Chapter Ten #4
He thinks love is leverage, and maybe it is. Maybe Harper is the one thing strong enough to move me. But he made one mistake. He thinks moving me means breaking me.
Tonight, I’m going to show him what happens when the hammer learns restraint. And what happens when restraint finally ends.
The meeting breaks, but I don’t leave right away. I stand in the war room after the others move out, palms flat on the table, head bowed over the map. North rail yard. South road. West exit. Names. Angles. Lines of fire.
I should be thinking about strategy. I am thinking about Harper’s mouth in the morning. Her hand on my chest. Her voice saying she chose me.
The door opens behind me, and I know it isn’t Savage. He carries silence differently.
Raven steps inside and shuts the door halfway. “You always brood this loudly?” she asks.
“I don’t brood.”
“You stare at maps like they owe you child support.”
I look at her. She doesn’t smile. This isn’t a joke visit. Good, I don’t have patience for jokes right now.
“What?” I ask.
“She’s scared.”
My jaw tightens. “I know.”
“Of Reaper. Of the club. Of what wanting you says about her.” Raven steps closer, leaning one hip against the table. “Mostly, she’s scared she’ll become an excuse.”
“For what?”
“For you to burn the world and call it love.”
I say nothing because she’s right and I can’t argue. Raven watches me the way she watches Savage, like she isn’t afraid of monsters because she has already named the one she loves.
“You think I don’t know that?” I ask.
“I think knowing doesn’t always stop men like you.”
No, it doesn’t. My hands curl against the table.
“I won’t cage her.”
“Good.”
“I won’t make the choice for her.”
“Better.”
“I won’t let him touch her.”
Raven’s face hardens. “None of us will.”
There it is. Not club politics. Not Savage’s woman. Just Raven. Harper has made a friend even though she didn’t mean to. And Raven doesn’t simply let go of those she decides to care for.
That helps. A little.
Raven turns toward the door, then pauses. “And Steel?”
“What?”
“If you come back tonight, and she’s waiting for you, don’t waste it by trying to deserve her first.” I frown, and Raven’s expression softens in a way that looks almost painful. “Dangerous men waste a lot of time deciding they aren’t worthy. Women get tired of waiting for them to catch up.”
Then she leaves.
I stand there long after she’s gone. Because fuck her. And because she’s right.
When I step back into the hall, Harper is waiting near my room. Not hers, mine. Wearing my shirt again beneath her jacket, arms folded, chin lifted, fear tucked behind fury like always.
Raven stands at the end of the hall, pretending not to watch with Mama M beside her doing an even worse job.
Harper looks at me. “You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Rail yard?”
“Yes.”
“Do I get details, or are we back to tower-adjacent?”
“You’re staying here with Raven and Mama M.”
Her eyes narrow. “That sounds like being watched by women who could dispose of a body before breakfast.”
“It is.”
“Good point.”
I stop in front of her. Too close for proper but not nearly close enough. Her gaze flicks to my mouth, and mine drops to hers.
The hallway gets too hot.
“Harper,” I say.
“Don’t say my name like you don’t know if you’re coming back.”
“I’m coming back.”
“Then prove it.”
My hand slides to her waist before I can stop myself. She doesn’t move away.
Raven clears her throat loudly from the end of the hall. “We can all still see you.”
Harper flips her off without looking, and my mouth moves into an almost-smile.
Harper grabs the front of my cut and pulls me down.
The kiss is hard. Too hard for a hallway.
Too full of last night and this morning and every second we didn’t get because the world keeps interrupting.
Her mouth opens under mine, and I take what she gives, one hand at her waist, the other at the back of her neck.
She presses close, and I feel every inch of her. Every tremor. Every breath.
I make myself pull back. Her eyes are dark, lips parted.
“Come back,” she says.
“Yes.”
“Clear head.”
“Yes.”
“Preferably with all your original organs.”
“That one depends.”
She glares, and I kiss her once more, softer this time. A promise instead of a hunger. I step away before I drag her into my room and remind us both that war can wait only in fantasy.
Raven moves beside Harper as I leave.
Outside, Savage waits with the bikes. The club is armed and the night is waiting. Reaper thinks he knows what I am, and maybe he did. But he doesn’t know what Harper made me.
Not softer but sharper.
Not weaker but more precise.
I swing onto my bike and start the engine.
Behind me, the clubhouse door stays open long enough for me to see Harper standing between Raven and Mama M. Not alone. Not hidden. Waiting because she chose to.
I ride out with the club at my back, Harper’s taste still on my mouth, Raven’s warning in my head, and Reaper’s threat burning a path through my blood.
Medic or brothers.
Wrong question. And by the time I’m done, Reaper is going to learn exactly what happens when a hammer stops swinging wild and starts aiming for bone.