Chapter 17 The Agreement
The Agreement
Harper
Luke draws me almost behind him. His hand tightens on mine, and I cling to him like his father will tear him away from me.
“Been busy with your friend?” The look Mr. Foster gives me is anything but fatherly. “Send her to your room. We have business to discuss.”
Somehow his dismissal doesn’t surprise me. I’d rather be in Luke’s room than here with his father. When I begin to move, Luke holds me against him.
“Harper stays with me. You can say whatever you want in front of her.” His voice is strong, but his grip tightens on my hand again. “What are you still doing home?”
My heart races at the tension filling the room. I move more behind Luke to hide from his father. This isn’t a high school boy Luke can fight off. Last time we were prepared to deal with him. This feels like an ambush.
“Business got cut short. I thought it was time to check on my investment.” The smile he gives Luke is as cold as his eyes. “School is still good?”
“Yes, sir.” Luke straightens. Investment? Is that all Luke is to his father? No wonder he’s fucked up.
“Your friendship with the Ross boy is going well?” His father leans, deceptively casual, against the wall. Like a lion, he’s prepared to strike at a moment’s notice.
Ross kid? Caden? What the hell is happening? What does Luke’s dad want with Caden?
“Yes, sir.” Luke’s back muscles are tense. His jaw ticks.
“Any scouts coming to games?” His father raises an eyebrow. It’s like he’s faking interest. Acknowledging this is something important, but not at the same time.
“Next game.”
His father nods. His gaze catches me again.
“Still just friends?” His tone is almost mocking but also knowing.
Some instinct wants me to deny it. This man feels like a predator. Like if we give him anything, he’ll use it against us. I want to draw away and put some space between me and Luke. To deny it, but Luke holds me tighter.
“What do you want?” Luke says. His tone is respectful, but there’s a hint of resignation in it.
“Winter break you will come work at my company and learn the ropes. No excuses.” His father’s smile is almost terrifying. He pushes off the wall. “Also, plan for dinner next week. This time just you and your girl. I want to get to know her better.”
Luke flinches. Is it because of the dinner or because his dad called me his girl?
“Fine.” Luke pulls me with him as we head toward his room.
“And Harper?” his father says.
I look back at Luke’s father. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Wear another pretty dress.”
A shiver of disgust flows through me, but I hide my emotions as Luke drags me into the hallway. He doesn’t stop until we’re inside his room. He closes and locks the door.
“Fuck.” The word is soft, but then he turns into me and takes me into his arms.
He trembles against me, and I don’t even hesitate to wrap my arms around him to try to stop his shaking. I’m scared because if Death is afraid, then I should be terrified.
“We need to leave,” he whispers, not letting me go. He tucks his head against mine and blows out a breath. “We need to get back to the others where you’re safe.”
My heartbeat is out of control. Safe?
“I’m safe with you,” I whisper because speaking in a normal voice would break whatever this is. It’s the truth.
Luke shakes his head. He tips my face up. “My father is not a good man. He’s always looking for ways to hurt me.”
He studies me. Right now, he’s anything but cold. There’s a softness and tenderness to him I’ve seen before in fleeting moments, but right now, it’s almost raw.
“You’re worried he’ll use me to hurt you?” I see the truth of that statement in his eyes. What parent would do that? “Why?”
“I’m the one thing he can’t control. He always has, but the older I get the more I slip away from him and what he wants me to do.” Luke’s finger rubs along my jaw. We’re standing pressed together, and I don’t ever want to move away.
“What does he want you to do?”
“Continue his legacy.” His finger trails over my lips, drawing his gaze down to them before he lifts it to meet mine. “Become him.”
“And you don’t want that?” I’m curious because the guy I thought I knew at the beginning of the school year seemed exactly like the man in the kitchen.
“No, princess.” He shakes his head. “I want to be something more. Something better. Someone worthy of someone like you.”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. He kisses me, but not long enough for me to respond before he releases me and moves around his room, gathering what we came here for.
Someone worthy of someone like you. My heart stutters in my chest as I watch him. He’s hard to love, but I’ve felt myself giving into the feeling a little more with every moment, figuring he’d never reciprocate. But what if he wants to love me?
I stand there, motionless and speechless. If Luke could love me, is it possible they all could? I don’t know what to do with this new knowledge.
When we walk into Caden’s, Luke and I hold hands, but he’s pulled away from me at least emotionally. Like that tender moment of need and want never happened.
Little moments. I sigh.
“What happened?” Nico stands from the couch to come over to us.
“My father.” Luke draws me in tight against his side. The physical bond is still there. The chemistry that binds us is like nothing else. But that vulnerable part of him is hidden away again behind the wall he usually has up.
But I’ve seen behind that wall, and what might be there has me awed.
“What happened?” Caden joins us.
“He was there when we stopped. He figured out Harper is mine.” Luke says it like it’s normal to claim a person like that. But part of me acknowledges I will always give myself to Luke, even as I want to defy him. “Winter break he wants me to work for him.”
“Fuck,” Caden breathes out like Luke said he was dying.
“That’s not all. Dinner alone with me and Harper.”
Caden’s green eyes capture mine. “At least he doesn’t know you’re sharing with us.”
“Uh, my mom does.” I look up at Luke. “That’s why she wants all of us at dinner tonight.”
“That’s probably easier to deal with than Luke’s dad.” Eli gestures for us to join him and Jack on the couch.
“My mom might seem nice, but she’s pretty much a momma bear when it comes to me.” I lead Luke over to the couch and wait for him to sit before sitting on his lap. He needs me right now. I don’t understand all of what’s happening, but I know that.
“Yeah, Ms. Davidson can be fierce.” Nico leans back on the couch and spreads his arms across the back. “The few times I stayed over when we were young, I swear she watched me like a hawk. I didn’t understand why back then. I was just sleeping over at a friend’s who happened to be a girl.”
“If she knew what you did to her daughter last night, she might think twice about not kicking you out of her house back then.” Jack grins.
“Yeah, we’re not talking about sex around my mom.” I shudder. “She works in labor and delivery. She has a lot to say about sex and how healthy it is, but that doesn’t mean she really wants to know I’m having it. And definitely not with five guys.”
My cheeks heat like they’re on fire. Yeah, I definitely don’t want to go there with my mom.
“Kissing.” Eli smirks. “We’re all just kissing.”
The warm chuckles make my heart feel funny. It feels like Luke cracked me open to be more open to all of them, which is weird. But those little moments are adding up and softening my heart toward Luke. And if he’s the hardest to love, I have no chance when it comes to the others.
“Mom will ask what we are? What our plans are? If everyone is happy with this arrangement?” I curl into Luke, seeking his warmth. His hand strokes over my hip, sending tingles through me.
“Are we claiming to be your boyfriends?” Jack asks. He tosses a ball into the air and catches it. “I’m down with that. It’s about time. My mom will be thrilled.”
“It would make it easier for everyone if they know you’re our girlfriend, little nympho.” Caden runs his hand over my knee. “No more coming after any of us.”
“You’ve claimed me. You’ve owned me. Now you want to be my boyfriends?” I arch an eyebrow at all of them. This is ridiculous. “You do know that means I’m voluntarily in this relationship if I agree to that?”
“It’s all the same thing, kitten. It’s just a label everyone understands.” Eli grabs a drink from the coffee table. “If we say it’s so, no one would question it.”
“I’ll have five boyfriends? That’s not normal.”
Luke tips my chin his way. “You’re ours. You belong to us. People are starting to ask questions. Let’s give them the answer. You aren’t planning on fucking anyone else. Neither are we. We’re yours, Harper. I’m yours.”
Oof, that makes my heart beat a little quicker, and pleasure spirals through me. I’m not sure why I’m arguing this. If they’d asked me three weeks ago instead of claiming me, I would have laughed in their faces.
But this isn’t what it started out as anymore.
“Fine.” I narrow my eyes on Luke. “But I want dates and dances and all the normal high school crap you guys denied me for years.”
“For fuck’s sake, are you going to throw that in our faces all year?” Caden laughs.
He smiles with that soft look that makes me want so much more. Shit, I almost put my hand against my heart to keep it from softening towards these boys.
“Yes.” I put my chin down like a stubborn bull and meet Death’s eyes. “Do we have a deal?”
“Yes, princess.”
“Okay, no sex talk at dinner tonight. She’s going to ask about our arrangement and might even make some rules. Agree to whatever she says so she doesn’t get mad. My mom loves me and wants what’s best for me.”
“You have the best, kitten.” Eli winks, and I can’t help but smile.
“We’re equals.” This part is important. I look each of them in the eyes, and they all nod. “Good.”
“We need to discuss what’s happening with Zach and Tanner.” Eli leans his elbows on his knees. “Zach is a problem and won’t be easy to put in his place.”
“He didn’t act alone.” I lean back against Luke’s chest, drawing from his warmth. “I was trapped in that laundry room for a while before he showed up.”
“Okay, give us a rundown of what happened at the game from the start.” Caden nods toward me. “Try not to leave anything out, little nympho.”
“Kenz and I met Sidney and Emma. Emma took Jack’s jersey and Sidney gave me Luke’s, which smelled like she’d dumped a whole bottle of perfume on it and had lipstick on the number.
” My brow furrows as I remember. “It was crowded, but when we were walking up, Sidney and Emma were talking to a couple guys from the basketball team.”
I recognized them.
“Who, kitten?”
“I don’t know them, but I recognized them as basketball players. Sorry.” I shake my head.
Jack has his laptop out, and the keys click in the background as I tell them about the incident.
I explain about the bathroom and the cheerleader. When I got into the locker room and the girls who were there. I tried my best to recall the exact conversation I had with Zach while in that closet, but part of me was focused on escaping the situation.
I blow out a breath as I finish answering their questions as best as I can, but there’s not really any more I can give them.
“What are you going to do?” I ask looking at each of them.
“Did you find out anything, Jack?” Luke’s chest rumbles against my back when he speaks. I’m relaxed against him as his hand strokes up and down my arm. It’s comfortable and nice.
“If Tanner and Zach are in communication, it’s not online. If you want me to search video, it will take longer.” Jack squints at his screen as he continues to type.
“Zach won’t be easy to take down.” Luke blows out a breath. “Did you get a chance to find someone to talk to Ashley?”
Eli shakes his head. “I need to coach someone through it. Ashley won’t give up information to just anyone.”
“Why don’t you talk to her?” It seems like the easiest way.
Eli focuses on me. “Because to do that, she’ll want me to touch her. She’ll want what only I can give her.”
“What’s that?” I’m confused, but I don’t want him touching her.
“Ashley and I used each other to get what we needed.” Eli rubs the back of his neck. “She enjoys pain, and I enjoy inflicting it.”
I’ve only brushed the surface of what Eli needs. “Is that something you want to do with me?”
“When we have time to discuss it more. It’s not something I would do to you without your awareness and consent.
” Eli’s eyes are heated as he watches me, trying to read what I’m thinking, checking to see if I’m strong enough to handle him.
“But Ashley wouldn’t like being toyed with.
She would come after you if I betrayed her that way. ”
I swallow. “Aren’t they already coming after me?”
“Yes and no, kitten.” Eli gives me an uneasy smile. “Not the way Ashley can.”
A shiver works through me.
“We don’t know everyone’s involvement yet.” Caden rubs his hands together. “We need more time to untangle who all is involved and figure out who is still on our side.”
Harper’s phone
Me:
Last night was almost as insane as the night before
Kenz:
Girl
Maybe I should just put a tracker on you so I always know where you are
We can attach it to your collar
Me:
*eyeroll emoji*
I’m not wearing a tracker
I’ll share my location with you though
Not that it would have helped last night
Kenz:
I’m sure I could have found another lamp to throw at that asshole
Me:
I’ll make sure to stock up on them
Kenz:
I thought the guys were bad news, but Zach Gray and Tanner Lewis
They give me the creeps
Me:
Me too
Party tonight?
Kenz:
You know it
Me:
My mom wants to have dinner with the guys first
Kenz:
Ohhh, your momma’s going to have their asses for dinner
Me:
I’m not sure what to make of that
Kenz:
Yeah, it came out a little wrong
But she’s going to own them
Me:
*smiley face emoji*
Kenz:
Are you okay, H?
Me:
Yeah, I will be *heart emoji*