Chapter 1 #3
I’m starving by the time we get back to the townhouse and my stomach rumbles loudly as we walk up the front steps together, hand in hand.
Blushing like an idiot, I fumble around to get the door open, and Harley huffs out a chuckle, but I can barely get my thoughts straight, let alone string enough words together to snark back at him.
I’m running on fumes, and he’s too hot for words, but the bundle of nerves in my gut I’ve had for weeks has finally eased up a little now he’s here with me again.
When his hands grip my hips to steer me into the house, Harley grumbles about the weight I’ve lost and makes a beeline for the kitchen.
It only gets worse as he rummages through the mostly empty fridge.
I hate spending money on food when I know how little I need to get by, and when I stupidly say this out loud, he snaps back at me, “Well, you’re fucking eating now that I’m here. ”
With a sigh, I shove a beer at him while I make us both burgers.
Harley ducks back out to the car to get it parked securely in the garage once I get the remote for him, and he grabs his bags from the trunk while he’s there.
I’m busy with the pans on the stove when he gets back and dumps them unceremoniously in the living room, tucking them behind one of the couches next to mine.
There are no closets in either of the bedrooms, and I got sick of tripping over them real fast, but I still wanted everything I needed to be easily accessible, so this was the perfect spot.
The place isn’t some ritzy mansion but it’s absolutely ideal for what we need.
The kitchen, dining, and living room are all one space, and the two bedrooms are connected by the bathroom.
The downstairs area is made up entirely of the double garage.
I set the plates on the table, and it only takes me a second to grab more beer, this time for us both.
I’m not really a fan, but I need something to soften my edges tonight.
My senses are all the Wolf right now, the conditioning to hold onto that shield is a little too ingrained to slip easily into the only version of me that Harley really knows.
He can clearly sense something is off with me, throwing careful looks like he’s feeling me out, but I focus on getting us both fed.
He waits until I start in on mine before he takes a huge bite himself and groans. “Fuck, that’s good. What do I have to do to convince you to cook more often when we get back to school? Avery never makes burgers and Morrison puts fucking pineapple in them when he makes them.”
Every inch of my body recoils and I gape at him in horror. Without pausing my attempt to inhale my food, I text Blaise to express my disgust at him, forgetting it’s nearly five in the morning.
He sends me a little sketch he’s done of a wolf in return, simple and in blue ink. I love it.
Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I shrug. “I don’t mind cooking. I just leave it to Aves because it’s her happy place. Who does the ‘Stang belong to?”
He washes down his burger with the beer, setting the empty bottle back on the table with a shrug.
“Morrison. My da had one, but Liam had it scrapped after he killed him to piss me off. There’s only ten of those out there, that exact year and model, so I spent years hunting one down.
When I found it, there was no way for me to pay for it while Liam has my inheritance locked down, so I raged out and got drunk with Morrison.
I ranted about it all night like an asshole, but when I woke up hungover the next day, I found it sitting in the school parking lot.
I told him I’ll buy it from him someday, but he doesn’t give a fuck about money like that, and he bought it in my name anyway, so, I guess technically it’s mine.
Won’t feel like mine until I pay for it though. ”
Okay, now I regret waking Blaise up.
I nod and try not to think about my plans for his inheritance. It’ll only give me a tension headache because of how fucking tired I am. “What are you going to do after school? You’re going to college, right? I’ve never actually asked you what you’re going to do with those perfect grades of yours.”
“Honestly, I never thought I’d live long enough.
Avery and Ash both want to go into business or some other bullshit, and Morrison is claiming he’s done with school the second we all graduate, but he’ll follow Ash wherever he goes, for sure.
I probably will, too, so long as there’s a med program there. ”
My eyebrows quirk upwards at his tone. It’s not exactly hesitant, but there’s something else there in his words, something he’s not saying, but I don’t know if he’s tripping over saying them to me or at all.
God, I’m shit at this sort of thing, but when I nod slowly, my face carefully blank, he meets my eyes as if he’s preparing himself to be torn apart.
I take another huge bite of my burger, which turns out to be the exact right thing to do.
Swallowing roughly, he finally clears his throat and lets it out.
“My mom was in school to be a doctor before she met Da. He was a mobster from the Bay, and she was a socialite who had never even stepped foot in a grocery store before she met him. The two of them were polar opposites but… well, they really loved each other. Properly, like they’d have done anything for each other, only every person in their lives fucking hated the idea of them being together.
Mom’s parents cut her off to try to split them up, so she had to drop out.
After they got married and had me, she went back to school.
Her degree at Stanford cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Mom was going to transfer out to a different college, but Da wouldn’t let her.
He started building the family business back up from where Liam had been running it into the ground.
It’s what Liam and my uncles got so heated about in the first place, they wanted a higher cut of what he was doing, but he stood his ground with them for my mom.
I always knew that if I got out from under the O’Cronins, I’d get that degree for her.
It’s why I’ve studied so much even when it seemed pointless.
I’d… always thought I’d to go to Stanford, but I know you have plans to get out of here and away from the Twelve, so wherever you go, that’s good with me. ”
That tiny pause is telling, and I nod slowly as I sip my beer, trying not to wince at the taste of it. “Honestly, my game plan has shifted so much since getting to Hannaford that I couldn’t give you a clear answer if I tried. Doctors make bank though, so you’ll own that car in no time.”
Harley smirks at me, the somber air evaporating seamlessly as he takes a drink and then drawls at me, “They don’t make fifty grand in a night.”
My eyes narrow at him but the blush on my cheeks betrays me. “Surgeons can, asshole. Besides, this is not my career path. This is making do until then.”
He slings a casual arm across the back of my chair, pulling me into his side.
Before I can stop myself, I’ve turned to stone in my seat.
It’s like my body has forgotten what it’s like to have him so close, and it takes a deep breath for me to be able to relax.
It’s like in the weeks we’ve been away from each other, all the familiarity he’d managed to form during that last week of school, sharing my bed, has been wiped away.
Fuck it if I’m not the most damaged fucking option, why the hell did they pick me?
“I’m not just going into medicine for my mom now, you know. Going to see that old man in the suburbs and knowing he’s your primary caregiver has given me a whole new perspective on things. I don’t want that to be our only option when shit goes down,” he murmurs.
I clear my throat. “That’s actually smart as fuck. I wish I had a better idea of what I should do, it would make applying for scholarships a helluva lot easier. On that track, I have a whole list that you can apply for.”
He nods along easily, thank God, so I hope he will apply for some, just in case anything goes wrong with my plan to get his inheritance back.
I still haven’t told him I’m financially supporting him now, and I really don’t want to, but getting that money back for him would definitely ease some of the pressure.
The money I’ve earned during the break is being sent to Avery and put into investments so I can afford to pay for everything Harley and I need for the rest of the year.
Thankfully, Avery is a fucking genius in the stock market.
She’s so good that the inheritance she and Ash received from their mother has doubled since she gained control of the money.
When she told me, I immediately asked her to teach me, and now we’re investing my dirty money. I’ll finally have a legitimate income.
Avery sends me college brochures and course ideas daily.
She refuses to pick a school without my input, and when I told her I’d go to whatever school gave me the best scholarship, she said she’d apply to that school with me then.
No amount of arguing had managed to convince her to leave me behind, and fuck if I didn’t love her more for it.