Harley #3
The smile fell from his face instantly. The warmth and the steady reassurance were both gone. His jaw tightened, eyes darkening with worry and something else she couldn’t name.
“Pregnant?” His voice was low, but sharp. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I took eight tests, and they were all positive.”
Hex ran a hand through his hair, pacing, and muttering under his breath. “This isn’t—I mean, we’re not ready for a baby. I’m not ready for this, Harley. We’ve barely settled here, and we’re living above a fucking bar.”
“I know,” she said softly, trying to bridge the space growing between them. “I just—I needed you to know. I wasn’t sure how to do this—any of this, and I’m fucking it all up.”
He looked at her, panic flashing in his eyes. “I can’t do this, Harley. Not like this. Not now.”
Her heart sank. She should have expected resistance. She should have known he would feel trapped, but hearing it spoken aloud cut deeper than she’d imagined. “I—I can’t stay here,” she whispered, voice breaking. “I need to figure this out on my own. I need room to think.”
Hex’s hands shot out, but she stepped back. “Where are you going?” he asked as though he suddenly had a right to know.
“I don’t know yet,” she admitted, tears blurring her vision.
“I just—I need space. I can’t stay here and watch you shut down.
I have to leave.” She turned and grabbed as many of her things as she could, quickly grabbing and shoving them into an oversized shopping bag.
Harley found her purse and her keys, knowing that she might not be back in a while.
If she had forgotten something, she’d buy it or figure things out on the fly, but standing there, watching Hex come apart at the seams, when she needed him to be strong for her, wasn’t happening.
Before he could grab her again, she swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out, the door closing softly but with a weight that echoed through the tiny apartment.
Her only saving grace was that Hex didn’t follow after her.
Outside, Harley melted into the shadows of the early morning streets, heart pounding with each passing mile that she drove out of town.
She was going to stop at her house and pick up a few more things, and then, she’d figure out her next move.
She didn’t bother telling anyone where she was going.
If she told anyone at the club, or even Savage, they’d tell Hex, and she didn’t want that.
She needed to think, and that meant she needed a clear head.
Having Hex around would only muddle her brain, as he usually did.
She couldn’t see past the rose-colored glasses she seemed to wear around him, and that wasn’t going to help her situation.
She had no plan. Only one truth—she needed to figure out her shit, and fast, before everything else—Hex, the baby, and the life they could have had all spiraled out of reach.
For the first time in months, Harley was alone, scared, and running.
Not from danger this time, and not from chaos, but from the one person she loved most—Hex.
The ride from Huntsville to Yonkers had been long enough to think herself sick. By the time Harley pulled into Reacher and Brandi’s driveway, her body was shaking from exhaustion and nerves more than from the cold.
She had called the only person she could think of to call—Brandi from the club up north.
She had shown her so much kindness after being kidnapped by the Dead Rabbits.
Of course, Brandi said that she’d keep her secret but couldn’t make any promises about her husband.
Harley asked her to put him on the phone, and she was lucky that he agreed not to tell Hex, but said that if Hex asked him outright, he wouldn’t lie to him.
It was a part of their code, and before she tried to tell him that they were from two different clubs, he reminded her that they were all Royal Bastards, and that made them brothers.
Harley knew that she would be living in Yonkers on borrowed time, but it was her only option right now, and she was too tired to come up with plan B.
The house was just off the main road. It was a brick two-story home with a wide porch and the faint hum of bikes in the distance from the Royal Bastards’ clubhouse.
Warm light glowed from the kitchen window.
The sight of it almost undid her. Everything about Brandi’s house felt homy, and she wondered if she’d ever have a place like this or a home that actually felt like a place where she belonged.
She parked in front of the house and shut off the engine.
She sat there for a moment with her hands gripping the steering wheel.
The silence weighed heavily on her and made her feel hollow inside.
She hadn’t told anyone she was driving to New York.
Not even Savage. Harley just packed a bag, got in her car, and drove north.
When she finally forced herself to get out of the car and walk up to the porch.
She barely made it halfway up the steps before the door opened and Brandi was standing in the doorway, smiling down at her.
“I was beginning to worry about you.” Brandi chided.
Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, an oversized hoodie swallowed her frame, and she had a baby on her hip.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look awful,” Brandi said.
“Like I’ve been crying for a week?” Harley tried to joke, but her voice cracked halfway through. “Sorry, I thought that I was all cried out. I didn’t know you had a baby,” she said, changing the subject.
Brandi’s expression softened instantly. “Yeah, her name is Gloria Jane, but we call her Janie. Come on in and get out of the cold.” Brandi wasn’t kidding when she said it was cold in New York and to pack warm clothing.
She was going to have to pick up a few things because her clothes were good for Alabama, where it didn’t get too cold for very long.
“You weren’t kidding when you said that it was cold up here,” Harley said, quickly walking into the warm house and shutting the door behind herself.
She let Brandi pull her into a hug, and the baby looked up at her.
She was just as fascinated with the little girl as the baby seemed to be with her, and she couldn’t help but smile when the baby smiled at her.
The warmth and familiarity of the whole scene hit like a punch to the gut, and all the tears she’d been holding back came spilling out.
“All I seem to do is cry now. I’m sorry to put you in the middle of everything, but I didn’t know where else to go,” Harley whispered, voice muffled as she wiped away her tears.
“You came to the right place,” Brandi murmured, rubbing slow circles over her back as though trying to soothe her. “You’re safe here, sweetheart. Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out together and help you any way that we can.”
Brandi hugged her again, and when they finally pulled apart, Brandi guided her into the kitchen. The smell of coffee filled the room, and she groaned. Reacher looked up from where he sat at the table and smiled. “I miss coffee,” she said as he took a sip of his.
“You can have a cup a day,” Brandi said. “I take it you haven’t been to the doctor yet?”
“No,” Harley breathed. “I just found out that I am pregnant.” She hadn’t planned on telling either of them about Hex’s reaction, but the words came tumbling out before she could stop them. “I told Hex that I’m pregnant.” The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.
Reacher’s jaw tightened, but Brandi stepped in and gently asked. “And?”
“And he said he couldn’t handle a baby right now.” Harley’s voice trembled. “He said he wasn’t ready for that kind of life. He told me that he didn’t want a baby—that it was too soon, so I left.”
Brandi’s eyes softened with something between anger and heartbreak. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry, but he might just need some time.” Reacher ran a hand over his face, muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like Hex being a damn fool.
Harley tried to steady her breathing. She had two panic attacks last night when she tried to sleep.
She woke up, looking around the hotel room for Hex, but then realized that she was alone.
It was a feeling that she was going to have to get used to—being alone because she didn’t believe that Hex just needed some time, like Brandi did.
“I thought if I gave him space, he’d call, but he hasn’t. So I just kept driving.”
Brandi reached across the table and took her hand.
“You don’t have to keep running. You stay here as long as you need, okay?
We’ve got the spare room, and Reacher won’t mind, will you?
She handed her husband the baby, and Harley wanted to start crying all over again.
How was she going to raise her baby on her own?
Her baby deserved two parents, and Hex was taking that away from him or her. ”
Reacher sighed, shaking his head. “Of course I don’t mind. You’re family, Harley. Hex will figure his shit out eventually. Till then, you can stay right here.”
Harley blinked back fresh tears. “You really mean that? I hate that I’m putting you two in the middle.”
Brandi smiled softly. “You think I’d let you go anywhere else?
You rest, eat something, and we’ll take care of the rest. That little one of yours needs peace, and so do you.
Although when Janie is hungry, no one in this house gets any peace.
” That broke her. Not in a loud, messy way—just a slow unraveling of all the tension she’d been holding since she left Huntsville.
“That wasn’t supposed to make you cry,” Brandi insisted.
“I told you that all I seem to do is cry lately. Thank you for giving me a place to stay,” she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Brandi was right—she needed rest, some food, and a hot shower sounded like heaven about now.
“You don’t have to thank me. That’s what sisters do,” Brandi insisted. She couldn’t help her watery smile. All her life, she had wanted a sister, and now Brandi had called her that. And for the first time since she’d driven away from Hex, Harley felt like she could finally breathe again.