Chapter 14 Jonah - Present
fourteen
Jonah - Present
YOU’RE COMING WITH ME.
Despite my warnings to myself, I’d continued to hang out with Harper over the last two days.
It wasn’t like I’d gone out of my way to do it, but I’d been at work and he’d come in again, so it would have been rude to ignore him.
Then the next day he’d knocked on my door and asked what I was doing because he was bored.
We’d gone for a walk and hung out at the dilapidated park that honestly had so many safety hazards I wondered how any decent parents would ever let their children play there.
We talked about nothing in particular. Mostly Harper talked and I listened, but it felt comfortable.
It was Monday, which meant Marty would pay me today and I’d be out of here.
I never told anyone when I was leaving town, but it felt wrong to just ghost Harper, especially with the little bit I’d shared about my past. Maybe he’d think something had happened to me. I knew it wasn’t smart to care, but the decision sat in my gut like a burning coal.
Maybe just this once I could tell someone I was leaving. As long as I didn’t tell him where I was going, that should be okay.
With that in mind, I pulled my jacket on, intending to head to the small grocery store. It had a surprisingly decent baked-goods section. I’d get us both some breakfast and tell him I was leaving while we ate.
I was so caught up in mentally rehearsing the conversation that I didn’t notice the stranger until my foot hit the concrete at the bottom of the motel stairs.
He was tall, with short dark hair and a dark bomber jacket. His back was to me as his face pressed against the glass on the driver’s window of Harper’s car, hands cupped to reduce the glare as he peered inside.
“You need something?” I called out to him. My heart already thundered rapidly in my chest, but I wouldn’t let it show.
The stranger didn’t seem startled at being caught snooping.
Instead, he stood to his full height, which was a lot, like six-five at least. He turned to face me—tanned skin, dark eyes, a square jaw with a short beard, and dazzling white teeth that he flashed me in a wide grin as he chewed on a piece of gum.
Recognition sparked in my mind, and with it a whirlwind of other emotions. Right here in the parking lot of this shitty Hollow Creek motel was MMA superstar Benny “The Bear” Forrester. Well… former superstar.
“Nope. You need somethin’?” he asked, that Boston accent deep and confident.
I had to figure out how to play this. I wasn’t sure if Harper was in his room or not, and I absolutely was not letting this guy get so much as a glimpse of him.
Taking on a professional MMA fighter, retired or not, was probably not the best course of action here.
I guess that left talking. I fucking hated talking.
“You seem real interested in that car.” I raised my voice slightly in a way I hoped was still casual but might carry through to Harper if he was inside and awake. It was the first time I was glad for the paper-thin walls of this dump.
“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s mine,” he answered, still with that picture-perfect grin.
Fuck, Harper. That better not be the truth.
“I don’t think I believe you.”
“No? Well, call the cops, then. Though I’d really like to catch the guy who stole it myself.”
Shit. Harper, did you honestly go on the run from a guy with his stolen car? I’d suspected the guy had more beauty than brains, but wow. “Sheriff’s office is about four blocks that way if you want to report it stolen.”
“Like I said, I’d rather catch the thief myself. Speakin’ of, you wouldn’t happen to know which room the driver’s checked into, would ya? Since you’re so sure this car ain’t mine, ya must have seen him.”
“Couple of days ago. Not since,” I lied, turning to face the motel. “One of those two, I think.” I gestured to two of the ground-floor rooms, well away from Harper’s and mine.
“Hmm.” He made a pensive noise as his eyes tracked over the two units I’d pointed out. “Thank you kindly.”
That was it. He just stood there, waiting for me to speak again or move along, and my mind was fucking blank with panic. I didn’t want to walk away and leave Harper alone, but going back up to my room would be too suspicious.
I nodded once, curtly, and continued walking.
The weight of his gaze followed me until I was out of view from the lot.
When I was sure he couldn’t see me anymore, I pulled my phone from my pocket and continued on my way as fast as possible to the grocery store.
I pulled up the social media accounts for Harper Lorens and quickly requested to friend him on all the ones I could find.
Of course, my account was a ghost account. I created new ones all the time, and my current accounts belonged to Rick Smith. Harper wasn’t going to know who the fuck that was, but I hoped with as many friends as he had he was the type to just blindly accept requests.
I paced the bread aisle as I kept rapidly refreshing the page, waiting for him to accept.
He wasn’t accepting.
I typed out a message quickly and sent it off, hoping to whatever gods or forces of nature landed us here that they’d cut us a fucking break and not let the message get lost in some void of spam messages.
Time passed with no response. No notifications.
I cursed myself for not just getting his number when we had the chance, but the whole “form no connections” rule I had in place had prevented me from giving him my number when he’d asked.
He’d been slightly offended and hadn’t tried to hide it, but I’d just told him it was nothing personal, given him a free shot, and after ten minutes of silent treatment he got past it and talked again like nothing had happened.
Stupid, Jonah. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.
The cashier was giving me weird looks now, so I paid for what I’d originally intended to buy and started on my way back to the motel.
When I got there, Benny was gone, and Harper’s car was still parked in the lot.
I looked around, searching for any sign of the freakishly large man before I took the stairs two at a time and went straight for Harper’s door, knocking furiously.
There was no response. I tried the handle. Locked.
I swear to god, Harper, if you’ve gotten yourself abducted by your ex—your professional fighter ex—I’m going to be so pissed at you.
I retreated into my room, keeping the window open as I stood by it, chain-smoking and listening for the slightest sounds or movements that would indicate something.
My fingers traced over the engraved floral and leaf patterns on the old lighter.
I usually found it calming, but there was little that would ease my anxiety at the moment with so much unknown.
If Benny had Harper, his car probably wouldn’t still be here, right?
I couldn’t remember if there’d been another car in the lot along with the MMA fighter because he’d taken up all of my attention. I just had to hope.
With nothing else to do but stew in my anxiety, I decided to head in to work as scheduled, hoping that maybe at least someone there, in this town full of gossips, had heard something of fucking value for once.
Two hours into my shift, and there was nothing. No news. No gossip. No Benny. No Harper. It was the one time I wished Hank was here, because at least that old bigot kept up with whatever the fuck was going on in this piece of shit town.
There were only the regulars here, but I was extra jumpy at every sudden noise and movement, constantly scanning the clouded windows for familiar shapes outside.
It took another hour before the door opened, and my breath left my lungs in a dizzying rush when a face I’d hoped I wouldn’t see again so soon came into view.
Benny smiled at me again, that same perfectly punchable smile. It was a wonder the guy had any teeth left with how often people must want to punch him, and with his former career. Then again, they were too white to be natural, much like Harpers. Fucking rich people and their freakishly white teeth.
The giant approached the bar, and it was a miracle the glass in my hand didn’t shatter with how tightly I was gripping it.
“Hello again,” he said pleasantly, like we were old friends.
I nodded. “Drink?”
“Whiskey, thanks. Macallan twelve if ya got it.”
“Yep.” I made his drink, slamming it down perhaps a touch too aggressively in front of him, causing some of the contents to splash up over the side. He didn’t seem fazed by it, and that somehow pissed me off more.
“Thank you kindly, Jack.” He smiled, and my stomach churned. “It is Jack, right? Was talkin’ to a nice fella named Hank just this afternoon. He mentioned ya.”
Fucking Hank. Forget spitting in his drink, I was going to wring that old bastard’s neck.
“No Jack here,” I lied. “Must’ve been talking about the other bartender.”
“That so? Well, any shot of him showin’ up? I got a couple a questions about his new buddy Harper.”
Yeah, I was definitely going to kill Hank. Fucking blabbermouth bastard.
“It’s a Monday, so no, don’t need anyone else to get by when it’s this quiet.”
Benny made an amused noise as he nodded, those dark eyes boring into me like he could see the truth beneath my skin. Like if he stared at me long enough with that stupid fake smile on his lips, I’d start confessing.
I caught Tiny approaching at the other end of the bar, and made my way over before he said my name—well, Jack—and blew whatever cover I had left here.
Thankfully, I dodged that particular bullet, but Benny’s eyes were on me as I stared at the pint glass in my hand, filling it with Tiny’s beer. Before it was done, the door opened again and both my eyes and Benny’s snapped to it at the same time.
The rapid beating of my pulse seemed to intensify and stop all at the same time as my heart sank and exploded simultaneously, like a submarine kissing a sea mine.
In the doorway, hand still pressed against the glass, was fucking Harper.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment before a lot of things happened at once.
“Shit,” Harper cursed, and he was off.
The door hadn’t even closed behind him before Benny was up and wrenching it open again.
The glass in my hand dropped and shattered on the floor as I launched myself over the bar top to chase after both of them.
Pain flared in my leg, but there was no way I was letting Harper face that piece of shit on his own.
I pulled the door open and followed them into the dusk-lit street, running as fast as I could.
I should have been able to do it. I should have been able to catch up with them.
Running was my thing. My skill. The one thing I was good at.
Had been good at. I was broken now, broken and useless, and that had never been more apparent as the distance between myself and my new friend, my only friend, grew bigger.
A wretched sound pulled from the core of me as I lost all hope of catching them on foot. The pain that roared through my leg was nothing compared to the molten despair that unleashed through my chest. I couldn’t let this happen.
Changing course, I sprinted to the motel as fast as my stupid fucking leg would allow me to.
In the lot there was another car, a black Jeep that looked new.
Praying it was worth the sacrifice of time and that this was actually Benny’s car, I pulled my switchblade from my pocket and punctured the tires on the right side before dashing to my own car.
The motor sputtered before rumbling to life, and I pulled out of the lot as quickly as possible, heading in the direction I’d lost them.
It was darker now, and the headlights still made it difficult to make out movement beyond the road. If Harper had any chance of escape, it would have been through the woods. I hoped with everything left in me he’d done that. That he’d escaped.
As the clock ticked by, minutes into hours, the adrenaline faded enough that an overwhelming sense of helplessness threatened to consume me instead. I cried. I hadn’t cried in so fucking long that once I started I found it impossible to make myself stop.
It wasn’t my fault, I knew that, but I still felt so fucking useless.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I contact the police?
After all this time avoiding the authorities, that suggestion burned away at my brain.
Red flashing warning signs told me it would be stupid.
The further from law enforcement I could stay, the better.
Besides, I knew who the sheriff was, and that man wouldn’t have stood a chance against Harper, let alone Benny.
It was pitch black when I finally caught movement on one of the dirt trails I’d been driving on through the woods.
My car was not built for this terrain, but I hardly cared, especially not when that petite and familiar silhouette came into view.
A choked sound escaped from deep inside me as I pulled the car to a stop and Harper turned wide, fearful eyes to me.
“Get in. Now!” I called as soon as the window opened enough for him to hear me, and the relief that washed over him made me want to burst into tears all over again. I found him. I had him. He was safe.
Harper got into the passenger side, and I took off before he’d even had the chance to buckle himself in. I hadn’t seen Benny, but I wasn’t taking the chance that he was nearby as I made my way back to the highway.
“Are you hurt?” I asked as wheels met asphalt instead of dirt.
Harper didn’t respond. I glanced at him to find him curled up, facing away from me, his body shaking.
“Harper, I need you to answer me. Did he hurt you?”
There was a wet sniff, and he curled in on himself further, and I decided right then and there that I wasn’t leaving him alone again.
“You’re coming with me,” I told him, the decision final.