Chapter 7
Seven
Harper
“Mama.” Zeke is practically climbing out of my arms like a jungle gym as I wrestle him into the car seat.
I’m not used to borrowing Luca’s car, and I’m even more unfamiliar with Dante’s car that he loaned Luca.
“Are you sure I can drive this? Your dad’s not going to report it stolen?” I’m only half-joking. Dante still scares me.
Luca quirks a grin as he’s behind me. “I promise Dad said I could keep it. One of the perks of the job and you being my wife.” He leans in and kisses me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. “Gives me perks too.”
I snort and playfully push him away, just as Zeke climbs out of his car seat.
I toss my head back, staring up at the sky, grumbling. My son is pushing my level of frustration.
Luca’s hands are back on my hips, his breath on my neck. If he’s trying to calm me down, it’s not working. “You’re not helping. Neither of you boys are helping.” I’m feeling beyond a tad bit annoyed with Zeke going through the terrible twos, which is extending for longer than I’d like.
“Mama, no car.”
“Can I try?” Luca’s voice is soft and gentle. It’s his calmness that, for some reason, irks me today.
“Be my guest.” I walk away, needing to cool down, while he manages to talk to Zeke and get him to sit in his car seat. The next thing I know, he’s buckling the kid up without protest.
What. The. Fuck.
Luca has become the toddler whisperer.
After he gets Zeke buckled, he drops a kiss to his forehead and pulls back, that cocky grin only irritating me further. “You’re welcome.” He’s all smiles, glowing practically.
I press my lips together to keep from making a smart-ass remark, and Luca leans in, stealing a kiss. His hands snake around my waist as he kisses me.
I’m careful, my fingers gentle against his chest because I know the bruises are healed, but I still worry about his cracked ribs.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take him to the park?” Luca asks. “You could take a nice hot bubble bath, relax.”
My eyes tighten. I can’t stop myself from arguing with him. My hands ball into fists, irritated. “Are you telling me I need to relax?”
He smiles, his hands up in the air. “I’m saying I’m here to help. I’d never tell you that you need to relax or calm down. But you seem a bit … stressed.”
Luca leans in and kisses my lips, the tension inside melting away the longer his lips are on mine.
His hand snakes to my lower back, and he pulls me tighter, sliding his leg between mine and backing me against the car door. He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear, his mouth caressing the lobe. “You need a good fucking, don’t you, princess?”
The anger, frustration, all of it seeps out at the first part of his sentence, his words my undoing, until I hear him call me princess and sends it all flooding back.
Annoyance rains down on me. My top lip snarls, and he pulls back, chuckling.
“Worried I’ll bite you?” I pretend to lean in and snap my jaws at him.
Luca grins. “Only if your lips are wrapped around my cock.”
My breath catches in my throat. Just hearing him talk like that sends butterflies through my stomach and makes my skin warm.
I lean in, playfully tugging his bottom lip between my teeth, and hear him growl.
“Mama, what’s cock?” Zeke repeats, and I grimace.
There goes my mood again.
“Sorry,” Luca whispers and kisses my nose. He has the ability to bring the sunshine right back. I can’t stay mad at him. Not even playful mad.
“No, you’re not.” I kiss him one last time. “Okay, I need to go, or by the time I leave, it’ll be dusk.”
Zeke plays at the park for an hour before the wind kicks up and the air temperature drops a few degrees.
“Come on, Zeke. Time to go!” I shout for him, watching as he keeps running around the playground, chasing another little boy about his age through the sandbox.
From across the park, there’s a man in a long black coat and sunglasses watching us.
Or maybe he’s just waiting for the bus. Except he’s on the wrong side of the street for the bus stop.
He could be watching anyone or just standing awkwardly for the past few minutes, but it sends a tingle down my spine, a chill.
And the sunglasses with it growing dark feels off.
I hurry to swoop Zeke up, and we head across the street in the opposite direction, for the grocery store.
I grab a grocery cart, let Zeke sit in it while I push him, and collect the couple of items we need for dinner.
As I’m wandering down the cereal aisle, wanting to grab Zeke’s favorite for breakfast, the man stops at the end of the aisle and stares at me.
He’s not anyone I recognize.
Is it one of Dante’s men, sent to spy on me?
Send me a warning?
He’s sure as hell intimidating.
Is this some type of revenge because I ran off on our wedding day? That was months ago; Luca and I have been fine ever since. We’ve grown closer.
We haven’t visited his family as much, we’ve shared a couple of dinners, but with Luca’s injuries, he’s been home recovering on weekends, which is fine with me.
I opt to ditch the groceries and grab Zeke out of the grocery cart, exiting the store without buying anything.
Zeke doesn’t seem to know what’s going on. I keep my car keys in one hand and Zeke against my hip. I glance over my shoulder, and there’s no one around.
Okay, good.
As I approach the car, I open the back door, and Zeke wiggles in my arms. “Car seat time, buddy.” I smile and try to put on the happy, chipper face that Luca had, which seemed to work for him.
Zeke climbs into the car but then wiggles around. The kid won’t hold still for me.
“Zeke, I need you to sit in your car seat.”
“Don’t want to!” he protests.
I lean into the car, trying to strap him in with the seatbelt on his car seat, but he wiggles and dances his butt, pushing off, refusing to listen.
A shadow dances over the car, and I feel the stranger’s presence behind me. The fine hairs on my arm stand on end, and I involuntarily shiver.
His breath is on my neck, leaning in, trapping me between my car and the white van that parked next to us sometime after we stopped at the park.
“You really should buckle your son in, to be safe.”
I pull back slightly, his sunglasses reflecting my expression right back at me.
“Anyone ever told you to mind your own business?” I growl and forcefully stomp on his foot. “Back the fuck up.”
He smells of gasoline and something else oddly sour and acrid.
There’s not much space between the lanes, thanks to whoever parked next to me. He backs up against the white van, and the door slides open.
He’s not alone.
For a flash of a second, I can see myself or my son getting kidnapped, and I jump into my car with Zeke, slamming the door shut and locking all the doors with the key fob.
The strange man with the sunglasses smiles and laughs. He’s got two gold caps on his front teeth. He lifts his sunglasses and winks at me.
Fucking bastard.
“Mama?” Zeke’s voice catches in his throat.
He can sense my fear and likely my frustration.
“Everything’s going to be fine.” I’m trying to convince Zeke that we’re safe, but I’m trembling inside.
The man outside the car is laughing, and I dig out my purse on the floor and call Luca, collapsing onto the seat next to Zeke.
“Hey, Harper,” Luca’s voice echoes through the speakerphone.
My breath cracks as I try to take a few deep breaths to steady my racing heart. “I’m … scared.” I try to be brave, for Zeke. I don’t want him to see me breakdown. It’ll only upset him.
“I’m coming. Are you still at the park?” Concern is evident in Luca’s tone. There’s commotion through the phone, and I imagine he’s getting ready to leave the house.
“I’m in the parking lot at the grocery store, and this guy, he threatened—”
“Stay on the phone with me.” Luca’s voice is the only thing that calms me.
The asshole that harassed me climbs into the front seat of the van and gives me one last creepy smile and a salute before he pulls out of the space next to us, leaving me trembling.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, trying to regain my composure. I force a smile at Zeke, whose eyes are tearing up. “The guy who threatened us just pulled away.”
There’s more noise in the background of Luca’s phone, and I can hear Ashton and Liam but can’t make out what’s being said.
“Fuck. Tell me exactly where you are, Harper.”
“In the backseat with Zeke. The car doors are locked. We’re parked at the grocery store, in the last aisle, across from the playground.”
“I’m coming with Liam and Ashton. We’ll be there in a few minutes. Just keep talking to me. Tell me everything.”
I can hear commotion on their end, and within a minute or two, the engine of the car, Liam’s car more specifically, is impossible to ignore through the phone.
I recant what happened with the stranger, and I swear I can hear steam emanating from Luca.
“We’ll be there soon,” Luca says. “Just keep the car doors locked.” Luca’s voice is filled with resolve. He’s the strength I need right now, more than anything.
Liam’s muffler is broken, but it’s the sound of relief when I can hear it approaching from down the road.
When Liam’s car pulls up, Luca jumps out, walks around the vehicle, convincing himself everything is okay before he tells me to unlock the door for him and we hang up the phone.
Ashton heads into the store, while Liam parks in the abandoned space next to our car.
“Ashton and Liam are going to talk to the manager and have them pull surveillance footage. I’m going to take you home.”
Silently, I nod, holding back the tears, not wanting Zeke to see me break down.
My bottom lip trembles, and Luca watches me from the rearview mirror as I sniffle. “Do you want to climb up front with me?”
Wordlessly, I climb over the console, falling into the leather passenger seat. He reaches across, his hand finding mine, intertwining our fingers together.
“Next time, call me as soon as you suspect anything. Ever. Okay?”
“I just, I thought it was my imagination. You know how your father is. I thought he might be one of Dante’s men, but that white van, the threats,” my hands tremble and I inhale sharply, my voice quivering, “it felt different.”
Luca glances at me, gives my hand a squeeze but doesn’t say anything.
“You think it’s your father?” I ask. His silence has me concerned.
“No. I think there are men out there worse than Dante.”
I find that hard to believe, but I don’t think insulting his father is going to do any good right now.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Luca says, squeezing my hand again. “Liam and Ashton will get the surveillance tapes.”
“And if the store doesn’t give it to them?” I can’t imagine they’ll just hand it over to two college-aged kids.
“Everything will be fine.”
He’s far calmer than I feel right now. I watch as he drives us the couple of miles back to campus. I’m relieved when we pull up out front of the house. I climb out of the car, help get Zeke unbuckled and carry him to the door.
Luca seems a bit more on his toes, glancing around thoroughly outside the property.
“I’m sure no one followed us home.” I force a smile, but his worry is starting to rub off on me. And maybe it should. What happened at the park and grocery store was creepy as hell.
Does he know something that I don’t?
“The white van that pulled up alongside of me, it drove off.” I gesture to the quiet neighborhood, feeling safe. “No creepy white vans.”
“We’re safe now, Luca. Right?”