Chapter Nineteen
Harley
“ H arley?” Someone touches my shoulder. Blinking slowly, I glance up to find Cade sitting on the coffee table in front of me. Glancing around, I find myself laying on my dad’s couch, covered with a blanket while Bear lays across my legs. “Sugar told us you were over here. I’ve been letting you sleep, but it’s almost noon, and Bear needs to eat and go outside.”
“You can take him,” I grumble, feeling annoyed he woke me up just to take the dog.
Cade chuckles. “No, baby girl, I can’t. He won’t leave you. I tried, and he growled at me which he has only done once before when he was in the woods with you.”
Huffing, I start to sit up. I glance down at the big doe eyes staring up at me, and all my annoyance fades away. “Okay, Bear, I’ll be okay. Let me up now.” The giant dog climbs off me surprisingly gracefully and then stares down Cade with a look of, well? Let’s go.
Cade shakes his head and goes to let Bear outside before coming back in and helping me off the couch. “How are you feeling?” he asks gently.
Furrowing my brows, I tell him, “Okay, I guess. I think I needed all this sleep. I’m hungry, though.” Licking my lips, I glance up at him. “And–” Biting my lip, I hesitate.
He cups my cheek and rests his forehead against mine. “And what, baby girl?”
“Will you–will you kiss me?”
He smiles softly and then yanks me against him before pressing his lips against mine. It’s hesitant, like he is concerned, but when I clutch his sides and a small whimper escapes my lips, he finally, finally kisses me like he always has.
He takes full control and dominates my mouth, reminding me I am his, making all my worries melt away as I give him all of me.
That is, until he moves a hand down my back and gently cups my ass. I freeze, and he instantly notices, slowly pulling back to look over my face. “Harl–”
I yank away from him and pace the length of the living room. “Fuck.” I rub my hands over my face as tears gather in my eyes. I don’t want to cry. I don’t want to freeze. I don’t want my mind to immediately go to fucking Tank the second my boyfriend touches my body.
“Fuck,” I say louder.
“Hey, it’s alright,” Cade says gently.
“No, it’s not, and don’t tell me it is. This isn’t how things should be. I–we should go back over to the club.”
“Harley–” he says more forcefully, but I ignore him and run my fingers through my hair as I go to the back door and head back towards the club. I can hear him sigh as he catches up to me. As we approach the door to the club, Cade grabs the handle but doesn’t open it right away. When I won’t turn around to face him, he murmurs softly, “It’s okay if you aren’t ready. Just don’t shut us out. Let us help you.”
I nod and fight back the tears gathering in my eyes fucking again as he opens the door and we head inside. The second we step into the main room, my eyes narrow as I see Lex sitting on the couch close to Presley and Jayce.
Two people she should not fucking be near. The words from the day Tammy visited are like a slap to the face as I watch her smile and play with Jayce.
“When your little friend called me in tears to let me know you were missing, I knew it was finally time I came out of the shadows. So I guess I should thank you for having such gullible stupid friends and for giving me my life back.”
I knew the only person it could have been was Lex. It hurt to know she would go to fucking Tammy, but I had more important things to be concerned about. I had no idea she would end up being here, tricking fucking everyone while I was kidnapped and hurt and my own dad was killed right before my eyes.
No. We aren’t doing this anymore. No one gets second chances. Lex spots Cade and me, and she gets up and heads towards us, a small, sad smile on her fake fucking face. Remembering that the boys are all prospects and adults, they are always carrying, I reach behind Cade and grip his gun, yanking it out.
Within seconds, the safety is off, and I have it aimed right at Lex’s forehead.
Presley lets out a small gasp and scoops up Jayce before leaving the room. I should feel bad for doing this in front of them, but I’m doing this for them. This traitorous piece of garbage should not fucking be here. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t put a bullet between your eyes right fucking now,” I demand.
Her eyes go comically wide, as if she never expected to have been caught for this shit. “Harley–” Cade starts right as the ranking officers, Ryker, and Grayson come running into the room. “Let’s put the gun down.” He says gently.
“No. You don’t understand. This fucker betrayed me. She betrayed us. I know you were telling Tammy everything you could. Is that why you stayed here right before I was taken? Did you know everything was going to happen?” I growl, staring her down.
“What? No. Harley, please– It’s not what you’re thinking.” She holds her hands up in front of her as a few tears roll down her cheeks.
“Hey, little flame, you really should put the gun down and just hear her out, alright?” Ryker says, coming to her fucking defense.
Swinging towards him, I seethe, “Are you fucking defending her right now?”
Before I can even blink, Ryker yanks on my arm with the gun so it’s facing the ceiling and not him. He spins me away from him and shoves me against the wall while pressing himself against me so I’m pinned.
Cade takes the gun from my hand, and hot, raging tears fall down my face as I don’t even try to fight them off. Wrapping his hand around the front of my throat, Ryker says, “You need to listen. After you listen, you are allowed to make whatever decision you believe is best and we will support you because we are here for you. Not anyone else.. But not hearing her out isn’t an option. Got it?” He growls in my ear when I don’t respond. Nodding once, he spins me back around and places a quick hard kiss on my lips. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I whisper back, even if I feel like slapping him or crying or maybe both while screaming, because I do love him and I want him to always know.
“Come on, beautiful. Come sit,” Grayson says from our other side, holding out a hand for me.
Taking his hand, I let him guide me over to the couch and pull me down on his lap.
My other guys surround me while the room slowly empties, and Lex is the only one left across from us.
I glare at her while she wipes under her eyes before beginning.
Lexington
One month ago
“What do you mean you aren’t doing anything?” I cry into the phone as I pace my small bedroom.
She sighs. “You need to get yourself together. You sound pathetic. I told you, I have things under control. The situation is now dealt with. Move on and know they will get what’s coming to them.”
“But that’s not the point! You were supposed to save her! I thought they were so much worse–”
Tammy cuts me off. “Hush, child. You’ve let them get to you. Be careful,” she says as she hangs up.
Letting out another sob, I stare down at the phone as the realization hits that I fucked up. This wasn’t how things should have gone.
“Lexi, girl, are you alright?” my dad asks as he pops his head in the door.
Swiping under my eyes, I say, “I think I messed up, more than I know how to fix.”
He walks into my room and wraps his arms around me. “We have all made mistakes, baby. It’s how we come back from them that matters. You can talk to me."
“I know, Dad. But–not yet. I have to try to fix this on my own, and I know what I need to do,” I tell him, determination taking over as a simple hug from my dad heals everything within me.
As the guy at the entrance to the club opens the gate for me, fear settles deep in my bones. I know I have to do this, but the idea I may not walk back out of here after what I have done is terrifying. But knowing my best friend is out there right now, probably terrified, helps me move my ass and tell the truth. The drive down their driveway feels like it takes hours before I finally park in the front lot. Getting out, I take a deep breath and glance up at the big warehouse of the SOS club. It really is a beautiful place, surrounded by woods and very quiet.
Once inside, Grayson is the first to come up to me. “Everything alright?” he asks, a sadness in his eyes and voice that he can’t mask even as he tries to put a smile on for me.
“No. I need to, um… I need to talk to whoever is in charge. It’s urgent,” I say quickly.
“Okay…” His brows lower. “Come take a seat on the couch. I’ll be right back.”
What feels like hours but I know is only minutes, the room fills with five guys I don’t know, along with Ryker, Cayden, and Grayson. The largest of the group with salt and pepper hair and beard sits on the coffee table in front of me. “I’m Sugar. What’s goin’ on, darlin’?"
“I have something to say, and I just need to know you’ll let me explain everything before killing me,” I word vomit.
Someone covers a laugh with a cough, but I keep my eyes on Sugar. The giant terrifying man in front of me. “Alright, go ahead.” He nods at me.
Taking a big breath, I spill everything. “Many years ago, my dad owed a debt to the club. When he couldn’t pay, he did something stupid and tried to run with my mom and me. He got caught, and the club took my mom and him one night. I don’t have all the details, but from my dad’s drunken nights, I know they tied him up and made him watch as they raped and brutally murdered her. I lost my mom because of this club, and I am barely keeping my dad alive. My life was ruined, and it was all because of you.”
I exhale as tears begin to fall. “But now… I don’t know what’s true and what's not. I feel like this version of the club is not the same one I have heard horror stories about. My dad has told me other things he knew about the club and things you all did. But this seems so different. When I became friends with Harley, I really was worried about her. Tammy said you guys had her those months she was gone, and when she randomly reappeared, you guys kept a close eye on her. Tammy promised me she was trying to get her niece out of here, but if I could help, she would help me deal with you guys and hopefully get justice for my mom.”
The tears are nonstop flowing now as I let everything out. No one knows how much I know and what I have been doing, not even my own father. He has been on the brink of killing himself for a year now, and I have had to stop him more than once. I thought finally getting some kind of revenge would help him heal and be my dad again.
“My dad really did need me to stay elsewhere when I stayed here last week. He was going into a 72-hour hold at the hospital. I told him I was staying with a friend from school and didn’t tell him it was here because he would have freaked out. I thought this was my chance to see things for myself and help Harley. Only now, I don’t know if anything I have done is helping her. Tammy doesn’t even care she’s gone.”
My body violently shakes as I sob and curl in on myself, afraid of what will happen now. Someone’s hand touches my shoulder, and I jerk back away from them. “Maybe we should get one of the girls?” Grayson asks someone softly, his voice right next to me.
A few minutes go by, quiet conversations happening around me, but I can’t make out any of the words over my state of panic. It feels like my breathing is the loudest thing in the room.
“Hey, sweetheart, can you look at me?” a gentle voice asks, and I slowly raise my head to find Presley, who I believe is married to one of the guys I don’t know. “Hey, let’s breathe together, alright? You are safe here. I promise.”
“As long as we find Harley, you are safe. As long as you tell us fucking every single thing you know, you are safe. You do anything behind our backs again, and I will do a hell of a lot worse than anything your stupid little head has ever considered,” Ryker growls right as Grayson grips his arm and pulls him out of the room.
Harley
As Lex finishes her story, Grayson picks it up. “We had her stay here because we wanted to make sure she was safe in case Tammy figured anything out or someone took her to be sold because of her involvement. Her dad had a conversation with Sugar and worked out more details even we don’t know all about. He’s getting help now, though.”
I glance over at Ryker, and he shrugs. “I kept a very close eye on her, but she was being honest, and she has done everything she can to help us and she gets along with the girls, helping where she can. But remember what I just told you: we are here for you. Whatever you want, little flame.”
I shut my eyes for a second and go over everything in my head. I want to be understanding, I really do. But after everything that has happened, right now, I can’t be. So I do the only logical thing to do that isn’t blowing her brains out.
Locking eyes with Lex’s sad, watery ones, I tell her, “Get out.”
“What?” she mumbles, her face dropping even farther into a frown as her shoulders slump.
“Get. Out,” I say, slower this time, not giving her any other words.
She stands and walks out of the room, hopefully to gather her things and leave. Grayson wraps his arms tighter around me. “Are you sure, beautiful?” he murmurs.
“Yes. She is an adult; she can manage shit on her own. Right now, I don’t want to see her face or have her around here. I don’t have any sympathy left in me right now.”
“We understand, baby girl,” Cade says, and the others agree.