Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
HARLAN
MARCH
Emma and I walked out of the culinary school with our joined hands swinging between us. Emma made sure the doors locked behind us, then stood with one leg crossed over the other. She was feeling awkward, and I didn’t want that.
“Is Liam at your place tonight?” I asked.
“He’s not, actually.”
I snaked my arm around her waist to pull her closer into me. “Come over?”
“Yeah?” Emma’s eyes sparkled and I couldn’t resist planting another kiss on her.
“I want to spend some more time with this really entitled princess I know.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious! Aftercare is important. That,” I gestured toward the school, “was intense. Let’s at least come down from it together.”
“Okay. But no motorcycle rides. I’m too wobbly tonight.”
I nodded. “Meet you at my place.”
I slowed my motorcycle as I turned onto my street, and my stomach sank when I saw a figure on my stoop. Perfectly waved brown hair curled to her waist.
Greer.
Fuck.
Emma tailed me in her car and looked for a place to park while I pulled into my driveway. Thank god she had that instinct, because I didn’t want Emma getting wrapped up in whatever the fuck Greer was up to. I opened my phone as fast as I could.
“Hello?” Emma answered.
“Hey, stay in your car. Turn off your lights. I’m serious. I think we need to go to your place, but I’m going to park my bike.”
“Who is that?” Emma asked.
“Harlan,” Greer called. “I didn’t expect you to be out so late. I’ve been here for hours.”
What was better? Engage? Convince her to go away? Or was it all bait, and I should just avoid her altogether? I didn’t hang up the call with Emma, hoping I’d be able to have another witness to whatever was about to go down.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Harlan, we need to talk,” she said.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “About what?”
“I just . . . really miss you. It’s been a few months, and I’ve had some time to think.”
“That’s nice,” I said flatly.
“I was wrong to doubt you so much.” She rounded her eyes at me, going for her best puppy dog routine. I’d always have a soft spot for her, and I hated to see her struggling. But she had hurt me and there wasn’t any coming back from it. I wasn’t falling for it.
“Correct.”
“And I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “Apology accepted. Please leave.”
“But, I think what we had was it for me.”
“Yeah? Well, it wasn’t for me. Leave.”
“Harley,” she started to cry, stepping closer. I tensed, knowing she was looking for a hug. A hug would lead to a kiss. A kiss would lead to sex. Sex would lead to her in my bed. My bed would lead to her never leaving again.
It wasn’t happening.
I balled my fists at my sides, slipping my phone into my back pocket. “No. That wasn’t love. I don’t want it.”
“You don’t get to tell me who I love,” she whimpered.
“Ha! That’s ironic, considering how much time you spent obsessing over who I did or didn’t love.”
“What?” She sniffled, leaving her tear trails on her face for dramatic effect. She looked thin and frail, like she hadn’t been eating. When she got obsessed about stuff, that’s what she did.
She wasn’t okay, but that didn’t mean I had to fix it. If I got involved, it would only lead to my own downfall. I had a right to stick up for myself.
“You didn’t trust me because I’m bi.”
“That’s not how it was!” she objected.
“That is exactly how it was. Because I can be attracted to anyone, you felt threatened.”
“That’s not true. I do trust you, Harley.”
I cringed at her nickname for me. Only my mom was allowed to call me that. Maybe my sister when she was making fun of me. That was it. Greer always used it to talk about how I ride motorcycles, which, ironically, I didn’t even have a Harley.
“My sister is engaged,” she sobbed. “It should be us.”
“I don’t know what your sister being engaged has to do with me, but I know that you need to leave. Now.”
“Harley, please.” She came closer to me and reached for my hand.
I felt trapped. Used. Commodified. I couldn’t even go to my own home without her showing up and demanding I be someone I’m not.
I needed out, now.
I ran for it. I charged for Emma’s car. When I got close to the door, she leaned to open the passenger door for me.
I expected Emma to do some dramatic “get in!” yell, but she just immediately and cautiously backed her car up and pulled out of her parking spot. My breathing was shaky. Emma had heard everything. She knew I was bi. She knew how fucked up my last relationship was on the inside.
Greer could very well follow us, and Emma seemed to know that.
She kept glancing at her rearview mirror.
There was a no-turn-on-red light leaving my neighborhood.
Emma crept into the intersection, checked our surroundings, and drove on.
I appreciated how she was breaking the law for me, but safely.
I should have known I could count on Emma to be a good getaway car driver, albeit a highly responsible one.
Once we were on the highway and headed for her house, her hand drifted over to pat my thigh. I put my hand on top of hers and squeezed, hard.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
“She never seemed like that when I saw her at team events.”
“Surprise,” I said morosely.
“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “Does she have help?”
“I tried setting her up with some people. She said she didn’t need help. She needed me.” I shook my head and pinched the inside corners of my eyes. “Before the last time I broke up with her, she had me followed by a private investigator.”
“She what?” Emma asked.
“She started sending all these messages to my teammates and their wives about who I was sleeping with, telling their wives I was sleeping with their husbands. Said she had proof from the PI.”
“That’s awful.” Emma’s eyes widened when she got off at her exit.
I whipped around. “Is she following us?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m going to speed up just in case. There’s a detached garage behind my house. I can park there.”
“Good call,” I said. “I don’t want her to know where you live.”
“I don’t want her to know it’s me,” Emma mused.
Emma went quiet and her jaw flexed. I could almost read her thoughts.
Liam. She was worried about Liam. It had already crossed my mind. What if Greer started messing with Liam to try to get at Emma, and thus, me?
Emma glanced at her mirror and sped up again. She zoomed through a yellow light, then let out a big sigh. “Okay, she stopped back there. I’m going to take the back way so it’s less obvious where I’m going.”
Guilt wracked through me. I should have just sent Emma on and stayed at my house. I shouldn’t have roped her into this. I was a coward and now her privacy and security were at risk.
Emma was quiet, eyes darting around as she maneuvered quickly. When she finally slammed her hand on the garage door opener on her visor, she let out a heavy sigh.
“You did good,” I told her.
She nodded. “Let’s get inside.”
We hurried through Emma’s backyard, and only when she flipped the bolt on the back door did her body fully relax.
I put my hands on her shoulders. “I should have stayed there and told you to go. I’m sorry.”
She looked confused. “I don’t want you to have to deal with it either.”
“Yeah, but I could have kept you out of it. You and Liam.”
Emma shrugged. “I think it’s fine. I didn’t see her car after that red light. I would have felt bad just leaving you there if you really didn’t want to see her.”
I held her in a tight hug, her face buried in my chest. Emma was protecting me, something no other partner had ever done for me. I kissed the top of her head. “I don’t think she’d do anything unhinged, but I want you to know that keeping you and Liam safe is the most important to me.”
“I appreciate that,” she said, turning her ear against my chest.
“And I think you probably heard, but I’m bisexual.”
Emma held me back by my upper arms. “I gathered that. But thanks for telling me.”
“I assume it’s not a problem. If it is, I should probably,” I thumbed toward the door, “hit the rocky road.”
She raised on her toes to kiss the corner of my mouth. “It’s not a problem.” She searched my eyes. “You know how you said that to ignore Liam is to ignore me?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, to ignore that part of you would be to ignore you too. It’s part of you.”
My eyes felt hot, but I smirked. “But you hate me.”
“Well,” she said with a coy shrug. We both laughed and fell into a hug again.
“Thanks, Em.”
“Of course.” She yawned. “Alright. I’m exhausted. Can we go to bed now?”