Defying Destiny (Forsaken Sinners MC Series Book 3) (15 page)

We stand like that for a few moments, then I hear her sigh. “But—” she starts to say, but I don’t let her finish. Stepping angrily away from her, I throw my hands up in the air.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Of course you’re going to argue. It’s what you do best, Dani. But please.
Please
tell me what the fuck you have to argue, huh? You just said that your kids are the most important thing to you. And I just told you that they’re in danger. Now you want to fight with me about this?” I ask, pissed that this is the way it’s going to go. I should have fucking known.

She opens her mouth to reply, but I continue yelling. “Do you understand that they could take
you
to get to
us
? Do you get that? And not only you, but EJ and Harley! They could kill you, Dani! You, and EJ, and Harley. You’ll all be fucking dead, and it’ll be because of your stupid, headstrong ass.” I know I’m being an ass and I didn’t need to break it down like that, but maybe I did. She’s always gotta argue, and look what always happens. Someone gets hurt or worse, they die.

“Fuck you, Louie. If you would stop being a fucking prick for one goddamn second and let me finish, I was just going to say but I don’t want to close the shop. I need and want the kids safe and I know I need to be safe for them as well, but this shop means a lot to me too. So I was going to say that I needed you to tell me that you’d still work. Keep things up around here until it’s safe for me to come back. But I guess that’s just too fucking much to ask, isn’t it?”

Fuck
. She’s right. I
am
an ass. I just jumped right to the worst, thinking she’d never got for it and fight till the end to get what she wanted. And I was wrong. Seems I’ve been wrong about a lot of things lately.

“Shit, Dani. I’m sorry. It’s just with everything going on and the position it’s put everyone in, I jumped the gun. I’m sorry.”

Again, she surprises me by calming right down and is understanding. The old Dani would have ripped me a new asshole ‘til she was blue in the face. My outburst would have caused her to fight harder, but not now. “It’s fine, Louie. I get it. Everyone is jumpy and all out of sorts I’m sure. But I’m serious. I need you here, at the shop, for as long as possible until I can get back here. I don’t want to close it down for an unknown amount of time. It will kill our business.”

“Of course I’ll keep the shop open. You don’t even need to ask. I know how much this place means to you and it means just as much to me. It won’t be easy with having to handle everything from tattooing to the scheduling and paperwork, but I can manage. I can do this one thing for you so you don’t have to worry,” I say, and it’s true. She’s making a huge sacrifice by agreeing to leave so she’s safe for us to do what we need to. I can do this for her.

Before she can answer me, the door opens and Harlow is standing there with a look I don’t quite recognize. “He won’t have to do it alone. I’ll stay behind and help.”

Dani and I both look at her like she’s outta her mind. Of course she can’t stay back. She needs to go with Dani, the kids, and Sara so she’s safe as well.

“No. Absolutely fucking not. You’re going with her and this kids. Sara’s going too. End of discussion,” I say, drawing the line.

“
Not
end of discussion, jackass. You don’t make decisions for me. I will decide what I do and don’t do, and I decided that I’m
staying
. No one knows me or that I’m connected to the club. And it’s the least I can do for Dani after everything she’s done for me.” I know she thinks she owes Dani and the club for bringing her in and helping her when she needed it, but she’s wrong. We’re family and that’s what we do. We don’t need thanks or to be paid back.

“I can’t ask you to do that, Low. You need to come with us. We don’t know what’s going on or who we are dealing with. For all we know, they’ve been watching the shop. They’d know you are connected to the club, to me…to Louie. They could hurt you.” Dani says, taking Harlow’s hand in hers.

“You aren’t asking, Dani. And neither am I. I’m staying and that’s final. If they know I’m with the club and want to hurt me to get to them, then so be it. Everyone has made sacrifices. It’s my turn now.”

Insufferable woman! “Harlow—” I start, but she cuts me off.

“I’m staying,” she says, then stomps out of the room.

Great
. Just fucking great.

Chapter 14

Harlow

As I make my way back to my desk, leaving both Dani and Louie behind in the office, I think back to what I heard.

I don’t have any specifics, but I got the gist of it; something’s happening that could be dangerous and they want the women and children to go into hiding at a safe house. But when it comes down to it, that’s all I really need to know. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to follow along though.

I do agree with Louie about Dani, the twins, and Sara going though. They each have a deeper connection to the club. Sara is married to Toby and Dani has children with Blaze. Me, on the other hand, I’m pretty much nothing to them. I’m an employee, slash friend, slash fuck buddy. I’m not trying to degrade myself or have a pity party, that’s just the cold hard truth. And I’m okay with that. I’m content with it, too. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to run off at the first sign of trouble.

Dani and Sara have both been in sticky positions before I got back; each being hurt and put into danger. They don’t need that again.

And knowing that Dani wants to keep the shop open gives me another reason to stay behind. I owe her so much. I can stay behind and make sure that all runs smoothly and help Louie out around here till things calm down and the girls can come back.

“You’re going,” I hear Louie say behind me, anger evident in his voice. I know he’s probably upset about me staying behind, but I also know that that’s not the only thing he’s upset about. I could tell before he left to go to his meeting that he was upset about something. I just have no idea what it could be. Surely he’s not mad because I left him sleeping in my bed this morning. Or maybe seeing the flowers, he remembered I never thanked him for them. Maybe he thinks I think someone else sent them?

“No I’m not, Louie. I’m staying here.” I’m not going to let him railroad me into leaving when there’s probably no threat anyway. At least not to me. But if there was, it’s more important that Dani and Sara be gone with the kids, not me. And if trouble does come knocking, then I can take care of myself or I could even leave when it’s a given that I need to.

I don’t know what part of what I said did it, but Louie’s eyes flash and I see something that I never want to see again directed at me: pure rage. It’s so intense, it’s almost demonic.

“Of course you don’t want to leave. You probably want to stay here so you can keep fucking whoever it is that left you those flowers! Even if it means someone will take you, probably torture and rape you, before killing you.”

His words have me completely speechless. I can’t believe any of that came out of his mouth. First he accuses me of fucking someone because of the flowers I thought were from him. Then he thinks that even if that
were
the case, that I’d put my life in jeopardy to get my rocks off. And then lastly, the part about someone taking me, torturing me, raping me, and then killing me. How could he even say that shit to me? Any of it?

I try to talk, to tell him that the flowers were supposed to be from him, that I’m not messing around on him—whether we are exclusive or not, I would never have sexual relationships with more than one person at a time—and then tell him that what he said about me dying and how it would happen was totally uncalled for. But I can’t get the words to come out. Not even a squeak pushes past my lips.
Nothing
.

“Oh fuck this shit. It ain’t worth it,” he says in a hate-filled voice before stomping off and out of the door.

I can do nothing but stare blankly after him. I don’t cry or get mad. I’m cold and numb on the inside. Not even Dani walking up to me and taking me into her arms penetrates through.

Dani tries her best to get me to talk about what just happened, but I still haven’t managed to even say one word. My mind is running a hundred miles a minute and I can’t get the look on Louie’s face out of my mind’s eye. He looked at me like he loathed me, like he couldn’t care less if all of those horrible things did in fact happen to me. There was no caring or compassion in his eyes. It was like the devil looking at me with rage and contempt. It makes me go back to a place I never wanted to go again. A place where I had no one and I didn’t matter. I
hate
that place.

About an hour later, Dani comes walking out of her office. I think I heard her mention that she was going to call all the appointments for the rest of the day and reschedule or something like that. Now, she’s just standing in front of my desk with what looks like pity in her eyes.

“Hey,” she says softly, trying to smile at me, but even she can’t bring herself to do that with what happened.

I don’t answer her but I try to pay attention because I know she came out here to tell me something. Most likely important, but I just can’t think about anything else except what Louie said and how he looked at me.

“Blaze wants me to get home so I can pack and get the kids ready to go.” She pauses, then steps forward, like she wants to take my hand or pull me in for a hug, but she doesn’t. I probably wouldn’t be able to feel it even if she did, I’m so numb. “I really think you should come with me, Low. It’ll be safer for you and will put all the guys at ease knowing they don’t have to worry about us.
Please
say you’ll change your mind?” Worry laces her every word.

I hate that I’m making her worry, but I’m not going. If anything, this just hardens my resolve to stay. I know Dani and Sara care about me, and probably a few of the brothers because they know I’m friends with the other girls, but I have no one I really need to stay safe for. If something were to happen to me, sure they’d be upset, but they wouldn’t be devastated like they would if it were Dani, or the twins, or Sara. They’d be able to get over it if I got hurt. Or worse, everything that Louie described happened.

“No, Dani. I’m sorry, but I’m not going. I have no reason to. Plus, you need me here. So you go on ahead to get the twins and yourself ready, and I’ll close up shop. Just promise to call or text me when you get to wherever it is you are going so I know you all made it there okay.” I hope she won’t argue with me further. I just want to close everything down here and go upstairs to hide under my covers. I want to shut the world out and just be by myself.

She lets out a sigh, then pulls me in for a hug. “You’re so stubborn, Low. And you’re so very wrong. You have every reason to go, even if it’s for yourself. But I understand why you don’t want to go, the
real
reason, even if you don’t want to acknowledge it. Please be safe though. Don’t take any risks and keep an eye out, okay?

Nodding my head, I hug her back. “I won’t, I promise. The first sign of trouble, and I’m outta here,” I say, though I don’t know if that’s a lie or not. A part of me really doesn’t care what happens to me.

Pulling away from me, she looks at me once more before she heads out the door. Locking it behind her, I head to the back to lock that door before getting to work closing everything down. I finish the little bit of paperwork we have, clean both stations and the front room, then turn all the lights off.

Opening the door to the back, I lock it before making my way to the door that will lead me up to my apartment, to my temporary sanctuary, but a noise down the alley stops me in my tracks.

My heart starts racing, but I scold myself. Damn Louie for freaking me out like that. It’s probably a cat or something.

I turn around to repress my fears but my eyes don’t land on a cat. There’s a man just standing there, looking at me. It’s too dark to make out his face, but I get a weird feeling like I know him. But that can’t be right, can it?

I take a hesitant step back to see what he’ll do. Maybe he’ll just stand there or turn around. But he doesn’t. As soon as my foot lands behind me, he starts moving forward—he’s not running, but he’s walking with determination. Like he’s trying to get to me.

Quickly turning around, I hurry to my door and fumble with my keys.
Come on. Come on!
I silently yell to myself. I can’t believe this is happening to me right now.

Finally finding the right key, I hurry to unlock the door, then sprint up the stairs. Once I’m at the top, I look back, and see the door almost closed behind me. Shit! I can’t believe I didn’t close it all the way!

Just before the door slams shut and automatically locks, a hand reaches in to keep in open.
Oh my God!

Running down to my door, I unlock it, then close it quickly before throwing the deadbolt. Stepping a few feet away, I stand there quietly, listening for anything that will tell me if that guy followed me up here or not. But I hear nothing. I don’t hear a door shutting, any footsteps, or hear his voice.

A few minutes pass with me not moving. I barely even breathe. I wait and listen, praying that it was nothing. That the guy didn’t follow me and that everything will be okay. Maybe he was just trying to scare me. Or maybe someone stopped him before he could make it up the stairs.

When I still don’t hear anything, I start to relax. My whole body feels stiff and is starting to hurt with being so tense, but that’s nothing a long hot shower won’t cure.

Turning on my heels, I start to make my way to the bathroom when I hear the doorknob start to turn. Whipping around, I watch as it makes its way around, then stops when it meets the resistance of the lock.
Someone is trying to get into my apartment!

Maybe once they realize they can’t get in, they’ll just go away. I still don’t like it, but they can’t get in here, right?

As soon as the thought hits me, I hear and see the doorknob start to wiggle. He’s still trying to get in! And when that doesn’t work, he starts hitting the door, like he is going to knock it to the ground.

I frantically look around my apartment for anything I can use or an escape, but I see nothing. My heart is racing and my mind isn’t latching on to anything useful besides getting the hell out of here.

Forgetting about finding a weapon or a way out, I run toward the bathroom since that’s the only door in here with a lock on it. Maybe if I lock myself in here and call for help, someone will be able to get to me before he does.

Pulling out my phone, I’m in such a rush to call someone and am shaking so badly that I drop it. “Goddammit!” I yell, then fall to my knees, searching for where it went.

I find it behind the toilet and am able to grab it quickly. I press the redial button, not even caring who it is, as long as they can help me.

“What?” I hear someone yell into the phone, and I’m barely able to recognize that it’s Louie.

“Louie. Please help me,” I whisper into the phone, trying to be as quiet as possible. I know it won’t take long for the guy to figure out where I’m at once he gets into the apartment, but I need all the time I can get for someone to get here to help me.

“What’s the matter, Harlow? Your flower fuck buddy can’t come over so you need me to screw you?” he says with venom.

“Please help me, Louie. Someone is trying to break into my apartment.
Please
,” I cry. I don’t even care if he gets here only to yell at me and hate on me some more. As long as he helps me, I’ll deal with everything else.

“Where are you?” he growls angrily, but I don’t think the anger is directed at me this time.

“I locked myself in my bathroom. Please hurry, Louie. I’m so scared.” I need to stop crying or else they’ll hear me and know exactly where I am. It won’t take them long to bust down this door too.

“I’m on my way, babe. Just stay with me, okay?” I can hear his bike start and even if I could, I wouldn’t hang up on him. I need this connection or else I’ll feel completely alone. At least with him on the phone, I know that he’s coming for me and will save me. It doesn’t matter if he hates me or never wants to talk to me after this, he’ll come to help.

Just then, I hear a loud crash and I scream. “Harlow!” Louie yells into the phone but I can’t concentrate on that. I can hear the intruder walking into my apartment, looking for me. It’s too late. There’s no way Louie will get here in time.

“HARLOW! Answer me, babe. What’s going on?”

“He’s inside. He kicked the door in,” I whisper, though I know it’s no use. This apartment isn’t that big and this is the only locked door. He’ll figure it out that I’m hiding in here and then it will be game over.

“Listen to me. Grab whatever you can find to use to protect yourself. I’m on my way, Harlow. Just hang on. I’m almost there,” he yells over the roar of his bike and I believe him. He’s on his way, but it’s still not enough. He won’t make it.

I see the doorknob to the bathroom start to turn and I hold my breath. I can’t move and I can’t speak. I want to tell Louie that I’m sorry for whatever it is that I did to make him hate me. I want to tell him that I’m sorry for not listening to him and Dani earlier. I should have left. I should have followed Dani and Sara and stayed safe.

Then I hear a bang, followed by a crash as the door is busted down, barely missing hitting me. And I see him.

My whole body goes into overdrive and I drop the phone as I start backing away, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m a caged animal and the predator was let in to feed.
There’s no way out.