Page 11 of Drive Me Crazy

"You have no fuckin' clue what you're about to bring down on you." I bare my teeth at him.

"I'm going over to her house, they will let me in because I'm the man they want their daughter with, not someone like you. I'm going to propose, and she will accept. She'll never tell them what happened here last night, denying you to everyone. And once we leave, I'll prove to you what I'm capable of and you'll never contact her again." He laughs menacingly.

I rear back, throwing everything I've got at him. My fist hits his jaw, knocking him to the ground. I stand over him, twisting his shirt in my hand as his mouth bleeds.

"If you think I won't kill you over her, you're about to fucking learn." I push his face into the ground. I stand, turning to walk away from him and straight to Harper. But again, he stuns me.

"I’ll drive her head on into traffic, and you'll have no one but yourself to blame." He snarls as he picks himself up off the ground.

"We'll see." I whirl around, hurrying toward my truck. I need to be at their house before he shows up to ruin things with them or her. Oddly enough, it won't start.

Suddenly, it hits me. "Harper." I jump from my truck, running full tilt to her family's home.

I'm sweaty and dirty from hauling ass to her house. I clear the trees to find her in his arms with her family clapping. I stagger over, shock doesn't describe the emotional roller-coaster I'm on right now.

"Oh, Ridge!" Trent, Harper's dad waves to me. "Come on in, Harper was proposed to by her college sweetheart."

I'm unsteady, stumbling from the news he warned me about. "I-I wasn't told she was involved with anyone."

"We're fairly new." The devil himself answers me, and my guts want to revolt.

Harper's face pleads with me, but I'm not sure for what. To understand or to save her. "I'm as surprised as anyone."

"Trent, I need to talk to you. Landon, stay with your sister and mother, please." I glare at him.

Trent slaps my back, chuckling. "In a minute, the lucky couple is about to leave. Harper, Weston packed your bags earlier while you were out visiting Emerson."

"He did? How thoughtful." The words come from her mouth, but they don't meet her eyes.

"Yeah, we have a killer drive ahead of us. We better get going, don't want to rush back or anything." Weston, an asshole name if I've ever heard one, says.

He pulls her along with him, glued to her side. I want her safe, so I decide I'll wait until they leave. We can follow behind them and make sure she's safe.

Harper can go down there to file a restraining order or whatever she'll need to stay protected. I'd hate to think of her leaving school, but it might have to happen for her safety.

"I don't like him." I grind through my gritted teeth to Landon, Harper's brother.

"Me either." He cuts his eyes at me. "We'll follow them."

"You read my mind." I nod, anger seeping from my pores.

Harper faces us, laying her hand against the window. We're caught in a time warp, and I'm cemented to the ground. The need to help her greater than my safety.

"Hope to see you soon." Weston smirks, then vanishes behind the wheel.

I stand beside her family, determined to tell them everything. I'll go to my grave to protect her. My frustration grows with the Catch 22 I find myself in and damned if I try to help her. I pray she realizes I'm coming after her.

Her parents' wave as they pull away. Landon nudges me, wanting me to follow him. I'm rooted to the spot, watching as she drives away from me and fear grips me in its fists.

No sooner do I begin to turn when a blood-curdling scream pierces my ear as it escapes her mother. My head whips around, and I fall to my knees when the image before me becomes clear.