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I nod with a strained smile and look down at Harlow, whose expression is closed off. “Got a preference?”
She shakes her head, and Ezra is quiet, so I lead us over to the booth in the corner, hoping to have a bit of privacy. Harlow slips in one side, and I sit opposite as Ezra takes the space next to her.
“What just happened?” Ezra asks, looking between us suspiciously.
“I fucked u—”
“No you didn’t.” Harlow frowns up at me.
“But—”
“Look, I know I can be a bit...” She chews her lip while she decides on a word, and we’re quiet as we wait for her to continue. “Insecure? Not about myself, but in a relationship. I’m working on it, I swear. But I don’t want you—either of you—to have to constantly pander to me. It’s my shit that I need to work on, not yours. Just let me work through it, okay?” She’s looking between us, but now she focuses her attention on me. “Sawyer, you’ve apologized, and you’ve explained. We both knew she worked here. You haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t want either of you to be worried about me constantly being upset. Because that’s not me—I’m not that girl. I’m just getting used to feeling so much.” She looks down at her hands in her lap, and Ezra pulls her into him, dropping a kiss on her head.
“You’ve got it, gorgeous.”
“That’s it?” she asks at his lack of follow-up questions.
“That’s it,” he says simply.
She relaxes under his arm, and I nod opposite her, itching to have her beside me. She smiles up at me, but the conversation is cut short when Dana comes over to take our orders.
“Nice to see you again, Sawyer.” She smiles, ignoring the other two completely, so I go with what seems natural. She’s not a bad person; she just doesn’t know. So I tell her.
“Hey, Dana. This is Ezra, and my girlfriend, Harlow.” Harlow looks surprised, but I don’t look away from her to see how Dana is taking it. “What are you getting, Angel?”
“Erm.” She picks up the menu, and her eyes flit over it quickly, but Ezra saves her from being watched.
“I’ll take the pancakes with bacon and a water.”
“I’ll get the same with a coffee,” I add, smiling at Dana who, to her credit, smiles civilly back before turning to Harlow.
“Can I get coffee too, and an everything bagel with avocado and egg, please?”
“Sure thing, won’t be long.” She’s collecting our menus when Nico arrives at the table. Clearly none of us could sleep last night. “Oh, let me leave you one of these.”
“I’m good, I’ll just take some coffee,” he says. She nods before taking them, and he slides in next to me.
Harlow’s demeanor changes as if she’s steeling herself for battle. Ezra reaches over, and her bouncing leg stills. Looks like his hand is on her thigh under the table.
“Morning,” Nico grunts. No closer to being the old Nico than he was last night, apparently. “What do you want to know?”
Harlow gapes at his abruptness for a second before I watch the shutters come down, her walls erected.
“What do I have to do?” she asks, straight down to business, just like Nico.
“We,” Ezra adds. “What dowehave to do?” Harlow glances at him with uncertainty, but now’s not the time for that conversation. “We can sign up with her?”
“He’s counting on it,” Nico grumbles.
“We’d have joined without her if it meant keeping her safe,” I tell him. Without even discussing it with Ezra, I know that’s true for both of us.
“I know.” Why doesn’t he give us full answers? I can see Harlow’s frustration growing. If he knows we’d join without her, then why is she forced to? “But it means being a part of the team. That means full commitment to the Seconds; no entering on your own.”
“Full commitment?” I ask. If they’re expecting us to get some kind of branding or do some blood-in blood-out bullshit, they can fuck right off.
“The training camp starts on Monday. You’ll get a physical, and for whoever passes, it’ll be full on—hours every day. You attend and you give it your all, so you’ll need to clear your schedules.” He’s talking mainly to me and Ezra, and I know it’s because she’s not going to pass the physical. Not while she’s pregnant.
“And then we’re entered?” Ezra checks.
