Chapter Three
A week of having Rainier’s medical team and security in her house had Harlow ready to tear out her hair.
She wasn’t used to company—or men—especially bossy men with far too much testosterone.
She left before the sun was up, taking her camera and climbing gear.
She needed to be in the fresh air, far from any males who thought it was perfectly okay to invade her home and tell her what to do.
“I absolutely am no Stella, or Vienna or Shabina—especially Shabina, who seems to be able to put up with males telling everyone what to do at all times,” she announced as she loaded her gear into the back of Raine’s brand-new Jeep.
For all she knew, Raine’s Jeep was equipped with hidden machine guns. She wouldn’t be surprised.
She glared at her friend. “Rush is a monster, just so you know.” She put Misha on the back seat beside Daisy, Raine’s Jack Russell, and buckled the belt around her crate for safety.
Raine gave her a faint grin. “I won’t argue with you. Hop in and take a deep breath of freedom.”
“Did you mess with the cameras?” Harlow asked as she slid onto the seat. “I told them I was meeting you early this morning at the Sunrise Café because I wanted to take pictures of the sunrise.”
“Of course I messed with them. They’re playing a very long loop, so it will take some time for anyone to realize, and that’s only if they’re looking specifically. You asked for it, and I did it, mostly because every single time Rush comes around, he plays the doctor, and it annoys me.”
“Um, Raine?” Harlow sent her a little grin. “Rush is a doctor and a very good one at that.”
“Very true,” Raine conceded, “but he isn’t my doctor anymore.”
“Are we going to talk about your leg?”
“Nope.” Raine was decisive. “We’re going to go somewhere far away from civilization where we won’t be found. You’re going to take kick-ass photographs, and then we’re going to climb a boulder or two.”
Harlow nodded in agreement. “You didn’t tell anyone else, did you?”
“Our treacherous friends? Stella would tell Sam. Vienna would tell Zale. Shabina would go to her grave with our secrets, but Rainier has some kind of ability to read minds—especially hers. We are free.” She took her eyes from the road for a quick look at Harlow.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re hosting half of Rainier’s security force? ”
Harlow’s heart skipped a beat. Raine always knew everything, classified things no one else seemed to know. For her to ask meant she didn’t know.
“Rainier is being obnoxious over my safety,” she said. She wasn’t going to lie outright to Raine, but misleading her with the partial truth was acceptable until she talked to Wilder.
Raine kept her eyes on the road as they took one of the dirt tracks leading up toward a property no one lived on.
There was an old barn that was falling down that Harlow had wanted to photograph for ages.
There was also a set of boulders few knew about, even though Knightly was a climbing community.
Harlow had been working on the project on and off before winter had set in.
The boulder was considered a “high ball,” one over thirty feet.
It wasn’t an easy ascent, but she was determined.
“Have you received more death threats?”
Harlow sighed. “Two in my mailbox in the last week. One just said ‘die, bitch’ and the other said ‘coming for you.’ ”
“Did you turn them over to Rainier?”
Harlow shook her head. “I didn’t hire his security company. Quite frankly, I couldn’t afford it. In any case, I’ve gotten a few of those weird magazine cutout threats just stuck in my mailbox over the last year. I’ve never actually had anyone attack me.”
The Jeep bumped over several potholes and rocks.
Raine handled the vehicle with more skill than Harlow had thought possible.
There was no tension in Raine; she appeared as if she were driving a perfectly straight paved highway, not a rocky, pitted track that was nearly grown over with brush and weeds.
“Honey, you know if the contacts are getting more frequent, the threat is escalating. Are you certain they’re from the same person?”
Raine wasn’t going to like the answer. Harlow stared out the window. The light was just beginning to thread through the darkness. The pattern was beautiful, layers of gray and black streaked with light.
“It’s definitely two different people. One started about a year ago,” she admitted.
“The other started after Lawyer died, and he didn’t threaten to kill me.
It was just…ugly. I’ve gotten two from that person.
I already told you and the others about it.
” For some unexplained reason, just voicing aloud to someone else that she was hated for the death of a patient made her throat close.
The lump took forever to go away, so she continued to stare out the window.
“A year?” Raine said, pouncing on the very real threat. “In your mailbox?”
“Three came through the mail. That was right in the beginning.”
“You kept the letters and envelopes they came in?” It was a statement in the form of a question.
Harlow sighed. “Yeah. They’re filed away. With the senator being my father, I learned a long time ago to keep evidence of any threats.”
“What’s really going on, Harlow? You can tell me. You know I would never say anything to anyone. Why is Rainier really at your house every single day with a full medical staff? Why does he have guards patrolling around your home and snipers sitting up on your rooftop?”
Harlow’s head swung around to stare in shock at Raine. “What? Is that true? I had no idea he’d done all that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s going to be royally angry at me for taking the day off, isn’t he?”
“He takes threats against his family very seriously. If he knew everything you told me, he might very well have all of that security as well as a personal bodyguard. Since he doesn’t know, his men are there for another reason.
The fact that you didn’t know how far he’s gone to protect everyone means it has to do with one of his men. ”
Harlow ignored the assessment, but it suddenly occurred to her that Rainier would blame Raine for the two of them running off for an early morning photo shoot and climb.
Raine was the youngest of the friends, but always the one most responsible.
He would hold her accountable for Harlow’s escape.
She was always expected to be the one to keep everyone on the right path.
“Rainier’s going to be furious. I didn’t do this to get you in trouble, Raine. Maybe we should give him a heads-up.”
“You aren’t worried about yourself, Harlow,” Raine pointed out.
“Why should I be? He can get all grouchy with me, but he doesn’t have the right to tell me what to do. I’m not in your line of work.”
Raine sent her a small smile. “He isn’t my boss.
I get very tired of all the people who think I should always act a certain way.
I’m never allowed fun, to cut loose, to have too much to drink.
I’m always supposed to keep myself and everyone around me under control.
I get very tired of it. Mostly, after this happened to my leg, I realized I was wasting my life working all the time.
If I don’t do the things I want to do now, I’ll never do them. ”
Harlow nodded her understanding. Raine always did the right thing. Truthfully, she couldn’t imagine Raine straying too far from what everyone considered right.
“You did go your own way on your solitary backpacking trips,” Harlow pointed out cautiously. Raine had traveled the world, mostly on her own.
“Believe me, they tracked me everywhere I went. The General spent a great deal of time trying to get me to answer him when I made it very clear I was on vacation. You would have thought the world was coming to an end because I actually took time for myself.”
“You’ve always let them get away with pulling you in after you’ve said no to them,” Harlow speculated. “They got used to never taking no for an answer.”
“I did that to myself,” Raine said. “I made mistakes when I was very young, and it cost my father his life. I made up my mind I wouldn’t be so selfish ever again.”
“Raine, it isn’t selfish to take time for yourself when you work as much as you do.
Sometimes one needs to just breathe in fresh air and be with friends or alone in order to recoup.
Self-care is important for mental health.
” Harlow tried not to sound like a nurse.
What she said was very true, and if anyone needed a respite now and then, it was Raine.
She was in a high-stress job and subject to seeing all kinds of reports with photographs that would give most people permanent nightmares.
“When I nearly lost this leg”—Raine dropped one hand to her thigh and rubbed as if the leg ached—“I realized time was very precious, and I had to make changes in my life. I guess I’m still sorting out how to do that. And even figuring out what I want to do.”
Harlow fell silent, clutching the door of the Jeep as they bumped along the old dirt track.
They had taken the road to the hot springs, and a good seven miles past that was an unmarked trail leading to the property.
The road was very flat, and with all the wildflowers and high grass, they could have turned onto a meadow.
It was no longer marked, but Harlow had been out to the property several times.
“Vienna said the land is privately owned,” Harlow said.
“A lot of acres, but the family never lived here. There’s no house; only an old barn.
I’ve seen it several times, and it’s mostly falling down.
One entire side has collapsed. Since no one ever comes out here, the land has reverted back to nature.
Bears, mountain lions, bobcats and foxes seem to be here in abundance.
And we can’t forget about rattlesnakes. There must be a den somewhere close, because they love the boulders for sunning. ”