Chapter 12
TWELVE
HARLEY
A permanent smile paints my lips as I enter the house, not even the thought of being stuck in this town without the guys or having to deal with my parents' friends is enough to get rid of it.
I can’t help it.
Savannah has me so completely fucked up in the best of ways. She’s under my skin, in my veins, my bloodstream, my DNA.
I crave her, and I don’t even give a fuck.
The old me would try to distance myself from the unfamiliar feelings, but the new me just wants her.
Wants to bathe in her presence and revel in breathing the same air as her.
Call me whipped, I don’t care.
And I think she might be starting to feel the same way. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me. She’s holding back, but there’s something between us. Something so strong she won’t be able to deny it forever.
I wish I could talk to the guys about it, but it feels like something that should be talked about in person.
That, and I’m worried they won’t take me seriously.
None of them have ever been in a relationship.
I doubt Logan and Cole even know what the word means, and I feel sick at the thought that they won’t see what Savannah and I have for what it is.
I blindly walk toward my room, a pep in my step as I make it to the doorway. As soon as I’ve showered, I’m going to call her just so I can hear her voice.
It hasn’t been long since I left her, yet I’m dying to hear that sweet melodic laugh of hers.
Only, when I get to my room, a foreboding feeling fills me as I see none other than my father sitting in the armchair, a glass of scotch in his hand.
Dad never comes into my space, and he very rarely drinks, despite the fact he’s always attending functions and parties and whatever else he does as the Mayor of Boston.
“Dad?” I ask as I take a step inside the room. His eyes meet mine, and the look in them makes me freeze.
Something is wrong.
“What happened? Is it Mom?” I ask, my voice a thick rasp as panic flitters through me.
My heart races as I wait for him to spit it out. Was there an accident? Is that what he’s waiting to tell me? Clearly, something must have happened for him to be sitting in my room waiting for me, looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
A million different scenarios infiltrate my thoughts, and my pulse pounds as my mind starts to spiral.
“Sit down, son. We need to talk.”
I swallow and take a seat opposite him, waiting on tenterhooks for him to explain what the fuck is going on.
“Dad?” I rasp when he stays silent long enough for my hands to start fidgeting.
“Savannah Marks,” he murmurs, and indignation flashes through me. Is this about us seeing each other? Has he really been waiting in my room to question me about our… relationship?
Whatever we are, it has fuck all to do with him, so he needn’t concern himself with it.
“What the fuck—”
“I got an email tonight,” he states, cutting me off. My heart hammers in my chest, and my mind whirls in confusion.
“Okay…” I say slowly.
“It was from her father. It turns out he’s been keeping tabs on me for a while—he’s recently started campaigning for the next election. He sent me an encrypted file with pictures of the two of you. Pictures of me and your mother, and a hell of a lot of information he shouldn’t be able to access.”
Bile rises in my throat. I figured she had a complicated relationship with her father from the way she always avoids talking about him, but for him to do something like this? For him to take pictures of his own daughter and use them in… what? Blackmail?
It sounds like their relationship is so much worse than I originally thought. Who would do something like this to their own child? Their flesh and blood? It’s barbaric.
“What sort of information?” I ask because it seems better to focus on that right now, and I’ll deal with whatever that asshole is doing to my girl later.
My dad sighs, hunching in on himself. He looks old, tired, and more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen him. Whoever this man in front of me is, he’s not my father. I’ve never seen him look so defeated and worn.
“Your Uncle Jackson wasn’t a good man,” he starts, surprising me by bringing up my mother’s brother. We never talk about him, ever. She’s always said his death was just too hard to bear, so she doesn’t like talking about him. Clearly, there’s more to it.
He keeps going. “He did some shady shit when we were younger and implicated your mother without her being aware of what he was doing. I’m not going to go into all of the details right now, since all you need to know is that I was… terrified something would happen to her, so… I covered it up.”
Questions swirl. My dad should know my curious nature won’t be satisfied with not knowing, but there are more important things to focus on.
“Did you somehow fuck up while trying to hide what happened?” I ask, not in the slightest bit bothered about whatever it is he had to do. My dad is a good man, and I know he’d do whatever it took to take care of my mom.
You can’t always play fair when it comes to those you love.
He rubs a hand down his face, looking exhausted. “No, son. I didn’t. The only evidence was on my laptop in a file no one could access remotely. The only way anyone would have been able to access the information was from my computer… directly.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “So… from the party we had a few weeks ago? He was here then.”
Dad slowly shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t him who accessed it.”
Frowning, I jump up and begin to pace. “What are you saying? I feel like you’re trying to tell me something, so just go ahead and say it.”
I don’t get why he doesn’t just tell me whatever it is he has to say—the anticipation is killing me.
My dad’s voice is hoarse when he says, “The file was last opened four days ago, Harley.” I glare at him, hating the way he’s beating around the bush.
He’s not making any sense. No one other than our family has been in the house since the party weeks ago, so unless someone broke in, no one would have been able to access it.
Besides, I’ve spent most of my time in the house alone this week, since Savannah has been too busy. The only day I saw her other than today was—my head snaps toward my dad. He glances at me with a despondent look, and that’s when it hits me.
It hits me like a fucking sledgehammer to the face.
“No,” I rasp. There’s no fucking way.
She couldn’t.
She wouldn’t.
My father looks pained as he picks up his phone from the table next to him, unlocks it, and then turns it to face me.
A video begins playing, and I can see exactly what it is—it’s his office on the ground floor.
My knees threaten to buckle when I see Savannah entering the image and then goes straight to his computer.
“She wouldn’t,” I murmur, even though the evidence is clear as day. I can see it with my own eyes.
I stare in disbelief as she starts taking pictures of his computer screen while flicking worried glances toward the door. When the hell did she even have the chance to do this? We watched movies all day before… I fell asleep on the couch.
“Fuck!” I roar and resume my pacing. I run my hands through my hair before pulling on the strands.
What the actual fucking fuck is she playing at?
My body vibrates as all of the pieces begin slotting into place, and I want to fucking punch something.
This can’t be true. It can’t be.
“It is, and I’m sorry,” Dad says, making me realize I said it aloud.
I pause my movements and take a deep breath in an attempt to center myself before facing my father.
“What do we do?” I ask, and no matter how hard I try to compose myself, my voice comes out as nothing more than a hoarse croak.
I’m one step away from losing my ever-loving mind. I have to focus on finding a solution rather than thinking about anything else because if I let myself go down that path and think about her, then I really will lose my goddamn sanity.
“We do what he wants. I have to pull out of the election; he’s not giving us another choice. I knew he was trying to sway my voters, and I knew he was dirty, but I didn’t think it would come to this.”
“Why not exploit him as the piece of shit he is?” I grunt, affronted.
How can he just go along with us and give the asshole what he wants?
“Because if what I did got out, it would hurt your mom, and that’s the last thing I want. I’ll tell your mother this will be the end of my political career because I want to spend more time with her. She’ll never have to know, Marks will be happy, and we can put this all behind us.”
My jaw ticks as I take in his words. “And what if that’s not the end of it? What if you give in this time and he sees how easy you are, so he goes after something else?”
Clearly, we know nothing about the man. I always thought he was a savvy businessman with his hands in politics, but it’s obviously so much worse than he shows the world.
If he’s doing this to us without blinking an eye, then it’s clearly not the first dirty deal he’s made.
How many lives has he ruined, and how many more does he plan to destroy?
“I’ll take that risk. For my wife and son, I’d risk anything.” I know that tone. That’s the tone he uses when his word is final, and I know his mind is made up. This is what’s happening, and we’re just going to have to live with the consequences.
I collapse back into my seat, defeated.
“I’m sorry about the girl, Harley. I know you liked her,” he says as he stands, and I can’t even bear to look at him.
This is all my fucking fault.
If I hadn’t been the one to pursue her, she wouldn’t have had the chance to get into our home.
She wouldn’t have ruined my father’s career, and she wouldn’t have made me feel so fucking… broken.
Except… why the hell should I take the blame for this shit? She’s the one who deceived me. She’s the one who made a game out of something I thought was real, and she’s the one who stole the information.
And one way or another, she’s going to pay the price.