Chapter Eighteen
Harley
“ T ake it fucking easy,” he growls.
I sit up and quickly get to my feet, finding Ryker in Stone’s face, his nostrils flaring in anger. But Stone, per usual, looks like he doesn’t give a shit.
“Relax, Ryker. Harley can handle herself,” Noah says, amusement clear in his voice.
“That’s not the point. She doesn’t need to be thrown around like a fucking ragdoll,” he seethes, gesturing towards me.
I roll my eyes and notice Noah’s gaze on me.
“Box with me, princess. I think Ryker can spar with Stone for a bit.” He winks.
Ryker literally growls and goes to move past Stone, but Stone shoots his arm out and shoves Ryker back a step.
“Calm the fuck down,” he chides. “I understand the protectiveness, but it is unnecessary in this room with these people. Harley was in complete control of herself the whole time and never showed any signs of panic or stress.”
My eyebrows shoot up at the observation Stone makes. He’s right, but I didn’t think he was in tune with me the whole time.
“This is hard on all of us,” Axe adds from across the room. “But no one is in danger or harm’s way when they are here with us. Spar with Stone and fucking calm down, or I have no problem telling Rage you don’t need to be going tonight.”
Noah gently pushes me towards the wall where all the gloves are, and we wrap our hands before putting on boxing gloves.
I watch Ryker the whole time we get ready until Noah blocks my view. “He’ll be fine. You can tend to his little heart later. Let Stone beat the shit out of him for now. Focus on training with me. It’s good for you, and it’ll be good if you can show the girls a few things. They are kind of a pain in the ass to teach.”
He grins when Raven scoffs from the side of the gym and mumbles asshole .
Walking to the mats that are set up to practice boxing we get into position while Raven, Axe, and Presley stand off to the side to watch us. Someone turns on music over the speakers, and I block everything else out and just focus on Noah.
Noah grins at me and hits his gloves together, bouncing on his toes. “Let’s show them some body shot combinations.”
I nod, and we begin the drill where our focus is solely on body shots, homing in on the other person’s midsection. Noah jumps right in for an attack, so I go on defense and work on blocking and slipping.
After a while, there is a light sheen of sweat on my skin, and I feel lighter, like I can breathe again.
Noah and I stop for a moment and drink from the waters Axe tosses at us. He has Presley and Raven off to the side in boxing gloves practicing the same thing as us, just on a much lower level and not trying to fully hit the other person like we are.
Noah tosses the water bottle onto the ground and smirks at me.
“Come on now, princess, let’s see if you can get any good shots in.” He opens his arms wide and waits in the middle of the mat.
Rolling my eyes at him, I get back into position, but this time we have switched rolls. I attack, he defends. Noah lets me get a few hits in, not really trying to block them.
“Noah! Stop going easy on me. Fucking defend!” I yell, and the asshole just grins and then starts defending for real and blocking almost every shot I take, which makes me more determined to find his weak spots and land hits.
By the time we stop, I am fully dripping in sweat and feel fucking amazing. A good sparring or boxing drill always makes me feel ten times lighter. Noah takes his gloves off and drops them to the ground on the side of the mat, stretching.
“Damn, princess, you even got me sweating. Good job.” He nods in approval.
Before I can respond, I get distracted by Cade, who is now back from the run he went on, working with Stone and Ryker while Sugar, who also came down, is yelling at them. Another person comes into view from my right where the wall with the gloves are, and Gabe steps up on the mats. “If you need a quick break, take one, but you aren’t done.”
I raise a brow at him, and he just stares right back with what I am sure is the same exact look I am giving him. “I want to see where you’re at.” He tells me.
Gabe has never boxed or sparred with me. I got the impression that he didn’t want to even fake a fight with me, but I’ve seen him train with the others, and I have to admit that I’m intrigued.
“Have you done a counting combinations drill?” he asks me, and I nod. It’s one of the drills Atlas had me doing often and would push me until my legs felt like they were going to give out. “Take a second to drink water and then let’s get started.”
Noah, who has now gotten up off the ground, tosses me another bottle, and I chug it down before grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from my face and neck.
Facing off with Gabe, I prepare myself for him to start calling out combinations, but what I don’t expect is for him to go hard from the start.
He immediately begins calling out different combinations starting with different jabs and then starts tossing in other combos.
Noah yells from the side, “Keep your lead foot flat, Harley.”
Realizing I am getting sloppy because I’m getting tired, I shake my head and take a breath, forcing myself to focus. Pushing myself to do better.
I land a body shot on Gabe, and he grunts and then nods, “Good job, Harley.”
We stop and through my heavy breaths, I ask, “Can we do a jab-only drill?”
Gabe’s eyebrows shoot up as he eyes me. “Are you sure you want to keep going?”
“Yes. I want to push myself. Plus, I want to see what you’ve got, too.” I grin at him.
Gabe chuckles, “Alright.”
We both get into our stances, preparing to do a jab-only drill, which means we both practice using only jabs on offense and defense.
“Don’t go easy,” I warn.
Gabe looks like he wants to protest, but Noah chimes in from where he watches us, “Trust her, Rage. Remember when you’d kick my ass when I first came here? She can handle that shit. Don’t be soft because she’s a girl and your daughter. I think we all underestimate her.”
I shrug when Gabe stares at me for a moment. “He’s not wrong. Atlas was the first to finally understand that I want to be pushed to my limits, and then he started kicking my ass and it was never pretty. I ended up with lots of bruises. Physically and on my ego. It pushed me to practice more and get better.”
Gabe inhales and then nods, but I can tell he doesn’t know how to feel about training with me how he would with Noah or someone else, so I find any energy I have left in me and throw my all at him.
Once I start landing more hits and actually making him grunt, he seems to come out of it and narrow his eyes on me, beginning to attempt jabs back my way.
We go back and forth, with Noah yelling from the sides on things to correct. By the time we stop, I can’t stop the huge grin that forms on my lips even as I drop to the mat and lay flat out on my back, breathing heavily.
Gabe plops down next to me. “I love seeing that smile on your face,” he murmurs.
“I really love it when people don’t hold back on me. Pushing my limits and training makes me feel really fucking good.” Turning my head to look at his eyes, I say, “Thank you for not going easy. Well, after you stopped hesitating.”
Gabe chuckles, “You definitely didn’t hesitate. It’s good. I’m proud of you, Harley. You are so fucking strong.”
I don’t respond, not really sure how to, but luckily Ryker approaches, leaning over me. “You alive?” he asks, his mouth quirked in amusement.
I shake my head and push my bottom lip out to pout. “No. Carry me. My legs are like Jell-O.”
Ryker tsks and swoops down to lift me under the arms. “Don’t pout at me, babe.”
Once I’m back on my shaky legs, Gabe reminds everyone who is still down here that we are leaving in a few hours, so wrap up any workouts they have going. Ryker lifts me, and I automatically wrap my legs around his hips.
He walks us over to where Cade is at the wall of equipment, and Cade quirks a brow. “Tired, baby girl?”
I nod, and he steps behind Ryker to where my arms are draped over his shoulders and pulls my gloves off before unwrapping my hands for me.
Ryker carries me upstairs to my room with Cade right behind us. As soon as we step into my room, he sets me on my feet, but I squeak as I’m swooped right off them again by Cade, who walks straight out of my room and across to his.
“What the fuck, Cade?” Ryker yells in protest.
“Thanks for carrying her up here,” Cade says over his shoulder as we get to his door.
Ryker grumbles behind us, calling Cade an asshole, and a giggle slips past my lips as we head into the bathroom in his room.
As we turn onto the road that leads us towards the Wilson’s driveway, I let my eyes fall shut and take deep breaths, remembering that I have the power now. I am safe. This is just a house; nothing here can hurt me, and I won’t be trapped the second I step inside.
The guys who rode their bikes and another truck stay at the end of the road while our truck, with Cade, Noah, Grayson, Ryker, and I, along with Gabe's and Nerds’ truck, pull up to the end of the driveway.
Gabe jumps out and jogs back to our truck. “Noah, Ryker, let’s go. Everyone else stays right here until we figure out if anyone is home or not,” Gabe orders.
Squeezing Ryker’s hand as he goes to get out, I say, “Be careful.”
He shoots me a wink and takes off down the driveway with Gabe and Noah. Grayson rests his hand on my thigh, and I glance at him. “Everything is going to be fine. You know you don’t have to get out of the truck if we do go in, right?”
Clearing my dry throat, I retort, “I know. But I do have to go in.”
Before Cade or Grayson can say more, our phones all buzz with a group text from Gabe. “Ryker just broke in,” I say, exhaling through my nose. “That means no one is there.”
A few more minutes pass before we all get the okay to come down the driveway. Cade turns onto the gravel road, and as the house comes into sight, my stomach twists and I feel like I’m going to vomit.
It’s just a fucking house, Harley. It means nothing.
Hopping out of the truck the second it stops, I meet Ryker at the front door. He watches me with a worried gaze.
“Don’t ask me if I’m sure. I’m doing this,” I snap at him.
Raising his brows, Ryker holds his hands up in the air. “Alright, little flame.”
I walk through the front door and glance around the home I was forced to clean for three years. Everything still looks the exact same.
The bathroom by the front door where Richard used to watch me, the living room I only ever walked in to clean. The kitchen sink my head was shoved in many times over the years. The kitchen floor where my beaten body ended up countless times.
Round the corner to the dining room, my eyes immediately find the corner I had to stand in. My stomach clenches painfully, remembering how hungry I was.
The slider door opens, and I spin around to find Colton standing there looking me over. Feeling like I might freak out on someone if they ask me if I’m okay, I turn away from him and walk into another room.
Everyone else has dispersed through the house, and I can hear them talking to each other about how their clothes are mostly gone. Personal items from the bathroom are missing. It looks like they packed up what they could and ran.
Gabe calls for Nerds from down the hall, and I follow behind Nerds stepping into the office they have. “Do you know how to open this safe?” he asks.
Gabe points to the safe in the wall behind the desk. Nerds gets closer to it, looking it over. Bile rises in my throat as I step forward and gently nudge Nerds out of the way. He eyes me like a ticking bomb but steps aside.
Squatting down, I glance at the keypad and enter the passcode.
071815
The little light in the corner of the keypad blinks green, and the lock for the safe disengages. Instead of opening it, I stand up and walk to the opposite wall in the office and lean my forehead against it, taking deep breaths trying to stop the vomit that is rising in my throat from coming out.
When I stand up straight again, I find all three of my guys standing in the doorway. Irritation burns under my skin at the concerned looks they’re giving me.
Stalking towards them, I angrily mumble, “I’m fine.”
I try to storm past them, but Cade grabs my bicep and pulls me through the house towards the opposite end, towards the hallway that goes right past the kitchen. I try to yank my arm out of his hold, but he just tightens his grip. I can hear Ryker and Grayson walking behind us as we approach the basement door.
“Cade,” I snap, trying to get him to stop, but he doesn’t until we’re standing in front of the door.
He drops my arm and crosses his over his chest, glaring down at me. “If you’re fine then open that door and walk down those stairs.”
My eyes move to the door, but I don’t make a move to open it.
“You're getting mad at us for caring about you and trying to make sure you don’t push yourself too far. We just want to help, babe,” Ryker says softly from behind me.
“You’re pushing us away because you think you have to deal with this on your own, but you don’t. No one is going to think any less of you for having a hard time being here. You want to fight this battle on your own?”
Cade doesn’t wait for me to answer before he continues.
“Then open that door and go down there. We’ll be right here when you’re ready for us. But if you think you need to face it on your own, we aren’t going to force you to accept our help. But I’m also not going to stand around and let you keep snapping at people because you’re angry at yourself and at Tammy.”
When I don’t move, Cade reaches forward and yanks the door open. My mouth goes dry as I stare down into the dark hole beyond. The basement.
“Fucking get your ass down there, Harley,” he snaps.
“Cade!” Grayson growls from behind me, but Cade doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“This is what you want, isn’t it? You want us to not treat you with kiddie gloves? You don’t want us asking you how you are or what you need right now? You want the fucking band-aid ripped off? Well, I have no problem being the one to do that for you. So, go.”
He gestures towards the stairs. My legs are frozen as a sharp, terrifying pain hits me hard in the chest. You're not weak, Harley.
Letting out a frustrated breath, I shoot Cade a glare and face the stairs, forcing my legs to move before I overthink any more than I have. Just a fucking basement, Harley.