Harlow (The Hastings Series Book 2)

by Vanessa Sienna

  “I mean, it’s a nice compliment,” I said, still grinning. She sighed and uncovered her eyes to hit my shoulder with that hand. “Hunter…” she said with a pout and I enjoyed her embarrassed look a little too much.

  I chuckled, cupping her face with both hands and moving closer to her. “I’m kidding.” I kissed the tip of her nose before covering her mouth with mine. She didn’t kiss me back at first but melted into the kiss after I stood back up and lifted her to her feet too. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her close and feeling her hands wander up toward my neck.

  “I love you too, Harlow.”

  It should’ve felt rushed. It should’ve taken us more time to know that we shared the same strong feelings for each other but it didn’t. Even after this short amount of time, we knew it was right. No matter if I was about to tell her my darkest secrets and no matter what the future would hold for us, letting each other know how we felt came first.

  Chapter Seven

  Hunter

  I held her in my arms for a while and just breathed in her scent, feeling both our hearts beat at the same pace and driving me crazy simultaneously because I never felt my heart beat that fucking fast. It almost felt like adrenalin. Telling her I loved her and knowing she felt the same wasn’t something I thought I needed. Up until now, love wasn’t really a thing I was too excited about. I had relationships before, sure. But with Harlow, I felt for the first time what it really meant to be in love with someone. I was slightly cringing at my own thoughts for being so fucking pussy whipped, but it was all just going up from now on.

  “Are we moving too fast?” she asked in a whisper against my chest and I looked down at her.

  “Hm?”

  She turned her head to look up at me. “Are we doing this whole thing too fast? I feel like falling in love takes time,” she said, unsure of her words. I frowned at her, shaking my head.

  “Does it feel right to you?” I asked. “Are you having any doubts about us?”

  She quickly shook her head and smiled at me with a sweet smile. “Not one doubt.”

  “Me neither. And I promise you, sweetheart,” I started, kissing her lips softly before continuing, “I won’t be going anywhere. You got me all wrapped up around your little finger.”

  Her smile grew at my cheesy words and a laugh escaped her. “This is a disaster.” I knew she didn’t mean that and that what we had was indeed a little disaster. We started out with me being a total dick toward her and a short time later I was telling her that I loved her.

  “Do you really think you can keep up with me?” I asked. I was a handful. My anger wasn’t under control and the littlest things triggered me. Somehow, though, knowing Harlow loved me made that anger go away. For the moment, at least.

  “I kept up with you for the past few weeks. I think I can handle whatever is coming my way.”

  I believed her, yet I didn’t want to hurt her again.

  I studied her face long enough to realize that what she was saying was the truth. She deserved so much more. I wanted to give her more.

  “Let’s get comfortable. I wanna tell you everything.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “What? Are you having doubts now?” I joked, smirking at her.

  Her nose wrinkled and she shook her head quickly. “No. I’d love to listen to your story.”

  ***

  Harlow

  We sat on the small couch in his living room and turned to face each other, my legs pulled up underneath me to sit more comfortably. The beginning of his story was almost identical to what Bliss had told me. There were some things he added to the story about the way he felt and what his thoughts were about. I listened carefully, not wanting to miss anything. It was heartbreaking to hear his story and I wished somebody would’ve taken better care of baby Hunter and Bliss. They were both just kids, getting put through rough things early in life.

  “Bliss was my rock. After every outburst of rage I had, she was the one pulling me back to earth and calming me down. When I was little I wasn’t really sure where all that anger came from. I thought something was wrong with me. Well, there is something wrong with me. But I had to accept the fact that I wasn’t the one carrying all the fault for it around. The people who tried to raise me were the ones making my brain go all wild and dizzy. I know that now. But that issue grew with me and that’s why I was an ass around you.”

  He took a small break from talking, thinking about the things he wanted to say next. I reached for his cheek, patting it softly and running my thumb over his stubbled jaw. “I can imagine how hard it was for you to wrap your thoughts around that. And I’ve seen the worst of you. At least, I think that was the worst. But even if I’m wrong, I won’t judge you for who you are.”

  “See, love,” he said in a chuckle. “That,” he said, pointing at me with his finger. “That’s one fucking reason why everyone adores you. You’re too damn kind. And I know I don’t deserve you.” He shook his head and I smiled at him. “I really hope you don’t ever change your mind because I will keep you forever. Not gonna let you go anymore.”

  “Good, ’cause I won’t leave.”

  “Good thing we got that settled.” He grinned at me once more before getting back to his story.

  “When I was sixteen, Bliss and I moved here, to Hastings. She was eighteen then and was able to take care of me on her own. She got the job at the diner she still works at and I tried to find a way to make my own money. I didn’t know what work really was. I didn’t have any education besides middle school and I wouldn’t have gotten a job that would pay me good money. I was on the streets a lot. I met people my age but I most times went back home with a bloody nose. I couldn’t keep away from fistfights. It was something I was good at and it just felt right. Time passed and people started to avoid me. They knew I was trouble and I was known as the outsider. Always around town on my own, dirty clothes and bruises all over my face and arms. I knew I was safe that way and no one would even try to get close to Bliss. That’s when our roles switched. I became her protector.

  “At eighteen, Bliss told me to stop fucking around and get a job. What she didn’t know was that I had one. I sold drugs to high school kids and since they were pretty damn naïve I ripped them off every time. I had my money, but I wouldn’t spend it on anything but food. Bliss found out about the drugs and that was the first time she ever showed me how brutally serious she could get. Almost scared the shit outta me. I explained to her that a normal job wasn’t going to cut it for me. I needed something exciting and different. We were up all night discussing the ups and downs of being a drug dealer. She knew I wasn’t going to give in so she tried to figure out the best way to let me do what I wanted without being scared something would happen to me. After a long talk, she made me promise not to do anything stupid.”

  Hunter paused and I let all of what he just said sink in. For now, everything he said wasn’t that bad. It was an interesting story and the fact that he didn’t go to high school never really showed in any way. Hunter was smart. Street smart, as Jagger would say.

  But then, we all were. We knew our ways around life without any guidance from books or teachers in school.

  We didn’t need that. All we needed were people who stuck to us, no matter what.

  Chapter Eight

  Harlow

  I was all ears for the next part of his story. I was kinda excited, but not in a positive way. I just really needed to know about the killing. He wasn’t very secretive when I asked him about it some minutes ago so I knew something bad would come. But no matter what he said, I would sit and listen, accept it, and just push it aside. I knew Hunter was a good guy at heart. Jagger too. And if both of them ever had to kill someone to protect themselves, then it would be okay.

  All of that still sounded crazy. But my life was normal and so I just had to accept whatever was coming.

  “Are you still with me?” he asked with a smile and I nodded.

  “Yes,” I told him, r
eminding myself that I had to go apologize to Bliss for being a bitch the last time I saw her. I was rude to her and kinda kicked her out of my house for trying to help and explain the situation.

  “I’ve mentioned Gunner before. He’s our boss. Initially, we just sold drugs and guns. When he realized people wanted more than just those two things he started to import ammunition. His business quickly went through the roof and he knew he could make way more. He had people asking him for help to catch deceivers and people who messed with them. At first, Jagger and I weren’t into that. We didn’t want to mess with others and selling was something we were good at. We kept the selling business running while others started to go after people who owed others. But one night, one of our guys got killed and that’s when Gunner found out that he wasn’t the only one doing business like that. There was another guy, Kai, going against us, sending his people to kill ours.”

  “To kill your guys who were going after the ones who owed someone who paid them to do so,” I said, hoping I was understanding all of it correctly. It was confusing. But I wanted to understand.

  Hunter chuckled and nodded. “Something like that. Long story short; Kai sent his guys to kill Gunner’s for killing people. Fuck, that’s complicated, but stick with me, all right?” I nodded and braced myself for the next part. He was already talking about killing, which suddenly made me nervous. I wasn’t nervous before but knowing there were multiple people going around town murdering others was starting to make me a little insecure. I loved walking alone at night after work and now I finally understood why Hunter insisted on taking me home at night. He was just trying to protect me. Though, I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong in life to get killed by some random guy in the middle of the night.

  “After we lost one of our guys, Gunner told us to step up or leave. He wanted more people to work as hitmen. He offered us more than half the money people paid for us to kill someone. I can’t tell you who those people are, but they pay a shit ton of money for just one hit.” He stopped talking again, eyeing me carefully. “What are you thinking right now?” he then asked with a shy smile and I shrugged.

  “I appreciate you telling me all this, but I think I just want to know how many there were,” I said, returning his gaze. “How many you killed, I mean.”

  ***

  Hunter

  Lying wasn’t going to work. If Jagger ever opened up like that to her and told her exactly how many we killed, she’d know I lied since Jag and I did the jobs together. We split the money we got. We could be selfish and do some of the jobs alone, but we wanted to be safe. Make sure no one would be after us while we were after somebody else. Better safe than sorry.

  “Fifteen.” I watched her face for a reaction but all I got was a small nod. This girl was one of a kind.

  “Have you ever gotten hurt? Or failed?”

  I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly. Instead of fear, there was some sort of curiosity in her eyes. Every other person would’ve gotten sweaty hands and taken several steps back, but Harlow? Fuck me. That girl just knew who she could trust.

  Even if the situation was weird, going from a hell of a blowjob to eating lunch, then confessing our love for each other before talking about killing people, I realized this was just who we were. We had ups and downs, and no matter what, we still needed each other’s company.

  “Never been hurt badly. And yeah, we failed several times.” I smiled again, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek and tugging it behind her ear. “Is there something else you wanna know?”

  She studied me for a while, then slowly shook her head. “Not really. I just don’t want you or Jagger to get hurt.”

  “We won’t. Trust me on that.”

  “So, Bliss knows all of that too, right?” she asked. I nodded.

  “Do you think she’s mad at me for telling her to be quiet that night? I feel horrible.” And just like that, whatever I just told her about being a fucking hitman was accepted and put to the side and the next topic came up.

  I let out a chuckle, shaking my head and trying to wrap my thoughts around her beautiful soul. How on earth did she stay so calm?

  “She’s not mad. You were put in front of a difficult situation and you had some anger in you. She’s fine. She can handle a small outburst like yours. I mean, she kept up with my bullshit all her life.”

  Harlow laughed and shrugged. “I just wanna tell her I’m sorry.”

  “We can get dinner at the diner tonight. She’s working.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll let Jagger know to meet us there after work.”

  I nodded and she got up to get her phone from her tote bag, typing in a message to her brother. I watched her standing there, letting my eyes wander up and down her body and leaning back to enjoy the view. Her body was amazing.

  Her smile caught my attention and she put her phone back down to walk over to me. I pulled her down on my lap, making her straddle me. “He said he will be there,” she told me and I managed to give her a small nod before taking her mouth.

  Not sure how, but I had to keep her in this trailer forever.

  Chapter Nine

  Hunter

  I knew how important it was to Harlow to keep her brother close, even if I now was a part of her too. I wasn’t taking that from her and I’m sure Jagger would not let me get away with it anyway. I couldn’t take another beating from him. Hell, my nose was still a bit sore.

  But I was planning on spending more time with Harlow. I had told her about my past now and even if I knew there wasn’t much I didn’t know about her since Jagger told me about their past before, I wanted to hear it from her. I knew she went through hell because of Dean, and never really knowing her mother was definitely not something she just forgot about.

  I didn’t know my parents either and I knew I would never get to meet them even if I tried looking for them. But then, I wasn’t really sure I needed to know who those people were. It didn’t feel like a good idea. Just thinking about having parents made me angry and the thought of looking into their eyes left me cold-hearted.

  I think it was different for Harlow. Even if she never talked about Dean or her mother, I knew there was something inside of her wanting to make it all right. Hell, sweet Harlow would probably forgive her father for abusing her as a kid. I sometimes wondered if she knew what hate was. If there was something inside her mind letting her know there were bad people on this earth or if she only saw the good in people. Sure, her father probably wasn’t good in any way, but Harlow would dig as deep as possible to find just one little thing that was good enough for her to forgive him.

  If that day ever came and I’d have to watch her do just that, I wouldn’t be able to sit there. That man had damaged and terrorized a small child’s innocent life and now had the gall to come crawling back as if nothing ever happened. Same with Jagger.

  “What are you thinking?” Harlow asked in a sweet voice, her eyes concerned and her hands brushing through the hair at the back of my head. She was still straddling me, my hands on her thighs and squeezing them lightly to let her know everything was fine.

  “Nothing. Just remembered something.” Lying wasn’t necessary, but I knew I wasn’t going to start this conversation about her father after the amazing day we had so far. It had gotten late and the rain finally stopped. It was foggy outside and the light shining through the window came from a streetlamp right in front of my trailer.

  “It’s five. We should probably head out to the diner. You ready? Or do you need to go change?” I asked her. She pushed out her bottom lip, looking down at herself and then shaking her head. “No, I think I’m good. Or do you think I should?”

  I never observed her clothing choices before since her beauty distracted me from anything else. This time, I looked down at what she was wearing. She had black skinny jeans on, yet the fabric was soft. Her socks were white—I wasn’t sure why I wanted to know what color socks she wore. My eyes traveled up to her sweatshirt. It was olive green, slightly oversized, and th
e sleeves were rolled up so her hands could peek out of them. Looking at it for some time, a small smirk appeared on my face.

  “What?” she asked, gripping her sweatshirt with both hands and looking at it closely. “Is there a stain?”

  I shook my head, looking up to her face now. “That’s Jagger’s,” I said, recognizing the sweatshirt she was wearing. Her eyes met mine, embarrassed.

  “My clothes haven’t been washed yet since the accident. I didn’t have anything to wear,” she told me. I chuckled, taking her hands in mine.

  “You look beautiful.”

  ***

  Harlow

  His words never failed to make my heart beat faster. I knew I looked like a sack of potatoes in Jagger’s sweatshirt, but it was cold and my clothes were dirty. Jagger usually kept his stuff clean or just wore them more than once to work so he always had some spare shirts and pants. I had outfits for each day of the week, plus my work uniform. But since the accident, and therefore not being able to wash my clothes, I didn’t have anything clean to wear besides the jeans and some underwear. Luckily, I owned more than just seven pairs of panties, bras, and socks.

  “You should ask Jagger to go shop for new clothes. I know he’s not using the money he’s saving up but I think you need some more things to wear. Now that you know about the money, you should ask him about this one thing.”

  Hunter was right. I understood Jagger’s intentions with that money. But I really was struggling most times with choosing what to wear. Hastings was fairly cold even in summer and one of the things I owned was a pair of shorts. I haven’t worn them a lot, though.