51. Tyler
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
TYLER
I’m pacing the Winslow library at midnight, covered in a cold sweat, my thumb stabbing the screen of my phone over and over as I redial Dad’s number.
The library is dark except for a desk lamp I switched on earlier. I keep glancing at the door, paranoid Harper or Thomas could be listening in.
Dad finally answers, groggy from sleep. “Tyler? Is everything all right?”
“No,” I hiss, keeping my voice low to avoid being overheard. “Harper just found out about Paul’s death. She told me he died in a hit and run. Why would she think that?”
He’s silent for a moment, then swears under his breath, instantly sounding wide awake.
“Has the cover story changed?” I ask. “You said the Fergusons were told Paul died in a group brawl.”
“They were told that.”
“Then what the fuck is this? Harper said he died trying to save someone. That he’s being praised.
” My fingers tighten around the phone. I lean against a bookshelf, trying to take a deep breath.
But I’m too panicked. My voice spikes. “The Fergusons know. They know Paul attacked Harper. They know Felix killed him. They know we’re covering it up. We’re fucked.”
“Tyler, you need to calm down. You’re jumping to conclusions. They don’t know anything.”
“Why else would they rewrite the story like this? They’ve turned Paul into a saint because they’re ashamed of people knowing what he really did.”
But what if they only know part of the truth?
What if they just suspect something is off?
We don’t know how much they’re aware of and that’s what terrifies me.
Suspicion is all it would take for them to start digging.
What if they get a private investigator involved?
If they dig deep enough, they’ll find what we’ve hidden. We’ll go to prison.
“Tyler, listen to me. The Fergusons are a well-respected family. The father is high up on Wall Street. The mother is heavily involved in various charities. They have a reputation to uphold. Their son dying in a violent, drunken brawl is a shameful scandal and is enough of a reason for them to fabricate some saintly spin on the story of his death. They don’t know the truth. ”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’ve covered our tracks. Trust me on this. Keep yourself together. No one will learn the truth unless you crack.”
It all fucking comes down to me and I hate it.
I hang up and toss my phone onto the desk. It skids across the surface and falls to the ground. I don’t try to catch it. I just stare at it, wanting to believe my father when he says we’re safe, but I can’t stop fretting. My skin feels too tight and my breath is short.
I don’t know what the Fergusons believe, what they suspect, or what they’ve already started piecing together .
There’s no action I can take to fix the situation. I’ll always be waiting for the ground to give way beneath me, wondering if the Fergusons know the truth and what they plan to do with it.
This is even more reason to keep Harper in the dark.
Everything is so messed up. Harper told me she’s decided to not report Paul’s attack to the police for multiple reasons we’ve already discussed, but the tipping factor in her decision came down to Paul saving a life.
Her heart is too kind. She’s always been this way.
I should consider her silence a blessing.
I can’t let her speak to the police because it will spark an investigation we don’t want.
But I also don’t want her to repress this trauma.
Felix and I encouraged Harper to speak the truth so she would feel empowered.
Paul’s death is only one part of the pressure that’s suffocating me.
I’m so fucking stressed, hoping Felix doesn’t hate me after all this.
I feel like a piece of shit for putting Harper through a dead-end mission to find him.
But I won’t coax her into believing the lie my father fed her—Felix abandoning her over some fight about money.
I’m trying to give her as much of the truth as I can.
Though, a week into Felix’s absence and I can feel her turning against him. I’m trying to do everything I can to save their relationship. But it’s a battle.
The library door creaks open. I’m so on edge that I flinch with shock. Harper enters, wearing a night dress. The moment we make eye contact, I glance away, hating myself for the pain I’m inflicting on Harper by omitting the truth.
Every single day, I want to hold Harper in my arms and tell her I love her. I want to kiss her, make love to her, and tell her everything will be okay. But I don’t deserve any of those pleasures when I’m not being honest .
The door clicks shut and Harper steps up to me. Her voice is hollow. All the fight has left her. “I want you to leave. It’s time you go back to your home.”
I turn to her, stunned by the request. My heart stumbles. I can’t leave. I promised Felix I would take care of Harper. “I’m not leaving.”
A huff of frustration slips past her lips.
“You don’t speak to me. You’re barely looking at me.
Felix is gone. I don’t know when he’s coming back or if he even is.
The worst part is I haven’t only lost him but I’ve lost you too.
You’re not the Tyler I fell in love with.
” Her voice crumbles and tears follow, but she cries with frustration, not weakness.
Seeing her like this breaks me further. “Why the fuck does everybody leave me?”
“Baby, that’s not true.” I grasp her hands and pull them to my lips, hoping she can see in my eyes that I love her.
That it’s still me. Fuck . I hate that I’m causing her pain.
“I’m never leaving you. I’m sorry I’ve been distant.
I feel like I’ve lost Felix too. Please, don’t hate me.
You’re everything to me. Felix is coming back, I promise.
If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s how important you are to him.
The three of us are going to be together again. You have to trust me.”
Harper’s lips press desperately to mine. Her arms wrap around my neck, clinging to me like her life depends on it. “You’re my everything,” she whimpers. “I hate that we’re falling apart. I just need things to return to the way they were. I need you to love me, Tyler.”
“I do love you. More than you’ll ever know.” I kiss her hard, showing her nothing has changed between us.
Her needy hands are unbuckling my belt. She quickly has her hand wrapped around my cock.
I shouldn’t have sex with her. Not like this. Not when I’m hiding the truth .
But I love her. God, I love her so much it hurts. She’s asking me to show her that I’m still here. That she still matters.
And she does.
She’s everything to me.
I grab her face and kiss her again, deeper this time, pushing her back until she hits the bookshelf behind us. I don’t mean to be rough, but I can’t help the urgency that floods out of me.
Carrying Harper to the desk, I clear the surface with a swipe of one arm before setting her down. My lips don’t leave hers. I need Harper to feel how much I want her and how nothing has or ever could change my love for her.
The two of us groan as I thrust deep and fast into her, hitting her back wall. That’s all it takes for the stress of the Fergusons to be wiped from my mind.
With each thrust, each moan that slips from Harper’s lips, I realize I need to love her better. I need to worship her and do everything I can to make Felix’s absence as painless as possible.
It doesn’t take long before she’s coming. I feel her pussy contract around my cock as she gasps my name, clutching my shoulders. She’s normally blissfully limp after an orgasm, satisfied and whole. But not this time, too broken inside.
“Tell me you’re never leaving me,” Harper begs. She slides off the desk and pushes me onto a chair, then straddles my lap, trembling as she sinks onto my cock. “Promise me, Tyler. Never leave me.”
“I promise. It’s you and me, always, Princess. When Felix gets back, the three of us will be stronger than ever.”
Though, in saying that, I don’t know what Felix and I will tell Harper when he returns. We’ll find an explanation that keeps her safe.
Her lips brush against mine as she rides me with vigor, drawing me dangerously close to coming inside her. “Don’t talk about Felix. This isn’t about him right now. It’s about you and me.”
I don’t like hearing those words one bit. She’s angry with Felix and I can’t allow her to turn on him. “This is about Felix. Tell me you know he’s coming back. Tell me you know he loves you.”
Her movements stop. She meets my eyes and her bottom lip wobbles. “How can you be so confident in Felix and this theory that your father is protecting him from something?”
“Because I know you’re the most important thing in the world to him. You know this too, Harper. Tell me you haven’t forgotten.”
Her chest rises with heavy breaths. Her eyes are so sad, but she nods and whispers, “I haven’t forgotten.”
“He loves you so fucking much.”
I grab her hips, guiding her up and down on my cock. Slow at first, until the tightness of her muscles tells me she’s about to come again. I’m right there with her. Pleasure builds with every stroke, winding tighter in my abdomen.
“I need you to come in me, Tyler. Please. I need it so badly.”
I give Harper what she needs, my release flooding into her. She gasps my name and comes on my cock a second time.
“That’s it, baby. Come for me. Fuck, you are so beautiful. ”
“I love you,” she murmurs, repeating the words until our movements slow.
Once we catch our breath, she smiles, laughing a little. She’s limp and hazy-eyed. There’s still pain within her that I can’t fix. But the two of us reconnecting tonight has healed some of that pain and I’m so relieved to see it.
“Sleep in my bed tonight. Every night. Please,” she says.
I nod, answering with a kiss, still filled with guilt and fear but needing to hold the three of us together.