"Somethings off ..." I look around the parking lot feeling the familiar feeling of someone watching me. The gaze burned into my skin embedding itself under the tissue, and leaking into my soul. He was here.
"What do you mean?" I glance at Harley, almost forgetting he was here for a minute. Oh, thank God. I'm not alone, he couldn't hurt me. I will repeat this in my head over and over again.
He can't hurt me.
He can't hurt me.
"I don't know how to explain it but something's off ..." The last thing I wanted to do was let Harley Walker see any more of the raw truth behind my problems. It wasn't his job to, 'burn the world' down for me. He would only burn himself the deeper he saw into my head.
"Do you want me to go inside and then come back and get you?" There was no way I was going to let him leave me here by myself. He was here I can feel him watching me. I'm not giving him the opportunity he's waiting on. He wants me alone, vulnerable. He could get whatever he wanted with his biker friends. Would they try to get me with Harley here? Was it worth the risk? I did lock their leader up for nearly three years. Surely, they weren't going to let that slide.
"No. We'll go together." Was I walking Harley into a trap? I could never forgive myself if I got him hurt by my past.
We both got out of his truck that we rode to the wedding in, 'saving gas' he had said.
I bumped into his back a couple of times scared that if I was too far away from him that Vickers would scoop me up and do what he wills with me. "You, okay?" He asked as I bumped into him once again on the way up the stairs to my apartment.
"Fine." It was the only word I could force between my parched lips.
When we got close enough to see my door it was left standing open, and I grabbed onto his forearm and pulled him to me. "Let's go," I whispered but he heard me clear as day. His eyebrows pulled in confusion, trying to decipher what had me so shaken. He stood there for a moment more glancing from me to my broke-in apartment. A frown creased his lips, seeing something he didn't like in my eyes.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." He declared with finality. I knew he meant what he said but how could he protect me from a biker gang out for my blood? How could he keep me safe from more than a dozen men? Harley was a force to be reckoned with but that wasn't possible even for him. It wasn't physically possible. On top of all of that, it wasn't his responsibility to stick his neck out for me.
I tug harder on his forearm and seeing how panicked I was, he started to follow me but by the time we got back to the bottom of the stairs, two men were standing there. One was as tall as my brother, his vest resting against his bare chest. It read, Forefathers. Vickers gang brand. A bat slung over his shoulder; it was already stained with the blood of a previous victim.
The man standing beside him was lightly shorter but for what he lacked in height he made up for in bulk. He had brass knuckles that he tightened his grip on. The same vest lining his chest, like a symbol of my demise. "If you two don't want trouble, I suggest you let us by." Harley's voice was deadly, sending chills down my spine. Only a lunatic would dare not obey his command, but anyone crazy enough to join the Forefathers should have been in mental houses a long time ago.
Harley pushed me behind him entirely. His broad shoulders covered almost all of the view in front of us.
"Just hand her over ... "The tall one bites out with a snarl, but his voice wasn't as nearly as intimidating as Harley's. It almost sounded forced like he was trying to deepen it to match up with Harley's natural rasp.
Harley loosened his tie and took it off. What was he doing?
He unbuttoned the first four buttons before exposing that tattoo, I had seen all too many months ago when he was standing shirtless in the guest bedroom we shared. The two men's eyes went wide, and they started stuttering out apologies. Whatever the tattoo symbolized scared the two men so badly that they were shaking.
"Unless you want to be buried under the next construction site, leave." Harley grabbed my upper arm and tugged me down the stairs and right past the men that were meant to be my end.
"What in the hell have you got yourself into, sweets?"
~.~.~.~.~
We rode in silence. My failure to explain what landed me in this situation left the car feeling tense and uneasy. A feeling I'm not used to feeling around Harley. His involvement with everything intrigued me interest but how could I expect him to explain that to me when I wouldn't, or rather couldn't, explain my situation to him? It would be unfair.
After about thirty minutes of driving, he pulls into a gated community. The guard posted in the station sees the car and the gate opens. No, I.D., he didn't even have to roll his window down.
I can't help but let my eyes roam around the community, it was nighttime, so everything was lit up by only streetlamps, but many people were still out walking on the sidewalks, and a few teenagers riding their bikes.
Friday nights, I wonder what it must be like growing up behind these gates. Never having to glance over your shoulder to make sure that you weren't being followed. This community, Skylight Cove, probably produces well rounded straight A students.
It was a fully functional neighborhood. I could faintly make out the map that had the location of a grocery store and a few more shops, you wouldn't ever have to leave the gates if you had a stay-at-home job and good health. They might even have a local doctor.
I glance at Harley, his appearance seeming gloomy, when he feels my gaze on him, his jaw tightens, making me miss the flirty goofball that he was a couple of hours ago.
This place didn't suit him, at all. He pulled into the house that was at the end of the main road. It was navy blue with white accents. It was modern and well-built, fairly new if I was right.
The yard was up kept as was every yard in this gated haven. He goes to open the door, but I stop him. I needed to fix this before we go inside. Maybe I should give him a brief outline of what was going on, he might even tell me how he got us out of that back at my apartment.
"Harley. " He exhales deeply before letting go of the door handle and turning to give me his attention. "I was seventeen. Very impressionable. I-I g-got stuck at the library."
My head spins as the memories I locked away with a million locks and threw away all of the keys flood through me. tears gather up in my eyes, but I push them away because I didn't want to cry in front of him, didn't want him to know just how bad the full truth was.
I wanted, needed, to save that for just myself.
"Finnic had a late night at the physical therapist and my mom was out of town seeing Aunt Ellie. So, I was sitting outside of the library just waiting on him to get through when he..." I sneer out the last word, starting to panic on the inside just knowing that he wasn't behind bars anymore. "Vickers Oliver. He offered to take me home. Pretty much didn't give me a choice. He got into some trouble on the way, killed a man, and when I threatened to tell. He roughed me up. By the time I got away, they, the Forefathers, had hidden the murder. Finnic pushed the police to lock him up for putting his hands on me. He got a five-year sentence but got out two years early for good behavior. I guess he's got his men getting his revenge." I tried to spare as many details as possible, there was no need to relive it all, or put it all out there. My brother was the only one that knew, and I was going to keep it that way.
"You're going to stay here for a while. Until we can figure out something." He explains. "I'll be working most of the time, but the place is secure. No one comes through those gates that don't live here or are guests."
He seemed to get through it with ease. Maybe they had tags or something to identify the residents. I was reading too much into everything ever since he got us out of that bind at the apartments.
"I can't do that. I don't want to bother you." Harley has already done a lot for me here lately and it just seemed like I would be a bother to him here. This was the only place he had to himself. He worked a lot of his life; wouldn't he get tired of me being here all of the time?
"You're not going to bother me. I'm hardly ever here. Plus, it's either this or it's a ticking time bomb on your head, Maddie." He curses under his breath distressed. "Finnic didn't know what he was getting you into."
Finnic didn't, but Harley does.
"Why did they get so scared?" I whispered it not daring to meet his gaze. It wasn't a miner detail; the Forefathers were people that wouldn't back down easily. They're not picking a fight, speaks volumes. I don't know what the tattoo meant or even what it was, but it meant something serious.
My mind swirled with possibility but none of them seemed like Harley, or maybe just not like the Harley I know.
He opens his door and steps out ignoring the question. I assumed he would storm off into his house, but he walks around the car and opens my door holding his hand out for me to ease myself down out of the slightly lifted blue truck.
He doesn't move when I step down, instead, he stands firm looking down at me, our breaths mingling. My green eyes bounce between each of his searchings for something I wasn't sure of. The tension could light a fire and put it out all at the same time. every breath I took my chest grazed his slightly. Just enough to cause the friction to pebble my nipples. He was going to be the death of me.
"They will get to you, over my dead body."
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