Chapter 20 The Reason
The Reason
Harper
“What the fuck is he doing?” Jack looks at all of us like one of us knows what the hell Luke is up to. It’s been hours since we last saw him.
“Has anyone seen Zach or Sidney here?” Eli asks.
Clasping my hands together, I sit on the edge of the bed while Eli paces. My knees weren’t reliable to hold me up. What is Luke doing? And why is he doing it alone?
“He isn’t answering texts.” Caden stands perfectly still while he thinks.
“We need to get over there.” Nico jerks forward. “He may need backup.”
“We can’t all go.” Eli stops and faces me. He takes me in. “We definitely can’t take Harper there. We’re not leaving her alone.”
I press my lips together. Part of me wants to be there, and the other part doesn’t want to be anywhere near Zach Gray again.
“Caden and Nico can go.” Eli holds his hand out to me, and I take it. “We need to do what we came here for.”
Jack nods.
“What did we come here for?” I raise my brows.
“We need to find out more information about Zach and Sidney. But we can’t come at it directly.” Eli pulls me in close to him and tips up my chin. “Which is why we’re using your clingers. We’ll also nudge some of the football team to see what they can find out.”
That makes sense.
Caden closes in on me and Eli. My gaze lifts to his mischievous green eyes. Stealing me into his arms, Caden lifts me and presses me against the wall.
“Before I go, I’ve been dying to kiss you properly, little nympho.” His mouth crashes down on mine as he presses his body against me, holding me up. When I part my lips, he growls low in his throat, sending a jolt of desire through me as he takes advantage of my mouth.
When he lifts his head, his green eyes search mine. “Behave, little nympho.”
He sets me down and Nico steps up.
“May I?” He cups my jaw.
I nod because I don’t have a problem with him kissing me or even fucking me. I just don’t trust him with my heart. Yet. He takes my mouth, slowly, thoroughly, until I want to climb him.
When he pulls away, we both suck in air. He presses his forehead against mine. “I love the taste of Cherry Coke on your tongue.”
Part of me wants to start something we don’t have time to finish. When he backs away, I draw in a deep breath to calm my insides down and try to put the fire back at its steady simmer. The guys exchange fist bumps before Nico and Caden leave the room.
“What’s the plan?” I face Eli.
Eli smiles. “Later tonight, we have every intention of filling that hunger, kitten. But right now, we need to talk with the girls and figure out what the end goal is for your attacks.”
“Isn’t the end goal to get you guys back with the Cheermonsters?” My mouth closes as I realize my slip. I press my lips together. Yeah, Kenz and I call them that, but the horsemen might take offense.
Ignoring my slipup, Eli grins and cups my jaw. “I’m not sure they’re the only ones playing the game, kitten.”
Jack closes in behind me. I lean back into his warmth. He’s gentle and Eli is rough. It makes me curious how they would play together with me. During that game of Never Have I Ever, Eli and Jack said they played with the same girl.
Who, though? Maybe Kenz would know. Do I want to know?
Jack draws up my skirt, drawing my attention back to the men surrounding me. “We have a little time, sweetheart.”
Heat floods me. When Eli smirks, I press my thighs together against the pulsing ache.
“What do you say, kitten? Want to go back out to the party a little rumpled?”
I suck in a breath as Eli drags his finger over my breast. My nipple tightens as fire burns inside me.
“We could even take you together,” Jack whispers in my ear. “I can slide into your ass while Eli pounds your pussy.”
My pulse pounds as my gaze stays on Eli’s. I’ll take whatever they want to give me.
“Or maybe you want Eli to fuck your pussy while I suck your clit and you suck my cock.” Jack’s words dig into my conscious as I imagine what that would look like and feel like. Before I can answer, the door opens. My skirt falls around my legs.
“Hey, no one’s supposed to be in—” We all turn to look at the guy who walked in. His face turns red. “Sorry, guys, I didn’t realize it was you.”
“It’s okay, Jason. We were planning to go back out to the party.” Eli smooths his hand over my waist.
We were? I arch my eyebrow at him. It wouldn’t be the first time they fucked me at a party, and I’m dying to find out how being with just these two would feel.
“You guys don’t have to. I mean, you might want to lock the door so no one interrupts. But it’s cool if you want to use the space,” Jason rambles on.
Eli smirks and takes my hand. Jack takes my other.
“Maybe later.” Eli pats Jason on the arm as we pass. “We have other business to attend to.”
Caden
I park a block away from Zach’s house. I don’t know what to expect at this point. Luke is on his own, and who knows what’s going on in his mind. His father sets him on edge, but he seemed fine when he left earlier. Maybe he wasn’t though.
I nod to Nico as we run across the dark lawns. We don’t have a lot to go on. Jack made sure we had the location of Luke’s phone and promised to update us if it moved. He sent me a text with an image of where the phone is.
We round Zach’s house and stop where Luke should be. I glance at Nico, who shrugs. When I send a quick text to Luke’s phone, something lights up in the bushes. I gesture to Nico to look while I keep an eye out.
No one appears to be home. All the lights are out and there are no sounds coming from inside.
Nico holds up Luke’s phone with the screen lit and multiple messages missed. Fuck.
I gesture with my head to circle around the house, but I didn’t see Luke’s car anywhere nearby. Nico pockets Luke’s phone, and we search the rest of the property. Nothing. No one is here.
Now what?
We walk back to my car, both of us searching for some other clue.
“What the fuck was Luke doing here?” Nico asks after we get into the car.
“Give me his phone.”
Nico pulls out the phone and hands it to me. I unlock it. We all have locks on our phones, but we all know the code to get into each other’s.
The messages from us are all unread. He talked to Sidney, but it was a fishing expedition. I check his most recent destinations.
“He went to someone else’s house first.” I don’t recognize the address. This isn’t how we work. We tell each other when we’re going to do something. Especially stupid shit like going to the house of the guy who terrorized our girl.
“Should we go there?” Nico taps on his phone, sending a message to the group chat about what we found.
“He probably didn’t go back.” I start my engine. “Let’s check his house.”
I drive a few blocks over to Luke’s house. The lights are off, but I’m not sure if his dad is home or not. Mr. Foster is not a fan of mine. He wants Luke to stay close to me because he hopes I’ll feed Luke information about our family business.
It’s okay because my dad wants the same thing. We don’t let much slip to our fathers, just enough to keep them off our backs.
Once again, I park farther away so his dad won’t see the car.
“We’re going up the back way. We need to be quiet and make sure his father doesn’t hear us if he’s home.”
Nico nods. We’ve clued him in on our family shit. Luke treads lightly when his father is home and mostly stays with one of us to get out of the house when he can.
We move quietly to the back door, and I let us in with the keypad. The back stairway is right off the kitchen, and we make it to Luke’s room without seeing anyone else.
His door isn’t locked, so we go in and close it behind us before turning on the light.
“Fuck, turn it off.” Luke’s voice comes from the bed with a groan.
Nico switches off the light, but I move to the desk and click on the lamp there. The light doesn’t reach the bed, but it gives us some visibility. Luke is on his back in his jeans with no shirt on. He has an ice pack on his side.
“What the fuck happened?” Rage burns through me. Someone attacked Luke.
His light eyes meet mine, but he shakes his head and drops it back to the pillow.
“Found your phone.” I toss it on the bed next to him. “Outside Zach Gray’s house.”
“They weren’t there.” Luke covers his eyes with his arm. “My phone dropped in the bushes and it was too dark to see it. I came home to grab my spare phone, but my father was still here.”
My lips press together. There’s not a lot either of us can do about our fathers except keep getting bigger and stronger. At least my dad never lays a hand on me. He’d have to be around to do that.
“Is she okay?” The words are so soft I almost don’t hear them.
“She’s freaking out that you might be dead in a ditch.” Nico sits in the chair in the corner. “Why didn’t you call or text?”
Luke shakes his head and turns his face away from Nico.
“He took it?” I ask, but I know the answer. His father takes his spare phone sometimes. Rage boils into an inferno within me. It’s a fucking power play. Control his son. Learn who he’s been texting and what he’s involved with.
Luke nods.
I open the group chat, which is hidden on Luke’s backup phone.
Me:
Wipe Luke’s backup phone. He’s at his house.
Jack:
Done
“It’s wiped.” I lean against the wall. “How do you want us to handle this? By this, I mean Harper. She’s going to know.”
“Fuck,” Luke says sharply.
This isn’t the first time Mr. Foster has beaten Luke. It probably won’t be the last. He usually makes sure to only hit his body. Can’t have Luke showing up to school with a shiner.
“Did he hit you in the head?”
Luke shakes his head. “When I confronted him about my phone, he knocked me down and kicked me in the ribs. My head hit the doorframe.”
I clench my fists but keep my voice neutral. “Concussion?”
“No, just a headache.”
“We should get it checked.” Nico looks like he’s going to stand up but I wave him back.
“If he says he doesn’t have one, he doesn’t.
” It’s something we’re careful with in football.
They’ll make him take weeks off school and football to recover if he has one.
That means missing potential scouts and potentially dropping his grades, which if we don’t want to be tied to our fathers, we’ll need other ways to pay for college.
I have a trust fund from my grandpa, but Luke doesn’t.
“I don’t.” He lowers his arm and meets my eyes. “Just a fucking migraine.”
I study his eyes and nod. “Harper.”
He lets out a breath. “Tell her I’m sick.”
“Can’t do that.” I shake my head. This is a non-negotiable. We agreed to let her in. That means all the way in.
“Why the fuck not?” He narrows his eyes on me.
“Because she’ll want to come take care of you.
You know her.” I run a hand through my hair.
“We’ll be lucky if we can keep her from calling child protective services on your ass.
She cares. She doesn’t understand how family can be like ours.
Neglectful, abusive. She may only have her mother, but that woman is worth her weight in gold. ”
Luke closes his eyes. “I don’t want her here.”
“How can you say—” Nico says.
“Not here. Not where he can come back. Give me a minute, and I’ll get dressed. We’ll go to the party and act like everything is okay.” Luke blows out a breath.
This won’t be good, but there’s no talking Death down.
He takes the ice off the bruise forming on his ribs. I jerk forward and hold out my hand to lift him to sitting. His face pales, and his head hangs as he sits on the side of the bed.
“Get the painkillers, Nico. Top drawer. There should be a glass in there.” I drop to a knee beside the bed and look into Luke’s pain-filled eyes. “I’ll keep you blocked, but you’re going to have to let Harper in.”
Luke nods. His blond hair falls over his eyes. His voice is low and tired when he says, “I can’t keep doing this, Caden.”
Grabbing the back of his neck, I draw his forehead down against mine. “I know. We’ll find a way out.”
Nico sits beside Luke on the bed and hands him the pills. Luke tosses them in his mouth and receives the water to wash them down. “Thanks.”
“Good?” Nico takes the glass back and sets it on the nightstand.
Luke nods, but doesn’t move.
“This might be a group effort.” I meet Nico’s eyes, and he nods. Not all of us have assholes for parents. Most of our parents let us do what we want when we want. But Luke’s dad being gone on business is always a blessing.
I get him a fresh shirt and socks from his dresser, while Nico goes into the bathroom and gets a washcloth. We get him presentable and by the time we’re ready to leave, the pain meds have kicked in.