24. The Barracks
The Barracks
Jack
Football practice takes longer than usual, and I’m anxious to get home and figure out what’s happening. My mom’s text has me worried. We know Harper is safest when she’s with us. Except our fathers might have been a part of her father’s death. Including mine.
He told Sean about the meeting. I love my dad. The guy I know would never do that, but fuck, I don’t know who he was back then. What he might have been forced to do to protect us or to get out fully.
It’s complicated, but I hope that I can trust him now.
Also I don’t know what Jennifer told my mom about us. Does my mom know about all of us dating Harper? We talked about telling our parents since it seems like most of them, if not all of them, already know.
Fuck, I’m just glad I’m going to get more time with our girl. Plus, there’s the added benefit that Dad will be happy that I’m home more since my girlfriend is there. But the question is whether this is the right move for Harper.
Will my place be any safer for her than Caden’s?
“Are you going to unlock your car?”
I look over the roof at Caden. He has his eyebrows arched like he’s been waiting a while.
“Yeah, fuck, I’m just all up in my head.” I unlock the doors, and we climb in.
“I know, man.” Caden leans back and closes his eyes. “I’m glad Harper’s mom is back and safe, because that shit weighed on her, but I’m going to miss sleeping with her.”
“I don’t know if my parents will let her sleep with me, but I can’t imagine her off in another part of my house alone.” Shaking my head, I drive toward Nico’s house.
“After the carnival tonight, we’ll go to my house to pack her a bag.” Caden runs a hand through his wet hair. “I haven’t told her about the dress yet.”
The dress Kenz gave her on her birthday. We’ve gone back to see if there was much to salvage in Harper’s room and to clean it before she sees it. Most of her clothes were okay, but the silver dress was mangled beyond repair. She’s going to need a new one.
“Maybe the girls can take her shopping.” I sigh. “She’s never gone to a dance before.”
“Fuck, I’ve never gone to a dance with a date before.” Caden chuckles.
None of us have. We’ve shown up with Emma, Hannah, Ashley, and Sidney, but they weren’t our dates. Most of the time we didn’t leave with them. This is different. We’re going as Harper’s boyfriends.
“We should get her something.” I park behind Caden’s car at Nico’s house. “Flowers, or something pretty.”
“We need to go all out on this.” Caden smirks. “Because if everything ends up going smoothly, I want our girl real appreciative at the end of the night.”
I chuckle and get out of the car. “I guess tonight at the carnival I’ll third wheel with Zach and Harper if they have you guys go around the fairgrounds at all.”
“I never paid attention to this shit. It was always a Luke and Sidney thing.” Caden walks beside me to the door. “I don’t like any of this. It’s a way to separate us from Harper for sure, but what do they have planned?”
“Zach’s not exactly a color inside the lines kind of guy.” I swallow. Something I didn’t mind when he kissed me, but now it worries me. “He doesn’t have a lot of boundaries.”
“And he’s after our girl,” Caden growls before knocking on the door.
“With a truckload of date rape drugs.” Fuck.
We all watched Sidney’s confession. How she took the different ones to see how they’d make her feel. We already talked about not eating or drinking anything not provided by one of us that night.
Any of us.
She tried to drug Luke. They know we won’t let Harper out of our sights.
“Hello, Caden and Jack.” Mrs. Lee smiles at us. “They’re upstairs in his room.”
Caden glances back at me and arches an eyebrow. Yeah, if I had Harper alone in my room, I’d be fucking her. I smirk and shake my head. He leads the way to the stairs.
“Just holler if you want anything,” Mrs. Lee’s voice follows after us up the stairs.
Caden puts his hand up to stop me at Nico’s closed door. He smirks at me as he leans in to listen. Carefully, he turns the knob and opens the door.
Whatever he sees, he just shakes his head and walks in. They’re on the bed, but fully clothed and asleep. Harper is curled over his good side and Nico has his injured knee elevated with his arm around her, holding her close.
“I’d like to say I wouldn’t do the same, but...” The energy drinks are only doing so much right now. They keep me awake, but mentally, I’m a little foggy. I need a good night’s sleep.
Caden jerks on Nico’s uninjured ankle. Nico startles awake and glares at him. But Caden just chuckles.
“Busy night tonight.” Caden keeps his voice low to not wake Harper. “You get reconnaissance.”
Nico sighs. His hand rubs up and down Harper’s back. “I’d rather be there to help protect her.”
“This is how you protect her.” I sit beside them on the bed and slide my hand over Harper’s hip. “We need all the information we can get to take Sidney out. She won’t go down easy and she’s going to try to wreak havoc the whole way out.”
Ashley agreed to wear a wire tonight. We need to figure out if Sidney has more details for her plan for Harper at the dance and how they might conflict with Zach’s plans. The divide between Sidney and the other cheerleaders has become more obvious.
Our hope is that it will make the transition easy. Ashley isn’t someone we can control, but we have mutual goals. At least for now. She doesn’t have a reason to want to destroy Harper. As long as Eli’s plan goes off without a hitch.
Nico nods and rests his head on the pillows, staring at the ceiling.
“I’ll have my eyes on Harper the whole time,” I say.
Nico chuckles. “You need to sleep for like a weekend to recover.”
The guys keep saying that. Even Caden nods in agreement.
It’s up to me to unlock all these mysteries.
Yeah, the guys can look through pictures and Eli has enough business knowledge to look over the unencrypted files, but someone has to unencrypt them.
And while I can have Will Frank work on some stuff, he’s doing it because I bought him.
Not out of any sense of loyalty. So what I give him can’t be anything I know might have information we’re desperate for.
Harper stretches under my hand. I meet her brown eyes, and she smiles.
“Hey, Jack.”
I love when she’s warm and sleepy like this. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Is it time for dinner?” She doesn’t move her head off Nico’s chest as she watches me.
“Yeah, you ready to go?” I stand and back up from the bed as she stretches. She leans over and kisses Nico. His hand cups the back of her head to keep her there for a moment.
When he lets her pull away, he smirks. “I like napping with you, sunshine.”
“Me too.” Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes dilated.
She grabs her shoes and slides them on.
“I would have found other ways to keep her entertained.” Caden leans against the wall with his arms crossed.
She smiles at him and shakes her head. “It doesn’t always have to be about sex, War.”
He shrugs and she laughs. She crosses the room and puts her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. He holds her against him.
“Thanks for letting me use your car.”
“Any time, little nympho.” His hand rubs down her back.
She pushes away. Her gaze goes to Nico. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Then she’s in front of me and holding out her hand. When I take it, I bring her knuckles to my lips and press a kiss to them.
“You ready, sweetheart?”
She nods.
Harper
Standing outside Jack’s house, I wring my hands together. I’m not sure I’m ready for this, but I don’t have a lot of choices. Besides, according to all the guys, Jack’s parents are the most normal and loving.
“They’ll love you, sweetheart.” Jack kisses my temple and opens the door.
Fuck, I hope so.
The smell coming from the kitchen is divine, and my stomach rumbles. Jack chuckles.
“Come on.” He pulls me by my hand into the kitchen.
His father looks up from the stove and smiles. Setting the spoon on a plate, he wipes his hands off on a towel. “This must be Harper. I’ve heard so much about you.”
I take his offered hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Hill.”
“You can call me Robert.” He glances at Jack and then smiles at me. I can see Jack in his smile and it reassures me a little. “Your moms are in the living room.”
When Jack reclaims my hand, he leads me into the living room. I have to be crushing his hand I’m squeezing it so tight.
Their low voices silence at our approach. When Mom’s eyes meet mine, she stands and opens her arms. I don’t hesitate to go into them. She hugs me, and at least this time I don’t cry.
I’m aware of Jack following me and Dr. Hill rising, but right now I just want to tell my mom everything we’ve found out and everything we have yet to uncover. But we’re still being watched and listened to. Nowhere is truly safe.
Mom holds me away from her, and her eyes sparkle. “Cathy, this is my daughter, Harper.”
Cathy smiles and holds out her hand. “I met you when you were about four for the first time.”
I shake her hand. If there’s a memory attached to that, it’s long gone. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Why don’t we sit and talk before Lucy finds out you’re here.” Cathy and Mom take their seats. “She’s been ‘cleaning her room’ since she found out you’d be staying with us.”
Jack pulls me down on the couch beside him. “She’s not staying in Lucy’s room.”
His mom laughs. “No, I don’t think she’ll fit on Lucy’s bed or on Lucy’s floor, even if Lucy figures out where to hide all her stuffed animals.”
My mom clears her throat, and I tense. “Cathy knows that we’ve been having issues, and that’s why we’re here and not home.
” Her eyes meet mine. “We’ve discussed it, and while we’re not condoning anything other than sleeping, we think it’d be safest for you to sleep in Jack’s room when he’s here.
If he’s not here, we’ll figure out something else so that you aren’t alone. ”
My cheeks are burning. I don’t know what to say. Their logic is solid, and I’m glad I don’t have to sneak around at night to get to Jack from wherever they put me, but I didn’t really expect them to straight up put me in his room.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
“Have you been home?” Jack asks my mom.
She nods and glances at me. “You’re going to need a new dress for the dance, sweetie. Whoever broke in destroyed the one Kenz gave you.”
“Oh.” I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know what happened in the house. Whatever happened, the guys didn’t want me to see, and I was so shell-shocked I didn’t think about it. I’m sure that’s not all of the damage. “I guess I’ll need to get one tomorrow.”
“We can go after school if you’d like.” Mom smiles. “I can pick you and Kenz up. It might be nice to do a little girl time with everything happening.”
“Lucy and I do dress shopping once a month.” Cathy smiles, and her pale blue eyes light up.
They aren’t the vibrant shade of Jack’s or his father’s, but they’re beautiful and kind.
“Robert might love being a stay-at-home dad, but there are some things Lucy and I like to do together. Besides, Robert is excellent at braids and nail polish.”
“Are you giving away all my secrets?” The smile is evident in Robert’s voice. He comes in and stands next to Cathy’s chair. “I also cook a mean dinner and make the best sundaes ever. According to Lucy, at least. But between you and me, she’s a sucker for chocolate.”
“Isn’t everyone a sucker for chocolate?” Jack chuckles.
“Just a second.” Touching his wife’s shoulder, Robert steps away and disappears down the hallway.
“We have a few seconds before Lucy gets here.” Cathy leans in. “You know if you need any help...”
“I know, Mom.” Jack releases a breath.
She nods and her lips thin after she studies him. “Maybe sleep more? All that caffeine can’t be good for your heart.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get sleep now.” Jack squeezes my hand.
I still can’t believe they’re going to let us sleep together. I expect a nanny cam or leaving the door open, but no one says anything.
Little footsteps pound down the hallway, and something jingles like bells. “Jacky!”
“Hey, Lucy!” He stands, releasing my hand, and a fluffy princess in purple hurls herself into his arms. She giggles as he lifts her and tosses her in the air slightly.
He sets her down, and the most perfect little replica of Jack turns her pretty blue eyes on me. My heart stops at the beautiful creature before me.
“I’m Lucy.” She curtsies, holding her poofy skirt out to her sides.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lucy. I’m Harper.”
She twists side-to-side with a big grin. “Do you want to see my room?”
“I’d love to see your room.”
When she grabs my hand, Robert shakes his head. “After dinner, Lucy.”
She pouts, but then changes course with me, heading to the dining room probably. “You can sit next to me.”
I glance back at Jack, and his smile is soft. He loves his sister. When his gaze lifts to mine, I know he loves me too. A little thrill winds through me. This already feels one hundred times better than dinner with Luke’s dad.
My mom and Cathy chat about work on the way into the dining room. Jack grabs the chair on the other side of me. Robert comes in, and his eyes, just like Lucy’s and Jack’s, study me.
What does he see? Sean’s daughter? His son’s girlfriend? Or maybe someone he needs information from? Because isn’t that what all the fathers want from me? Information?