40. The Regrouping
The Regrouping
Harper
Eli looks through the glass. Our gazes connect and everything inside me stills. They came. Luke took off after Sidney and Zach, and then Caden took off after Luke.
“Pull and I’ll push.” Eli has the other three guys lined up along the lockers with their hands bound behind them. He used their own masks to do it. Three guys on the basketball team. The guys I saw talking to Sidney at Senior night that were also at the drug house.
Ashley and I do our best to inch the desk away from the door. When the door opens enough, Eli slides in. We all push the desk away from the door so we can get out.
When we straighten, Eli drags me into his arms and holds me against him.
“Fuck,” he whispers into my hair. He holds me so fucking tight.
I agree as I cling to him. Seriously. I’m so done with Zach and Sidney’s plotting against me. Can we just be done? Jack leads the Coach and some police into the locker room.
Eli touches Ashley’s shoulder. “Thanks for helping my girl.”
“Anytime.” She smiles, but there’s some sadness there. She might have thought there would be more between them when they were together. But unlike Sidney, she seems to have let it go.
She slips down the aisle to grab her shirt.
Jack takes me into his arms as Eli explains what happened to the officers.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Jack runs his hand up and down my spine. I shiver in his arms as all the adrenaline crashes in my system.
Fuck is right. I’m exhausted.
“Nico?” I jerk away to look into Jack’s eyes.
He smooths my hair from my face. “He’s fine. They checked him for a concussion. The guys knocked him out. He has a bump on his head, but otherwise, he’s doing okay. The girls are with him. Everyone is in one piece.”
I nod, but snuggle into his heat, because suddenly I’m freezing.
“We’ll need to get your statements.” A police officer pauses behind me.
“Can we drive her and the other girls down to the station?” Jack asks.
“Within the hour,” the officer states.
“Yes, sir.” Jack rubs the tear streaks off my face as his gaze falls to me to look me over. “He didn’t get to you?”
I shake my head, but the shaking won’t stop. It’s like I’m in a freezer and can’t get warm.
A police officer comes from the shower room, leading Zach. Zach smirks at me as he passes and winks. I bury my face in Jack’s chest. I’ve been strong long enough. Right now I want to hide and be protected. I need to feel protected.
Jack doesn’t release me. I can hear others going by as they take the basketball players and Sidney out. I know Ashley is still here. The coach goes by and reminds Jack and Eli to change before heading home.
Fuck. I didn’t even ask about the game.
“What happened?” I lift my head and look at Jack. His hair is plastered to his head with sweat.
“The lights went out everywhere. The fair. The school. And the field.”
I’m surprised when Caden wraps his arms around me and kisses my head. “If you have a single bruise—”
“I’m good.” I lean into his warmth. Both of them smell sweaty, but good. I’m still shaky, but I’m feeling better. I turn to see Luke.
Luke brushes his hand over my jaw, and his pale blue eyes lock on mine. For a moment, it’s like he can see exactly what I went through. Like he can hold me together even though I’m about to fall apart.
“This ends tonight,” Luke says.
Another chill races through me. Zach’s being taken to the police station, and so is Sidney and the others. Doesn’t that mean this is over?
The guys get changed while I sit with Nico and the others. Emma and Ashley talk quietly a few feet away from Kenz, Penny, Nico, and I.
“So is that it?” Penny says. “Is it over?”
I wish I could say yes, but something stops me. “Even if he gets charged for the lights and attempted assault, he’ll make bail.”
“He should be held up overnight at least, right?” Kenz blows out a breath. “I wish we could prove it’s always been him. All those other things that happened. Then we could at least get a restraining order.”
A restraining order would only do good if he abided by it. Which given his cockiness, I don’t think Zach would.
“The only way to stop a guy like that is jail time.” Nico rests his head against the wall and closes his eyes. “Not that he’ll get any. He has no priors. I doubt he has drugs on him currently. And he can say it was a prank. He might get a fine and a slap on the hand.”
Nico looks pale.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t take you to the hospital?” I squeeze his hand. “They could make sure you don’t need anything else. And it’s proof of your assault.”
“I’m good. Just tired. They only nicked me, and I don’t have a concussion. I don’t want to be away from you.”
I press my lips together, but it’s his decision. “Is the ice pack still cold?”
The EMT gave him an instant ice pack to keep on the wound.
“Yeah.” Nico rolls his head and opens his eyes. “I’m good, sunshine. Honest. I just wish I would have been able to take one of them out first. They came up from behind. I didn’t even hear them.”
A shiver rolls over me. I’m still not warm enough, but at least I’m not shaking anymore. I lean my head against his shoulder and blow out a breath. They didn’t do anything to my dress or the other girls’ outfits. One less thing to worry about. They didn’t really have time.
I’m ready to just go to sleep, but we need to go down to the station and give our statements. I don’t know what the others saw and we haven’t really discussed it, but Penny keeps rubbing her arm like it hurts.
When I look over at Ashley, she lifts her gaze to mine. We’re not suddenly friends, but we’re also not enemies right now. I believe Eli when he says she’s on our side. She had no reason to help me tonight if she wanted Eli back.
A shiver rolls through me again. Nico rubs my shoulder. “We need to warm you up.”
“It’s the crash.” I snuggle into him though. Do the other girls feel it too? Like we were so amped up and now the danger is over. I just want to sleep.
Eli
“We aren’t just going to let this go too, right?” I say. We’re tucked away in our corner of the locker room. “We don’t know who else he has on his side.”
I glance toward the other players getting ready in the dim light from the emergency lights. Coach said they were working on the backup generator, but it might be a while.
The shower was still warm, but we were told to make it quick so we didn’t run out of hot water.
“He’s been coming after our girl. It’s time to end this.” Jack looks up from the bench where he’s tying his shoes.
“We need to go back through things while he’s busy in the legal system.” Luke runs a hand through his wet hair. “He said our lists of sins can’t be that long. That one of us or all of us did something to make him come after our weakness.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Caden glares. He’s ripe for a fight and isn’t going to get one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he started one at the party tonight.
Fuck, we all need to blow off some steam. And I don’t think fucking Harper is going to cut this aggression tonight. We might need to see if anyone else is in the mood to fight.
“It means we haven’t dug deep enough.” I slam my locker shut. “It means we’ve been spending too much time thinking with our dicks and not enough time strategizing.”
I’m calling us all out, because all of us have been caught up in Harper from the start. She makes it easy to lose ourselves in her, but even when we’ve focused on our problems, we always get drawn back to her.
No one disputes me. We’ve asked it before but, “Why now?”
Luke lifts his gaze to mine. “Because we have something someone can take from us.”
“But if he’s been after her since that first football game, she wasn’t as important to us then.” Jack rests his head against the row of lockers. “And that knocking shit was just to freak her out.”
“But it did make us closer to her. More protective.” Luke grabs his bag. “The tire...”
“Maybe they thought we were done with her too.” I gather my stuff. “What if that’s not what they wanted?”
“What if they wanted us deeper into this before they struck?” Caden nods like he’s considering this from every angle.
“Tonight we mingle.” I straighten and look at each of my friends. “Someone stays with Nico and Harper, but the rest of us need to figure out what we can. Someone knows something. We just haven’t been open to listen.”
The others nod. Fuck. Tonight’s been rough and I don’t see it getting better. But tomorrow night, we’ll focus all our attention on Harper and giving her a night she’ll never forget.
“It’s time we lead again.” I meet each of their eyes. “Zach’s making a power play, but we can put an end to that by being the leaders they need.”
Luke
This is probably the hardest part of being in this relationship. When we come out of the locker room, Harper is asleep against Nico. Caden reaches her first and lifts her into his arms.
If we could have, I would have brought her into the locker room while we showered and changed, but we weren’t the only ones in there. I want to be the one that holds her, but that’s part of our relationship.
I’m not about to fight Caden over who should carry her. Instead, I go with Eli to Nico and help him stand while Jack gives him his crutches.
The other girls rise and look at us.
I glance over them. “Everyone okay?”
Penny nods. “Thanks to Emma.”
Her gaze goes to Emma, who smiles and straightens.
“That asshole was lucky I went for his throat and not his dick.” Emma crosses her arms and her smile is satisfied. “Not that I’d be able to find it.”
She lifts her pinky and frowns at it. Kenz laughs.
“Sorry,” Kenz says and takes a breath. “Yeah, we’re all good. We were going to come for help when you guys showed up.”
I nod. “Harper’s lucky to have you guys as friends.”
I turn my gaze to Emma and Ashley. “Thank you. This could have gone worse if it hadn’t been for you two.”
“Yeah, well,” Ashley pushes her hair over her shoulder. “Sidney’s gone fucking crazy since you kicked her to the curb. And while I was okay with intimidation tactics, full-on assault is not my jam.”
“She won’t be a problem for long.” I glance over everyone as they all wait for someone to take the lead. It’s time to step back into that role. We still have a long night ahead of us.
“Jack, go with Emma and Ashley. Caden can drive his car, and I’ll drive yours.” I glance at Kenz and Penny. “You two can ride in the back with me and Eli. Nico can ride in the back of Caden’s car.”
At least I can take control of this. And later tonight I can make sure I hold Harper until that panic inside me subsides. All I know is I can’t lose her. She’s the softness in my life I didn’t know I needed.
Everyone is quiet as we make our way out to the parking lot. The whole place is abandoned. The fairground is dark and quiet. The stadium sits in shadow. Even the school behind us is lifeless.
A few other cars remain. Coach is still in the locker room with some others.
But without power, there’s not a lot to do.
“The party’s been moved to Jason’s.” Jack calls out across the parking lot from Ashley’s BMW convertible.
I nod and open the passenger door on Caden’s car, so he can lower Harper into the seat. She startles away and almost falls into the car. Caden holds her steady though.
“It’s okay, little nympho. I’ve got you.”
Her wide eyes lock on him and then recognition crosses her face. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, princess,” I say.
Caden puts her in the seat and touches her hair before moving around to his side.
I squat next to her as she puts her seatbelt on. “Are you okay?”
She nods and glances at where she is. “What’s happening?”
“We’re going to the police station to give statements.” I cup her jaw, and she leans into my touch. “Afterward, we have to go to the party.”
She frowns but nods in understanding. “Do you think we’re safe this weekend?”
I want to tell her yes. I want to wipe the worry from her eyes, but the reality is she isn’t.
“These aren’t thugs who will be booked in the morning. Their parents will demand they be released tonight.” I run a hand through my hair. “And they likely will. But they won’t be allowed at the dance tomorrow.”
“Who won Homecoming King and Queen?” she asks softly as Nico gets in the back of the car.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” I shrug before I rise. “I’ll see you at the police station.”
She nods, and I close the door for her before going to Jack’s car. I could have put her in my car, but I need to focus. Because yes, Zach’s getting out tonight. And that means even if he isn’t allowed at the dance tomorrow, he’ll still try to get to Harper.
I’ll do whatever it takes to stop him.