Taking a canvas tote from my saddlebag, I began to fill it.

“I’ve never seen strawberries that look like this.” Kole held out a handful. He must have dismounted as well. Governor stood obediently behind him, tail swishing against his hindquarters.

“Thanks,” I said, holding open the tote.

Kole dropped all but one. He plucked the greens free before reaching out to me. “Open.”

Excitement tingled through me, shooting straight to my core.

Heaven help me, I did. My lips parted, and Kole stepped closer. The lush juices burst over my tongue in a myriad of flavors. It was sweet and warm. The little seeds crunched between my teeth.

Kole cupped my chin, his thumb sliding across my lips. “Your family bothers you.”

I swallowed. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Am I making it worse?” He tipped his head to the side, studying me as if I was the most fascinating creature alive.

I shook my head ever so slightly, but he still dropped his touch. “They are going to think all kinds of things. What we actually do won’t matter.”

“What we do,” he repeated. “I have to tell you something.”

Oh, lanta. Here it comes. I braced myself. “What is it?”

Uncertainty shifted through his features.

“I can’t promise you a future, Harley,” Kole murmured, and my heart fell heavy at those simple words. “But I can give you some of my present.”

It might be grasping at straws, but that was exactly what I did. “So I should come over after my shift tonight?” I breathed. He drew in a hard breath, nostrils flaring. “You haven’t hurt me,” I quickly added, “and I want to be with you.”

There. I said it. I admitted he was the first guy I actually found interesting, who I wanted to spend more time with and know on a more intimate level. I might not have explained it in so many words, but it was there all the same.

His voice turned rough. “You don’t know me.”

“But I trust you,” I countered.

He was keeping things from me. I told myself I didn’t care. That it didn’t matter. Because this wasn’t permanent. I craved more of whatever spell he had over me.

“What if you wake up some morning, and I’m not here?” he asked, voice impossibly soft.

I chewed on my lip in consideration. “I’m leaving in August. What if you wake up, and I’m gone?”

The ghost of something that could have been a smile played on his lips.

“It’s the present, Kole.” Please don’t end this before it starts.

He nodded once, silently agreeing. But…to what? That was the question. It felt like we were one step forward, a dozen backward. I didn’t know if we were continuing to explore this thing between us, or if I wasn’t coming over tonight.

“More berries?” he asked, avoiding the topic.

Following his lead, I bent and continued to forage for berries. The sun made these nuggets of red spill their juices at the slightest touch. I’d been so busy working that I didn’t realize it was already strawberry season. There were so many things I was missing out on this summer.

But it would be worth it. Becoming a veterinarian was my childhood dream.

“What are you going to do with these?” Kole asked.

He’d been talking more today than in the number of days I’d known him.

“Um, probably a pie. I don’t have time to puree them for French macarons, but they make the best cookies!”

“Huh, can’t say that I’ve had either, but a strawberry pie sounds…tantalizing.”

Immediately the urge to share it with him filled me. Not wanting to spook him, I made plans to do just that.

When I had enough to bake with, I checked my watch. It was time to ride back. No sooner had I pulled myself onto Lilac’s back than she stumbled.

I sprang down, nearly spilling the contents of the bag.

“What is it?” Kole asked briskly.

I held up the horseshoe that had fallen off. “I just had these replaced too.”

“Can she walk without it?”

I nodded. “But I had better not ride her.”

Kole held out his hand. “Come up.”

The protest was on the tip of my tongue, but Kole swept down and plucked me off the ground. I was of average height and build, by no means light. But this man lifted me as though I was a feather pillow.

There was not a lot of room in front of him. Nestled against his body, and basically sitting on his lap, I felt everything. He was solid and heat radiated off him. It was hard to say what was thigh muscle and what might be something else.

“You good?” His hot breath fanned against my ear.

I shivered. “Yes.”

His heel tapped against Governor’s belly. The first steps had me shifting up against the pommel. I had to stifle the gasp that rolled up my throat. This proximity was nothing short of torment.

Try as I might to stay still, I kept sliding forward, then…backward. I was grinding against Kole’s crotch, and it should have been impossibly hot. What I felt earlier was thigh. Because after a few times rocking back and forth, I pushed back against something thick, something hard—something impossible to mistake.

“Maybe I should just walk,” I rasped.

“Is that what you want?” Kole circled his arm around my waist.

Yes! No? This hot and cold was too hard. I couldn’t do it anymore. “Kole, what are we doing here?”

“Going along for the ride, baby.” His hand dipped lower.

This time, there was no hiding the noise that bubbled out of me. Kole pressed two fingers against the seam of my Wranglers. The pressure was perfect. He continued to rub my clit with exquisite skill.

Who knew riding could be so much fun?

“When I saw you in those boots, with the spurs on this time, I had to fight not to haul you straight to your room,” Kole growled against my ear. “They’re so fucking hot, Harley.”

I whimpered.

Kole urged Governor into a trot. I should have made him stop, but with the faster gait, the pleasure increased. Kole had me. He wasn’t going to let me fall.

I relaxed, letting every nerve focus on his touch.

“Don’t stop,” I begged.

His voice was husky. “Yes, ma’am.”

The barrier of my jeans was enough to drive me mad. He was right there. So close! But not quite touching. I arched against him.

His teeth grazed down the shell of my ear. “The things you do to me, Harley.”

“What are they?” I stammered.

Kole used his palm to cup my entire pussy. The motion of the ride ground us together. Anticipation built. I strained against the confines of the saddle, the restriction of the jeans.

“Touch your breast,” Kole instructed, guiding the gelding around a tree before increasing the speed once more.

My fingers grasped the horse’s coarse mane, so that my left hand could reach up. “Like this?”

The spaghetti strap fell down, and with it, the built-in cup of the tank top. Hot sunlight instantly warmed my breast. Open and exposed weren’t frightening sensations. Not when they made Kole breathe hard like that.

“Pinch your nipple,” he ground out.

I tweaked myself. Pleasure zipped through me. It was my turn to gasp.

“There you go. See how hard and needy that beautiful pink tip is? Look how she strains for me,” he growled, applying even more pressure to my pussy. Stars burst across my field of vision. “But I can’t suck on you. There’s no relief from that needy little ache I know your breasts are feeling right now.”

I kneaded my breast, squeezing and tugging. Damn him, he was right! It wasn’t the same.

His voice was triumphant. “You need more, don’t you, baby?”

There was a slight pressure from his thighs, and then Governor bolted into a gallop. I launched forward, but Kole’s tight grip around my waist prevented me from flying head long onto the earth below.

Bolt after bolt shot through my sensitive pussy. The muscles clenched tight. I was close to release but couldn’t quite reach it with the natural rocks and pitches of the ride.

We should stop the horse. Kole should end my agony! “Please,” I whimpered, unable to form the thoughts into words.

“Almost there, baby.” He continued to touch me in a way that was nothing short of teasing.

The delicious friction was a repeated burst of ecstasy. The urgent gait made my body ignite.

And then, it slowed.

“No, no!” I screamed, trying to rock into him with the same intensity.

But Governor was walking.

In the back of my mind, I knew the gallop was a lot for the horse used to the field, especially with two riders. But it was the fact that Kole was no longer touching me. The tank top was back in place, breast tucked neatly away.

My body protested violently. “I was right there!”

A rich, dark chuckle skated down my spine. “Tonight,” Kole promised.

“That’s not fair,” I gasped. “You tease! You freaking little tease!”

His voice was like melted chocolate. “Now you know how I’ll be feeling while I wait.” Discreetly, Kole reached my hand back, letting my fingers brush over his thick cock. “I’ll be waiting for you, Harley. Hurry over.”

The timing was perfect. We were so close to the house, if he’d let me come, I would have been exploding in front of my family members. Hiding my heaving chest and heavy breathing, I didn’t meet anyone’s gaze.

We dismounted in front of the garage. No one had taken the kids on a pony ride. An audience watched as we walked the horses to the barn, but only the smaller children came inside to watch us take off the tack, rub the horses, and put them out to pasture. Lucky animals. They could cool down.

Meanwhile, my body burned from the ride back.

“And this?” Kole held the horse’s shoe.

“Some people think they’re good luck.” I watched him, admiring the hard feel of his body, and wondering how I would make it the next few hours before I could feel it pressed on me once more. Should I just take him up to the hay loft? My fingers itched to test my own luck. “I like to keep them and use them as decorations or craft projects. I’ve been doing it for years.”

“Do you want it?” Kole didn’t offer the curved piece of metal but studied it like it was a fascinating treasure.

I’d seen that look before. This time, it was my chest that pulsed, muscles clenching tight.

But I couldn’t let those reactions show. Not when things were so unsettled between us.

With a sigh, I opened the gate and ushered Kole out of the paddock.

“I have plenty, and I can always get more from the clinic.” I latched the gate and walked Kole to his truck, the bag of berries swinging beside me. “You keep the shoe. They say it’s good luck.”

“Good luck,” the beast mused. “I could use that. But….”

His fingers trailed over my jeans where they hid the thigh tattoo.

“It will be like having a piece of my country girl with me all the time,” he whispered.

That had to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me.

Before I could respond with a sexy or sweet comeback, more cousins came to interrupt.

“Hold up, he’s not about to go, is he, Har?” Carter, my least favorite cousin, called out as he jogged up the path from the lower-level patio.

Oh, not today.

Kole must have heard my low groan, because he stopped me, brows drawn together and thunder booming in those stormy blue depths.

“I was hoping this relative wasn’t coming today,” I explained under my breath.

“What do you need, baby?” he murmured.

The use of that nickname, the one he used only when we were intimate, twisted the strings in my chest.

I swallowed hard. “To get ready and leave for work.”

Kole nodded once. “I’ll go then. If I stay, I’ll just be bait to keep you from your work.”

He understood. He understood! I squeezed Kole’s hand gratefully. “I’ve had an amazing afternoon.”

The ghost of a smile played on his mouth, and I instantly wanted to reach out and taste it.

“I’ll see you tonight.” Kole opened the door to his truck. From this angle, it blocked the view from the basement walkout and patio. I couldn’t see why, but Kole suddenly stopped. Something dangerous rolled off him, and a quick glance confirmed his shoulders were coiled tight.

When I stepped around the truck, I saw why. It was my ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, it’s the asshole from the Landing,” Joe huffed, tipping his beer back. “What’s he doing here, Carter? Aren’t you on the wrong side of the tracks, bro?”

“Don’t know,” the pain in the ass cousin sniped. “Harley, want to introduce us to your…friend?”

It wasn’t like I had a choice. Although they kept their distance, more of the family was watching us as though we were the prime time special.

“Kole, this is my cousin Carter.” I swept my hand between them. “Carter, this is our neighbor Kole.”

“That’s rude, Harley, you left out Joe.” The smug smile on my cousin’s face was begging to be punched off.

“They met the other night,” I clipped out. “Kole was just going.”

“Harley has an attitude problem,” Ottis muttered, coming up behind Carter.

I fisted my hand at my side. This was a mistake. This was all a big old mistake. My family was a bunch of barnyard animals, who couldn’t be expected to behave properly around the likes of anyone outside our little circle of acquaintances.

“Kole, this is Carter’s friend Joe,” I ground out.

“Oh, come on, Harley, I think I’m your friend too. At least, that’s what you told me when it was my house you were sleeping over at.”

Every fiber of my being begged the earth to open up and swallow me. But luck wasn’t on my side. Tears prickled my eyes. I cleared my throat and redirected my attention to Kole.

“Thank you for the ride,” I said, glad that my voice didn’t shake. “I’ve got to go get ready now.”

There was violence lurking in the stormy depths of his gaze. “What are you going to do with the strawberries?”

Oh, crap, what did I do to deserve finding this guy? Kole didn’t pick a fight with me about a past mistake showing up. My one ex was really good at that. A lot of jackasses were. That kind of drama thrived around here. But Kole? He didn’t insist on staying, when he knew the best thing was for me to get ready and him to leave.

I lifted the bag. “Um….”

There was no way I would be able to save the contents of the canvas bag from being devoured by the grunting hoard of swine milling about. Even if I tucked the berries in the back of the fridge, they weren’t safe from the greedy grubs’ fingers.

“Take them, for your French toast.” I held the bag out.

Kole paused before wrapping his fingers around the bag. “Thank your grandparents again for me.”

With that, he climbed into the truck.

I gave him a wave, gratitude spilling from every pore. I couldn’t believe how incredible Kole was being. His calm stabilized me. The ability for him to walk away, when the fight clearly raged in his eyes, gave me the strength to do the same.

“Real keeper you got there,” Carter scoffed. “He’s got so many silver spoons stuck up his ass, I’m surprised he’s able to sit.”

I will not cry in front of them . “Shut the hell up, Carter.”

Joe laughed.

“And you.” I rounded on him. “I’ve never been so humiliated in my entire life.”

“I would think slumming with the rich folk would do that,” Joe sneered.

“See, and you wonder why I hate you.” I shoved past him. “You like to act like a preppy, rich douche, spend your daddy’s money, but then fold back into the country boy act. You’re trash, Joe. Plain old trash.”

I stormed into the house, their jeers following hot on my footsteps. It was petty to stoop to their level. But there was no stopping the hurt, angry words. I breathed through the battle not to cry as I pulled the spurs off my boots to take to my room for safekeeping.

“Harley,” Aunt Beatrice called out, coming from the basement and chasing me up the second flight of stairs. “I want to talk to you about something.”

Not now! I swallowed those words and croaked out the response she wanted to hear. “What’s up?”

“We need to talk about that guy you brought over,” she panted after me.

My fingers tightened around the spindle. I stomped into the upstairs laundry to grab my work clothes from the dryer.

If my lack of response seemed odd, Beatrice didn’t say. She followed me into the bedroom and sat on my bed as I began to change for the bartending shift, which should have been a pleasant enough change from waiting tables that it made me look forward to work.

“What are you thinking bringing a guy like that here?” Beatrice clucked her tongue.

As opposed to the gems she’d brought home over the years? “He’s polite and kind, Bea. Even Grandpa liked him.”

“That’s because they were both in the military,” my aunt retorted.

I stilled. Kole never told me he was in the military. Had he said something at dinner? Or was my aunt reading into the situation? Military service would explain a lot, though. The way he moved, the way he looked—and the trauma from an old injury!

Oh, holy shit, he’s a wounded veteran!

Beatrice continued to ramble, but I ignored her and finished getting ready. I kept my mind occupied by weighing the pros and cons of asking Kole.

The list boiled down to one simple fact: I wanted Kole to tell me himself. To trust me enough to open up to me.

“And if you just went for a sensible, local boy like Joeseph, you’d already be married and have kids,” Beatrice insisted.

My hands fisted on my vanity. “Don’t bring that asshole’s name up again.”

“So what, he cheated on you? That was years ago!” my aunt snorted. “Carter says Joeseph changed. He’s ready to settle down.”

“I don’t trust a damn word that comes out of Carter’s mouth, especially anything that has to do with Joe Aitkin,” I ground out.

“You need to quit being such a bitch to Carter,” Beatrice snapped.

It took everything I had to clench my jaw tight and hold back the truth. This aunt was the last person who could know that Carter installed a camera in my bathroom and sold digital images of me to his high school buddies. Thankfully, they were too blurry for anyone to make out my features.

But also, I was damn lucky I caught him trying to reposition the camera or it could have been so much worse. Who the hell did that to their cousin ? Well, the money was good, and he’d jumped on it.

It was hard enough to keep that kind of secret in a small town. But Carter knew that if he valued his testicles, he wouldn’t tell a soul. Me and a rusty hedge sheer made sure of that.

“How can you look my mom in the eye, live under her roof, and run around humping some guy on the lake?” Beatrice doubled down.

“That’s really rich, coming from you,” I seethed. Grandma didn’t have to say it; we all knew Beatrice was her greatest disappointment.

“What do you even know about this guy? Hmm?”

My fingers faltered. There was so much I didn’t know about Kole, but yet none of it mattered because in my heart I knew he was special. If he chose to open to me, I would be ready to listen.

“You didn’t know that one guy you married in Vegas,” I countered, bringing up the family drama that was never dredged up.

“Hey! I married my share of questionable guys,” she responded hotly. “But I never slummed around.”

I slapped the cap of the deodorant on the vanity. “Get out.”

My aunt ignored me. This used to be her room as she’d reminded me on many previous occasions. “That cidiot’s just another rich snob, Harley. He’ll leave once the summer is over and you don’t belong with them. They come up here, spend their money, play on the lake, and leave.”

“And I’m leaving too!” I rounded on her.

Beatrice flattened her palm against her chest. “What?”

“School starts the second week of August.” I wrenched the work tee over my head and began to tuck it into my shorts.

“You’re still planning to go? I thought Mom talked some sense into you!” she huffed.

Not that she needed to know, but my grandparents were more concerned about my safety in Chicago rather than the fact that I was going. While they protested, deep down, I knew it was in part because they would miss me.

Everyone else? They were against me. No matter how hard I tried to sail true, I was woefully short. They could pool their money to help with the taxes. But instead, they pointed fingers at me for wanting to be successful.

Steeling my spine, I stood up to my aunt. “Get out of my room.”

Beatrice didn’t budge. “You know what, maybe you deserve to be used and thrown aside.”

“Get out!” My voice cracked.

Enough. Enough! I’d had it!

“You’re being so jealous and petty not giving your family the money they need to keep this place running,” she scolded. “You have enough, don’t you? You could pay the back taxes. Make it so Mom and Dad don’t have to leave the home they worked so hard to build. But no, you’d rather run away from your family.”

Hot tears scalded my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

I did something I’d never done before. I grabbed my aunt and hauled her out. The surge of anger gave me the kind of strength to throw the soul-sucking voice of negativity out. The door slammed between us, the noise complimenting her dramatized screams of pain. Even though I purged my room of the source, the doubt still lingered. Her words clawed deeper gashes in my heart than I had yet to realize.