AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nico stands so Sawyer isn’t leaning over him. “Put your hands on me again and you’ll regret it.”
Sawyer is vibrating with energy, looking like he’d very much like to put his hands on him—again?—but he glances back at me and takes a step back. I’ve no doubt if I wasn’t here, this would be a lot more hotheaded than it already is, and I wonder when the first time was. “Harlow is with us, which means she can’t enter separately. That’s the end of it.”
The one thing I did want to do. The only reason I was even considering entering was to stop the gangs from winning. And now I can’t.
“This ends now,” Ezra seethes. “You and your gang stay away from her.”
“I tried,” Nico says, but it’s not enough. It means nothing. He tried hard enough to hurt me but not hard enough to help me.
“You only had to tell me who you were,” I say quietly, but they all notice, turning to look at me. I finally meet eyes with Nico so he can see how much I mean my words when I say them. “I’d have wanted nothing to do with you then.”
CHAPTER TEN
Sawyer
Harlow’s words hit where they were supposed to, and I watch as Nico finally looks as if he actually gives a shit. I want to feel bad for him, knowing how gutting hearing those words from Harlow must be, but all sympathy for the guy left as soon as he told us who he really was. As soon as he showed us this cold persona which is so unlike the version he let us see for years.
I can’t believe we’ve trusted him with Harlow—that he’s even risked being around her. And after the other night, where his gangdrugged her, I’m struggling to rein in my temper. It’s only because she’s right here that I’ve managed to do it.
“I’m gonna go,” Nico decides, and it’s probably for the best.
“That’s it?” Harlow scoffs. “Drop this in our laps and leave?”
“We can talk tomorrow, after some rest.” It is late, but I doubt rest is going to fix any of this. “I won’t come back here, but I can meet you somewhere else.”
“The diner?” Ezra offers, and Nico nods before moving toward the door. When he’s a couple of feet away, he stops, turning to look at my girl. “Harlow—”
She walks past Ezra and closes her bedroom door behind her. Nico watches her go before turning without another word and letting himself out. As the door shuts with a click, Ezra and I gape at each other, both equally stunned by the last ten minutes. He blows out a breath as I run my hand through my hair, following him to Harlow’s door. Knocking lightly before slowly pushing the door open, Ezra reveals Harlow sitting cross-legged on her bed.
“You okay?” he asks as we stand at the foot of it, patiently waiting for her response. She’s fiddling with the comforter in front of her before she finally brings her eyes up, looking between us both.
“What are you thinking?” she asks me directly, and I take a seat at the end of the bed.
“What areyouthinking?”
“Sawyer,” she says so softly but with so much sadness in her voice I hate it. “You don’t need to give me everything I want.” I take a deep breath, thinking as I let it out slowly. The thing is, Iwantto give her everything she wants. I always have. Making Harlow happy makes me happy. I know she’s asking what I think of the whole situation because of my father, but he’s as much hers as he is mine. I’ve never had the drive for vengeance that she has. I get it—he protected her and treated her well, probably the first man to ever do that. Now someone has hurt him when he didn’t deserve it, and she’s trying to make that up to him. But he would never expect that of her. He probably wouldn’t want it either.
“If you’re asking me what I think about Nico being in the Seconds,” I start, delaying the more difficult question, “then I don’t know. I can’t make sense of it. Nico is not the kind of person to be a part of that. He’s not the person he was tonight.” I’m determined to find out what the hell is going on with him, but I’m not about to drag Harlow into that.
“Maybe this is what he’s really like,” Ezra offers, and I shrug. Maybe it is.
“If you’re asking me about you joining the Seconds,” I continue, “then I hate it.”
“Callen—”
“Not for him,” I interrupt Harlow gently. “For you. He would never expect this vengeance mission in the first place, so don’t for a second think you’re letting him down by not managing to take down huge criminal organizations alone for him. I hate it for you, because it’s not what you want, and I know you’ll feel like you’re betraying him by doing it.”
“You don’t feel like that?” she asks, picking at the comforter in front of her again.
“Of course I don’t. It’s not even your choice.” She looks up at me with her eyes sparkling from unshed tears rather than anything good, and my chest constricts. I hate to see her cry. “Angel, none of this is your fault. We know that all the groups involved in The Games are evil. This isn’t our first proof bit of proof of that.” She nods sadly but doesn’t say anything else for a long moment.
“I think I’m in shock,” she mutters finally. Which is understandable. Nico has left us all with a lot of questions and unknowns by telling us what he did. “We can’t do this, right?” she asks, and I rest my hands on the footboard, leaning toward her.
“I’m doing whatever you’re doing,” I tell her, and it’s the truth. I’ve always been happy to follow Harlow. I’d follow her to the ends of the earth.
“But your dad—”
“Was never the reason I said yes. You were.” I was never going to let her chase it on her own.
