Chapter 28
The Blind Spot
Caden
The red clears from my vision when Tanner leaves and Harper relaxes into me. Her vanilla scent floods my senses, easing anger. Tanner Lewis at Harper’s house might as well be a red flag in front of a bull.
The guys work to keep him out of my path, knowing I can’t see reason around him. And fearing I’ll take it too far. They aren’t wrong. I’d like nothing better than to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze until that knowing, taunting light dies in his eyes.
Harper runs a smooth hand along my arm. She gasps when she feels my knuckles. They’re already swelling a little, but I can’t feel it with all the rage and adrenaline pumping through me.
I look at Jack, needing clarity. “What was he doing here?”
Jack frowns and glances at Harper. “Checking on Harper.”
Her attention is on my hand. She’s either really focused or avoiding talking about it. This is a pile of shit we can’t ignore though.
“You need ice,” she whispers, looking up at me with those soft brown eyes. That fucking caring tone in her voice will always be my undoing.
I sigh and look around at Luke, Eli, and Nico.
Luke is fuming. I’m not sure what Tanner said, I didn’t catch any of it.
My blood thundered through my ears and my vision narrowed to only Tanner.
Nothing else mattered. But whatever it was, it pissed off Luke.
Eli watches Harper with suspicion in his dark eyes. Nico? Nico looks confused as fuck.
“Come on, little nympho. Fix me up then.” I turn with Harper toward the door and guide her into the kitchen. I’m no longer amped up, but it’s slowly morphing into a need our girl isn’t ready to fill.
Nervously, she moves away from me with a glance back before she opens a drawer and gets out a kitchen towel.
The others file in and take seats, while she digs in the freezer for some ice.
Luke stands like the asshole he is, slightly in her way, making her go around him.
I lower into a chair at the table and watch her.
This is the first time I’ve seen Tanner all year. The guys are careful to keep him out of my sight. Especially after I threatened to kill the fucker after what he did.
But Tanner was here. For Harper.
That burns me deep inside. The betrayal sits uneasy because she may not know. If she knows though… if she knows and still let him close to her. Some small part of me would want to hurt her for that. I don’t know how to feel about that part, because the majority of me only wants to protect her.
She brings over the towel filled with ice and sits in the chair beside me. Our knees brush. She takes my hand in hers and holds the ice against my knuckles, wincing when she touches them like she’s the one with the injury and not me.
Her brown eyes flick up to mine. Uneasiness is in her eyes, like she’s not sure where we stand. No one says anything.
I draw in a breath and blow it out. “What did he say?”
Harper flinches and her gaze falls to my hand. Luke straightens from leaning against the counter. Harper shivers but doesn’t move away from me. He takes in every inch of her, as if he’s weighing her.
“He said he tasted her.” The words are clipped and damning from Luke.
She winces. Her hand tightens on mine slightly.
“And then she tried to slap him,” Jack offers.
When Tanner grabbed her, everything in me stilled, and instead of being the aggressor, I became the protector. For her.
Her gaze lifts to mine. Unshed tears shimmer in the light. They beg me to listen even though she’s not saying a word.
“It’s not like Tanner Lewis is an honest guy.” Eli taps his finger on the island where he sits. “We all know he’s after one thing.”
Nico shakes his head. “Not all of us know. Who the fuck is Tanner Lewis?”
Fuck, it’s my story to tell. “He’s a liar and a cheat.”
Harper’s startled gaze meets mine. So fucking innocent. If he’d ever had the chance to taste Harper, he never would have left her the way she is. She would be broken, because he doesn’t leave innocents whole.
“How do you know Tanner?” I ask Harper.
“He’s in my art class. He needed to sit close to the board and Kenz was gone, so he sat next to me for a class.
” She licks her lips, and a little of that mutinous side of her sparks.
“He said you guys did the same thing to his sister, and that’s why he missed the first week.
He helped her settle into her new school. ”
Jack scoffs. “Mia Lewis begged us to plow her, and she most definitely was not a virgin when it happened.”
Harper turns to Jack. “He said you all—”
“Nah, little nympho. Last year, she wanted to see what it was like with two guys. There was no coercion at all. She came to us.”
She returns her gaze to mine, more confused than before. “But then why did she transfer?”
“She got into a fancy art high school.” I lift my hand and brush a strand of hair behind her ear. A shiver works over her.
“He said you guys got him kicked off the football team and made him a social pariah.” She rubs her thumb over my hand. Is she even aware she’s doing it?
“Did you let him touch you, princess?” Luke steps closer. His energy is darker than usual. “Did you let him taste you?”
“No.” She straightens and looks offended. “I barely know him. Fuck, he offered to be my boyfriend, and even I know he’d only be doing it to get revenge on you guys. I’m sorry, but I value myself more than being someone’s revenge plot.”
Luke studies her like he can see into her, but it’s not him she needs to hear about. A rock settles in my stomach.
“Tanner targeted my little sister.” I take the ice off my hand and hold hers.
“What?” Harper’s brows draw together.
Standing, I pull her up and lead her into the living room. I sit in a large chair and draw her down onto my lap. “If I’m doing story time, I’m getting comfortable.”
She curls into my side as the others come into the room and find seats. When she leans her head against my shoulder, something settles deep inside me. Some missing piece I might never have known was gone if I hadn’t met her.
“Ava was fourteen, just before her first year in high school, when we were rising juniors.” I clear my throat. The memories weigh on me like lead, dragging me underwater. “She was here for the summer before her first year of high school. Mom insisted she go away to a boarding school.”
That house used to feel alive with her in it. Mom and Dad were home more often as well. It was almost like we were a family. Even with as cold as Dad is, it still felt better than the empty halls.
Harper takes my hand and her fingers massage it. I inhale. “She had a group of friends over, and the football team were all hanging out at my house.”
I never should have had them over, but the girls were all kids. I didn’t figure anyone would mess with them.
“My little sister was a kid to me. Fuck, all freshmen look like kids. It’s one of the reasons we made them off limits. It was different when we were the same age and fucking around. But once we were older, there were plenty of other more acceptable women to go after.”
Her dark eyes lift to mine, and all I see is forever in them.
A lifetime of this girl, and children running around, filling the house with noise and love.
That’s what I see in Harper’s eyes. Something few of us have.
The capacity to love. A future bright and filled with laughter. Even for dark boys like us.
“What happened?” she asks softly, like she’s almost afraid to know.
“Tanner brought his sister. Other girls were there too. Cheerleaders and some popular girls. Mia flirted all day with each of us. She wanted us to take her inside, which at that point we didn’t. It seemed pretty fucked up to fuck a girl when her brother was a few feet away, so we passed.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“We do have standards and rules, sweetheart.” Jack draws her attention to him. “It doesn’t mean we wouldn’t fuck her. We were being respectful because her brother was there. Mia Lewis is hot just like her brother. That’s a sandwich I would totally be the meat in, if he wasn’t such a douchebag.”
“Seriously?” Luke shakes his head.
I ignore Jack. “It didn’t matter that we were respectful. I didn’t know it, but Tanner started flirting with Ava. A secret flirtation that went on all summer, until Ava came crying to me.”
Harper takes my hand and squeezes it, trying to give me strength maybe. Comfort possibly. But right now, my insides are numb. The events play out before me as I describe them to her.
“Ava was shattered. Tanner slept with her and then dumped her. Worse than that, she found him with another girl, and they both laughed at her for thinking Ava and him had something special.” My fingers dig into the arm of the chair remembering her tears. She was crushed.
“They hadn’t used protection, but she was afraid to talk to anyone about it.
I wanted to take her to a doctor, but she refused, saying Mom would find out.
I got her the morning after pill, but they aren’t that effective, especially since she didn’t tell me until a few days after.
” I wanted to kill Tanner. Hunt him down and gut him like he gutted my sister.
The guys talked me down, saying it was consensual. Ava made that decision.
“She begged me not to go after him. Even after all that, she still thought she loved him.” I can’t imagine being that ignorant.
“But you went after him?” Her words are tentative.
“It’s not the end of the story, princess.” Luke breathes out.
“Fuck.” Nico pushes his hand through his hair.
“It’s not that easy. Life never is.” I close my eyes as I tell the next bit.
“Ava found out she was pregnant. She tried to tell Tanner it was his. He called her a lying whore and gave her a thousand dollars to get rid of it. Not only had she loved him, but she thought he might still want her if she was having his baby. She refused to tell our parents. She was fourteen years old and pregnant, and the only one she trusted was me.”
I draw in a breath and open my eyes, letting Harper see my pain. She wraps her arms around me and squeezes me tight, like she can hold me together.
“I took her to the doctor, and then she left for boarding school, heartbroken.” My voice cracks. I don’t know if I can continue the story. Ava is still at the boarding school this year. Over the summer, she traveled with our parents, so she hasn’t really been home with me except on the holidays.
“Mia came to us,” Jack fills in. “She wanted to take two guys. We fucked her and thought everything was fine until she dressed to leave.”
Finding my voice, I say the rest, “She told us her brother saw her flirting with us and went after my sister as payback. She laughed about it. Said how stupid her brother was when we hadn’t even fucked her. Yet.”
Luke leans in. “That’s when we made their lives hell, princess.”