Chapter 34 Knight
KNIGHT
Standing at the entrance of the holding cells, I look in at Harper as she sits next to one of our frequent flyers, Big Bertha, telling her whole life story and giving explicit details on how she ended up here, and why she isn’t cut out for a life of being someone’s prison bitch.
Storming into Elias’s home to find her racing through the living room with a gun trained on her back was the most terrifying scene I’ve ever walked into. Elias isn’t a great shot, but had we been even a second too late, that next bullet would have lined up perfectly with the back of her skull.
I don’t think she realizes how close she came to death today.
Fury ripples through my body. I’ve left her here for three hours, and if I had my way, I’d leave her for a few more.
Despite knowing it’s not comfortable on the other side of those metal bars, at least I know she’s safe.
Big Bertha isn’t going to touch her. If anything, she’ll be the first to protect her.
Hell, I’m starting to wonder if Bertha gets herself thrown in here on purpose, simply for the hope of finding a little damsel she can claim.
But she’s off track here, because this particular damsel is already mine, and unfortunately, she’s not the kind who wants somebody to swoop in and save her.
She’s the kind to steal a handgun and walk straight into the lion’s den.
Fucking stupid. I can’t begin to wrap my head around why she thought it’d be a good idea to walk into that house.
She wasn’t just asking for trouble; she was asking for a life sentence.
But luckily for her, Elias has had a change of heart.
He’s no longer pressing charges and has claimed it was nothing more than a private family issue.
In other words, he’s paid someone off to make this go away.
Letting out a sigh, I push off the edge of the wall and start making my way over to the entrance of the jail cell before shoving the key into the lock and giving it a twist.
“Ohhh, looks like we’ve got a toy to play with,” Big Bertha murmurs.
“Hey, that toy is my boyfriend,” Harper says, getting to her feet and making her way over to me. “If anyone gets to play with him, it’s going to be me.”
Bertha puts her hands up in surrender as I pull the heavy cell door open. “Have at it,” Bertha mutters. “But he don’t look like the type who wants to play. He looks pissed.”
“Got that right,” I say, my stare focused heavily on Harper, and the longer I watch her, the more she seems to shrink on the spot.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, still standing inside the cell.
“It’s time to talk.”
“Ooop, nope,” she says, reaching for the cell door and trying to pull it closed between us. “I’ll take my chances in here.”
I put my hand up and stop the cell door from closing before shoving it right back again, the anger pulsing through my veins making me far too short with her, but I can’t fucking help it. She broke into Elias’s home and baited him. What the hell was she thinking?
“Out. Now.”
“Damn,” Bertha mutters. “Check out the temper on this one. Be careful, Harper-Rayn. One push and he might snap.”
Harper presses her lips into a hard line, clearly not liking Bertha’s comments. After all, if anyone is going to give me a hard time, then she prefers that it come directly from her, and with that, she steps right out of the cell and directly into my arms, resting her head against my chest.
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs as I reach around her and lock the cell once again. “I know it was stupid and reckless, but I had to try. I couldn’t just let him get away with it.”
My hand rests against her lower back, and I begin pulling her away. “Come on, doll. We’ve got some things to discuss.”
Her head lifts from my chest, and she glances up at me, her eyes filled with uncertainty. “How bad is it? Am I going to prison?”
“No, doll. I’m taking you home.”
“Home?” she asks as we step out into the corridor, giving us just a fraction of privacy as she puts on the brakes and pulls me up short, staring up at me with confusion clouding those beautiful green eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about? I did exactly what he said I did, and there’s security footage.
I’m fucked. I broke in and shot him point-blank in his own home.
Sure, some other shit happened after that, but I’m guilty.
The only place I should be going is to the courthouse. ”
I shake my head. “Elias dropped the charges.”
Her brows furrow, and she pulls a step away. “What do you mean he dropped the charges? Why would he do that?”
I shrug. “He claimed it was nothing more than a private family matter. A miscommunication of such, and that he didn’t want you throwing your whole life away for something so trivial.”
She shakes her head again. “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand why he would do that.”
“Come on, doll. Put the pieces together,” I encourage her. “If you’re rotting in a prison cell, then how the fuck is he going to get his hands on you?”
“But what does it matter? He’s going away for a double homicide. It’s over now.”
I shake my head, my heart hurting for her.
The past few hours have been more than trying, and not only because Harper has been sitting in a jail cell, but because Elias, as usual, is still playing his fucking game.
“His lawyer is pushing to get the footage from the morgue thrown out. They’re claiming there were issues with the chain of custody, and if they’re successful, there’s not much to go on.
He’ll walk free, and we won’t be able to try him again. ”
“Wait. No,” she says, beginning to pace up and down the corridor. “No, that’s not okay. How can they let this happen? I was there. I saw the whole thing, doesn’t that count for anything?”
I let out a breath and give it to her straight. “No, doll. It doesn’t,” I tell her. “I wish I could tell you that it does, but they’ll argue that you’re not mentally sound, and with your recent psychiatric hold, they’ll get your witness statement thrown out.”
“They get to play the crazy card?”
“I’m sorry, doll.”
“But no. Without my statement, there’s nothing. He’ll walk.”
“Yes. Which is exactly why he’s dropping the charges on you.
With you both out in the world, he gets another crack at you, and I’m not about to let that happen.
After going there today, you’ve ramped up the game for him.
He’s hungry for it. You’ve given him a taste, and now he wants to finish it.
He’s never going to quit, doll. He won’t let this go, even if it means hunting you for years to come. ”
Her hands start to shake at her sides, and I step into her, pulling her into my arms and holding her tight.
“I’m not saying this to scare you, Harper, but I need you to understand that your actions today have consequences, and while I understand what pushed you to do it, it doesn’t change anything. ”
She nods against my chest. “I fucked up.”
“Yes, doll.”
Her hands come up, and she hastily swipes her eyes. “Can you take me home now?”
I nod, and my hand falls to her lower back as I lead her away.
Twenty minutes later, Harper has officially been released from police custody, and as I drive along the highway, I can’t help the rage that continues building in my chest. It consumes me, eating me alive.
Every different scenario plays out in my head.
Imagining the way she slipped away from Hunter, the way she turned off the home security notifications and took the gun from my safe, the way she walked straight into the lion’s den.
What the fuck was she thinking?
I white-knuckle the steering wheel, my jaw clenched as the fury bubbles beneath the surface.
I could have lost her today. Elias could have taken her from me, and I never would have seen her again.
Never held her in my arms, never seen the way her eyes light up when she looked at me, never heard those three little words on her tongue first thing in the morning.
“You’re still mad,” Harper whispers beside me, her voice like a knife right through my chest.
“Still mad?” I demand, the last fragments of my control slipping and leaving me torn open. “Of course I’m still fucking mad. What the fuck did you think you were doing going there today? Do you have any idea how fucking dangerous that was? I could have lost you, Harper. FUCK!”
I pull over, my truck screeching to a stop on the side of the highway.
I slam my hands down on the steering wheel, my chest heaving as I fight to find some semblance of control, but I can’t.
It’s too fucking much, and instead of turning that anger on her, I push out of the truck and storm around the front, bracing my hands on the hood as I take deep breaths, trying to settle the monster within me.
I could have fucking lost her.
I stand out in the cool afternoon for a few minutes before Harper opens her door.
She jumps down, her feet hitting the asphalt, and not a moment later, she appears around the front of my truck and slips straight between me and the hood, her arms snaking up around my neck and holding on as though she will never let go.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I fucked up. I understand that, and I promise, I will never do something so reckless again.”
My hands fall from the front of the hood, dropping around her, and as I lift her and her legs lock around my waist, I bury my face into the sweet curve of her neck. “Never again,” I tell her. “I can’t risk losing you like that.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers again. “I’m sorry.”
I take a minute, and as I hold her, the calmness pulses its way back into my body, consuming the rage with nothing but love and light, and by the time I’m finally able to lift my head from her neck, the sun has begun its descent.
I look her in the eyes, my chest aching for everything she’s endured today, and as I grip her chin, those beautiful green eyes fill with tears.
“Do you understand that if Elias hadn’t dropped those charges, you would have been done?
” I ask her. “There’s nothing I could have done to help you.
You would have been locked up, and you and me .
. . How the fuck am I supposed to survive if I don’t have you with me? ”
“I don’t ever want to be without you.”
“You won’t, doll. I won’t let that happen, but I need you not to do shit like this. When you’re in trouble or feel yourself slipping, I need you to come to me. Rely on me. Let me be your fucking shoulder, doll.”
She nods, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I promise,” she whispers before bringing her lips to mine. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I kiss her back before resting my forehead against hers, taking just a moment to be okay before walking around to her side of my truck and depositing her straight back into her seat, where I know she’s safe.
I get in beside her and pull out onto the road again, and as I drive, Harper watches me, her curious stare seeming to eat me alive. “What is it, doll?”
“Nothing,” she says. “I’ve just never seen you like that. You’ve always been so composed.”
“There’s not a lot of things that could bring me to my knees, but you’re at the top of the list.”
A small smirk pulls at the corner of her lips, and I roll my eyes. “Of course, you’d fucking love that,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Can you blame me?”
I blow out a breath, and as we turn off the highway and hit the back streets that lead to our home, I can’t help but glance at my girl, a deep curiosity pulsing through my veins.
She shot someone today, and while he more than had it coming, it doesn’t take away the shock.
I always knew she’d be capable of pulling the trigger when the time came, but fuck.
I hadn’t expected it to happen like this.
“Why the thigh?” I ask.
Her face scrunches. “Huh?”
“Elias. You shot him in the thigh. Was that intentional?”
She nods. “He said I didn’t have what it took to pull the trigger. In my eyes, he was practically asking for it.”
I grin. She’s got one hell of a point. If you want to bait someone holding a gun, then you deserve to get shot. “You didn’t take the kill shot?”
She shakes her head. “I thought about it, but I wasn’t ready. It was too easy. I wanted him to suffer first, and if he hadn’t lunged for me and stolen the gun, he’d be dead right now. I had it lined up, even pulled the trigger, but he moved at the very last second.”
My brow arches. “You took the kill shot?”
Harper shrugs. “I mean, technically. But I missed.”
“Fuck, Morticia. Every time you open that sweet fucking mouth of yours, you manage to shock me,” I tell her. “But that thigh, how’d it feel?”
She relaxes in her seat, trying to appear unfazed, but there’s no denying the sparkle in her eye or the twisted grin that slowly creeps across her face. “Like the angels came down from heaven and gave me everything I ever wanted.”
“That good, huh?”
“Only second to when you’re inside me.”
“Goddamn, Harper,” I say, clutching the steering wheel tighter as I turn onto our street, the idea of being inside this feisty little jailbird already working me up. “You always know exactly what to say to me.”
She laughs, and her beautiful grin blows me the fuck away, only it disappears as I pull into the driveway, and she turns away, reaching for the handle.
“Fuck no, Morticia,” I say, reaching for her arm and stopping her from exiting the truck. She glances back at me, her brows pinched as she tries to figure out what the fuck I want. “You don’t get to make comments like that and not expect me to follow through.”
“What?” she laughs. “But we’re in your truck.”
Grabbing her waist, I haul her over the center console and settle her over me until she’s straddled over my thighs, her sweet cunt grinding down against me, and feeling for herself exactly what she does to me.
My hand twines around the back of her neck as she gapes at me in shock. “Do I look like I care, doll? Let the fucking neighbors see. Nothing is keeping me from being inside you right now.”
Harper arches a brow, a grin pulling across her lips as she grinds down against me, a soft moan on her lips. “Just remember, when I sink down on this cock and you realize that you’re not even close to being able to handle me, you asked for it.”
“Baby, I can handle anything you’ve got.”
She grins, gently biting her bottom lip. “Oh, we’ll see about that,” she says, just moments before she reaches for the bottom of her scrub top, pulling it up and over her head before tossing it aside, right here in the middle of the driveway.