35. Harley
THIRTY-FIVE
Iwatch as he regains consciousness, his punctured hands causing blood to trickle down his arms from being chained up. His feet start to twitch, making his body slightly sway back and forth. A groan escapes his lips as his eyes start to slowly open. I finish off my whiskey, throwing the empty glass at his chest, making him sway even more.
“Time to wake up, boss.”
“Wh-what’s happening?” His body starts to flood with panic, now trying to escape the chains.
“Something I like to call sweet revenge.”
Motley and Weston chuckle from both corners of the room. Axel is now back into full consciousness as he continues to try to get out of the hold. I walk up to him, sliding down his pants to reveal his soft, short, limp dick.
“No, no, no, no,” he panics, trying to swing his body away only to be stopped by Winver’s body. She wraps her arm around his waist as she walks around to him, getting in front of me.
“If only I was awake to say those words,” she says, “maybe then you would’ve stopped.” She starts laughing hysterically, stopping suddenly. “Who am I kidding? Yes and no mean no difference to you. So tell me…” She wraps her hand around his soft dick. “Do you want me to keep going, or no?” He starts to thrash some more, screaming for help.
“Another word I wish I could’ve said,” she says, now starting to pull his dick in a way that makes me readjust at the painful sight. “I have something better to give you, though.” She pulls out the tomahawk ax Motley gave her earlier.
“No! Winnie! Please! I’m so–”
“Sorry?” She finishes his sentence. “Well, I’m certainly not.” She takes the tomahawk ax and cuts his dick off. Blood spurts onto her face, coating my heavenly angel with his infernal evil.
“FUC–” He tries to scream out only to get his dick shoved into his mouth.
“Are you in pain?” she coos. “I’m sorry.” She steps back, looking at him like he’s a trophy she just won. She looks at me with her blood covered body, giving me a faint smile before walking back to the wall where the guys stand. Weston and Motley make their way up to him.
With no warning, Weston lands a punch right in his rib cage making him cry out even more. He then punches him in the gut. Then again, and again, and again until finally Motley pulls him away. Weston’s breathing and anger fills the room. “That’s for ruining our lives.”
I smile at Weston. Watching as he backs up, Motley picks up his tomahawk ax off the floor. “This might hurt,” he taunts, holding up his ax with both hands then sinking it into his neck. His muffled screams have me smiling, admiring at all of his blood spilling out of him.
“I’ll meet you in hell,” Motley says, leaving with his blood covered ax as he walks back over to Winver, who smiles at him as she rubs his backside.
With the three of them having their moment, that leaves Axel for me. Well, what’s left of him. His eyes start slowly blinking. I’m surprised that he’s even still alive. Not for long. Looking at him, I stare into his soulless eyes.
“You dragged away whatever light was left in my soul that night.” My voice sharp. “But you took away an innocent life that night, too.” I take the gun from out of my waistband, holding it by my side.
“And now I’m about to take away yours.” Raising the gun up, I aim it towards his head, “This isn’t for me. This is for her.” I watch his eyes widen for a second. “May you rot in hell and burn with each passing second.”
BANG!
His blood shoots out on my face as I watch his body become lifeless. I push his body, watching as it swings back and forth. I stay where I’m at, dropping the gun at my side. All this time of hating him, hating myself, hating her, and dragging my best friends down with me was over. Our task was now complete, only to end up taking out our boss this whole time.
A hand touches my shoulder. I turn around to see nothing but the strong, beautiful woman that I’ve told myself I’d always hate, but am now starting to fall for.
“It’s over,” she whispers. “You did so good, Harley.”
“We all did good, angel,” I say, leaning into her. I devour her lips, not caring about the blood that merges with us. I hold her tight, not wanting to ever part ways with her from this moment forward.
I pull her away, looking at those brown eyes I’m growing to love.
“It’s over, angel. You”re free.”
“Y’all are never going to be free of me,” she coos, looking at me then the guys.
Motley and Weston push off the wall, coming over to us where we all circle around his swinging body.
“So, we’re done? Everything is done?” Weston asks, his eyes glossing over.
“I have one more thing I need to take care of. I’ll be going to San Antonio soon,” Winver says.
“We’ll be going to San Antonio,” Motley corrects her.
“What’re we going to do with the body?” Weston nudges his head.
“Bury him, I guess,” I shrug, having not killed anyone before.
“I have a better idea,” Winver smirks, showcasing her dark and twisted side.
“What is it, angel?”
“It’s going to have to wait. We have a plane we need to catch first.”
Breathing out a long breath, I wrap my hand around the cold, golden door knob. I don’t want to go in, but I deserve answers. In one motion, I push open the door and stand in the doorway.
“Sweet pea! I’m so glad you finally came to visit. Did you see your mother yet?” My father smiles, sitting behind his desk, oblivious.
“Yup,” I pop the p, my boiled-up rage spilling.
“What’s wrong, sweet pea? Did something–”
“You made a deal with the man who sold and raped me?” I fire at him, now walking closer to him. His smile drops, growing pale like he just saw a ghost.
“Now, I can explain–”
“Explain what? Explain to me how you saw a business opportunity? A pay increase?” I lean over his desk, getting right in his face. “Why did you let him go?”
“Di-did he hurt you?” he shakingly asks.
“No. But I hurt him,” I smile. He wheels himself back, opening up the space between us.
“What did you do, sweet pea?” he whispers with concern.
“Something I would”ve done sooner if I had known you’d end up making a business deal with the devil. So, here’s how this is going to go.” I walk around to him, placing my arms on either side of his chair.
“I’m going to go back to Willow Creek, never wanting to see you again. Don’t call me…don’t text me…don’t appear. The only thing I want to see is sixty percent of the hotel earnings hitting my bank account,” he scoffs.
“Sweet pe–”
“Shut the fuck up!” I charge. “You’re going to give me what I deserve or you’ll be right next to the man me and my boyfriends killed. What’s it going to be, Daddy? Sixty percent or six feet under?” He swallows down, clenching his jaw in the process. I can see the way his face turns from love to hate. Something I’ve seen once before.
“I’ll have it linked by Friday.” I pull myself up, looking down at him with a smile. Not needing to say anything more, I start to walk out when he stops me.
“You aren’t my daughter anymore. You”re a monster.”
Grabbing the door knob, I turn my head to the side seeing only half of him. I ignore his hypocrisy. Ignore the fact that he was going to make me the “star” of the hotel again.
“Well then, Happy Halloween,” I muse. “Oh, and by the way,” I pause. “If I ever find out that you monetized my mother or anyone else through my hotel, you are going to wish that you were dead by the time we get our hands on you.” I close the door without another word and walk back down the grand hallway. My mother comes out from the kitchen.
“You’re leaving? You just got here!” she exclaims. I give her a big hug, wrapping my arms tight around her knowing this will probably be the last time I get the chance to.
“I am,” I breathe out, trying to hold back the tears. She can’t see me cry. It would only make her grow worried and start asking questions. I need her to see me strong because she’s never seen me strong before.
“Stay longer next time will you?” she muffles, her head on my shoulder.
“Of course,” I lie.
We say our goodbyes as I close the door behind me and walk to the car where the three guys sit, waiting patiently for me. Getting in the front, Harley gently pats my inner thigh while The Apparition by Sleep Token plays in the background. “You did good, angel.”
“Thanks,” I smile.
“Should call you firecracker instead,” Motley says from the backseat.
“Onward!” Weston calls out as Harley pulls out of the driveway and heads towards the high way.
“Where are we going?” Motley peeks his head out to us from the backseat.
Shifting the car’s gear, Harley speeds up.
“To Pondling.”
We pull up to the theater that me and my parents once used to see plays at, but now sits abandoned. “What are we doing here?” Nobody responds, making me grow suspicious. I follow Motley and Weston with Harley now behind me towards the beaten, back door. My nostrils flood with the smell of black mold and decaying wood as we enter the eerily, dead air. Following the guys up to the stage, I take in all of the theater”s decomposed beauty. I look at the area where my parents and I used to sit and watch the plays, now gutted out with trash all over the place.
“What’re we doing here?”
“Getting closure,” Motley says, walking to the edge of the stage and sitting down. Weston tilts his head, telling me to follow him as I now sit in the middle of them. It dawns on me that this place doesn’t just hold my childhood memories, this place also holds their darkest.
“Oh my god…this is where…” I don’t want to say it, but they both nod their heads.
Noticing that Harley isn’t here with us, I look around the stage.
“He’s not with us,” Weston whispers.
“He’s where he needs to be,” Motley says, looking off into the distance.
“I can’t believe this is where it happened.”
“Nothing was ever supposed to happen. The only thing we wanted was a fun night. Me and Weston assumed it was a fun night until Weston found him.”
“You never saw him that night?” I whisper, as if telling a secret.
“We never met Axel, but Weston was the first to discover Harley. I came in looking for them a little bit afterwards. I didn’t have to ask, I knew something bad had happened. We had to drag Harley out of there. He refused to leave, kept on saying it was all his fault. It took him a while to finally tell us what had happened.”
I grab both of their hands, interlocking mine with theirs.
“And y’all wanted to stay with him throughout it all?”
“Of course. We’ve always been there for each other,” Weston says.
“And now we’ll be there for you,” Motley whispers, pulling our interlocked hands up to his soft lips, kissing my knuckles. I suddenly hear glass breaking, I jump down from the stage, pulling apart our hands.
“Don’t do it, angel,” Weston urges, “You won’t like what you see.”
“I see the same thing he does,” I say.
Following the sound, a faint light dimly glows the hallway. Running to it, I whip my body around the corner, seeing Harley’s tears stream down his face, holding a piece of the shattered mirror.
“Harley,” I breathe out, inching my way to him.
“She’s gone,” he whispers, looking down at me. I rest my hand on the side of his face, brushing away his tears with my thumb.
“Did she say anything?” He clenches his jaw together, nodding. “Do you want to tell me?”
Slamming his eyes shut, he wrings out more tears as he takes in a shakingly breath.
“That everything was done. That I needed to shatter the mirror to free her,” he swallows. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
I put my other hand on the other side of his face, looking into his weeping eyes.
“Goodbyes don’t mean you’ll never see them again.”
A few beats of silence pass between us.
“Am I a monster?” he whispers.
“Harley, the only thing you did to her was take her to the light. That doesn’t make you a monster,” I assure him.
“But I’ve been your monster, though.” I shake my head disagreeing, getting up on my tiptoes as I lean my forehead against his.
“Then how can someone with the darkest soul create so much light in mine?” I nearly whisper.
“I told you I was never your enemy, Winver. But you”re about to become my villain.”
I tilt my head back, confused. “Why am I your villain?”
“The villains always make people fall in love with them. Winver Sage….I think I’m falling in love with you.”