Page 85 of Wicked

“Guilty. I’m sorry, Harper. It was before we got serious.”

She shrugs.

“I don’t blame you. Your father is part owner of the San Francisco Spartans. They won last year’s Super Bowl. Your mom owns and runs an international security business that protects the rich, wealthy, and infamous. You wanted to make certain my past didn’t mess with yours and your family’s life. You needed to be certain I wasn’t after your money. Did I miss anything?”

She skims her finger over my brow. Then the other. Her small hand hugs my jaw, and I turn into her touch, my beard caressing her skin. Her eyes widen, and I turn more, pressing my mouth on the center of her palm.

Harper is my world. The center of my life.

“Not a thing.”

I grasp her chin between my fingers. Brush my mouth over hers. Soft. Pliable. Fuck, I need her. Need her on top of me. Need her beneath me, cradling me to her heat with her slender legs wrapped tight around my waist, her soft moans edging me closer to an ecstasy I’ve never experienced with another girl before because . . . because I fucking love Harper Garrix.

“From the beginning, babe.”

With her arms around my neck and her forehead on mine, she tells me of losing her best friend to a drug overdose. Her friend Emily was sixteen.

“And that’s how you became an informant for your uncle.”

“Yes. It was a losing battle, but I couldn’t stand by and not do anything. There was violence every which way I turned, Ryker. My uncle saw it too. He wasn’t ready to walk away. He was never that kind of man. He was stubborn like my father. Passionate too. His career as a police officer was his life’s work. He lived for the badge. Swore he’d die in the line of duty. But that’s not how his life ended—with honor, doing what he swore to do, serve and protect.Ikilled him. Me sticking my nose where it didn’t belong got him killed.”

She bunches her fingers in my shirt. I cover her hands with mine. Let my warmth seep into her skin.

“Next to my mother, you’re the strongest person I know of, Harper. What you did is brave. Took guts, you understand?”

Her eyes shimmer and her tears fall. I swipe at them before following their wet path with my mouth.

“Ryker.”

“Baby, I love you so much.”

My chest aches. A lump lodges in my throat. This strong woman and what she went through. The guilt she’s hung on to for five fucking years. I shake my head. Blow out a breath.

“If it hurts you to relive what you went through, we can save it for another day. Or never speak of it again.”

“That’s the thing. I have to tell. Have to keep going or else I’ll stop and never start up again, Ryker.”

I get it. She won’t forget what happened in the past, but she wants to let go. It’s the only way for her to move forward.

“Then we keep going.”

Me and Harper will keep moving. We’ll move forward rather than be stuck in the past.

I clasp her face in my big palms. Kiss her some more. Can’t stop touching and kissing her. She relaxes fully on me. Sighs into my mouth when I nudge hers open. I slide my tongue inside, exploring and tasting her.

I miss this. Her taste. Her warmth. Her soft moans as I deepen the kiss. After what seems like minutes, we pull apart, ready to move on from her past. To live in the moment. The moment being her in my arms.

“What I said about Shephard being my first crush and Sam being my first boyfriend are true. But I didn’t get close to Sam to get near Shephard. Not at first. I did it to get information. I saw Sam dealing drugs to my classmates. He was part of the problem, and I could be the solution. I went to my uncle. He tried talking sense into me, but we knew we couldn’t let it go, not if we’re to be good people.”

Harper is the best person I know of. Strong and kind, with a conscience made of steel, even if that conscience was derailed by what she’d felt for Shephard, her first crush.

“The information I collected at first seemed small. Then I told my uncle of overhearing Sam speak to a guy named Maddox. His eyes . . .”

She takes a shuddering breath.

“There was so much fear in his eyes, Ryker. He demanded I stop seeing Sam. That he would give notice. Then after his three weeks were up, we could move to a different state. I didn’t listen. After seeing his reaction, I knew this Maddox person was important. And I would help bring him down. Emily’s death wouldn’t be for nothing.”

Tears form in her eyes again. She tips back her head. Doesn’t stop her tears from sliding down her beautiful face. I pull her to me. Wrap my large arms around her. Listen to her sob, my chest aching for the loss of her innocence. Over and over, violence stained her life a bright red.

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