Page 21 of Beautiful Beasts

I slowly walk into the kitchen and quietly stop at the counter. Harley is standing in front of the stove, swaying to the music playing through the speakers. The scene in front of me catches me off guard because I don’t think I have ever seen Harley let loose. He is always so serious, watching everything and everyone around him. He has perfected the resting dick face.

“Take a seat. The food will be ready in a moment,” Harley says calmly as he flips over the pancake.

“Where is Dante?” I ask softly.

He is almost always gone when I wake up in the morning. He’s always busy and seems to have something going on all the time, which doesn’t help the negative thoughts running through my mind. They tell me I am in the fucking way, that I am a burden he needs to get rid of. I know he wants me to believe he loves me, and I do, just like I know he believes me when I say I love him too. But it doesn’t change the fact that my being here has disrupted the way Harley and Dante do things. I know the only reason they both have been staying in this house is because of me.

“He is in the office taking a call. He will be on the phone for a little,” Harley explains softly.

“If he needs to go, he can,” I tell him. “I will be fine here until he’s done taking care of business.” I know neither of them needs my permission, but just in case Dante is waiting to hear me say the words. I have said them now so he can leave and do what needs to be done.

“He won’t,” Harley states like it’s already been decided.

My heart races with his words. The words that tell me that maybe Dante is different, maybe this is all real and not just some dream that is going to be taken from me at any moment.

“Why?” I ask, feeling the irritation building inside me. Why am I like this? Why do I need his constant reassurance?

Harley takes a deep breath and turns toward me, his eyes staring into mine. “Because he won’t leave you just yet,” he says as he turns back around and starts to load the plates with food on the counter next to him.

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything at all. Secretly, I am glad he won’t leave, but I know he needs to take care of business. I know who he is and what is being asked of him, and I also know what happens if he is perceived as weak.

I might not come from the same world as him and Harley, but I am not stupid. There will be consequences if he doesn’t continue to do what needs to be done. I would never ask him to choose between me and being King, but I have a feeling if I did, he would walk away, which makes me nervous and happy.

I slowly take a seat and watch Harley move about the kitchen. He turns off the stove, grabs the plates, and brings them to the island. He sets my plate in front of me, along with a cup of coffee, and sits directly across from me.

He is wearing black slacks and a button-up shirt that is now unbuttoned. His chest is covered in tattoos, but I can see scars, so many scars. Dante has some, too, but Harley has quite a bit more.

“My childhood was not that great,” Harley says, pulling my attention from his scars to his eyes.

I nod. “Mine either,” I confess.

“I’m sorry,” Harley says sadly.

“For what?” I ask, confused. He has nothing to be sorry for. It’s not like it was his fault or his doing.

He watches me for a moment and grabs his cup of coffee. “For what those men and your father did to you,” he says with disgust.

I feel my heart race with his words. I have never had men be this nice and caring. First Dante, and now Harley. Their world is within mine, but it is different; they are different.

For the longest time, I thought what was happening was normal. I didn’t know any different until I got older, but by then, I could do nothing to make it stop. Griffin was going to continue to use me and pimp me out to whoever he couldn’t pay.

There was no reason to try and escape when I had nowhere to go, and Griffin made sure I knew it. I could have run and lived on the streets, but then others would have just used and abused me. All my life, I have been in pain; it has become normal. That is until Dante and Harley busted into my house, and Dante took me away in his arms and brought me here to a new prison. Only this is a prison I don’t want to leave, and I am terrified that I will be forced to leave one day. I am only a visitor, after all.

This is why I wish my dark thoughts would just fucking stop. The more I try to run away from them or shut them out, the louder they come back. It is annoying as fuck

I haven’t figured out Gus just yet. He still puts me on edge, but he has done what Dante and Harley have asked of him so far. He watches over me and keeps me safe, but that doesn’t mean I fully trust him yet.

“Once a whore, always a whore,” I whisper as I look into the coffee cup.

I hear Harley suck in a breath before he comes around the counter and kneels beside me. He rests his hand on my thigh. “You are not a whore, Bella,” he says with conviction. Fuck, I wish I had the confidence he does when he says those words.

I turn and look at him. His eyes search my face as I look at the scars on his chest, and without thinking, I lift my hand and gently brush my fingertips against one of the scars on his muscular, tattooed chest.

“When you are told something long enough, Harley, you eventually believe it is true,” I whisper as I drop my hand from his chest. I look back at his face, and his eyes rapidly search mine.

“Nothing I say can take back what has been done to you, but I can promise you something,” he says softly, making my heart slow down.

“What can you promise?” I ask.

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