Chapter 29
The Inside Man
Caden
Harper plucks her lip as she stares at her phone. Luke watches her. He wants to step in and protect her, but it has to be Harper. None of us know what she’ll do. She’s been soft-hearted when it comes to us, but Sidney has been making her life difficult.
If we take care of this for Harper, she’s right. They’ll keep coming after her. She needs to prove she’s strong.
“How did you get these pictures?” She swipes through them, turning her phone occasionally. “How do you know it’s her?”
We’re all aware of what’s in Sidney’s file. Her parents are wealthy, but a few years ago, they put her on an allowance after she spent too much on a shopping spree. That’s when Sidney started on a webcam service to sell nude pics and videos.
She’s careful not to show her face, but that doesn’t mean Jack couldn’t track it down. Especially since he has access to almost everyone’s phone.
Luke clears his throat. “Her birthmark and the tattoo on her ankle.”
He looks uncomfortable. He must have gotten scolded yesterday too. I smirk. It’s weird but nice that she’s standing up to us. It’s no longer defiance. It’s morphed into a balancing act I’m not sure any of us will handle well. But she’s worth it.
We’ll all figure this out because there isn’t another option. We’re keeping Harper.
Her lips tighten a little, but she doesn’t respond. She turns the phone on its side. “Why pudding?”
I glance at her screen. The video is just feet squishing in pudding. Some kinks I just don’t understand. If Harper were into it though, I’d consider it.
“Foot fetish.” Jack chuckles and leans back on the bleachers. “Easy money and you just have to do weird shit with your feet. Wait until you get to the one with the banana.”
Harper’s eyes widen when she raises her gaze to Jack. She shakes her head and puts her phone to the side. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Whatever you want, little nympho.”
She meets my eyes and I’m considering having her in my lap still. My cock buried inside her. I don’t even need to fuck her, just feel her slick heat surrounding me.
A myriad of emotions flow through her eyes, but then her lips press into a stubborn line.
“I’m not releasing this to the student body.” She looks out over the football field. A little shiver rushes through her. “No girl deserves that.”
She’s thinking about that picture again. If I discover who did it, I’ll take them out. I hate to tell her but it might have been Sidney who released it. Would that change her mind? Or would she still take the higher ground?
How would I feel if she didn’t take the higher ground?
“You don’t have to release it to anyone to use it to your advantage.” Eli studies her intensely. “But if you threaten something, you have to follow through. Or no one will respect your word. If you say you’ll send it to the whole student body, if she doesn’t do what you want, you have to send it.”
That’s the messed up thing about leadership and control.
I can’t just threaten to beat someone up.
If they don’t comply, I have to beat them up.
Eventually, people take you at your word and fall in line.
They don’t test your resolve as much. But Harper’s going to need to put on her big girl panties to take down the queen bee.
She sighs. “It has to be me. I know that, but I don’t like it.”
Nico strokes his hand down her back. “Then do something you can live with, sunshine. Start small and work your way up.”
“You can do this.” I know she can.
She stares off into the distance again. “How do I set this up?”
“She’ll be in the girls’ locker room after school. Don’t go alone.” Luke leans forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “Take Kenz with you and have a chat with her. Start small, but you can’t be afraid to go big if she balks.”
Harper exhales. “What do we want? Besides Sidney to back off.”
“Who was she covering for?” Luke’s brow furrows. “What she meant by being a distraction and who helped her? My laptop didn’t just disappear.”
“We may need to remove her from her position.” I scratch my chin and look at Jack. “But that would mean putting someone else in power and Sidney would be less appealing to Zach.”
“Which makes you his target if you aren’t already.” Jack meets Harper’s startled gaze.
“Why would I be a target? He wanted to devirginize me and that ship has sailed.” She looks between all of us. “I don’t have anything else to offer him.”
“Power.” I blow out a breath. “You may not be queen bee with the popular girls, but you have our attention. We’ve shown them you aren’t just a pawn in our game. The guys will follow who controls you.”
She swallows. “I wouldn’t—”
Eli catches her chin and searches her eyes. “We know. You’re ours. But he might think he can take you from us.”
I scoop her up and put her on my lap. Not to fuck, but I want her close. I want to comfort her. I lower my chin and meet her brown eyes. “No one will take you from us, little nympho. No one.”
Luke
I take Harper’s hand to help her down the bleachers. We all move as one toward the school. Everything is shifting like sand beneath our feet. If I’d known all this shit would go down, would I have still claimed Harper?
She squeezes my hand and my heart throbs as she leans against my side while we walk. It’s not even a question.
When we approach the school, for a second, I want to take her away from all this. Bundle her up and all of us just leave. Go somewhere we can be safe from everything. But we need to finish high school, deal with our fathers, and go to college to make something of ourselves.
Even though Caden, Eli, and I might be cool leaving our parents behind, Jack, Nico, and Harper want to hold on to their families. If Harper is our future, we aren’t going to fuck this up.
“There you are.” Penny walks out of the building.
I still don’t know what to think of these girls, but Eli says they’ll be useful. I draw Harper closer to me. She smiles at Penny.
“Problems?” Eli steps between us.
She stops and blinks her eyes a couple times. “Uh, no.”
Her brown eyes lift to me. I narrow mine. I don’t like this girl. She keeps seeking me out like I’m supposed to do something or say something. I’ve barely interacted with her and I’m definitely not interested.
She shrivels in on herself like she’s not sure what to do next. She toys with her fingers and looks down at the ground. Coming to some sort of decision, she raises her gaze.
“I was actually hoping to talk to Luke.”
“What about?” Harper steps in front of me like I need protecting. It’s cute as fuck and I plan on making her come twice in the bathroom during the next period. I grab her hips and pull her back against me.
Penny bites her lip. “It’s private.”
Harper lifts her eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.
“I swear.” Penny swallows and her gaze pings off me again before meeting Harper’s with a pleading look. “It’s nothing bad. It’s just... private.”
The first bell rings.
“Looks like you’re out of time.” Caden pulls open the door for us.
“Uh,” Penny wrings her hands as the others pass her into the building.
I maneuver Harper in through the door and ignore the pleading look on Penny’s face.
“Wait.” Harper stops me and turns back to Penny. “Is it about the party?”
She shakes her head.
“Can you tell me?” Harper asks.
Penny glances at me before shaking her head.
Harper blows out a breath. “I might trust you, but not enough to think you won’t pull some shit. I don’t care if you think Luke is the love of your life. He’s not available. He’s mine.”
Penny’s mouth opens. She looks mortified.
I push Harper into the building. We meet the others at our lockers.
Harper steps away from me and joins Caden at his locker. She deserves a reward for the way she claimed me. I glance back and Penny joins the other girls. She looks visibly upset and gesturing with her hands. Her friends comfort her and lead her away.
Maybe she thought she could steal me away from Harper. Maybe she thought Harper was her in.
I don’t give a fuck. I’m done playing games with girls. Sidney was the biggest mistake of my life. I regret giving Sidney any indication that she might be special to me. When she was just convenient.
I gave her too much power and now it’s up to Harper to bring her down. If it were up to me, we’d be the ones bringing her down and we probably will. Harper doesn’t have the fortitude to do what has to be done.
But that’s what draws me to Harper. What makes me want to keep her. I don’t need her to be hard. I crave her softness. She doesn’t need to be vicious when I can be vicious for her.
We’ll see what she can do with Sidney, but this battle might come back to us.
I lean back against my locker and watch as the others say goodbye to Harper.
Caden leans over and whispers something in Harper’s ear. Her cheeks flush red but she’s got that eager look in her eyes. He tips her chin up and kisses her.
There’s no hot flare of jealousy. No need to yank her out of his arms.
But if someone else touched her, I’d make sure they regretted it.
Jack draws her into him next, giving her a hug. She snuggles into him before he kisses her.
Eli tips her chin up. “Set your wannabes straight, kitten. We don’t need any more issues.”
“I’ll try to figure out what Penny wanted.” Harper glances at me. Yeah, unfortunately, Penny might want me and that’s not happening.
“You need to know what the people around you want, kitten. It makes them easier to control.” Eli leans down and brushes his lips over hers.
Nico grabs her ponytail and pulls it. “We need to have some time together, sunshine.”
She smirks up at him and I don’t miss the sparkle in her eyes. “We do.”
He groans and gives her a quick kiss before turning to me.
“Take care of our girl.” He walks away.
I step forward to take her hand. She gives me this little secretive smile as she slides her hand into mine. Electric.
“So, what’s the plan, Death?” She walks beside me, confidently.
“Get the bathroom pass, princess.” This time, even if Sidney is in the bathroom, I’m fucking Harper. We both need a release.