Chapter 11 #2
“Good call,” Will said. “What the fuck is goin’ on? Harper?”
“Doesn’t make any sense,” Leo muttered.
“It will,” Casper said ominously. “Always does.”
“Let’s figure this shit out before anythin’ else happens,” Dragon ordered.
I was pretty useless as they looked over the truck and fucked with the tailgate, seeing if they could move it. I’d taken care of shit during the crisis, but now I felt like I was flailing. I could barely follow their conversation because my mind was in the kitchen with Harper.
“Go,” Leo said eventually, waving me off. “Check on Harp.”
I nodded and left before any of them needed me for something.
The good news, if you could call it that, was they seemed to finally agree that someone was going after Harper specifically.
Two instances where she could have been seriously hurt while no one else had reported anything were pretty clear.
Inside the house, Harper had moved to the couch and was surrounded by women.
I hadn’t even noticed them in the kitchen beyond realizing there were other people in the room.
Both of her grandmas, Farrah and Brenna, were seated in chairs, Molly was sitting criss-cross on the floor beside Frankie, her Aunt Trix was sitting on the arm of her mom’s chair, and Lily was next to Harper.
They all quieted when I walked into the room.
“Hey,” Harper called, tilting her head back to look at me. “Are they all out there boohooing over the truck?”
“Pretty much,” I lied. “How’re you doing?”
She was wearing a different pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose so they wouldn’t touch the wound.
“Headache,” she said with a groan. “Pissed.”
“I bet,” I said, crouching down beside her.
“I put on pajamas so Mom could wash the blood out of my clothes.” She plucked at the baggy sweatshirt she was wearing. “But I can put some jeans on if you’re ready to go.”
“What?”
“I’m still staying at your house, right?” she asked, frowning and then wincing when it pulled at the cut. “I should wear jeans if I’m going to be on the bike—”
“You’re not ridin’ on my bike tonight,” I replied incredulously. “You’ve got a fuckin’ head wound.”
“It’s just a cut.”
“Not fuckin’ happenin’.”
“Well, my parents aren’t going to let me borrow another one of their cars,” she said in exasperation. “Probably ever.”
Lily made a choking noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“Doubt your parents are gonna want you to leave,” I said quietly, glancing at Lily.
Harper leaned forward a little bit. “I’m an adult,” she whispered like it was a secret. “They can suck it up.”
“Rude,” Lily said as the front door flew open.
I was on my feet, my hand wrapped around the grip of my pistol, when Harper’s Aunt Rose rushed inside.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, her voice just shy of yelling.
A gentle hand on my arm drew my attention, and I turned to find Trix.
“Relax,” she said calmly, watching me closely until I’d let go of the pistol and pulled my hoodie over it.
“I’m fine,” Harper said, letting Rose take off her glasses and look her over. “Some asshole rear-ended me, and I hit my face on the steering wheel.”
“Did he stop? I’ll kill him.”
“No, he kept going,” Harper replied. “And you’ll have to get in line, I think. He fucked up the back of my dad’s truck.”
“What an asshole,” Rose said, letting go of Harper’s face. She turned to Lily. “How you doing, Mama?”
“New gray hairs,” Lily said as Rose hugged her. “And a few years off my life.”
“No shit,” Rose said sympathetically. She turned to face the room. “Damn, it’s a party.”
“They were here before we’d even made it home,” Lily said, sitting back down.
“Mom said she’ll call you in the morning,” Rose said, plopping down between Harper and Lily. “I told her I’d text her as soon as I’d seen Harper with my own two eyes.”
“I’m fine,” Harper said with a groan. “This all could have been discussed in a group text.”
“So, the rumors are true,” Rose said, looking at me. “Interesting.”
“Leave Bas alone,” Harper ordered.
“Where were you?” Rose demanded.
“A few minutes behind her on my bike.”
“Not that it matters,” Harper cut in. “Since it’s not Bas’s responsibility to babysit me.”
She threw the blanket off her lap and rose from the couch. “I love all of you, and I’m so glad you came, but Bas and I are going to leave now. Discuss us at length.”
“Baby,” I called before she could flounce out of the room. “Think you’re forgettin’ somethin’.”
“Well, come on then,” she said, widening her eyes.
“You’ve got no way to get to my house,” I reminded her.
“I’ll walk,” she replied stubbornly.
“We can take you,” Frankie announced, rising from the floor. “I’ll check with Gray, but I’m sure it’s fine. Is he outside?”
“Garage,” I replied.
“See,” Harper said. “Problem solved.”
She disappeared down the hallway, and I looked back at her mom apologetically.
“Keep an eye on her,” Lily said with a strained smile.
A few minutes later, I was helping Harper into the back seat of Gray’s truck.
“Thanks for drivin’ her,” I said, looking over the seat at him. “I didn’t want her on the back of my bike tonight.”
“I would’ve been fine,” Harper griped.
“No problem,” Gray said. “I’ll follow you to your new place.”
“I know where it is,” Frankie reminded him.
“Seat belt,” I ordered Harper.
“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled.
“I’ll see ya at the apartment.”
I strode back to where I’d parked my bike. The guys were all still standing around and looked up as I approached.
“Keep your eyes open,” Dragon ordered.
“Always do,” I confirmed.
“Check in, yeah?” Leo said, running a hand over the back of his neck. “I’m trustin’ you.”
“I know,” I replied. His anxiety was written all over his face. He didn’t want Harper to go anywhere, but he was trusting that I’d look after her.
If I hadn’t been so on edge wondering what the fuck would happen next, I would’ve felt proud.
Instead, dread pooled in my gut. The area around my apartment building was well lit, and my locks weren’t shit, but I still felt twitchy about taking Harper back there.
While we were at Leo’s, we were surrounded by people.
Once we were at my place, I was responsible for keeping her safe.
I knew I could do it. I wasn’t some wet-behind-the-ears kid, and I’d been doing a lot scarier shit for the past ten years—but the stakes were different now. If I fucked up, I knew my life would be over—and that didn’t have anything to do with who Harper’s family was.
The ride back to my place was uneventful, but Gray still waited until I’d ushered Harper into the house before he pulled away.
“So,” she said as she paused next to the couch. “Tonight didn’t exactly go as planned.”
“You shoulda gone to the hospital,” I chastised. “Still no dizziness?”
“What can I say to convince you that I’m fine?” she asked, sliding her arms around my waist. “My head hurts, and I’m shaken up, but I promise I feel okay otherwise. I wanted to spend tonight with you like we planned. You had a fucked-up day and—”
“Are you shittin’ me?” I asked incredulously. “You didn’t go to the hospital because I had a bad day?”
“Well, no,” she hedged. “I didn’t go because I fucking hate hospitals, and Aunt Molly could do the same things they would’ve done. But, yeah, I wanted to stay with you tonight because you had a bad day.”
I hadn’t even thought about Bernice and the house and all the other shit since the moment I’d seen Leo’s truck sideways next to the road.
“Baby, you could’ve stayed home with your parents. I’m fine.”
“I’d like to point out that I’ve told you that I was fine like ten times and you didn’t believe it,” she said dryly. “I wanted to stay with you tonight, okay? You had a bad day, I had a bad day, it was a bad day all around.”
“You wanna go crawl into bed?” I asked, brushing her hair away from her face. There were still crunchy areas where the blood hadn’t been cleaned out.
“Can I shower first?” she asked. “I would’ve at my parents’ house, but I was worried you’d take off.”
I scoffed. “I wouldn’t have left.”
Taking her hand, I led her upstairs to the bathroom.
As soon as I’d gotten her situated with a towel and the shower was running, I left her to it and jogged back downstairs.
I checked both of the locks twice and made sure that the windows were closed and locked, dowels pressed firmly in the bases.
Then I perched glasses on the windowsills so if someone attempted to move the blinds, they’d crash to the floor.
When I was done, I headed back upstairs to find Harper sitting on the end of my bed, her hair wrapped in a towel.
“I was full of ambition,” she said tiredly. “But I honestly don’t know if I’m down for sex tonight. My head is killing me.”
Sex hadn’t even been on my radar.
“You wanna just get in bed?” I asked, sliding my fingers under the towel as I pressed my thumbs to her temples and rubbed them softly. “Sleep would probably help.”
“Not yet.” She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh. “Can we watch the last movie?”
“Sure.” Leaning down, I slid one arm under her legs and the other around her back.
It said something about how crappy she felt when Harper didn’t make a joke or sarcastic remark as I carried her back downstairs. She just relaxed into me, her arms wrapped around my neck.
We curled up on the couch with her head on my chest, and not even fifteen minutes into the movie, she was fast asleep. Gently pulling her glasses off, I let myself relax. I’d been wound so tight since the moment I’d woken up that morning that every muscle in my body was sore.