by C. M. Allen
She left me...
A few moments later, a knock sounded at the door just before it swung open without an invitation. “I just saw Harper leave with Ava. What do you want me to do?” Butch asked, knowing that if Harper left here unprotected that her life would still be in danger from Skull. He would no doubt want retribution for the pictures I sent him of what we had done to Worm for shooting Vulture and taking Harper.
“Roman seems to have gotten under Ava’s skin somehow, so tell him to stay close to her and keep an eye on Harper.”
“Will do.”
“She left me, man. Said that she didn’t feel safe with me anymore, that she needed to get away from me and this whole situation.”
“That woman loves you, Mav.”
My head snapped up at his words. “Really? Then why the fuck did she just leave?”
“I know she does. She’s just angry and confused right now. Give her some time. She’ll be back.”
I nodded my head still stunned that she really left me. “I hope you’re right, because I have never felt this way about any woman in my life. Not even... Nicole.”
“I am, you’ll see. Ah, not to change the subject, but did Axle talk to you about what he, Repo and Gunner found with Worm’s feet when they stripped his body before they burned it?”
“No, what was with his feet?”
“Axle said that it looked like someone had taken a hammer to at least four of his toes recently. Do you think Harper did that to him as well as the cuts to his stomach and legs?”
Running my hand over my chin, I tried to picture her doing something like that, and how that situation could have come about. But in the end, I shrugged it off to her possibly stomping on his foot or some shit. “Maybe he didn’t have on his shoes and she stomped or dropped somethin՛ on his foot when she was tryin՛ to get away from him. Anythin՛ is possible when someone is fightin՛ for their life.”
“Have you ever asked her exactly what went down there between the two of them or how she was able to fight him off until Dekes and his men got there?”
I thought to myself about how many times I had attempted to talk to her about what had happened when he had her. Then how many times she shot me down when I did, saying that she didn’t want to talk about it. “Believe me when I say, I tried many times to get her to tell me what happened with him. But every damn time she just shut down on me and said that she didn’t want to talk about it.”
Scratching and shaking his head, he looked down. “I know that Harper is a strong woman, and I have no doubt that she gave Worm one hell of a fight, but somethin՛ just doesn’t add up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not quite sure, but there was an awful lot of damage done to Worm before we got to him, and the wounds all looked a few days old.”
“That lines up with when Dekes and his men found her. Maybe they messed him up a bit when they pulled him off of her. I know I would have fucked someone’s ass up good if it was me that found some bastard tryin՛ to rape a woman.”
“Maybe... speakin՛ of, I need to go check on Raven. I left her down in the game room with Emma to watch over her while I was up here talkin՛ to you. I’ll text Roman and tell him to try not to piss Ava off so he can stick close to her and Harper.”
“Thanks.”
“Any time man,” opening the door, he looked back at me again. “She will come back to you, Mav. The kind of connection you two have. That shit just doesn’t vanish overnight.” Nodding back at him as my only answer, he shut the door behind him after he left.
Grabbing a glass, I poured some whiskey in it and just sat there sipping it all alone with my thoughts about what Butch said. I began to realize that maybe I was so blinded by my anger about what happened to Harper, that I hadn’t really thought about how the little things that just didn’t add up where Worm was concerned. First, I needed to talk to Harper and find out just what really went down between the two of them. But even more so, I needed to keep an eye on Skull to make sure that if he came for someone to avenge Worm’s death that it was me he came for and not Harper.
CHAPTER
7
Harper
All week long, I tried to figure out what I could do to push Maverick away and avoid breaking his heart as well as my own, but I came up empty. By the fifth day of trying to avoid his kisses and advances, that I had no doubt if I gave in would have made me crumble and not follow through with what I had to do, I called Ava to come and get me out of there. I threw up every excuse to not be at the clubhouse when Maverick initially brought me back there, but Maverick being Maverick, he did everything possible to make me feel safe and at home. When I asked him about Worm, his non-answer to my question was all the answer I needed to know that I had condemned an innocent man, at least in the attacking me sense, to death. Worm was not a good man by any stretch of the word, but to know that he was killed because of the lie I was forced to tell weighed heavily on my conscience. Then there was my parents’ death that I was dealing with all over again. Knowing now that they had been murdered by Dekes for trying to do the right thing had ripped out what was left of my tattered heart. To find out that someone took their lives on purpose caused a new kind of pain inside me that I had to learn how to process. But it was a twisted kind of pain I had never felt before that was entwined with the need to see Dekes die for what he’d done to the two most important people in my life.
It was all just too much to handle, everything that had either been brought to light or dumped on my shoulders in the last two weeks: Vulture being shot and still in a coma. The threats against my best friend as well as Maverick and his men. The real way my parents died. Worm’s death. And the war that was going to inevitably break out between the two clubs. All because of Dekes and the lie I told. It was all just too much to even grasp a hold of with my mind. I had to figure out some way to get us all out of this mess, alive. The first step was getting away from Maverick to be able to do that.
After I lied and told him that I couldn’t do this with him anymore, I made my way very quickly through the clubhouse, without looking at anyone, and out the front door before I let one tear fall from my eyes. Heading to Ava’s car, I jumped in and shut the door, interrupting her conversation that she was having with Roman, who was leaning in her driver’s side window.
“Can we please go now?” I practically pleaded, needing to be alone with my thoughts as soon as possible so I could try and sort this whole mess out.
“I’ll see you later then, beautiful,” Roman said, backing away from the car as Ava started it up and put it in drive.
When we hit the freeway, Ava asked. “So are you going to tell me what’s really going on here, because I know you too damn well, Harper Lancaster. And if I wasn’t already sure that it was breaking your heart to walk away from Maverick right now, those tears falling down your face would have been a very big clue that this is ripping you up inside.”
“I just need to think Ava, is that ok with you?” I snapped, unable to contain the anger I felt about what I’d just done to Maverick.
Turning to look out the windshield, she nodded her head but didn’t utter another word on the drive back to my place and neither did I.
When she pulled into the parking garage area of my apartment complex and stopped, I grabbed the handle of the car and started to get out, but then I felt her hand on my wrist. “I’m here for you, Harp. You know that, right?”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked at my best friend. “I do. Please just give me a couple of days, ok?”
Leaning over to hug me tightly, I returned the hug and held onto her. “You just let me know when you’re ready to talk and I’ll be there.”
“Love you,” I said, sliding out of the seat to stand.
“Love you too girl.” Closing the car door, I watched as she drove away.
As I stood there, watching her go, my eyes snagged on a familiar face sitting inside a black SUV not thirty feet away.
Devin.
Giving me a quick nod, he started the car up and began to follow behind Ava. The urge I had to call her and tell her that she was being followed was so strong that I practically dropped my purse trying to find my phone. “Now you wouldn’t be trying to call and warn Miss Sabatini about Devin following her, now would you?” A voice I knew all too well boomed from behind me, startling me so bad that I did drop my purse on the ground this time.
Fear crawled through my bones at the sight of him so close to me again, and I began to look around for anyone else in the area that could possibly help me. “What are you doing here? I’ve done everything you’ve asked me to so call Devin off of Ava.”
“Don’t worry, he’s not going to hurt her... yet that is. He’s just keeping an eye on her. As long as you keep up your side of the deal, she lives. Try and fuck me over...” he shrugged; the threat left hanging in the air.
“I heard you the first twenty times you told me! I don’t need another one of your damn reminders!” I shouted frustrated and scared.
Just as the words left my mouth, I found myself pinned up against a wall and Dekes’ hand wrapped around my neck, squeezing my windpipe, cutting off my airway off and causing me to wince at the pain the movement inflicts on my side. “Better keep that mouth of yours respectful towards me Miss Lancaster, or I just might decide to punish you myself,” he snapped out.
When he released his grip on my neck, I practically fell to the ground, choking. Crouching down in front of me, he swept my hair to the side, causing me to jerk away from his touch. Reaching out, he grabbed my chin, roughly pulling my eyes up to meet his. “And you will have to choose who will receive that punishment, Miss Lancaster,” he raked his eyes greedily over me. “You... or your little friend.” To punctuate his words, he snapped my chin to the side so hard it caused my head to hit the wall he had just pinned me up against. When I finally looked up again, he was gone.
I SPENT THE PAST TWO days in my apartment, never leaving to go anywhere. It had been two days since I’d last saw or heard from Dekes, and it had also been two days of avoiding Maverick’s calls and texts. Last night I finally came up with a way to start unraveling this whole clusterfuck I found myself in, and step one was meeting up with Ava without anyone else knowing. I had figured that Dekes probably had Devin watching Ava’s place still and I had no idea if he had bugged her phone or not, so I just sent her a simple text.
Me: So I’m feeling a little better and I’ll be in to work at the diner tomorrow.
Ava: Are you sure? Danny and I are holding things down pretty well if you need a couple of more days.
Me: I appreciate that, really, I do, but I’m ok now.
Ava: Are you ready to talk to me about all of this yet? I’ll be home tonight if you are.
And that’s what I had needed to know.
Me: Not yet, but I’ll let you know when I am.
Ava: Ok, love you.
Me: Love you too.
Now it was time to start putting my plan into action, but before I could, there was a knock on my door. Instantly fear shot straight down my spine at the possibility that it was Dekes here again. I froze just staring at it before an even harder knock came again, startling me out my own head. But when I finally reached the door and looked through the peep hole, all the fear I felt gave way to heartache. “What are you doing here, Maverick?” I asked him as I opened the door.
“Well, since you don’t seem to want to return any of my calls or texts, you left me no choice but to come in person.”
“Sorry, but you made the trip for nothing. I haven’t changed my mind about us Maverick, it’s over.” The pain I felt in my heart as I said those words almost caused me to break down and sob in front of him, but I knew if I did that Maverick would try and comfort me.
Stepping through the door, he jerked it out of my grip and slammed it shut behind him. He kept coming at me until the backs of my legs connected with the arm of the couch. “I don’t know what the fuck is goin՛ on with you Harper, but this cold-hearted bitch you’re tryin՛ to be with me isn’t you.” He growled in my face.
Trying to muster up my strength to push him away, yet again, I placed my hands on his chest and tried to move his intimidating stature backwards, but he didn’t budge. Letting out a huff, I tried to move to the side, only to be pinned in by his arm. “You need to let me go, Maverick.” I glared up at him.
“No.”
“No?”
“You heard me, I said no!” He said in a booming voice.
“This isn’t your choice! It’s mine!” I yelled back.
Suddenly Maverick’s lips crashed down over mine, and I couldn’t help the way my body responded and melted under his touch. It was the main reason I needed to get away from him in the first place, I knew I would never be able to resist him if he decided to take what he wanted.
Deepening the kiss, he grabbed my ass and pulled me up his body higher before I wrapped my arms and legs around him, unable to fight him any longer.
Our kiss turned feral and rough, both of us so angry at each other, yet so desperate to feel one another.
Breaking the kiss, he pushed the hair away from my face. “You know you and I are meant to be, just like I do, Sweetheart. We can fight it all we want, but this,” he motioned between us. “What’s happening between us is not goin՛ anywhere. You are mine Harper, and I am yours,” he brought his mouth back down onto mine before I could even utter my response.
Feeling the couch against my back, he nudged my legs apart to fit himself in between them. “Let me make you feel good Sweetheart, and remind you why we belong together,” he said as he pulled my shorts off along with my panties, throwing them to the side.
Getting up off the couch, he grabbed a hold of my legs, under both of my knees, and pulled me down to the end of the couch until my butt was touching the arm of it. Leaning over, he smiled at me with one of his classic knowing smirks, that I’d come to love, as he lifted me up and propped my butt on the top of the arm of the couch. Before I could even register in my mind what he had planned, he dove into my aching wet center, licking, sucking and biting my clit.
“Oh shit!” Was all I’d been able to get out before he pulled me in tighter against his mouth and began to fuck me with his tongue. Wrapping his arms around my hips, he didn’t ease up on me when the first orgasm slammed me so hard that my body literally shook with aftershocks, that seemed to do nothing but encourage him on more. With an animalistic growl, he continued to devour me with his mouth until I splintered apart once again in his arms. “I... I... Maverick!” Were my only words to try and get him to stop the onslaught of pleasure he wouldn’t let me get away from. Needing to prove to me the chemistry we had together.
After the third orgasm, he finally released me and my body fell lax, unable to move. Moving me back up the couch, he covered my body with his and cradled himself between my legs once again as he kissed me on the lips. “See, where are you ever goin՛ to have three orgasms like that without me.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at his words, letting our reality take a backseat to what felt so right.
Us.
My phone ringing broke the spell that he’d spun over me like a bucket of ice water. When he reached for my phone, I wanted to scream out NO! But he had it in his hand before I even got a chance stop him.
“What the fuck, Harper! Why is Dekes callin՛ you?” he asked, looking at the screen as I lay there terrified and unable to come up with an answer quick enough for him. “Fine, you don’t want to tell me why the fuck he’s callin՛ you, then I’ll ask him myself.”
“No! You can’t answer that!” When he ignored my words and still tried to hit the answer button on my phone, I yanked it out of his hands and threw it to the floor before he could, worried that he could possibly get Ava killed just for being here with me after the one week deadline Dekes gave me.
Sitting up, he glared down at me with such a coldness in his eye’s that it had me feeling very vulnerable in my half-dressed state, prompting me
to get up and look for my shorts to put back on.
“You tell me what the fuck is goin՛ on right now. Are you workin՛ for him, Harper?”
Picking up my phone, I looked to see that there was a voicemail he’d left behind, and I knew I had to hear it to know if he’d found out about Maverick being here.
God knows what he’ll do to Ava if he has.
“Harper, are you hearin՛ me right now?” Maverick snapped at me as I put the phone to my ear to listen to the message. I had to hear it first.
“I’m very disappointed in you, Miss Lancaster. When I call you back in five minutes, you had better answer or there will be a decision you’ll need to be making. Do I make myself clear?”
Hanging up the phone, I turned to look at Maverick. And I lied again. “No, I’m not working for Dekes. The fact that you would even ask me that shows me that you don’t trust me! This was a mistake. You need to go,” walking over to the door, I hold it open for him to leave.
When he just sat back down on my couch, I was overcome by a frustrating fear I could feel running through my veins at the thought of Dekes calling me back with Maverick still here.
He’ll know! And it could get Ava killed!
“You have to go! You can’t stay here Maverick, I told you, we are over!” I said in a panicked voice.
Rising up off the couch, he chewed up the distance between us in three quick strides. Grabbing a hold of the door, he yanked it out of my grip once again and slammed it shut. “I’m not leavin՛ here until you tell me what the fuck is goin՛ on, Harper. So you had better start talkin՛.”
When my phone started to ring again in my hand again and it flashed with Dekes’ name, panic ran rampant through my veins and I instantly lost it and began to sob. “You’re going to get her killed!”
“Get who killed, Harper?”
“Ava!” Grabbing the phone out of my hand, he hit the end button, causing my panic level to rise higher. “No! Why did you do that?! Why?! He’s going to kill her now!” I literally crumbled to the floor in tears.
