Chapter 11
Sebastian
“Hey, it’s Bas,” I said when Leo answered. “Harper’s okay—”
“What happened?” he asked, cutting me off.
“We’re about a mile and a half from your place. She was in a car accident drivin’ home.” Reaching into my saddlebag, I pulled out the pistol I always carried, checked the magazine, and started back toward Harper.
“Fuck,” he barked. “Get dressed, Dandelion. Harper was in an accident.”
“What?” Lily’s voice came from further away.
“Bas says she’s okay,” he replied. Then his voice was clearer. “We’ll be there in five.”
He hung up without a word, and I found Gray in my contacts.
“What’s up, Bas?” he answered.
“She’s fine, just banged up, but your sister was in an accident about a mile and a half from your parents’ house. We were headed back from my place.”
“Shit,” Gray replied.
“She says someone rear-ended her,” I told him, scanning the trees and road. “Your parents are on their way, but—”
“I’ll be there soon,” he replied. “You armed?”
“Of course.”
“Good.” He hung up just as I reached Harper.
“How you doin’, baby?” I asked, crouching down in front of her. “Dizzy?”
“No, but this hurts like hell.”
“I bet,” I murmured, reaching forward to push her arm away from her face. “Your eyes okay? Where are your glasses?”
“I think they came off in the crash,” she said, squinting. “They’re probably broken.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Looks like you smacked your face where they rest on your nose.”
“Dammit,” she said with a sigh. “Are my parents coming?”
“Should be here any minute,” I assured her.
“I can’t believe they hit me,” she said in disbelief. “I wasn’t going that slow. You know I wasn’t going that slow because you didn’t even catch up to me.”
“I know,” I replied, because it seemed important to her. “Come on, let’s get a little closer to the road.”
I helped her to her feet and walked her slowly up the small hill.
“Hey Bas,” she said, leaning against my side.
“What’s up, sweetheart?” I asked, scanning the road as we got closer.
“Where did the pistol come from?” she asked distractedly. “And why is it in your hand?”
“Just bein’ careful,” I answered, stiffening as headlights cut through the night. I didn’t relax again until the car pulled over and familiar shapes shot out.
“Harper?” Lily called.
I tucked my pistol into the back waistband of my jeans.
“Hey, Ma,” Harper called back, beginning to cry again. “I wrecked Dad’s truck.”
“Who gives a shit,” Lily replied as she reached us.
“Knew I shouldn’t have let you borrow it,” Leo joked at the same time.
“I’m sorry,” Harper hiccupped.
“You okay, Harpy?” he asked gently, tipping her head back as Lily held her steady, hands wrapped around Harper’s biceps. “What happened?”
I kept scanning the night around us.
“I was driving home,” Harper rasped. “Bas was following me on his bike, but I left a little before he did. Some asshole was tailgating me for a while with his brights on, so I slowed down, thinking he’d go around me, you know? But he didn’t. He just rammed into the back of the truck!”
“You see what they were drivin’?” Leo asked as Gray’s pickup came to a stop behind my bike.
“No,” Harper replied. “But it was tall. I remember that because the lights were coming in the back window.”
“So, not a car,” Leo said.
“Not a car,” Harper agreed. She sniffled and then groaned in pain. “It had to be a truck or an SUV. They completely smashed your tailgate and bumper.”
“Don’t worry about the truck,” Leo ordered.
“You okay, sis?” Gray asked as he reached us, Frankie with him.
Harper turned her head toward him and smiled. There was blood in her teeth. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Ouch,” Gray said, leaning forward a little to get a better look at her forehead.
“What the hell happened?” Frankie asked me.
“Someone rear-ended her,” I replied.
“Seriously?” She looked over at the truck.
“They hit her hard,” I said grimly.
“So, not an accident,” she said under her breath. “What the fuck?”
“We need to get you inside and get a look at that cut,” Lily said firmly. “Key still in the truck?”
“I didn’t touch them,” Harper said.
“Here,” I handed Leo the truck keys. I’d turned the truck off and pocketed them while Harper was checking out the damage.
“I’ll drive Harp home,” Lily said. “You bring the truck?”
Leo nodded. “Gray, follow Mom back to the house.”
“Yep,” Gray replied.
I watched as Lily and Gray walked Harper to Lily’s car and didn’t look away until she was safely inside.
“Gray’ll make sure they get back to the house safe,” Leo said as we walked toward the truck. “You didn’t see anything?”
“No,” I replied, ashamed. “When I came around the corner, I saw her here. She’d already come to a stop.”
“Motherfucker,” Leo said as he saw the damage. “She got hit hard.”
“Looks like it,” I agreed.
He looked around the truck and then glanced across the road.
“If she had pulled the wheel in the other direction, she woulda been fucked.”
My stomach lurched with realization.
There was a twenty-foot drop on the opposite side of the road, but she probably wouldn’t have hit bottom because of all the trees she would’ve hit on the way down.
“Been on this road a million times. Probably turned this way on instinct,” Leo said, opening the truck door. There was blood all over the steering wheel and seat. Harper’s glasses were on the floorboard near the passenger door, completely mangled. “Goddammit”
“I’ll wait until you’re back on the road,” I said, guilt like a heavy blanket over my shoulders. “Then follow you back.”
He must’ve heard something in my voice, because he took his eyes off the mess and looked at me. “You were right behind her,” he said. “She drove to your house this mornin’ just fine. Couldn’t have known someone would hit her tonight.”
I just nodded. I didn’t agree. I knew in my gut that someone was fucking with her, even if the club hadn’t made up their minds yet. I should’ve been more careful.
Leo pulled the truck out of the mud with no problem, and I followed him back to his house without incident. When we pulled in, there were a few more cars parked outside than I expected.
Leo pulled the truck into the garage, and I parked behind him.
With the lights from the garage illuminating the damage, it looked so much worse than I’d realized.
The tailgate was toast, and by the way it was bent, it was going to be a bitch to remove.
I wanted to get a closer look, but I needed to see Harper first.
I’d been working on autopilot since I found her—making sure she was okay, calling her parents, watching for threats—but now that I knew she was safe, I was beginning to feel tentacles of panic wrapping around my chest.
The first thing I heard when I followed Leo in the front door was Harper’s irritated voice.
“Just stitch it,” she said. “It’ll be covered by my glasses anyway.”
“Harp, I don’t want to stitch your face,” her Aunt Molly argued as we entered the kitchen.
Harper was sitting in a kitchen chair, her head tilted up so Molly could assess the wound.
“I swear,” Harper said, a little desperately, holding a pad of gauze against her face. “I’m not worried about a scar. My glasses will cover it, or I’ll wear makeup. Just close it—you could even use glue! Do you have any of that skin glue in your bag?”
Molly looked at Lily for saving, but Lily just shrugged her shoulders.
“She’s never been vain. If you can glue it, do it.”
“I’m not a plastic surgeon,” Molly mumbled as she rummaged through her big black medical bag. “I should not be doing this.”
“Should be fine, right?” Harper asked when our eyes met across the kitchen. “The cut isn’t even that big.”
“You sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” I asked quietly as I walked closer.
“Hell no,” she replied. “I just want to glue this shut so I stop bleeding.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked, reaching out to run my thumb down her cheek. Her face was covered in dried blood. “Dizzy? Nauseous?”
“Hey, who’s the nurse here, me or you?” Molly joked.
“My head fucking hurts,” Harper replied. “Not dizzy. Not nauseous.”
“Does she have a concussion?” I asked Molly.
“I love how everyone forgets I’m not a doctor,” Molly replied, rolling her eyes as she urged me out of the way. “This is going to sting, Harp.”
“Just do it,” Harper ordered lightly. Her hand fisted in the fabric of my sweatshirt, making sure I didn’t go anywhere.
Beyond a sharp inhale, Harper was silent as Molly glued the cut closed. It was only about a centimeter long, but all around it had already started to turn dark with bruising. When Molly was done, she turned to Lily. “You have a washcloth? We should clean all this blood off her face.”
“Yes, we should,” Harper said, releasing her hold on me. “But take a picture first. I’ll set it as my screensaver on my laptop.”
“Hey, Bas,” Gray called from the back door. He jerked his head, indicating I should follow him.
“I’ll be right back,” I assured Harper.
“Don’t leave,” she ordered softly.
Instead of answering, I pulled my bike key out of my pocket and put it in her hand.
Outside, I followed the sound of voices to the garage, where Leo, Gray, Casper, Dragon, Harper’s uncle, Hulk, and Molly’s husband, Will, were standing at the rear of Leo’s truck.
“To do this kind of damage, that truck had to be big,” Hulk said. He was bent down looking at the huge dent. “And there’s a winch on the front.” He pointed to a deep gouge. “And it’s lifted.”
“Some redneck hit my kid,” Leo said flatly. “Should be easy enough to find.”
“Problem is, there probably isn’t enough damage to the other truck to justify gettin’ it fixed.”
“Maybe they’ll come into the garage for an estimate anyway,” Casper said dryly. When Hulk looked at him like he was an idiot, Casper shrugged. “I’ve seen dumber shit.”
“You hear anything?” Dragon asked Gray.
“Nothin’ so far.” Gray shook his head once. “I’ll ask around again now that I’ve got a little more information to work with. Someone knows this guy. I’ll check the recordings again—see if a big truck with a winch is in any of them.”