“I hoped your fathers would leave you out of this.” Mom turns and looks at each of the guys. “But that was too much to ask for. Whose idea was it for you guys to go after Harper?”
“What?” I straighten. Have they been in this from the beginning?
Luke shakes his head. “Ours. Our fathers had nothing to do with it.”
I release my breath. Their fathers didn’t make this happen.
Mom chuckles. “Sure they didn’t.”
“They didn’t, Jennifer.” Caden rubs his hand over his hair. “My parents hated that I was with her. Luke’s dad beat him when he refused to break up with her. Eli’s mom had his old fuck buddy over for dinner to try to get him away from Harper. Nico’sdad though, he went a different way, but Nico came in later. His dad seems way too interested in Nico getting close to Harper. The only parents that haven’t said anything are Jack’s.”
Mom’s lips pinch together as she mulls that over. My heart is pounding so loud I’m sure everyone can hear it. She walks over to her chair and sits again.
“Cards on the table, boys. I know David’s concern didn’t come out of nowhere.” Mom blows out a breath. “And maybe your parents didn’t know you’d go after Harper, but at least a few of them seem to want to get something out of it now.”
Luke meets my eyes and I know he’s willing to tell her everything if I’m okay with that.
“The truth always comes out,” Caden says. “You always said your mom wouldn’t want someone who lied to her face.”
My eyes widen and my mouth drops open. At least he didn’t say the rest of what I told him.
Caden smirks. “No secrets.”
“I like you.” Mom breathes out and meets my eyes. “So out with it, Harper Lynn.”
“I don’t even know where to start.” I lean into Jack, needing his comfort, his solidness.
Luke leans his elbows on his knees and focuses on me. “We chose Harper at the beginning of the year.”
I open my mouth to stop him, but he keeps going.
“We claimed her. No one else could touch her or anything until we were done with her.” His gaze holds mine.
“Done with?” Mom sounds disturbed. I can’t even look at her to see the expression on her face. She doesn’t know the half of it. At least he didn’t tell her I was a complete virgin before they met me. How I went from untouched to theirs in weeks.
“It’s part of who we’d become.” Eli captures my attention. Like Luke, he doesn’t look at my mom. He only looks at me. His steady gaze makes me straighten. “We haven’t been good guys.Not until Harper. When this started, we didn’t have the greatest of intentions.”
“She wanted a choice. To find a boyfriend. If she couldn’t, she’d give us this year.” Caden draws my attention next. His expression is tight and worried. This could all blow up for us. Once she knows the truth, she might ban them from the house.
Fuck, it might be the last push she needs to grab me and leave this town behind for good.
“We gave her five minutes. No one stood up for her.” Jack wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Mr. Wick was right about that. No one was willing to stand up to us.”
“But Harper did.” Luke smiles a little. “Maybe not in big ways. But the grounding was brilliant. We didn’t know much about her at that time, so while we always thought it was fake, we let her have it.”
“The first time you came home to find us all studying with Harper. The night her tire was flat.” Eli turns to look at my mother. “The day before, Harper just went with everything. Sat there like a limp doll. So, we ignored her the next day. That day someone slashed her tire.”
“We were trying to prove a point to her, but after the night when someone played a prank on your house and then her tire, we couldn’t let her think we weren’t there for her.” Caden runs a hand through his hair.
“You think they were related?” Mom asks.
“You don’t get to be popular and powerful by making friends.” Eli sits back and again meets my eyes. “We were all in. It wasn’t even about sex anymore.”
My cheeks burst with heat. No one really said that part, but it was implied.
“We were in because it was Harper.” Luke’s soft smile makes my heart warm. “She cared for each of us. Yes, we leaned into being her broken toys, but she’s ours. We’re hers.”
“We’ll protect her from our fathers.” Caden’s green eyes hold mine. “We’ll protect her from whoever tries to hurt her, because she’s made us whole.”
