Chapter 36 – Harley
T he blankets were warm and snuggly. Reality flickered, but sleep tugged hard, trying to pull me back under its control.
“Harley.”
I sat bolt upright, my heart jumped against my ribs, and my loud inhale filled the room.
“Sorry, I didn’t know how else to wake you.” Luka chuckled.
Hand flattened against my chest, I gasped desperately for air. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Ssshhh,” Luka hissed. “I don’t want to wake the kid up. The walls aren’t as thick as you’d think in these buildings.”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I let out a strangled growl. “How in the hell are you here?”
Each student had a key card, but after curfew, the doors were locked and only the attendant could open them. Every wing on every floor had a similar keycard access, and our rooms had a real, metal key. Granted there would be duplicates somewhere, but how Luka just let himself into our room was beyond me.
“Is that really the question you want to be asking?” Through the dark, I could hear Luka rummaging around through my drawers. “Or wouldn’t you rather know why I am here?”
“I’m giving you ten seconds to explain before I call the cops,” I snapped.
Luka wandered back, dropping a sweater, leggings, and woolly socks on my bed. “Kolya is having an episode.”
“Oh,” I breathed. I pushed my fingers through my hair, combing it off my face. I did not want to give names to the swirling emotions in my chest. “I suppose that doesn’t warrant calling the authorities, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“I need you,” Luka said simply.
“I don’t see what I can do—” I began.
“My brother needs you,” Luka added. “He’s bad, Harley.”
I grabbed for the sweater, a huff of protest leaving my lungs. It might be a weakness, but there was no way in hell I was staying here now that I knew. He must have had some episodes while we’d been apart, but this…. Knowing he was having one, and that he was nearby enough for Luka to ask this of me, it was different.
“Damn you, Luka,” I hissed.
That only made him laugh. “I already am, sweetheart.”
In five minutes, I followed Luka’s lithe figure as he ambled down the back stairs. I still couldn’t figure out how he’d gotten access to the dorm, but wondering about that wasn’t a big enough distraction. I was too focused on my gnawing insides.
I was voluntarily going to see Kolya again.
My heart shivered, barely strong enough to pump the blood through the chambers to be re-oxygenized.
Only when I was in Luka’s vintage car—a ridiculously nice piece of American muscle from the decades before—did I speak again.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do with Kolya.”
Luka pursed his lips. The car roared to life, the vibration zinging through my bones. “My brother doesn’t talk much, doesn’t tell us things.”
I snorted. That was the understatement of the year.
“But from your reaction upstairs, I reasoned that you’ve seen him during one of his blackout spells.” Luka inflected the statement in such a way as could be a question.
I harrumphed. “He blacked out and ended up on my side of the lake. Walked the whole way in that state to…find me.”
Luka snorted incredulously. “The bastard probably swam there, sweetheart.”
I glared at him, an objection on the tip of my tongue.
Luka met my look, brow arched in a silent dare to contradict him.
“Watch the road,” I barked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Luka chuckled. “All I’m saying is that my big brother has special operations training. Think of it as the Navy Seals meets Green Beret meets double-O seven Hollywood. You name it, Kolya can do it.”
Suddenly cold, I wrapped my arms around myself. I didn’t know the man I’d spent the summer with. I knew all along not to fall for him. But here I was, on the floor.
“That’s how he got hurt. That’s why he doesn’t sleep,” I murmured. “He isn’t a normal veteran.”
“The shit he’s seen has no doubt scarred his psyche, but yeah, his body is exhausted,” Luka agreed, tone suddenly sober. It was strange to hear the lack of laughter in his voice.
We drove deeper into the heart of the city. Turning off the highway, the darkness of the industrial park swallowed the streets. Only the light from the car carved a path through the empty wasteland.
Unease slithered down my spine. There was no one here. If something happened…I was alone.
With a stranger.
I tried hard not to shift in my seat or show any amount of discomfort. But the truth was, I was uncomfortable. How much did I really know about this family? They were strange. On the surface they seemed normal, but the moment one began to poke behind the veil, things didn’t add up.
Normal people did not drive through the industrial parks after midnight!
There was nothing in the cab that I could use as a weapon. My can of mace was in my bookbag, not my purse. I wouldn’t let Luka hurt me. I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
But dammit, why did I agree to come with him?
“Here.” Luka shifted, and then reached over to drop something in my lap.
I blinked at the metal object.
“Safety’s on, but it’s loaded,” he smirked. “That should make you feel better.”
A lump, thick enough to block my airway, formed in my throat. I coughed, slowly taking the pistol. “What the hell?” I croaked.
This man just handed me a gun!
“You got nervous the moment we pulled off the highway.” Luka shrugged and sped around a corner, a little too sharply. “I know this isn’t the nicest neighborhood, but you don’t have anything to fear. I wanted to make sure you know that.”
“I assumed with how well-to-do Cami Joe seems that you all lived in Hyde Park.” I wrapped my fingers around the gun but didn’t point it or put my finger on the trigger. Strange how a deadly hunk of metal could feel so reassuring. But it did.
“Not Hyde Park,” Luka snorted. “Too many nosey neighbors.”
We slowed before a high-fenced wall. A metal gate swung inward, and the muscle car rolled smoothly through the opening.
I gaped at the monstrosity of a structure before me. It was as if a castle and a factory had a baby. Luka was enjoying my surprise and perplexity far too much for my liking. He kept chuckling under his breath.
The urge to hit him was strong.
He drove the car right to the front door and cut the engine. “Normally, I park around back, but since I’ll probably be the one taking you back for classes later this morning, I’ll keep the car ready.”
“Okay,” I breathed.
“Don’t worry, Harley, you’re not our prisoner.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a joke, or a statement of fact.
The cold wind howled through the cobblestone front drive. The house was decorated for Halloween, but I doubted any trick-or-treaters would come this way. I stopped before the front door, not stepping foot over the threshold.
“What is this place, Luka?” I demanded.
He didn’t miss a beat. “My family’s home.”
The interior was cozy and beckoning. Completely at odds with the exterior, the rich wood, polished and shiny, and the warm paint colors spoke of superior interior decorating taste.
Once I stepped inside, I could never go back.
But if that was true, it was already too late for me. Kolya was there. The change in my life happened the day he walked into the Landing Bar he was hurting. As if I pounded a Red Bull and grew wings, I sailed past the idiotic cousin and flew to the second level.
Luka bounded after me, Dimitri hot on his heels.
“Harley, wait,” Luka panted.
At the top, I turned and turned again. “Which way?” I demanded through clenched teeth.
“My brother has a room in the attic. We have a protocol.” Luka sprang after me, but I was already running.
What I said downstairs was a lie. Kolya had hurt me. But even how things ended, I couldn’t stand there, this close, and not go to him. They were treating him like a wild animal, and he didn’t deserve it.
On the third floor, I heard the shouts.
The closer I got, the louder they became.
My heart was heavy. Strong emotions blinded me. I pushed forward, drawn to the wild beast at the end of the hall.
The door was thick metal with a bar lock. The keyhole was on the outside.
I rounded on the men breathing hard behind me. At any other time, it would have put a smile on my face to know I was almost faster than them. But right now, I was furious.
“Open this door.” I slapped my palm against the metal.
The noise behind the barrier stopped.
The cousins exchanged glances.
“If he rushes out…” Dimitri warned.
“Pavel left a tranquilizer in the kitchen,” Luka countered and took a quick step in the opposite direction.
“Absolutely not!” I glared at him, wishing I still had the handgun, which I’d unfortunately forgotten on the passenger seat of his car.
Luka shrugged. “You sure about this?”
No.
“Open it. Now.”