by Jayne Blue
“God. I know that!”
“Baby, I love you more than life itself. And I know what you’ve had to sacrifice over the years. First for me. Then for him. I just worry, that’s all. I said Wyatt comes first, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be happy too.”
“Mom, please. There’s a lot I still have to figure out. It means everything that you trust me. I just need you to do that a little while longer.”
Her smile melted me. “I do. I have. And I have a feeling about this. I’m not thrilled that you weren’t straight with me about what this place means for you. But you know I believe in signs. I feel better today. And you know what? One of those bluebirds finally landed on my feeder this morning. That’s a good omen. Emerald Point is good for us.”
Laughing, I shook my head and cleared away our wine glasses. “You and your birds.”
Mercifully, she stopped asking me questions, but the things she had said drove straight through my heart. So much so that later that night, when the apartment was quiet and dark, I found myself staring at the ceiling with my heart racing. Maybe if I’d taken the time to get up or take a walk, or even a deep breath, I might have lost my nerve. I didn’t though. Instead, I picked up my phone and pulled up the recent phone numbers. My heart pounding, I hit the call back button. God, it was late, just past one in the morning. But he answered on the second ring. He didn’t even say hello.
“Harper? Are you all right?”
I took a breath and held it, just like I would if I were jumping into water over my head. “I’m all right.” I hesitated. Now that I’d done it, I hadn’t planned what to say.
“What is it?”
“I just wanted … fuck. I’m really bad at this.” I let out a breath. “It’s just, I know whose side I’m on.”
His wicked laugh on the other end of the phone warmed me. “Well, it’s about damn time. Call in sick.”
“What? It’s Saturday.”
“Good. I’ll meet you at D’Angelo’s at eight. Get some sleep. You might need it.”
Chapter Eight
Nash
* * *
If she hadn’t been there, I wasn’t against working Dee over to get her address, and hauling her out of her house, caveman style. My blood pumped through me like quicksilver as I took the last curve in the road before pulling into the coffee shop. No matter what else happened today, I damn well wasn’t going to let this woman get away from me again.
She was there. Sitting at the same table as the day before, Harper sipped her coffee and flashed a smile at Dee. I cut my engine early and walked it up so she wouldn’t hear me. I just wanted to watch her through the window for a second. It was just like no time had passed and I was seeing her for the first time. Harper was special. Her smile and lilting laugh worked on me like magic. She was casual again, wearing a jean skirt and combat boots with a faded Detroit Lions t-shirt. The mid-July sun baked against my neck as I slid off my helmet and hooked it over my handlebars. As I walked toward the front door, Harper’s gaze shifted and she caught my eye.
I pushed through the door and Dee straightened his back. He raised a brow and looked from me to Harper and back again. I gave him a nod and he went behind the counter. I had business with him later too. There’d been some break-ins at a few of the businesses further down the boardwalk. We’d need to bring more of a presence down here but not without the consent of the owners and arrangements for payment. But I needed to take Dee’s temperature on this. When shit went down, it could look bad for the club. I didn’t want people thinking we couldn’t protect our own. That would just feed into whatever narrative the mayor wanted to spin about us.
But for now, it was all about Harper. She crossed her legs and took a sip of her coffee as I sat down in front of her.
“Thanks for coming,” she said.
I smiled but didn’t say a word. This was her show right now. I can’t lie. I liked watching her squirm a little. She licked her lips and her eyes darted around the room before settling on mine.
“I swear I didn’t know anything about you and your difficulties with Mayor Dodge when I started working for him,” she finally said as she exhaled.
I gave her a nod and tried not to smile. Leaning back into my chair, I draped an arm over the empty chair beside me and crossed my ankle over my knee.
“But yeah, he asked me to get close to you. He wasn’t really clear about what that meant.”
This got a laugh out of me and Harper’s eyes flashed. “He’s a bad dude, Harper. I can’t figure out what his angle is yet, but he’s on somebody’s payroll and it ain’t the taxpayers.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know about that. I swear. I’m a paralegal, for God’s sake. My job is supposed to be researching municipal law and writing position papers. That’s it.”
“Whatever happened?” I asked. “When you left, you were headed for college. You had a scholarship lined up and everything.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You remember that? I don’t remember even telling you.”
“I remember everything.” I loved the way her cheeks colored as she remembered a few things from that weekend too.
“Well, I lost the scholarship. But I was a grant recipient. It came so out of the blue.” Her eyes took on a wistful look and she looked out the window. “I went to U of M for a full year.”
“You didn’t graduate?”
She shook her head. “My family situation got complicated.”
“Your mom?”
She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. She was holding something back and I wanted to reach for her. God, I wish I could have helped her more back then. She saw the worst of what club life could be and my own world was about to cave in on my head. I did what I could for her. But the best thing I probably did was send her away.
“I went back and got an associate’s degree at the school where my mom taught later. I was going to save up for law school. Someday I still might. For now, things are good.”
“Until you ran into me again,” I said.
“Nash.”
“Harper, it’s been a long time since that summer weekend. You don’t owe me any explanations about how you’ve lived your life.”
She blinked back tears I couldn’t understand. Something or someone had hurt this girl. I felt in in my bones. I had to focus on keeping my fists unclenched but her pain made me want to tear someone’s face off.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get out of here. The sun’s shining and the wind died down. Let me take you for a ride.”
Her eyes filled with fire and she smiled. “As I recall that’s how you got me into trouble in the first place.”
I reached across the table and stroked her arm, giving her goosebumps. Rising to my full height, I held a hand out to her. I’d wanted this girl on the back of my bike again so damn bad, it took a lot to keep from throwing her over my shoulder. She looked up at me, unsure but trusting, and took my hand. We got about three steps toward the front door before it flew open and shit hit the fan.
One of D’Angelo’s waitresses screamed. On instinct, I pulled Harper behind me and reached for the gun I carried in a hip holster beneath my leather vest. The kid came stumbling toward me, his face swollen and bloodied beyond the point of recognition. I got my hands out just in time to catch him as his legs gave out.
“Dee!” I shouted. Though his face was mush, I knew his build and his close-cropped black hair with the part shaved into the side.
“Andre!” Dee practically vaulted over the counter and slid to his knees beside me. “Oh Jesus. Andre? Son?”
Andre let out a groan. I turned to Harper. She had her back against the wall and her eyes went wide. I looked out through the front door. A blue Mercedes with tinted windows peeled away from the building. When the back window started to lower, I shouted to her.
“Get down! Harper, get away from the window!” She sank to her knees just as the glass shattered above her head. I reached for her and pulled her behind me. Shoving Andre to
ward his father, I drew down and slid behind a booth. Carefully, I peered over the top. The parking lot was empty. The Mercedes’s tires squealed as it pulled out and headed north down the highway.
I went to Harper. On her knees, she trembled and looked up at me. I smoothed my hands over her arms, down her back, looking for any sign that she’d been hit. She shook her head.
“I’m okay.” Then she turned to Dee and Andre and sprang into action. She shouted to the waitress. “Call an ambulance.”
“N-no!” Andre mumbled then turned to his side and coughed. I knelt next to Harper and lifted the kid’s shirt. He had black bruises on his side where it looked like somebody had kicked him. The worst of his injuries were over his left eye. If I had to guess, he’d been pistol-whipped at least.
“Dre,” I said. “You’ve gotta get checked out.”
Dee looked at me then down at his son. “Who the fuck did this to you?”
Andre shook his head as he started to shake. “I’m all right, Dad.”
“You are not all right. I told you to stay away from those thugs. I told you.”
Andre tried to sit up. Dee shifted his weight to help him. The kid spit blood and Harper grabbed a towel from the counter, gently pressing it to his head. The good news was the bleeding had basically stopped. I was worried the kid had a broken skull and some caved-in ribs. Dee would have to talk some sense into him and get him to the ER.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get him into the back room. Louanne? Get some ice in a bag and more towels.” Dee’s one and only waitress nodded and stumbled back toward the kitchen. Dee and I heaved Andre to his feet. Thankfully, he managed to walk more or less under his own steam. Looking back at Harper, I wanted more than anything to send her the hell away from here. But without knowing what the fuck we were dealing with, I wanted her by my side until I could get her someplace safe.
She stayed at Andre’s side and kept the towel to his head as we got him into the kitchen. Dee got him up on the steel prep counter and Louanne came through with the ice. Andre pressed it to his swollen head and waved his dad off.
“You tell me what the fuck happened,” Dee said through gritted teeth. “How many times have I told you to stay away from those fucks?”
Andre shook his head. “It ain’t what you think, Dad. I swear.” Andre’s eyes flicked to me and back again. Harper had backed away and took a spot beside the walk-in cooler. I gestured to her to hang tight.
Dee smashed his fist against the counter and started to pace. Then he grabbed me by the arm and walked to the other side of the room. In hushed tones, he let me have it.
“This has been going on for weeks. You gonna do something about it?”
“Why don’t you clue me the fuck in?”
Dee let out a breath. “Bangers trying to move in.”
I looked back at Andre. He shook his head then dropped his chin. I went over to him. “How much are you into them for?”
Andre looked up. His one good eye widened. “Nothing, man. I swear. That’s the whole thing.”
“So what point are they trying to prove by tuning you up?”
“I said no. I swear to God, man. But they’ve been putting heat on me and a bunch of my friends up and down the boardwalk. They want us to move their product.”
My heart turned to stone as Dee stared me down. This was a message all right, but it wasn’t meant just for Dee’s seventeen-year-old kid. I heard it loud and clear.
“Gimme a name, Andre,” I said. The kid went pale. “Andre!”
He put his head down and shook it. “I don’t know these guys.”
“The Brigands? Devils?”
“Naw, man. These guys are new. They’re not from around here. You saw that car they drive.”
“Gimme something to go on, Dre. White guys? Black guys?”
Andre let out a sigh. “White guys. Accents too. I don’t know. Russian maybe. They started driving around a few weeks ago. They picked up Carson, then Petey.”
Dee pounded his fist against the counter again. Petey and Carson’s families owned businesses along the boardwalk too. All of them under our protection. Whatever this was, it happened quick.
I grabbed Dee by the arm and pulled him to the side again. “You sit tight. You hear me? You keep Andre at home. You let my crew handle it. We clear?”
Dee clenched his jaw so hard I expected to see powder spew out of his nose. I knew Dee had a small armory up in his attic. The last damn thing I needed was him to start a war with these assholes he didn’t have the muscle to finish by himself. I couldn’t blame him one bit though; if this were my kid, I’d want swift retaliation and I’d want to deliver it my damn self.
“Dee. Right now you need to take care of your boy. Sadie’s gonna be home in a few hours. You know damn well she’d cut your balls off if she heard you talking about going after these fucks on your own. You gotta trust me to handle it.”
Dee poked my chest with his finger. “Then you handle it.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I will. I swear to God. Now take care of Andre.”
Dee gave me a slow nod. His eyes bulged and filled with tears, but he swallowed hard and turned toward Andre. God, I knew what he saw behind those eyes. Years ago, D’Angelo lost both of his brothers to gang violence. He stood beside his mother as she had to lower her sons’ caskets into the ground. He thought he’d left it behind and flipped the page for his own kid. It was up to me to make sure he had.
I turned toward Harper. She stood stoic against the wall, her eyes darting from Andre to me and back again. She backed away when I went to her.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get you someplace safe where we can talk. This isn’t what you think.”
She sucked in a breath and followed me back out to the restaurant. Thank God Dee’s business was slow this morning. Harper and I had been the only two customers in the place. She leaned down and picked up the brick that had been thrown through the window. Turning it over, she handed it to me. The words “dead wolf” were painted in red on one side.
“Nothing’s changed, has it?” she said, her tone flat.
“Yeah. Everything has. But that doesn’t mean the world is perfect, Harper. Let’s get you out of here.”
She shook her head. “I think I need to go home. I can walk from here.”
I went to her. Her eyes had turned cold and I wouldn’t have it. Not again. Years ago I’d thrown her out of my life thinking I could keep her safe. The urge to do it again burned through me. But something else simmered beneath that just as strong. I’d fought too long and too damn hard to let this bullshit bring me down again.
“You’re probably right,” I said. “But you’re back in my life now. Six years ago, things were different. I’m telling you, this isn’t what it looks like and you aren’t a nineteen-year-old kid anymore. And I’m a hell of a lot more selfish than I was back then.”
I proved it by pulling her to me and kissing her again. She resisted at first, but then her hands went up and she slid them beneath my vest and circled my waist. She pulled away first, breathless.
“I want to be selfish too. But I can’t. You’re right, things are more different than you think they are.”
“Harper, I asked Dee to trust me. I’m asking you the same thing. I wish like hell you hadn’t been here to see this. But you were. Now I need to get you out of here. You’re not walking anywhere.”
I didn’t give her another beat to change her mind. I led her out into the parking lot under the glare of the hot summer sun. Then I put her on the back of my bike. She hugged me close, breasts pressed against my back. When I revved the engine, I felt her pulse quicken.
I should have just taken her home. Maybe my world still wasn’t the place for her. But I’d fought too long and hard to make something of it. I wanted her. Bad. It turns out I’m a selfish man and it was damn time for me to take back what was mine.
Chapter Nine
Harper
* * *
My pulse
quickened, ripping through me as the wind freed my hair making it fly behind me like a banner. Nash drove fast and wild, hugging the curves on the coastal highway. The scent of salt and seawater filled my lungs, intoxicating me as we rode along the beach. I pressed my cheek against the soft leather of his jacket. He flexed his shoulders as we took a hairpin curve and my blood heated.
I wanted to run. He was reckless and dangerous still. I thought the years would change things. I’d hoped everything I’d heard was true. All the things that drew me back to Emerald Point just slipped away in a heartbeat when Andre Ballas staggered into that coffee shop. Violence and mayhem still followed Nash wherever he went. God, Sadie was going to lose her mind when she saw him.
Finally, Nash slowed his bike and cut the engine, pulling onto the shoulder. We were well past the resorts on a stretch of beach frequented only by the locals and not much even then. High dunes, rocks, and a plastic orange fence kept most people out. A riptide rolled in and whitecaps crashed against the shore so loud I could barely hear myself think. Nash climbed out of the seat and pulled me with him so fast I lost my balance. He grabbed my hand and strode toward the tallest of the dunes.
“Nash!”
He kept walking. I had to run to match his stride. I felt his pulse beat wildly where he held my hand. Finally, when we crested the hill and came down the other side, he turned to face me. It felt like we had the world to ourselves at that moment. The sandy hills and a rocky outcropping obstructed the view of the highway; only the raging tide behind us bore witness to what happened next.
“I can’t do this!” I shouted. Every cell in my body told me to break away clean. I’d seen what Nash still was. Danger and darkness loomed just over his shoulder. He could say anything he wanted, but I’d seen what happened to Andre and he couldn’t deny it touched him.
