Page 86 of Cruel Lies

Okay,this woman was off her literal rocker this time.

I could play along with the self-sacrificing shit from Rowan; hell, I’d lived with it for years. But I’d be damned if I let her do the same thing.

I could only suffer one idiot in the family, thank you.

I tailed her around the corner and down two flights of stairs until she stopped in her tracks in front of the fucking double doors leading outside.

She didn’t move.

I waited for what felt like an eternity, yet all she did was stand there and stare at her opportunity for freedom.Why wasn’t she moving? Why didn’t she run?

What kept her here? And why the fuck had I followed her, knowing I needed to keep my distance?

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Bonnie and Clyde, the tag team duo who were known as the absolute worst of the bunch in the Guild, heading straight for her. And they were never good news. Nothing about that duo was goodanything.

I had to get Harper out of their line of sight, and fast.

"Harpie girl."

The words were barely more than a whisper, but they jolted her out of her stupor and dragged her eyes to me in a flash. She blinked slowly, like she couldn’t see me, and then her eyes met mine and I could see the fresh tears swimming in their depths, barely avoiding spilling over her lower lashes.

"Nash?"

My nod was slow and calculated, hand outstretched as I inched toward her so I wouldn’t spook her. "Yeah, it’s me. We gotta get you out of here before trouble shows up, you hear me?" I motioned her over, but she didn’t move, her eyes trained on something just over my shoulder. "Harpie girl, come on.Come to me."

And then this woman did the single most idiotic thing I’d ever seen her do in her life.

She turned, bolted right out the front fucking doors, and disappeared from sight.

Fuck me.

Now, normally, I could catch a mark. That was typically no trouble because most of them lived sedentary lifestyles. But Harper had run track in high school, and she held several records for the region. She couldn’t be caught if she didn’t want to be.

And I seriously doubted anything had changed in the seven years since I’d last played tag with this bitch.

Fucking hell, man.

The muscles in my legs burned with every step I took, legs stretching as far as they would go as I utilized my longer legs to catch up to her. Every time she rounded a corner or a bush, I lost seconds of time trying to cut her off. But I knew these grounds like they were—well, like they were my home, because they were. I let her think she’d worn me down, and when I bent over and pretended to suck wind, I caught the faint glimmer of her bracelet shimmering in the moonlight. Dark had just fallen, but the full moon was out in all its glory, so finding her wasn’t hard.

She’d ducked behind a tree, no doubt catching her own breath. But Harper had been a short-distance runner. Her stamina wasn’t built up like mine. I might not be as fast, but I could run for hours without taking a break.

All that time I’d spent running from my past had trained me well.

"Harper, c’mon, now, don’t do me like this," I called, giving my voice a breathless rasp, taking pauses between words. "It’s not safe out here for you."

"It’s not safe inside, either, is it, Nashville?" she taunted back, her breathing labored. "I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. Why not just let your father kill me and get it over with?"

"He’s not calling the shots here, Harpie girl. He doesn’t get to take your life away unless we say so."

That was, of course, the single most stupid thing I could have said.

Her laughter was high-pitched and further away from me than her last sentence, alerting me to the fact that she’d moved positions. From just off to my left, her voice echoed among the trees. "What an alternative. Trust the men who killed me seven years ago to keep me safe from the man who wants to kill me for my mother’s money. Soundsso smart."

She had a point. I inched toward where I heard her voice, hoping I was right. "We don’t want you dead, Harper. We wanna keep you safe."

Now, her voice was almost as clear as a bell from my right. "What a bold lie. You said you wanted to hurt me."

Fuck, was this girl a ventriloquist? She threw her voice like a pro."You’re right. Ididwant to hurt you. I still do. I’m a fucked-up asshole, Harper, I never denied that. But you have to trust someone. And at least I’m honest about what I want."

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