She finishes off her beer and grabs another. “Why?”
I smile at her interest. “He was shot last year.”
“What?” she yells, interrupting me.
My eyes are sad as I think about it. I wish I was here for him and Zane. I know it was agony for Zane, watching his best friend barely hanging on.
“Yeah, I don’t know the specifics, but he was shot and it was close to his heart. They didn’t think he’d make it, but he’s a fighter. His ex, not so much. She couldn’t be bothered to hang around to see him through it. His heart was already damaged, she made it worse.”
“Holy shit,” she whispers. “I had no idea.”
I lay down and look up at the ceiling. “Of course you didn’t. No one outside of the club knew, except for me. That was only because Zane left me a voicemail crying about it.”
I think back to that time and I hate that I ignored his call. He needed someone and I wasn’t there.
“This is all kinda fucked up,” she says, laying next to me.
“It’s totally fucked up.”
My eyes start getting heavy and I’m losing the battle to keep them open. I guess it’s not going as good out there as Zane had hoped or as I hoped. I thought it was an easy decision. But, then again, I only know what I know.
I open my eyes and look around. I didn’t even realize I passed out. Turning my head I see Ivy sleeping beside me. I have no idea how long it’s been or why Zane hasn’t come in here. I get up and grab my phone seeing it’s four in the morning.
The need to use the bathroom takes over and I open the door. Finn is still standing there like a statue. He doesn’t say anything as I pass him to use the bathroom. When I’m done I come back out and peek down the hallway. I don’t see or hear anything.
“Where is he?” I ask Finn.
“They had to go, but I’m here and so is Porter,” he says.
My heart starts pounding in my chest, my palms begin to sweat, and my stomach turns. “Where did they go?”
He looks at me, grinning. “You know I don’t know and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
It’s getting harder to breathe, it feels like something is wrapping around my throat and cutting off my airway.
“They went to find my father?”
He doesn’t confirm it or deny it. “You’re safe.”
Yes, I am safe, but Zane isn’t. I start breathing heavily and rush to the living room. “I need to go. I need to get him,” I say, pulling at my shirt this feels like it’s strangling me.
“Harper, you can’t go,” he says.
“No! I need to go now,” I scream.
The front door flies open and Porter runs in. “What the hell?”
“Porter, take me to him. Please, I need to go,” I say, tears filling my eyes. “Please, hurry.”
They look at each other and back at me. “Harper, he’ll be back soon.”
“No, stop saying that. You don’t need to come, just let me go. I’ll go, I’m going,” I ramble, looking for my keys.
He’s gonna die. My father is going to smile while he kills him. I need to get there. I need to stop it. He’s going to take away the only person who loves me. I’ll be left in the world alone. I can’t handle the thoughts. It’s too much.
“Where are my fucking keys?” I yell.
“Your car isn’t even here,” Porter says. “Come on, sit down and relax. He’s going to be fine. Nothing bad is gonna happen.”
I push his arm off of me and step back. “You don’t know that. You can’t make a promise like that. Don’t treat me like some naive girl. I know exactly what is happening and I know how it ends.” The tears start and I can’t stop them. “Please, Porter, take me to him.”
“Harper, I can’t,” he says, his voice full of pity.
Fucking pity. Just what I need right now. My world is about to fall apart and he knows it. I can see it in his eyes. He’s holding secrets, things I can’t know. He looks at Finn and they share some sort of a sad expression. I step back again and shake my head.
“Is he dead?” I sob.
“Fuck, no. He’s not dead. If anyone is dying tonight it’s your father. I’m sorry,” Porter says.
The sobs are tearing through me, making it hard to stand. “I’m not,” I manage to get out. After a few minutes I calm myself enough to be able to speak again. “I need to talk to him. I need to hear his voice.”
Porter pulls out his phone and walks away. I stare at his back as I feel Finn’s eyes boring into the side of my head. I ignore him though and wait on Porter. I need to tell him to come home. I need to know he’s coming home.
“Do you want some coffee or something?” Finn quietly asks.
“No,” I rush out.
“I’m sorry, Harper. We’re just making sure you’re safe.”
I turn to look at him and I see his sorrow. “I know, Finn. I fucking hate you for it right this minute, but I know.”
Porter grabs his phone and holds it to his ear. I didn’t think my eyes had any more tears left, but they prove me wrong and roll down my face. He turns around and walks toward me, handing me the phone.
My hand is shaking as I grab it from him. “Zane?” I scream.
“Babe, relax. Take a deep breath and listen to me.” His voice is so calm, so reassuring.
“Come home, please. I can’t lose you,” I sob.
He’s quiet for a second and I’m about to scream when he clears his throat. “Harper, you aren’t going to lose me. I told you to trust me, you need to do that. I’m coming home.”
“Please, baby,” I cry.
“Fuck, you’re killing me here, babe. I’ll be home soon, please believe me. I need to go, but I’ll be home soon. I fucking love you.”
“I love you,” I sob as the line goes dead.
I throw the phone at Porter and run to the bathroom. Everything I’ve ever eaten in my life comes up. I stay against the toilet far longer than I should, especially with Porter and Finn at the door. I finally come out and push past them. It’s not their fault this is happening, but I need to take it out on someone.
I sit down on the couch and pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. “I’m gonna lose him,” I whisper, as one last tear rolls down my cheek.
Chapter 21
Zane
After I hang up with Harper, I’m fucking gutted. I don’t even know the girl that I just talked to. Harper has always been so strong, so determined, so fierce. She never let emotions get the best of her, hell, she buried them. She was a force to be reckoned with. But, the girl I just talked to, she’s broken. Her emotions are tearing her apart. She sounds defeated, beaten, destroyed.
Over the last few hours shit has gotten worse. I was ready to lock everyone down, get ready for war, but Brooks is against me. When they all got to my house, I was certain we’d all be on the same page. It wasn’t the case. Half the club was for it, half wasn’t. Brooks said it ultimately comes down that Harper and me are the ones in danger. We’re the ones Kingsley wants. He doesn’t want to put everyone on edge. I tried to fight it, because it’s not really just us. Homes that had nothing to do with us were broken into. Still, not everyone saw it my way.
So, here we sit. Watching Club Kingsley with our dicks in our hands. It’s a fucking joke. He’s not just going to walk outside alone and give us enough time to grab him. He’s smart. The only thing this is doing is giving him more time to find Harper. Although, I’m sure he already knows exactly where she is.
This shit needs to be over, because the girl I’m going home to, she needs closure. I need to make sure that the way she is feeling right now, like her life is crumbling apart, doesn’t happen again.
“Z,” Kace says, hitting my arm. “What do you wanna do here?”
I light a cigarette and laugh. “Not really my call, brother. Doesn’t seem anyone wants this like me.”
“That’s bullshit,” he hisses.
I lift an eyebrow and blow smoke over his shoulder. “Is it?
We should be blowing his shit up, not sitting here like a bunch of pussies,” I growl. I throw my smoke down and look around. “What’s the point of this?”
“I don’t know, maybe we should go and regroup,” he suggests. “I know Harper would like to see you right about now.”
It shouldn’t piss me off. I know it’s not his intention, but I’m on edge. I’m pissed at this wasted night and at my club. So, when he says it, I snap. “You don’t know shit about Harper. You want to regroup, fucking go. Sit at the table with them and talk in fucking circles. I’ll do what needs to be done.”
“Don’t be a stubborn asshole, Z. You’re right, this is a waste of time. We should all just leave...all of us,” he says, grabbing my shirt. I knock his hand off of me and push him back. He stands there and holds his arms out. “Go ahead. You want to beat the shit out of me to feel better, do it. Come on, I’ll take the hits.”
“Fuck,” I yell and turn away from him. He answers his cell as he steps next to me. I already know what it is, but I wait for him to hang up. “Brooks.”
“Yep, we’re leaving,” he says.
I don’t even say anything. There’s nothing to say. Brooks runs this shit. We can fight on it all we want, but his word is final. Tonight though, he’s proved to me that he’s fucking scared of Kingsley. It’s the only explanation for this standoff shit. He’s always rushing in guns drawn. It just means, I’m on my own. Which is fine by me, because I’m not gonna sit around holding my dick. I’m gonna rip his beating heart out of his chest. I’ll come back after we all leave.
We all leave and Kace wants to go back to my place, but I tell him I need some time with Harper first. I ask him to go check on everyone for me, make sure no shit is going on. Make sure they’re safe. I figure that gives me enough time to either kill Kingsley and get home or at the very least be close to it before he realizes I didn’t go home. He’s pissed, but he’ll get over it.
I drive off and when everyone is out of sight, I cut my lights and pull over. I need a plan otherwise it’s no better than what we were just doing. I have to get inside to get him, but I know I’ll be met with a wall of bullets. I consider lighting it on fire, but that takes an accelerant and help. The only thing to do is do what I did as a kid, slash his tires and wait him out. I’m not sitting in the shadows though, I’ll be waiting by his fucking door.
I get on the road and head back to where I came from. I leave my bike off to the side and put on my hat, pulling it low over my eyes. There isn’t anyone in the parking lot, but I still keep my head down as I walk. I know exactly where Kingsley’s bike is, I’ve been staring at it for hours. When I’m almost to it, I pull my knife out and hold it. My mind is completely focused on the task at hand, so when I’m bodychecked, it takes me entirely off guard. My knife skids across the ground when I go down.
“Daring, coming back alone.” I jump up and I’m face to face with Dom, Kingsley’s number two. “Yeah, we were watching you all night too.”
My blood is boiling as I hit him with a left hook. He didn’t expect it, which is fucking satisfying when he stumbles back. I take advantage of it and take another swing. My anger is in total control, there’s no stopping me. I sweep my leg at his feet and he goes down. I jump on top of him, my body holding him down, my hands around his neck.
“Where the fuck is Kingsley?” He’s stronger than I thought and almost gets me off of him, but my adrenaline is off the charts. I push harder on his throat and he hisses. “Where’s all the Vegas Kings? No one wants to save your pathetic ass do they?”
“Fuck you,” he hisses.
The longer I stare at him the more the anger inside me burns. I think of all the things that have happened to Harper. All the things he knew about and didn’t stop. No real man would stand by any of it, I don’t give a shit what their president says.
He gains control and we start rolling around on the ground. Punches are thrown, connecting with whatever is within reach. We’re both bleeding and he’s struggling to keep going. I grab his shirt and stand up, slamming him against the brick building. His head bounces off and I can see he’s in pain. But it’s not good enough. Not until he’s begging to die.
“You stood by and did nothing to help Harper. I swear to you, I’m going to make you regret that decision with every breath you take until I fucking kill you,” I growl.
He spits blood at my face and when he smiles his teeth are red. “She loved it all. Especially when I fucked her, over and over through the years. She always begged for more.”
The rage that surges through me is like nothing before. I slam him against the building again and my fist connects with his jaw. He swings forward and I catch the glistening of my blade before it drags across my arm. I jump back, but not fast enough, because he stabs the knife into my leg, causing me to fall to the ground.
I reach for my gun, but he’s already on his bike. “Fuck,” I yell, taking a few shots in his direction.
I roll onto my side and try to sit up. The pain is brutal, but I need to get out of here. Those shots will have everyone running out. I stand up and before I pull the knife out, I feel someone at my back.
“You stupid son of a bitch,” Kace growls, wrapping his arms around me.
We rush to my bike and I see Finn there with the truck. Damn, he was prepared. The bike is already in the back and he drags me into the back seat with him. “Get the fuck out of here, Finn.”
I’m so pissed that I didn’t shoot him when I had the chance. I wanted him to feel pain before I ended his life. I wanted him to suffer, to regret the things he’s done. I wanted him to endure for a minute the agony that Harper has been in. I fucking blew my chance and now I’ve started a war. Brooks is gonna kill me before Kingsley gets the chance.
“What the fuck, Z?”
“This hurts, brother,” I say, truly starting to feel the pain.
“Knives usually do. Why the fuck did you go back alone? You should’ve called me,” he hisses.
I close my eyes against the pain and nod. “Yeah that’s my bad.”
“You’re a fucking asshole. I know you want Kingsley, but we need to be smart. That was some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen you do.”
I pull the knife from my leg and grunt when Kace ties a bandana around it. I definitely need stitches, but Kingsley’s guys will be waiting at the hospital. I’m gonna have to take care of the wounds myself.
“I fucked up, alright? I know I did, but I can’t just wait for him to kill her. I needed to make the first move,” I try to explain.
“Well you did that. This shit is bad, Z.”
I close my eyes against the pain from the truck bouncing over bumps. “I know.”
“You went fucking rogue.”
I snap my head to look at him. “You think I don’t know this shit? Give me a solution or shut the fuck up,” I yell.
He shakes his head and looks out the window. “You’re my best friend, Z. I’ll always have your back, but you need to start thinking straight. I know you’re doing it all for Harper, but it’s causing more problems. Shattered Souls is a brotherhood, a family. We aren’t unnecessarily reckless. You’ve got to tell the club you know all this. Tell them this will never happen again. You get what I’m saying?”
I know what he’s saying. I need to beg and plead to make sure I’m not killed by my own club for starting this shit. It was never my intention to bring anything to the club, I was trying to avoid it. I was trying to keep everyone safe. My end goal was Kingsley’s death and Harper’s freedom. I fucked up and I need to figure out how to fix it all. That’s all I seem to be doing lately, fixing my fuck ups.
We pull up to my house and Kace helps me out, while Finn goes to get my bike out of the back. Before the front door is even closed behind me, Harper is running at me. She jumps up and I try to catch her with my good arm, but my leg can’t take it. I stumble back and slam into the door. I groan in pain, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Baby, holy shit, what happened?” she whispers, moving
off of me.
I straighten myself and wrap my good arm around her, pulling her to me. “I’m alright. I had a little accident, but I’ll be fine.”
She pushes away from me and her eyes are crazy, running over my entire baby. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah well when you go against a knife that’s what happens,” Kace says, grabbing my arm to help me to the couch. “I’m calling Nora, she needs to look at this.”
Nora is the one we count on when we can’t get to the hospital. She’s not a nurse or anything, but she’s been around long enough to know how to tend to less severe wounds.
“Zane, tell me what happened,” Harper demands, a tear running down her face.
Ivy comes to stand next to her and she nearly falls over when she sees how I look. It must be worse than I thought.
I lean back on the couch and look up at Harper. “The club is gonna be here in a few minutes. I fucked up, so you two are gonna need to go back to my room. I got into it with Dom and now, well it’s not good.”
“What the fuck,” Harper hisses. “You went alone didn’t you?”
“Yep.”
She shakes her head and starts pacing the living room. She stops in front of me, hands on her hips, and anger rolling off of her. “One club wanting to kill you isn’t enough? You told me to trust you. You said you had a plan. This is fucking suicide, Z. What the fuck were you thinking?”
My anger is misplaced and I lean forward, narrowing my eyes at her. “I was thinking I need to fucking protect you.”
I don’t know if it’s my anger or my words, but she kneels in front of me and presses a kiss to my lips. I try to wrap my arms around her, but I moan in pain. She pulls back and cups my cheek. “I’m sorry. How bad is it?”
I’m not sure if she’s talking about the situation or my wounds, but I choose to discuss the wounds. “The slash on my arm is pretty bad, but not as bad as the stab wound in my leg. Probably gonna need some stitches.”
She nods her head and carefully leans forward to place a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you, babe.”
Shattered (Shattered Souls MC Book 1) Page 16
