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"She told you?" He nodded. "Everything?" He nodded again. My entire body relaxed with a sigh. I couldn't be angry with him or Harper, even if they hurt me. I was relieved she was safe.
"I—" I started, but my eyes widened as Aiden's fist slammed into Link's face shoving him back to the ground. "What the..." I surged forward, grabbing Aiden's arm and jerking him back.
"Did she ask you not to tell me, too?" Aiden hissed. My eyes flashed from Link, who was wiping the blood off his lip with the pad of his thumb, to Aiden, who was heaving with anger.
Aiden had taken all of this personally. He'd beaten himself up every night over Harper leaving because she'd heard him talking. She'd gone and put herself in danger because of him, or at least that's what he thought, and if something had happened to her, he never would have been able to forgive himself.
"I deserved that," Link said, pushing up to his feet. "But yes, she did." He dusted himself off. "She didn't want either of you to deal with her problems. She wanted to handle it, but this was over all of our heads, so I got my dad involved."
"Does he know?" I asked, releasing Aiden's arm.
"Yeah." He nodded. "With her permission, I told him." I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything, but at that moment, I needed to talk to Harper. I had to see her, to see that she was okay.
"Where is she?"
"She's at the lake house." I didn't wait for any more explanations or excuses. I needed to see Harper. I needed to explain that whatever she heard didn't matter; she was important to me, my family, and Aiden, and I couldn't imagine my life without her. I needed her to come back home.
Chapter 49
Harper
The soft rumble of a truck had me on alert. Only Link knew where I was. Cracking the curtains, I exhaled as I watched Link's truck swerve up the driveway.
Throwing open the front, I stepped out on the porch, pulling my thin jacket around me. Glancing up, I froze. It wasn't Link, but Christian. My chest swelled at the sight of him. I'd missed him.
I'd practiced what I would say the next time I saw him a hundred times, yet nothing came to mind standing here frozen, unable to speak.
"I'm sorry." I sighed after several long minutes. "I—"
He didn't let me finish. Instead, he grabbed my waist, pulling me flush against him. "Don't ever. Do that. Again." I could hear the relief in his tone as guilt wrapped tightly around me at whatever I'd put him through.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, pushing off his chest. My gaze flashed up to meet his. "Aiden was right. I need to handle this myself."
"No, I wasn't," Aiden's voice called out from behind Christian. We both twisted around to see Aiden strolling up the porch. "I was wrong, and I'm sorry."
"No one was wrong or right," Link chimed in. We all turned to see Link strolling up with his dad. My dad. That was a weird thought. My gaze flashed between Link and his dad. What was he doing here?
"What's going on?" I narrowed my eyes at Link.
"Link's right," Mr. Elliott said. "This was a fucked up situation, and everyone did their best."
I nodded, understanding what he was saying. He was right.
"Mom," Christian asked. Following his line of sight, I see Christian's mom and Mrs. Elliott.
"Wait," I said. "What's going on?"
"She doesn't know," Link said.
"I don't know what?"
"After I left here the other day," Link started. "I knew you were going to try to handle Noah and Levi yourself, and I knew we were in over our heads. So, I went to my dad for help. If anyone knew how to deal with Noah and Levi, it would be him." His tongue swept out, wetting his dry lips. "I wasn't going to tell him who you were, but he already knew."
"How?" I asked, my gaze flashing from Link to Mr. Elliott.
"I told him." Link's mom said. "I'm sorry, Harper. There's no excuse for what I did to you and your mother back then, but I hope you'll give me a chance to make it up to you." Overwhelmed, I didn't know what else to do, so I nodded. "When we discovered you were in danger, we called Christian's mom."
"Wait," Christian said, his eyes narrowed on his mother. "You knew where she was?"
