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Did everything fall apart while I was gone?
I jumped off the chair and quickly strode to the bar, determined to find something to hurl their way, and noticed Archer had already taken the lead. He was amused as he handed a couple of pitchers filled with ice water, the sound of the cubes clinking together as he moved. With my hands full, I navigated my way through the sea of people that had now gathered around my foolish brothers.
I upended the pitchers of ice water, the icy liquid spilling over their bodies. Both of them leapt away from each other, their curses echoing through the room.
“Okay, you two, break it up,” I told them.
“He started it,” Kujo argued like a three-year-old child.
“Can’t take you two anywhere,” I tsked.
Brandt looked up at me from the floor, his eyes twinkling, and said, “Missed you too sis.”
ChapterSixteen
HUNTER
“Why didn’tany of you tell me about Brandt’s baby?” she asked without lifting her head from my chest. Waking up with Harleigh’s body in my arms was the most comforting way to start the day. Even when she wanted to have a serious discussion, like now, when I saw the concern in her eyes.
I knew that the consequences of withholding information from her would be dire, but when her brother gave an order, we all had a natural inclination to follow suit. The request seemed fair, after all.
“We just got you back, and you’ve been dealing with a lot,” I told her. “It wasn’t our decision. Erik told everyone to limit the bombs we drop on you.”
She was especially vulnerable after her second panic attack. The one that the other members of the club did not have knowledge of yet.
“I don’t care what he says. You need to be honest with me.”
“I never lied to you.”
“Omission might not be lying, but it definitely isn’t telling the truth,” she replied. “Can you please promise me you won’t do that again?”
“I’ll try,” I said. I felt a pang of guilt every time I found myself unable to keep the promises I made. Occasionally, I had to make an evaluation of what I was going to tell her, as there were times when I couldn’t tell her everything.
Especially right now.
She tried to act normal, but her eyes gave her away.
I’d had enough experience with trauma to be able to recognize the signs when I saw them. She may not have wanted to acknowledge it, Harleigh had been through a great deal emotionally. Despite the risky lifestyle she led, the only danger she ever faced was from the environments she had willingly gone into or had to endure.
The threat of being kidnapped or killed was ever-present in our minds.
It just hadn’t happened before.
Out of all of us, she was the most likely of targets.
Women and children.
She had two identities that she worked diligently to keep distinct, and this was one of the main reasons why. Inviting anyone from school back to the club was not something that happened often, as she was not very open to doing so. She had never disclosed to Dirk any details about her living arrangements or job. This was a part of her life that he had never been exposed to. She would go to his house, or they would meet up at the university.
“I guess I’ll have to accept that, even if I’m not happy about it.” She sighed, then suddenly said, “I keep thinking back to everything that went down with Dirk, and I can’t even see where I missed the signs.”
We should have acted more quickly to remove Dirk from her life once he started to become a problem.
“He was a stalker, they’re unpredictable.”
“I thought he was harmless. The things he probably knows about us. I keep wondering how long he was following me before we started sleeping together.”
“Who knows. You got rid of Jerry before you met Dirk, didn’t you?”
