Page 35 of Protected By the Bikers Next Door
I wanted to chase after Harper right away, but Wolf is being a stubborn prick. He’s banned Hawk and me from going on threat of exile from the Shadow Pack. He’s so mad right now, I think he might actually follow through. He’s pissed at Harper for leaving. He thinks she should have stayed and talked to us, pissed that she could have so easily believed Susan and Tammy’s lies. He won’t admit it, but he’s hurt that she didn’t have faith in him, that she didn’t trust him. To hide from his pain, he’s chosen anger and resentment instead, keeping busy with club business and drinking himself into a stupor each night.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt by Harper leaving, too. After all, I did nothing to her. It’s Wolf she believes cheated. A small, niggling part of me wonders if that means she only truly has feelings for him. That I’m an afterthought. A sidekick. I try not to dwell on it too much. I know Harper has her reasons for going. Even so, I miss her and Jenny. It’s like having atooth removed, and all that’s left is a gaping hole that won’t be filled. I’ve distracted myself by working on Harper’s yard. As if I pretend she’s coming back soon, she will.
When she still didn’t come back today, I made my decision. Exile or not, I’m going to get our woman. She’s staying with a friend of hers, luckily it didn’t take too long to track her down.
I time my trip so that Harper is the only one home when I arrive at her friend’s large, modern home. When she answers the door, the first thing I notice is that her eyes are red and puffy from crying, and it breaks my heart.
“Harper,” I say softly, using all of my strength to hold back from pulling her into my arms and never letting go.
“What are you doing here?”
Her tone is almost accusatory, which makes me all the more certain that it’s Wolf she’s been shedding tears over and not me or Hawk.
“Can I come in?”
She considers for a moment before stepping aside and gesturing for me to enter, pulling the robe she’s wearing tighter around herself and fiddling with a strand of her hair, a nervous habit.
She sits in an expensive-looking Art Deco chair, gesturing for me to sit opposite. I decide just to cut right to the chase.
“Harper, please, come home. We’re lost without you.”
“Not all of you,” she mutters.
“Yes, all of us, especially Wolf,” I insist, already wondering how I’m going to pull this off. If I convince her to come back, he could just as easily push her away again with his anger and hurt.
“Well, he should have thought about that before he kissed another woman,” she says bitterly.
“He didn’t—”
“I saw them with my own eyes,” she insists, cutting me off.
“Yes, but she kissed him, and he pushed her away.”
“He did?” she asks, brow furrowed, confusion and hope flashing across her face.
Of course, it makes sense now. Harper didn’t see Wolf rejecting Susan, how he threw her out, and yelled at her for doing that. All she saw was them kissing. No wonder she’s upset. I explain this all to her, watching as she processes the information.
“It still doesn’t change the fact that she’s pregnant with Wolf’s child. He can’t just walk away from that. She’s a part of his life now, whether he likes it or not. According to Tammy, it’s just a matter of time before they end up together; they’re destined to,” she says bitterly.
I look at Harper incredulously. I can’t believe that Susan and Tammy would stoop so low to try to break us up.
“Harper. I can assure you, Susan isn’t pregnant. For starters, it’s been at least eight months since we last had sex with her, so it would be pretty obvious if she were, but besides that, it’s also impossible. Susan can’t have children.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“When we first met, Susan had been living on the streets. She was addicted to meth and involved with some bad people. One of those people convinced her to get a back-alley abortion. It went wrong, she almost died, and now she is unable to conceive. We took her in, got her clean, gave her a place to stay, and tried to help her get her life back on track. But she’s not well; she can’t seem to quit drugs. The only other thing she cares about is Wolf. Susan has been in love with Wolf since she first met him, obsessed even. She’ll say anything, do anything, to try to be with him, but he doesn’t feel the same way. We all care about her, feel sorry for her, but there isn’t anything there, not like there is with you.”
I look at Harper, willing her to believe me. “I’m so sorry. We should have warned you about her, told you everything, but we just didn’t want to scare you off. Susan is usually harmless, but since we met you, she’s gotten worse, more unhinged in her pursuit of Wolf. We should have realized she might try to get to you.”
Harper shakes her head incredulously. “No. I’m the one who should be sorry. I should have talked to you, heard your side of the story. I shouldn’t have given up on you all so easily. The thought that she might be having a baby just got to me. Can you forgive me?”
“If it means you’ll come home with me now,” I offer with a slight smile.
“I’d like that,” she replies, the words music to my ears. I pull her into my arms, breathing in her familiar smell and vowing never to let her go again.
On the drive home, I explain that Wolf might be a bit, well, wolfish about the whole thing, that he’s mad at her for leaving without hearing him out, that she’d believe the worst of him. Harper nods, understanding, saying she feels guilty and foolish for how she reacted. I try to assure her that she wasn’t, praying that the reunion doesn’t descend into an argument instead.
Wolf is sitting on the porch, drinking whiskey neat from the bottle, his eyes bloodshot. “Harper,” he says as she climbs out of the truck and walks toward him. The whiskey bottle forgotten, rolling down the porch steps, its contents spilling out into the grass.
