Page 75 of Intertwined Souls

I try to storm past them, but Cade grabs my bicep and pulls me through the house towards the opposite end, towards the hallway that goes right past the kitchen. I try to yank my arm out of his hold, but he just tightens his grip. I can hear Ryker and Grayson walking behind us as we approach the basement door.

“Cade,” I snap, trying to get him to stop, but he doesn’t until we’re standing in front of the door.

He drops my arm and crosses his over his chest, glaring down at me. “If you’re fine then open that door and walk down those stairs.”

My eyes move to the door, but I don’t make a move to open it.

“You're getting mad at us for caring about you and trying to make sure you don’t push yourself too far. We just want to help, babe,” Ryker says softly from behind me.

“You’re pushing us away because you think you have to deal with this on your own, but you don’t. No one is going to think any less of you for having a hard time being here. You want to fight this battle on your own?”

Cade doesn’t wait for me to answer before he continues.

“Then open that door and go down there. We’ll be right here when you’re ready for us. But if you think you need to face it on your own, we aren’t going to force you to accept our help. But I’m also not going to stand around and let you keep snapping at people because you’re angry at yourself and at Tammy.”

When I don’t move, Cade reaches forward and yanks the door open. My mouth goes dry as I stare down into the dark hole beyond. The basement.

“Fucking get your ass down there, Harley,” he snaps.

“Cade!” Grayson growls from behind me, but Cade doesn’t take his eyes off me.

“This is what you want, isn’t it? You want us to not treat you with kiddie gloves? You don’t want us asking you how you are or what you need right now? You want the fucking band-aid ripped off? Well, I have no problem being the one to do that for you. So, go.”

He gestures towards the stairs. My legs are frozen as a sharp, terrifying pain hits me hard in the chest. You're not weak, Harley.

Letting out a frustrated breath, I shoot Cade a glare and face the stairs, forcing my legs to move before I overthink any more than I have. Just a fucking basement, Harley.

Chapter Nineteen

Cayden

My eyes never stray from Harley as she descends down the stairs, her back ramrod straight. Ryker, I'm assuming, smacks the back of my head as Grayson hisses, “What the hell is the plan, Cade?”

As she disappears into the darkness, I finally pull my eyes away and look between Ryker and Grayson. “Give her a minute and then we will go down. She needs this.”

“You went too far,” Grayson seethes, his shoulders tense with anger that’s directed at me.

I blink a few times, shocked to see Grayson so mad and to have it directed at me. That rarely ever happens. Usually, it’s Ryker. Not to say he isn’t mad; the fact that he’s silent is a bad sign.

A stab of guilt hits my chest, but I shake it away and stick with my gut.

She did need this. Harley may need softness and someone to hold her hand sometimes, but she also needs to be pushed.

Even if watching her deal with something on her own, or fall apart, hurts really fucking badly.

Some battles though, some battles we can’t fight for her. She has to do it for herself and then we can, we will, be there to pick up the pieces and put her back together as an even stronger person than she was before.

“You can be pissed at me, but she needed this. And now we need to go down there together and help her the rest of the way through it.”

Grayson pinches his lips together but doesn’t comment, and Ryker just shoulders past me and heads down the stairs, Gray and I following suit. We turn on the flashlights on our phones because the basement is completely dark besides the light shining from the open door upstairs.

We find Harley sitting in the far left corner, with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her arms are wrapped tightly around herself as she stares off into space, lost in her memories.

Without saying a word, we all walk towards her and sit in front of her. I’m on her right, Ryker is directly in front of her, and Grayson is in between us. I turn off my flashlight, the others doing the same, and we stay silent, giving her however much time she needs.

There are faint sounds above us: feet stomping on the ground and murmurs of voices that are too muffled to make out the words. There’s a different kind of silence down here. It feels suffocating. Not relaxing like when I run in the woods or go out to my spot to hide away from everyone.

This is what she had every day for three years. She lost her mom, her best friend, and was left with this darkness.

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