Chapter 38
The Last Draw
Luke
I pace my basement, while Nico, Jack, and Caden alternate between watching me and the linked camera. My father had to work late. Not surprising, but at least it gives us a place to hang out without being hovered over. Caden’s parents have been home all week, but that won’t last long.
Penny is upstairs in her room. That’s the only odd piece.
Fuck, I should have insisted Eli and Harper come over here. What was I thinking trusting Eli to keep our girl safe?
The camera doesn’t show everything, but we’ve heard it all. Including the fact that Tanner is working with Zach and the drugs Coach found in Tanner’s locker might be part of a larger drug ring. They might be dealing or just moving them. We knew about Tanner, but not Zach’s crew.
“Get out of there now,” I growl into my phone. “We’ve got enough.”
Eli:
Wait
They’ve moved away from the window, but we might get more
“If you stay longer, you’ll get caught.” I want to throw my phone at the wall. Get in my car and drive to their location and grab them both to drag them to safety.
I don’t know what they’ll do to Harper if they catch her. Eli can handle himself in a fight, but not against at least five guys while trying to protect Harper.
Eli:
We need to find out their plan
“Fuck, Eli. Get her out of there.”
“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” Tanner’s voice comes from the computer speakers that Jack set up for the camera.
“Fuck, no. Eli’s probably balls deep in Harper right now.” Trace Masters. He’s a fucking pansy. “I can’t wait to take a turn.”
Caden growls and our gazes lock. Yeah, that’s never happening.
“Get out or we’re coming there.” I run a hand through my hair.
Eli:
When it’s safe to move
On the screen, Zach moves to the window and peers outside. My heart stalls. Fuck.
“When this is over, everyone will beg for us to provide order.” Zach’s smile is evil. “We’ll be able to do what we want with who we want. Maybe we’ll even keep the little bird to play with. Or offer her as a reward when someone does something good.”
The sound of a twig breaking fills the silence.
“Fuck.” Tanner jerks toward the outside door. “I knew you were followed.”
“It’s probably a dog, asshole,” Alex says. “You’re so fucking paranoid.”
“Wait until they come after you and then tell me I’m fucking paranoid.” Tanner leaves the room.
“Why do we put up with his dumb ass?” Trace shakes his head and drags on a joint.
“Because he has information we need.” Zach stares out the window.
I can’t tell if he can see them or not. I’m completely blind as to where Eli and Harper are. If I say something, it’s possible Zach might hear it. Fuck.
“Fuck.” Zach straightens. “Maybe the asshole was right. Check the perimeter.”
The camera cuts out. The connection ends on my phone.
“Get it back, Jack!” I stare at the empty screen. Nothing has come through on Eli and Harper. No text. “Fuck.”
I pull up the app for Harper’s GPS ring. It has her in an area near the house. I snag my keys, but Nico grabs my arm.
“What?” I glare at him and try to shake him off.
“If you go, they won’t get away.” Nico looks at the feed as it comes back online. The room is empty. “They’ll know Eli is there. Right now, they’re just guessing.”
“Eli will protect her.” Jack runs a trembling hand through his hair.
Caden strides over to the boxing bag hanging from the ceiling and punches into it.
“I’ll kill them all if they touch her.” I strain to hear anything from the monitor.
Nico releases my arm. “You’ll have to get in line.”
Eli
It’s past time to leave, but I keep hoping they’ll give us more information. The camera should be picking up the audio, but there’s no guarantee. I make sure the camera is hidden and draw Harper back the way we came, sliding along the wall. A snap fills the silence.
Her eyes widen in terror, but there’s nothing to be done now. A door slams somewhere in the house. This is why plans are important and why, while we were listening, I was checking the surrounding area.
I won’t let them get her. I should have made her return to the car in the first place. Made her drive off to the guys, left me behind. I can handle myself, but I can’t let them touch her. Fuck.
We rush away from the house to the neighbor’s, which is only a few feet away and has a decent amount of bushes. We slip between the siding and the bushes. The thorns catch at my shirt and jeans.
Harper doesn’t make a sound as we tuck in tight against the house in the dark. Tanner runs by. All we see is his jeans and shoes. He stops at the window and checks the area. We didn’t leave a trace except the camera, but it’s small. The darkness should help conceal it.
I’ll return in the morning to reclaim it.
“Fuck,” he huffs out.
“Did you really expect them to be standing here waiting for you?” Zach’s chuckle fills the air. “Even if they were here.”
Harper tenses and I draw her tighter against me.
“We wouldn’t be here if you would have done the one thing I paid you to do.” Tanner sounds bitter and throws something against the house.
“Raping a girl is a very delicate operation.” Zach sounds smug and it makes me want to fuck him up. Patience is hard when he’s talking about Harper. “No one told me she’d be having a sleepover with her friend and Luke fucking Foster. I had bruises for weeks.”
Harper trembles in my arms. I rub my thumb over her shoulder. I’ll do what I have to to keep her safe.
“You should be thanking me.” Zach leans against the house and pulls out another joint. “She wouldn’t even be with them if I hadn’t damaged her tire. They were done with her shit. Besides, you should have fucked her at your cozy little lunch.”
“It wasn’t public enough.” Tanner blows out a breath. “She needed to be destroyed.”
Alex walks up. “There’s nothing. No one’s here.”
Zach inhales and says, “It’s nothing. Probably a dog you scared off by running over here. Masters was right. Eli’s probably balls deep in that little cunt.”
He blows out his smoke and the smell of weed hits us.
“Don’t worry.” Zach slaps Tanner on the shoulder. “You’ll get a turn.”
“Like I want their sloppy seconds,” Tanner mutters as he walks away. My fists clench. The door opens and shuts.
“Aren’t we done with that sorry asshole yet?” Alex kicks at a stone and it rolls under the bush toward us.
I don’t even breathe.
“Nah.” Zach inhales. “We’ll keep him around for a while. He may be an ass, but he’s a useful one. Besides, someone has to take the fall for us. Do you know a better asshole to blame it all on?”
They walk away with a low laugh. Harper tucks her face into my shoulder and wetness soaks into my shirt. Fuck, I hold her close, letting her cry quietly. We’ll leave when I’m sure we can get out without stirring any more suspicion.
Luke
Zach and his crew are back in the room, smoking weed and playing cards. They pass around a bottle of vodka. It’s off season for them, but they’ll be back in training soon. If their coach knew about this, he’d have their asses in training already.
I pace the floor. They didn’t find Eli or Harper. Eli hasn’t reconnected his phone either, which probably means they found a place to hide. Tanner leaves after ten more minutes. That’s when the shit talk starts about him.
Good, no one likes that fucker. I’m not sure what’s left of Tanner’s that I can take away, but I’ll find something.
We never would have targeted his sister for what he did. No, if someone needs taking down, we don’t go after their weakest link. We go after them. That’s the difference between us and those guys.
They’re targeting Harper, not us. Like fucking pansies.
“Eli will keep her safe.” Jack’s confidence almost makes me punch him, but the guy looks tore up as it is. Dark circles hang under his eyes and an energy drink sits next to his computer.
“You need sleep.” I glance at Caden, who nods. He’s watching his phone like a hawk. Turning back to Jack, I ask, “Any luck on the mystery hacker?”
“Just an IP address.” Jack runs a hand through his already disheveled hair. “It’s got to be a high school student though. Sidney’s mom might have set her up with someone to break in, but this had a signature on it. Someone wanted to show off.”
“Maybe you have an admirer?” Nico suggests, pausing his screen. We’re on information overload. And I can’t do a damn thing to help because my mind won’t stop racing. Harper is right under their noses and they could find her at any moment.
And I can’t stop them.
“Great, just what we need now.” Jack shakes his head with a rueful smile. “A stalker determined to get my attention.”
“We just need someone else who can help you with this shit so you don’t suck at the game on Friday.” Nico hits play on his screen again.
“They’re moving,” Caden grumbles.
My insides loosen a little. I won’t feel right until I know she’s here, safe in my arms. My father’s shit can wait. These guys are coming after Harper without remorse.
I sit on the edge of the couch and stare at my phone. “Why hasn’t he called? Or she called?”
When Eli mentioned following them, it made sense. I hated that he had Harper with him, but we’d have a piece of the puzzle. The house was in a rundown neighborhood on the edge of town. Not a great area, but not a risky one.
They should have never gotten out of the car. Am I glad we have information? Yes. Was it worth the risk? Hell, no.
The door to the basement opens. I glance up and Eli carries Harper down the stairs. She rolls her eyes when they get to the bottom of the stairs.
“Now can you put me down? I’ll wash them in the bathroom.” Harper’s eyes widen when they meet mine. Eli lowers her legs and she stands on her own.
I take her in, starting at her head all the way down to the blood dripping down her legs. Before I can get to her, Caden swoops in and lifts her, taking her into the bathroom, but leaving the door open.
“For fuck’s sake, it’s only a couple of scratches. I can take care of it myself.” Her tone is exasperated.
Water runs. And I can’t make out what Caden says. The anger that’s been swelling inside bursts free.
“What were you thinking?” I shove Eli back against the wall. “Why did you let her out of the car?”
“Do you think I had a choice?” His eyes narrow as he grabs my hands, but I don’t release his shirt.
“She shouldn’t have been there at all.” I push him against the wall again.
“Fuck you. We’re all fucking working too hard. Jack looks like he’s applying to be an extra on The Walking Dead.” Eli shoves me, but I don’t release him. “We all want to get to the bottom of this. We all want to protect her. You’re not the only one who has feelings for her.”
“They would have hurt her.” It rips out of my insides. “And we couldn’t have done anything.”
“You can’t wrap me in bubble wrap and keep me in a box.” Harper’s words are soft and she presses her small hand against my back. “I’m not going to sit idly by and watch you guys run yourselves ragged.”
My hands soften at her touch and some of the fight leaves me. I release Eli and turn to pull her into my arms. She wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes me tight.
“I’m here. I’m fine. The thorns of that bush got me, but nothing else did.” Her voice is muffled in my chest.
I’m probably suffocating her, but I can’t seem to loosen my hold.
“You guys can’t just go after each other like that,” she says.
She pinches my side and I give a little jerk, but it doesn’t really hurt. I inhale her soft vanilla scent.
“They want to hurt you.” I release my breath, but not her. “I can’t let that happen.”
She lifts her head and looks up at me with those stubborn brown eyes. “We’re not going to let that happen. We’re all in this together. That’s why I went out there tonight. We need that intel. We can’t just sit back and wait for them to strike again.”
Caden steps up and wraps his hand around her upper arm. “Come on, little nympho. We need to bandage you up still.”
Caden meets my eyes and I reluctantly let her go. Her palm touches my heart before she turns to follow him.
“We were never exposed.” Eli brushes past me and sinks onto the couch, running his hand through his hair. “Tanner paid Zach to try to rape her.”
I wince. My gaze falls on her and Caden as she sits on the counter, while he carefully cleans and bandages her legs. It could have been so much worse. I wouldn’t know how to get her back after going through something like that.
“We need a plan for next week.” Nico pushes his laptop away. He gestures to it. “This is important, but we need to be at the top of our game if they’re coming at us all at once.”
Jack scrubs a hand down his face. “Half this shit is encrypted. The other half is above my paygrade. We need more help. We’re going to have to trust someone.”
I walk over to Eli and sit next to him, putting my hand on his knee. He lifts his gaze to mine and nods. I don’t need to tell him I’m sorry because I’m not, but I also understand he was just as stressed as I was. Probably more so.
“I don’t think I would have been able to hold back from attacking them.” My words are soft so Harper doesn’t hear.
“Fuck.” Eli drops his head in his hands. “I wanted to tear them apart, all of them.”
We have to see them tomorrow at school and act like we don’t know anything. It’s been bad enough bottling up Zach coming after our girl the first time, but knowing he’s been messing with her since the beginning makes me want to burn his world to the ground.
Eli lifts his head and looks over his shoulder at Harper. Caden puts another Band-Aid on her leg.
“We need to make him pay. It has to hurt.” Eli’s gaze meets mine and I feel it too.
I nod and squeeze his leg. Harper kisses Caden before hopping down off the counter. She comes out and sits on Jack’s lap, cradling his face in her hands.
“You need to call it quits.” She presses her lips to his. She takes his energy drink and puts it away from him. “Sleep tonight. Promise me?”
He shakes his head and gazes longingly at his computer.
“Promise me, Jack.” She ducks her head like a bull facing down a predator. “You won’t be any good to us if you make yourself sick.”
He lets out a harsh breath. “I promise.”
She kisses him. His arms go around her and for a moment it’s like the rest of us disappear.
I glance at the others watching her with Jack and I know they’ve felt it.
How she can be totally mine and still theirs.
How she doesn’t just give a part of herself to each of us, but gives each of us all of her.
Whatever I have to do to protect her, I’ll do. I’d take a bullet for her. I’d kill for her. She can take whatever she needs or wants from me. And if I don’t have it, I’ll make sure she gets it.
She rests her forehead against Jack’s before rising and going over to Nico. Leaning down, she kisses him and it’s no less passionate than when she kisses me or Eli or Caden or Jack.
My heartbeat quickens knowing she’ll come to me. That she’ll look at me like I’m the only one in this room. That she’ll give me all of her because she can. Fuck.
Eli catches my gaze as she moves to Caden. “Zach can’t touch her.”
My lips press together. “It’s time to burn it down.”