Chapter 34
The Protection Pact
Caden
Harper fights me every step of the way.
“Just get in the car.”
She presses her lips together. “I’ll drive my car home so I’m not leaving it for someone to take out the other tires. You can follow me.”
“I promise to come pick you up tomorrow. And I’ll call a tow truck for your car.” I pull out my phone and look up a towing company.
Her hand blocks my view of my phone. “My car is fine. This isn’t like some Mafia film where they’ve set my car to blow up when I start it.”
I eye her car, wondering if I could tell if someone did that.
“Caden, seriously, the worst they could do is put sugar in my gas tank, and if you follow me, you can give me a lift if my car stalls out.” Her hands are on her hips and her dark eyes flash with fire. She thrusts out her hand for her keys.
This is the girl I’ve been missing. The one who makes me hard, and it makes me want to do whatever she wants to keep her like this.
I lean down and get in her face. “Fine, but if it explodes, I’m riding into hell to spank your ass.”
Her eyes soften, and her lips try to curl into a smile. “Deal.”
Fuck, I want to kiss her, but we’ve made a plan. This isn’t part of the plan, but I’m not about to leave our girl with a flat tire and a potential stalker-type person after her.
When I drop the keys into her hand, she spins on her heels and goes to her car. She meets my eyes when she turns the engine. Her car roars to life.
Damn. I really wanted to spank her, but at least she’s alive.
I get into my car, and Jack looks at me.
“Is this smart?” Jack glances over at Eli and Luke, who are watching us.
“Just because it screws up Luke’s plan to ignore her until she begs for it.” I scoff. “He wouldn’t have lasted that long, and we all know it. That girl gets under his skin.”
“He’s not the only one.”
I grunt in agreement as we follow Harper’s car to her house. I pull in behind her, and Jack jumps out as she heads to her door. After getting out, I cross over to her.
“Your mom isn’t home yet.”
Ms. Davidson’s car isn’t in the driveway. Luke and Eli park behind my car in a line so Harper’s mom can park without blocking us in.
“Newsflash, Mom’s rarely home. What’s your point?” Harper crosses her arms and glares as Luke and Eli join us.
“Give me your key. We’ll make sure no one’s in there.” I hold out my hand.
“You guys are overreacting.” She holds out the keys and drops them in my hand.
“Thank you.” I brush past her. Jack stays next to her as Eli and Luke follow me to the door.
Their home is decent-sized. Three bedrooms, three baths. We split up and check the whole house, including closets and under the beds.
“Call for some pizza delivery,” I tell Eli. He lifts his phone and taps on the screen. I turn my gaze to Luke. “I’m not leaving until her mom is here. You can leave if you want.”
His cold eyes narrow, but he shakes his head. “I’m staying.”
“Fine.” I go to the back door and hold it open for Harper and Jack.
“Seriously, you’ve checked the house. I know how to dial 9-1-1. You guys can head out and do whatever or whoever you planned to do tonight.”
I grin at her back. That sounded a little jealous. “Why would we do anyone else?”
She shrugs as she opens the refrigerator. “You looked pretty cozy at lunch.”
I close in on her back and hear her small gasp. “You weren’t in the cafeteria today.”
“I got pics from my friends.”
Just like we figured she would. I reach around her and grab a Coke.
She sighs as she looks over her shoulder at me. “Anyone else want a drink?”
Harper passes out sodas and then sits in a chair in front of the TV and turns on Netflix. She scrolls through to a series she’s halfway through and clicks Play.
It’s a zombie show I’ve been meaning to try. So I settle into the couch to watch. Halfway through the episode, the doorbell rings.
Eli goes to get the pizzas and sets them on the island.
I snatch the remote from Harper’s hand and hit Pause. “Time to eat.”
She glares but follows me to the kitchen and pulls out some plates and napkins. We all take multiple slices while Harper only takes a couple.
“We don’t eat in the living room.” She nods to the table with four chairs and the bar stools at the island. She takes the bar stool at the end, and I grab the one next to her.
She rolls her eyes at me, but I just grin. I take up too much room, so the others are forced to eat at the table. Losers.
She bumps her elbow into me three times before she looks at me. “You’re too big.”
“That’s what they all say.” I wink.
She blushes. Damn, I’ve missed her blushes.
“You guys really don’t need to stay,” she grumbles.
“Yes, we do.” I eat my pizza and drink my soda while she focuses on her own food.
When she finishes, I grab her plate and the guys’ and take them to the dishwasher. She watches me like I might do something wrong. Who knows, maybe I will, but it seems like a pretty simple thing to load a dishwasher.
I grab her hand, drag her back to the living room, and wait for her to get settled before hitting Play on the show. Honestly, I’m a little lost since this is like episode six, but who doesn’t appreciate zombie killing?
She glances at her phone as the show ends. Her brow furrows and she types something. Then she sighs and glances at me.
“What?” I ask as I turn off the TV.
“Mom’s stuck at work.” She curls into her chair and looks at all of us. “Seriously, I’m good. You guys can leave. It’s not like it isn’t safe in my house. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid.”
“You might have had to be alone when you were a kid, but you don’t have to now.” Eli leans back and rests his head on the back of the couch. “We can relax here just as well as at Luke’s or Caden’s house.”
“I don’t know when she’ll get home,” she warns.
“Worried we’ll be out after curfew?” Luke smirks. “Maybe we’ll all get grounded.”
She glares at him.
“Don’t sweat it.” I get her attention. “My parents and Luke’s father aren’t in town. Jack’s mom is a doctor, and Eli’s parents are too busy ignoring each other to notice he’s not home.”
Her brow furrows as she glances at Eli. Our little nympho has a soft heart.
“What would you do if we weren’t here?”
Harper
Hiding in my room probably won’t reassure them that I’m fine on my own.
“Homework.”
Caden nods. “Don’t let us stop you.”
Fuck it. It’s something to do. I go over and wipe off the kitchen table before settling in with my books. My attention is split though between my work and the guys sitting around my living room.
Jack goes outside, comes back in with his backpack, and sits across from me with a grin. He pulls out his school computer and sets it up.
“Wifi?” He lifts a dark eyebrow at me.
I smile. “David’s house. Password is my favorite Henry Cavill is a dirty Witcher. Capital letters, no spaces.”
“Yours or your mom’s?” He grins.
“Both.” I shrug.
“Me too.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
I shake my head and refocus on my homework. After a while, Caden joins us at the table to work on his AP statistics. He asks about a problem, and then Eli comes and joins us as we all discuss the homework.
“Why are there so many cars in the driveway?” Mom stops when we all look up at her from the table. “Uh, what’s up?”
Her eyes find mine and she widens them.
“I drove to school today, and it looks like someone intentionally flattened my tire. The guys were at football practice, and Caden saw me changing it and worried something else might have been wrong with the car. So they followed me home and then worried someone might be trying to find me alone and…” I spread my arms out to indicate the guys at the table and the one in the living room.
“We were just discussing our AP statistics homework.”
“O-kay.” Mom hangs her purse on the rack near the door. Her eyes linger on the empty pizza boxes in the trash. “I assume you’ve all eaten by now.”
“There’s some leftovers in the fridge,” Caden points out.
“I appreciate you boys looking out for Harper.” Pretty sure that’s not all she wants to say, but I’ll probably hear about it later. “I’m sure your parents are probably wondering where you are.”
“They know where we are,” Luke says, “but it’s late and we should head out. We just didn’t feel comfortable leaving Harper alone.”
Mom nods, still looking fairly shell-shocked to find four guys in her house. It’s hard to imagine her thinking of them as boys when they all tower over us. The guys pack up their books.
“Thank you.” I don’t know what else to say to them.
“Walk us out?” Caden meets my eyes and I nod. “Thank you for letting us crash your house, Ms. Davidson.”
She pulls out the leftover pizza box. “Thank you for feeding us once again. I’m going to owe you guys a dinner one of these nights. I’m making Harper’s favorite mac ’n‘ cheese for her birthday tomorrow night. It always makes too much. And we could use help eating the cake. You should come over.”
When her eyes meet my shocked ones, she realizes her mistake. She mouths sorry.
“We didn’t know it was Harper’s birthday,” Luke says as he stands next to me. “We’ll definitely have to celebrate it.”
Mom smiles. “We always have leftovers for days afterwards, so you’ll be saving us from ourselves.”
I gesture to the door before she invites them to a sleepover or something worse. “All right. Don’t let us keep you.”
The horsemen all say goodbye and assure her they’ll be here tomorrow. Fantastic, insert eyeroll here.
I follow them out the door and as soon as it closes behind me, I cross my arms over my chest and stop on the bottom step. They pause to look at me. I should be snarky and taciturn about how I really don’t need babysitters, but I decide to take one from my mom’s playbook.
“Thank you.” They didn’t have to be this nice to me. So I can be nice in return.
“About today…” Jack starts.
I shrug and look down at my feet. “I get it. No worries. I’ll let Mom know you guys won’t be coming tomorrow. I’ll park closer to the school so the cameras can see my car. You guys can go on with your lives.”