Fire In Her Eyes (19 page)

We fall back on to the bed where she curls in my arms. She whispers “I love you too, Spencer,” before I fall asleep.

Chapter 25

Harley

When I wake up in the morning the first thing I notice is the heavy weight on top of me. I take in the weight’s
musky
outdoor smell and smile: Spencer.

“Good morning, baby girl,” he whispers against my lips. I can feel one of his hands in my hair and I open my eyes to see that he is holding his weight with the other one.

His face is really close to mine and I chuckle at the black stubble along his jaw. I don’t think I have ever seen the boy without a smooth shave. “Good morning,” I whisper back
. I throw one arm over his neck
and put the other at his waist. He keeps giving me sweet little kisses that make my toes curl. I feel things that I have never felt before. I never knew that love could be like this, especially with Spencer Grady. This though...this is perfect.

He pulls away from my lips and looks down at me with a serious expression. “Why did you forgive me?” He asks it softly, almost like he doesn’t want to hear the answer.

“When it came down to it, what you did wasn’t nearly as bad as what my dad or Dylan did. You showed remorse for it and I believe you when you say it won’t ever happen again.” He beams at me and I can’t help but beam back.

“I love you so much, Harley.” He kisses my lips one more time before getting up off of the bed. He is butt-ass naked and I marvel at the fact. He bends over to pick up his boxe
rs and I can’t help but to sigh
at his tight perfect butt. The line of his back moves with his muscles as he pulls his boxers on. He turns back to me and I take in the perfect “V” of his hips, his well packed abs, and his somewhat broad shoulders.

His neck is almost graceful as it holds his head upon it. His face is soft in happiness and I feel good about that. His ebony hair is messy, but the sexy kind of messy. His pale blue eyes smile at me and I wonder how I got so lucky.

“I love you too, Spencer.” At first the words sound foreign on my lips, but now they come out so easy. I feel like I should have been saying them for forever. He looks even happier after I say it. Then, his face changes; he looks like he just remembered something and it causes hurt and anger to roll over his soft features.

“Let’s get up and get dressed. I have to explain to Mom where your dad is.” My stomach drops at having to tell Polly. She doesn’t deserve to have to go through this. It doesn’t seem fair. I nod bef
ore getting up to get dressed.

*****

I don’t make it to the conversation with Polly, seeing as Carter has decided to show up on my door step. She is really late if she is trying to be a good friend. I kind of needed her two months ago.

“Spencer, just go on without me, this might take a while.” He had walked up behind me when I opened the door. He kisses my neck, which is exposed because of my ponytail.

“Don’t kill her, baby girl,” he whispers for my ears only. I look back at him and nod. I also watch him walk away. What? The boy has a nice ass.

I open the door all the way for Carter to come inside. She has had a disgusted look on her f
ace since she saw Spencer kiss
my neck. She can be disgusted all she wants. At least Spencer isn’t an alcoholic, druggie, groupie fucking rock star.

She walks over to the couch and makes herself at home. She acts like
she
is fucking mad
at me
! She better hope she chooses her words wisely. At this point, she can go to hell.

“What are you doing here, Carter?” I ask, walking toward the
other
side of the couch.

“Why are you still with that cheating dirt bag?” She asks with a sneer. I roll my eyes at that and decide to sit down. It really doesn’t look like I will be getting rid of her anytime soon. “Well, for starters, Spencer has been there for me throughout this whole thing. He might have screwed up, but he made up for it. I know he is sorry and that’s all I can ask for.” I shrug my shoulders. There is no way she will be able to understand.

“Well it’s your choice, I guess. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when he does it again.” She gives me a pointed look. I give her one right back.

“First off, Spencer isn’t going to be doing it again. Unforeseen circumstances caused him to cheat
in
the first place. It’s not in h
is nature to cheat repeatedly.
Secondly, he feels true remorse for it and that’s more than I can say about most guys who cheat.” You can even think what you want about him, but I truly believe that he won’t ever do it again.

“You’re stupid if you believe that.” She crosses her arms over her chest. Carter always seems to think that we should do whatever she wants us to do. I’m honestly sick of it. I’m also sick of her being in my house judging me for a situation she isn’t even in.

“Okay. I’m going to say my peace and then you are going to get the fuck out.” I blow out my breath and uncross my legs. “I’m so fucking tired of picking you up off the goddamn floor every time something happens to you! I did it because we were friends and that is what friends do. But where the fuck were you when I was dying inside because of what happened to me? Do you know who picked me up off the floor? Me. I did it, without your help.

I have barely heard from you the past two months. Now that some real drama and gossip is going on with my family you show up trying to stick your big nose in the middle of it. I’m not going to have it.

You’re the worst friend that anyone could have. You deserve whatever comes to you from now on. You delete my fucking number and you
forget where I live. I never wan
t to see your white trash ass again.” She has this deer-in-headlights look on her face, like she can’t believe that I told her off. It was a long time coming. I’m tired of being in a one-sided friendship. “GET OUT!” I yel
l at the top of my lungs to get
her moving.

She doesn’t say anything to me as she gets up off the couch and
slams the door on her way out.

Spencer

I find Mom in the kitchen making coffee. She turns to me when I walk in and she smiles. When she sees my face though, that smile vanishes. I’m going to have to hurt my mom and I wish like hell I could find some way out of it.

“Hey, Mom, why don’t you sit down? We have some things to talk about.” She nods her head and I see one of her hands shaking. She takes a seat at the table and
I sit in front of her. “Richard got arrested last
night.”

She sighs out loud like she was expecting this kind of thing. “What did he do?” She looks hopeful that it’s not too bad, but little does she know..

I take a deep breath before explaining things to her. “Well, he showed up at the mud party last night with a shotgun and put it to my head.” She gasps at that and goes shee
t white. “Then, he confessed to
murdering his wife and Mason’s father. They were having an affair, and Mrs. Maxton was scared to leave him. Harley isn’t Richard’s daughter. I guess Mrs. Maxton finally got the nerve to leave him and that’s when he kil
led both of them. Dean’s cousin
is a cop. He was off duty last night and recorded the whole thing. They came and arrested him after that.”

She doesn’t say anything for a while. I guess it’s the shock of it all. I don’t think anyone saw it in him. He was one of those guys who would give you the shirt off his back. No one knew what he was holding
under the surface. “I really know how to pick them, don’t I, baby?” Tears start falling out of her eyes and my heart lurches at the sight.

I haven’t seen my mom cry in years.

“Don’t say that, Mom. These men pick you. You just don’t have the heart to turn them down.” I get up off the chair I am in and cross over to hers. I bend down in front of her and put my arms around her shaking shoulders. “It will be okay, Mom,” I whisper into her hair.

“I knew something was off with him, I just refused to overlook it. I just wanted one man to be perfect for me. Instead I get stuck with rapists and murders.” She is sobbing so hard and all I want to do is take this pain for her.

“What was off about him?” I ask softly.

It takes her a minute to answer. “He
was
okay at first. Then when we moved in here, he started being really controlling. He even
accused
me of cheating
one
day after I got home from work. I was tired that day and didn’t want to deal with it. I honestly didn’t ever want to deal with it.”

We stay in the kitchen for a long time just holding each other. I let her cry out her disappointment and sadness for as long as she needs.

After a while, she calms down and pulls out of my arms. She pats me on my shoulder before saying, “I thin
k that I am just going to go lay
down for a while, if you don’t mind.” I nod my head in answer and let her go.

Harley comes in a little bit later and finds me still on the floor in front of where my mom was sitting. She sinks down behind me and wraps her arms around my waist. After a moment, I feel her silent tears soaking the back of my shirt. I turn around and scoop her up in my arms and sit us down in front of the island. I hold her in my lap and let her cry it out. I’m guessing it’s a mixture
of things that have her upset:
The rape, me cheating, her family’s mistakes, and the loss of Carter.

It doesn’t bother me one bit. I could sit here the rest of my life with her in my arms. It’s where she needs to be. It’s where she belongs.

A few hours after Mom and Harley’s tears dry, Harley’s brothers, Benton and Dakota, show up. I guess Harley had called them when Mom and I were talking. Harley hides in my lap as I tell the guys what happened. They wear matching shocked looks on their faces. None of us really know what to do after that.

They quietly excuse themselves to grieve on their own.

“You want to go take a nap, baby girl?” I ask her softly. All I get is a nod, but that works for me. I pick her up as I stand and carry her to my room. I lay her on the bed first before I take off my shirt and lay down beside her. I start to pull her into my side but she is already reaching for me. We lay curled toget
her until we both fall asleep.

*****

My phone is ringing in my pocket but I’m too fuzzy from my nap to answer it before it stops ringing. I sigh and fish it out. It starts going off again befor
e I even get it into
my hand. The screen flashes Mason’s name. “Yeah?” I say after I hit the answer button.

“Come answer the door. I want to talk to Harley,” he huffs into the phone. Well, what the hell is he calling me for. “I’ve been calling Harley’s phone all day with no answer. I got tired of that and called you.”

“Hold on, I’ll ask her if she wants to talk,” he says something as I lay the phone down to wake Harley up.

“Who is it?” She asks before I can even say anything. I look down at her and her dark blue eyes are already open and staring at me.

“Mason. He wants to talk to you. Apparently he is at the front door.” I run my fingers through her hair as I wait for her to answer.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to him.” She kisses my lips before getting up off the bed to l
et Mason in.

Chapter 26

Harley

Why am I nervous? I’ve been around the guy for two whole months. I know him already. I don’t know, I guess it’s the fact I found out he is my brother
still has me pretty freaked out
. I went from having only two brothers to having three in just one night.

His dark brown hair and gauges appear through the window on the front door. What the hell am I so nervous
about? I open the door slowly,
willing myself to get over the nerves. “Hey...” I trail off.

“Hey. Can I come in?” I nod my head and open the door wider for him. He is wearing a white tee shirt and black pants. He is also hol
ding a little box that has “Catherine
” written on the top.

“Is that for me?” I blurt out. Oh, that was just dumb. It has my name on it, so of course it is for me. “Yeah, my mom found it in my dad’s things after he died. She asked me to give it to you. I have no idea what is in it.” He shrugs his shoulders and hands over the box.

I walk over to the couch where my friendship with Carter ended. That seems like a lifetime ago. I sit down and put the box in my lap. I’m curious about what could be in it, but I’m also not ready to find out.

Spencer walks into the room at that moment. It’s like I conjured him with my thoughts. He comes over to the couch and sits next to me. He looks at the b
ox and then up to my eyes. “You
going to open it, baby girl?”

I nod and take a deep breath before popping the lid. Inside, there are old pictures and a familiar looking doll. “Miss Betty!” I exclaim when I realize where I know the doll from.
I look up at Mason before I say
anything else. “I used to play with this at your house. I remember that now. When you said that we used to play together, I had no idea what you were talking about. I do now.
I was so upset when I left this
at your house. Mom said we couldn’t go back and get it. That was a few days before she...died.”