Fire In Her Eyes (17 page)

“He’s been...” I clear my throat which feels like I swallowed a damn frog. “He’s been out this whole time?” I can’t believe that Richard would keep something like this from all of us. “How could we not have known?”

Paige walks up to us and puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Her dad got a restraining order on him when he got out. Since he was caught in the act, they didn’t even have to fight the judge on it.

Richard thought she was safe at the house with someone always being there. This though, how are we supposed to protect her here if he shows up?”

“I called my boys in. We don’t have anything to worry about. They love Harley like a little sister and would protect her with their lives. That sick fuck isn’t getting anywhere near her if he happens to show his face,” Mason says to us before anyone else can reply. “You need to tell her, though. We aren’t hiding it from her.” He glares at me before continuing. “Knowing this one here, he’ll piss her off and she will run away and straight into danger.” He doesn’t say anything else before stalking off toward his ten
t. This is just fucking great.

Chapter 22

Harley

They are so stupid if they think I don’t know what they are talking about. They had better not be giving Spencer a hard time for running off with me. He may have done something bad, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad guy.

“So...back together?” Lucy asks. We are sitting in their huge tent. Figures the drug lord would have a huge tent. Spencer and I got stuck with the small, ugly green one.

“Sort of. I haven’t forgiven him yet, but I know where his head was at now. He keeps telling me that he loves me. It’s kind of hard to turn him down.” I shrug my shoulders and wait for her reaction.

“Good. I was worried you were going to mope around the rest of your life.” Huh? I look over at her and no
tice the evil grin on her face.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I say lying down on an air mattress in the tent. I cross my ankles and wait for her answer. She comes to lie down next to me and laces her fingers with mine. Her black hair is feathered out around her head in wild curls and her caramel skin looks much darker next to my pale skin. “I know you haven’t ever seen it, but you two are meant for each other. You have talked non-stop about the guy for most of your life. We all just ignored you and let you have your fun. I was surprised, yeah, when he kissed you that first time, but that was only because I didn’t think y’all would ever get around to it.” She looks over at me and smirks.

I roll my eyes. “I’m glad everyone seems to think they know everything.” I sigh and turn on my side to face her. “I know what you mean, though. I have always been drawn to him. I was just scared of getting too close to him and getting hurt, which is what happened anyway. Hard as I try, though...Spencer is all I think about. I want to be with him, but he hurt me so bad and I don’t know how to forgive that.”

I feel Lucy’s fingers brush my face and I guess I started crying; crying at the injustice of it all. I guess people are just put into your life to hurt you and all those around you. I know what Dylan did was the catalyst for what Spencer did. “I know he screwed up...literally...but he is sorry. You can see that in his eyes. He really does love you. If you don’t believe anything else, believe that. Love is something worth fighting for. I don’t think he would ever hurt you like that again. He made
a mistake...he’s a guy and they
are far from perfect.” Lucy
smooth’s
her hand over my hair as she talks and it feels nice: Something I miss from a mother I barely remember.

Before I can even say anything to Lucy, Mason bursts through the tent flaps followed closely by Spencer. My heartbeat picks up when I see the grim looks in their eyes. “What’s go
ing on?” I ask. I feel Lucy get
tense next to me. Great, she knows, too. “Why the fuck can’t y’all just tell me? I’m not going to break or kill myself if you have bad news. I mean, seriously, I’m sure worse things have happened than what you are going to tell me.”

Spencer comes into the tent and sits down on the ground next to me. I take in his pale face. His short black locks look like he has been running his hands through them a lot. He picks up my hand and I get a feeling of dread in my stomach. “Your dad called. He forgot to inform anyone that Dylan made bail. He knew you would be safe at your house with someone always there, but out here? Yeah, anything could happen. I’m thinking we could head home in a
little bit. What do you think?”

I know my face is paler than usual. I know my heartbeat picked up, but I’m not going to let him ruin my fun out here. Dylan is no longer something I fear. He may have taken my strength away from me, but I got it back on my own. I refused to let anything that happened to me this summer break me completely. “No. I’m not hiding from him. He’s not going to hurt me with all of you around. You and Dean beat the shit out of him that night. Everyone knows that Mason is here...and he’s a freaking mob boss for crying out loud.”

Spencer looks back at Mason and mouths “Mob boss?” Mason chuckles and shrugs his shoulders: ever the evader. “Okay. We will stay here, but I don’t think it is a good idea.”

“It will be fine. Besides, I want to stick around and
watch people play in the mud.

Spencer

I feel jumpy to say the least. The whole time we stayed out to watch the fun I was scanning the faces around me for one I know all too well. One I hoped to never have to see again. I didn’t see him, but that didn’t make my unease any better. Dylan only has revenge on his mind. Harley tried to make us all think it wasn’t bothering her, but the quick glances around the crowd and the tense way she is holding her body says otherwise.

I had a part of my body touching her at all times. She never pushed me away so I guess it was okay with her. The crowd had turned into one big orgy after a while. Cheap alcohol
mixed with a bunch of girls in
bathing suits makes for a good time, I guess. I wouldn’t know since I didn’t drink a lick and Harley is wearing denim shorts and a light black tee shirt. Her auburn hair was pulled up, making me want to lean over and nibble on her neck. I actually did at one point and she sighed and arched her neck closer to my mouth. That made me smile, but I really didn’t want to push it, so I backed off.

After a while, she got bored with the mudding (and the orgy) and decided to go back to the tent. I followed, but she didn’t seem to mind. She clutched my hand the whole way and I felt content in the fact that she was still touching
me
.

Now we are lying around the small tent on our own sleeping bags. It was quiet between us for a while, but she seemed to want to talk about ourselves. For starters, she asked what my major is. “How could you not know that?” I respond, stunned that we have never talked about this before.

“I don’t know. I just don’t. Answer the question.” She sm
irks and hits me with a pillow.

“Fine,” I sigh before answering. “Management; It’s a 120 hour program for a bachelor’s degree. I can work in Financial Institutions, Government Agencies, Healthcare Industry, Manufacturing Firms, Nonprofit Organizations, and Service Industries. I like the planning, reporting, and budgeting of it. I know it’s nothing big and impressive like
a
lawyer or a doctor, but I really enjoy it.”

She gives me a soft smile that I can barely make out in the dark tent. “That’s cool. Definitely not something I would have seen you go for.

I shrug my shoulders and chuckle. “Me either. I kind of flopped around the first month until they put me in an accounting class, which I loved. That’s when I asked what I could do with it. They pointed me to management.”

I roll over onto my stomach and turn my face toward her. “Any
way, what is yours?”

She rolls over to her side to face me now. “I’m undecided. I kind of like art history, but there’s not much around here I can do with that. I’ll come up with something, though. What does the tattoo on your back mean?”

I laugh out loud at her change in topic. “It’s for courage. I was scared to leave for college because I didn’t
want to leave Mom alone for
4 years. I almost didn’t apply for college in the first place. So, she took me to get it and told me to stop being the cowardly lion.” I blush, thinking about the fact that I haven’t ever told anyone that story.

She gives me a huge grin and says, “That’s really sweet. Who know you were a big softy?” I roll over to her side of the tent and rise up to tickle her. She smacks my hands away
after a minute, breathless and
flushed a gorgeous red. I don’t even think as I cover my body with hers and press my lips to hers. She sighs around them and puts her arms around my neck, pressing us even closer together. Our tongues meet as I pull her leg up over my hip, pressing my groin into her warm heat. My dick is hard and straining toward her. I wish we weren’t wearing any clothes. Oh, the bliss of being naked!

I push my hand up under her dark shirt to get a feel of her creamy, smooth skin. She moans when I cup her tit and rub my thumb across her erect nipple. Her back arches, eliminating what’s left of the space between us. I start to lift her shirt up, but she lets out a blood-curdli
ng scream. That’s when I feel
something metal pushed against my
head.

Chapter 23

Harley

All I see is a dark figure standing over Spencer with a shotgun. At first I was sure it was Dylan, but now I’m not. The sun has gone down even more since Spencer and I started making out, but now it’s hard to
see anything at all but shadows. Dylan would have been gloating by now; this person is silent as a ghost.

Spencer has moved to sit beside me with his hands up. I’m staring up at the figure just wishing they would get it over with. Or for them to lower that gun so I can stab them with the knife I have in my hand under the pillow. “Harley, why are you letting this piece of shit touch you like that?”

“Dad?” What the fuck? Okay, now I’m totally freaked the hell out.

“Yes, it’s your dad. Did you not get the message? Why didn’t you come home?” He bends down and turns on the lantern that’s sitting in the corner. I don’t even want to k
now how he knew where that was.

“Because, there is nothing to worry about. Dylan isn’t going to pull anything out here in front of everyone. He doesn’t have the balls. The guy had to drug me to rape me. He’s a fucking coward.” I’m really pissed my dad thought he needed to come out here with a gun to protect me. I’m not the scared and broken little girl I had been the past couple of months.

My dad huffs in frustration. “I don’t care what you think, Harley. You’re coming with me, now. That is final.” He grabs my arm before trying to pull me up.

I fight him off. “I don’t want to leave, Dad. I don’t even understand why you are making me go!” I’m starting to get really pissed off. He has no right to come here,
point a gun at me
, and tell me to leave; Let alone, say such terrible shit about Spencer.

“God, you are just like your mother! Never listening to anything I say. You’re starting to become a whore just like she was!” He screams this at me and I can’t do anything but gape at him.

“She is anything but a whore, Richard,” Spencer pipes in from beside me with his hands still in a “there’s-a-gun-in-my-face” position.

“You shut your fucking mouth, boy. I knew you were trouble the day your mother and you moved in across the street. I just thought you had
grown up. You’re fucking crazy
if you think I’m going to let you be with my daughter after everything you put her through. It’s your fault she got raped in the first place!” dads face turns purple, he is so mad. I don’t think I have ever seen him this mad before.

“What the fuck, Dad! It’s not his fault! What has gotten into you? Just go home and calm down,” I say, but he doesn’t like that. He grabs my arm again. I try to fight him off, but he’s too strong this time.

Spencer grabs my other arm and looks down at the knife. His eyes met mine and I shake my head “no.” I don’t care what crazy shit my dad is saying, I’m not using my knife on him. I feel like I’m the rope in a game of tug-of-war. I’m seriously tired of it. Dad finally lets me go and I fall back onto Spencer. He sets me up right and we both look back at Dad.

Well, I figured out why he let me go.

Mason has a 9 mm pointed at my dad’s head. The really odd thing about it is, Mason looks really pissed off, like dad killed his puppy or something. “I suggest you leave, Richard. Wouldn’t want the cops to get called now would you?” Mason’s voice is deadly quiet and I feel chills go down my spine.

Dad visibly pales. I wonder what that is about. “Mason, put the gun down. He’s not going to hurt anyone.” I get up off the tent floor and pull Spencer up with me.

“It doesn’t matter what he is going to do now; it’s what he has done before.” If looks could kill, my dad would be six feet under right now. Somehow, Dad’s face gets even whiter than the paper shade it was to begin with.

“What did you do, Dad?” I ask softly. He had to have done something really awful for Mason to react to him this way. My dad looks from me to Mason and back again.