The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) (19 page)

“I know how that goes,” Reid replied. “I know Harper wants to tell our parents that I’m here, but I guess I’m just not ready to deal with Dad yet.”

It was an odd juxtaposition, dancing while discussing issues so incredibly serious.

“Do you really think your dad will turn you away?”

“I don’t know. Seems like he threw
me
out, but then he lost Harper anyway. I mean, from the sound of it, he hasn’t seen much of her since she left home.”

They danced some more, lost in their own thoughts but offering each other comfort. Lia realized this was what her friends had. It wasn’t the fast fall, the hot sex, the burn for each other. It was that soul-comforting knowledge that the other person wanted to be there for you. To help you through the ugly parts, not just the times when things are perfect. Everything else was just sprinkles on a sundae, because at her very core, she knew she wanted to be there for him.

She grinned and stopped dancing.

“So, I was thinking . . .” Reid started, but then he caught the obvious grin she was sporting. “What?”

“Nothing. Go ahead.”

“No, I really want to know what you thought about.”

“Just that we danced halfway around the condo. It’s cute. Go ahead. You were thinking . . .”

He eyed her suspiciously but continued anyway. “You. Me. Tonight. You said Saturday was Harper and Trent’s date night, right?”

“I did.”

“So what if we crash it?”

“I don’t know. Trent protects it pretty damn fiercely. Says Harper has years of dates to make up for.”

He tugged her hand and pulled her from the condo.

“Yeah. But I bet I know Harper better than Trent does. Let’s go.”

* * *

Reid knocked on the door to Trent and Harper’s condo and waited.

“Maybe we missed them. Maybe they went out before we got here,” Lia offered.

With a quick wink at Lia, he hammered again, louder this time, while Lia tried to stifle her laughter.

Mumbled curses came from the other side of the door, and from the tone Reid could tell that Trent was going to be pissed when he saw them standing in the hallway. Their plan had developed as they’d driven over in Reid’s car. Lia had texted Harper with some innocuous message to determine whether they were at home or not, which they were. Part two of their
Mission: Impossible
–style ambush involved sneaking into the building by pretending to be part of a larger group.

And now, having taken the elevator up to the couple’s condo, they were about to face Trent. From the F-bombs being dropped on the opposite side of the door, Reid knew there was a high possibility he’d just cock-blocked his sister and future brother-in-law.

Just for pure comedic value he knocked again, and the door swung open.

“Worst fucking timing ever,” Trent said, fastening the button on a dark pair of jeans. “Any chance I can get you guys to call next time?” While his words were gruff, the smile on his face suggested he wasn’t as mad as Reid had expected.

He held the door open for them and they stepped inside. Harper hurried from one of the rooms down the hallway, running her fingers through her hair. Reid looked away for a moment. There was no way on God’s green earth he wanted to know what could have put that pink flush on her cheeks. He may not have been around her for several years, but the need to play big brother to his little sister hadn’t gone anywhere, and part of him wanted to kick Trent’s ass for laying a hand on her. Which was all kinds of hypocritical, he knew, seeing as he wanted to do the exact same thing to Lia.

“Hey, guys,” Harper said with the kind of grin that said she knew she’d been caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. “Please, come in.”

“I suppose you’ll be wanting a drink or some shit?” Trent said with a grimace.

“Actually, a beer would be good,” Reid answered with a teasing smile.

Lia joined in. “I’d love some red wine if you have some,” she said sweetly.

Trent rolled his eyes. “Can’t persuade you to take that to-go, can I?”

“Trent,” Harper warned good-naturedly.

“What? It’s worth asking, isn’t it, darlin’?”

Reid watched Trent’s heavily tattooed frame walk toward the large kitchen of their amazingly decorated condo. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were completely open, with sliding balcony doors leading to a large patio. Black-and-white photographs of rock stars past and present lined the walls, interspersed with what looked like original artwork.

Harper ushered them into the living room area and Trent returned, thankfully wearing a T-shirt and handing out drinks.

“So what brings you over here this late on a Saturday night when people might be busy doing other things?” Trent asked pointedly, earning an elbow in the ribs from Harper. “What? It’s clear from the look on their faces that they know what we’re up to. I’m just putting the elephant on the table.”

Lia began to giggle, and Harper quickly followed suit. Before long, all four of them were laughing.

“We’ve come to crash your date,” Reid answered. “I hear you’ve been hogging my sister’s time and attention, and you and I need to get to know one another in a way that doesn’t involve fists.” He rubbed his chin, remembering the blow that had sent him flying into the window at Second Circle.

“Believe me, that hurt me more than it hurt you. New glass for the storefront doesn’t come cheap, and I didn’t think it was fair for the studio to suffer because you’re an asshole. Actually, I think you should pay half, seeing it was your head that did the most of the damage.”

“Sounds fair,” Reid said. He could just add it to the list of things he could possibly do to make things right. “I’ll pay it if I could have a quick word with Harper.”

“You cool with that, babe?” Trent asked Harper.

Harper nodded. “Sure, why don’t you and Lia go sit outside, and perhaps call the restaurant and see if they can seat all four of us?”

Lia squeezed his shoulder as she walked by. It was such a small gesture, but it meant the world to him. The last six years had been lonely. Not only had he lost his sister and his parents, but he’d also lost his best friend, his job, and the friends he’d grown up with. By no definition had he been a saint during that time, but he’d most definitely
not
had anything remotely resembling a relationship.

“I like you and her,” Harper said before taking a swig of her beer.

He watched Lia walk out onto the balcony. “It’s still very new, but I kinda like me and her, too.”

“I’m glad you’re here because I wanted to talk to you,” Harper began. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you told me. About Dad, and Winston, and Nathan. Well, I kind of wondered how you’d feel about taking a trip back to Chicago with me? We need . . . I need our family back together.” Harper reached forward and grabbed hold of his hand. “I’m supposed to be getting married at Thanksgiving, and I can’t tell you how badly it has hurt me to think of my wedding without you in it. But now that I know where you are, the idea of you not attending just because Dad is going to be there breaks my heart. And given everything you told me, I don’t want the first time you see him or he sees you to be the moment he walks me down the aisle.”

Reid turned her hand over in his and rubbed his thumb over her engagement ring. The idea of causing her even an ounce more pain hurt him so profoundly that he found himself agreeing. “For you . . . I’ll do it. You realize he said he never wanted to see me again, right?”

“I think you’ll find that once all this is out in the open, he’ll regret saying that to you. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get an apology because Dad has never been one to say the words. But hopefully his actions will speak for themselves.”

Picking at the label on his beer bottle, Reid thought through what she’d said. Could it be that simple to bring closure to the things that had haunted him for the last six years? His dad had been so furious, but so much time had passed.

“We have a couple of months until your wedding then? I feel like I need to get to . . . I don’t know, to a better place with you, I guess, before I have to deal with him.”

“Mom has no idea, Reid. Every time I speak to her she asks if I’ve heard anything from you. I think we should at least let her know that I’ve heard from you, that you’re fine, and that you’ll be coming home to speak to them soon.”

“Yeah, but I think I’d rather just catch Dad off guard. I need to see his genuine reaction, not one he’s had time to think about and plan for.”

Harper pulled her hand away and leaned back in the chair. She folded her hands in front of her chest and pursed her lips. “Well, like you said, there’s still some time. Although hear this: I’m no bridezilla, but if you fuck up my wedding, I will tell Mom that you took Jennifer Curtis’s virginity in their bed.”

Reid felt embarrassment color his cheeks. “Oh my God. You were home? Weren’t you supposed to be over at your friend’s house that night?”

“I forgot my backpack, and Kara’s mom drove me back home to get it.”

“How come you never mentioned it before now?”

“Was saving it for a day when I might need to blackmail you.”

A lump stuck in his throat, and he swallowed hard. Things almost seemed normal between them, and he felt like it had been too easy, like she had let him off too lightly.

“I’m sorry. Every day for the last six years I wished I could go back and change those decisions. I wish I’d invited Nathan in, or had given him the money so you would have had time to get away. I’ve hated you for not telling me how bad it got with him, and I’ve hated me for choosing not to see it. I’ve hated Dad for not understanding. I’ve hated Winston for abusing his position and the situation. And the whole time I’ve just felt like a fucking coward for running, for leaving you alone, Taylor. And shit . . . now I’m forgetting about the Harper thing.”

“You have until my wedding to get used to it,” she said, running her fingers under her eyes to catch the tears he could see there. “Up until then, for you only, I’ll answer to both.”

“Deal,” he said before taking a large swig of his beer, building up courage to tell her the last thing he needed to. “I wanted to let you know that we saw Winston Bell today. Lia’s father was having some political thing that he insisted she attend.”

“He must be down for the trial preparation. It starts the end of October,” Harper said calmly, as if he hadn’t just mentioned the name of the man who’d tried to have her imprisoned.

“I wanted to punch the guy’s fucking lights out when I saw him. You seem to be handling news of his arrival much more smoothly than I did.” Just saying his name had Reid all kinds of agitated.

“You remember when we were kids and I became obsessed with all of those movies from the eighties they had at the video store . . . how much I loved that movie
Labyrinth
?”

“I do. You spent the entire summer switching between that and
The NeverEnding Story
with that flying dog thing.”

“It was a luck dragon called Falkor. Not a dog at all. Anyway, at the end of
Labyrinth,
Jennifer Connelly’s character, Sarah, breaks Jareth’s spell by saying, ‘Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered . . . my will is as strong as yours . . . You have no power over me.’”

“I really want to be all serious and nod my head at that, but I think you just attempted to drop knowledge by quoting a movie in which David Bowie wears tights.”

Harper laughed. He’d forgotten how great that sound was. “It is indeed tight-wearing wisdom. But the ends are the same. I know that neither of them can do anything to me anymore. There are too many people around me, and while it let me down last time, I need to trust that the system won’t let me down again.”

It was amazing how much his sister had grown in six years. Not so much in age, but in her attitude about life. When he’d left six years ago, there had been a naivety to her. But the woman in front of him now looked like she could kick ass and take names.

“And I guess I have one more thing on my side this time that I didn’t have last time.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

* * *

Lia watched Reid’s broad shoulders as he walked toward the backlit bar with Cujo to secure the next round of drinks. A heavy bass pounded in the all-black room as deep purple lights flashed around them. They’d secured a large table, but the bottle service was taking way longer than Cujo could be bothered waiting for, so the two hunter-gatherers had gone off to find them alcohol.

She’d enjoyed sitting on the balcony with Trent while Reid and Harper continued their conversation. One of the things she loved about her boss and friend was the way he cared about everyone who worked for him. He’d asked her how she was and had teased her about Reid. It hadn’t taken much effort to convince him to turn the evening into a party, so they’d spent their time texting their friends and making plans.

They’d eaten as a quartet at Trent’s favorite seafood restaurant and had then moved on to the nightclub attached to the W. There they had caught up with Cujo and Drea, Pixie and Dred, and Eric and his brother who was in town from L.A. Even Truly had stopped by with a handful of her roller-derby teammates.

“Okay, girlfriend,” Pixie said, taking Lia’s hand and dragging her to the edge of the group. “Catch me up. Because the way that guy is looking at you is seriously yummy. And yet, it’s slightly weird that you are here with Harper’s brother.”

Used to the drill, Lia did exactly as Pixie asked. “On a scale of one to ten, I might be a little bit in love with him. Don’t judge me, Pix. I didn’t want to, hell, I really tried not to. We both know it would be so much easier if I wasn’t. But I am.”

The lights of the nightclub reflected off Pixie’s purple hair. Pixie wasn’t one to judge, especially having found herself in the middle of the public eye once her relationship with Dred had become public knowledge in the spring, but she wanted her friend to understand that this was different. That Reid was different. That when she was with him,
she
felt different.

“Look, I know I’ve said stuff like this before. And I know I said I wasn’t going to do this for a while. But I see Harper and Trent,” she said, physically turning to face toward them. “He would do anything for her. He’d take a bullet for her in a heartbeat, and it almost killed him when Nathan attacked her.” She remembered when she had first arrived at the hospital to visit Harper and had seen him sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed, his face gray with shock. “And we both know how Cujo is with Drea. He wants to marry her and have babies with that girl so badly he can taste it, but he’s putting it off for three years because he wants her to have the college education she yearns for. Like seriously, do you remember how he lost his shit when she asked him to tattoo a rose on her shoulder for her mom?”