Not at me, but for both Harper and I. Brielle threatened to go beat the shit out of the people who did this to us.
It took Ryder to calm my sister down enough for me to finish the rest of the story. When she found out that I served in the Army with Harper’s brother, her eyes went all teary on me. Then I told her how I ran out of her house without another word to her and haven’t spoken to her since. My little sister, who barely comes up to my chest, swatted the back of my head and called me an idiot for up and leaving. She also went into the kitchen where she made cookies while she cooled off.
It didn’t take long for that to happen by the time the first batch were pulled from the over, she had already hugged me, telling me everything would work out.
Brielle helped me figure out a game plan and that’s why I’m sitting here in her hotel room staring at her as she stares at me. I got Nerd to dig up some info for me and got the date her brother was expected home from this deployment. I also got her parents’ phone numbers. I called her father’s number and spoke with him first. They came in two days earlier, and I spent time with them and explained what happened.
Her dad, I found I could respect, because he went completely into defense mode to protect his daughter when I told him what happened to her. After about an hour of him listening to what I knew about it, he switched his anger from me to the people responsible. I told him about myself and that I’d served with his son but with a different unit. By the time we finished talking over beers, he had welcomed me to the family, and told me I better make things right with his daughter. I promised him I would.
Yesterday, I met his wife, Harper’s mom. Swear to God, it was like looking at Harper but a very beautiful, older version of her. She’s just as sweet and shy as her daughter, but she’s also eccentric in the way she expresses herself. Mrs. Wilde took one look at me, smiled brightly, and said thank you for answering her prayers and wishes for Harper to find a man worthy of her.
Now the only one to talk to besides my woman is Hart. I just hope he’s not going to want to kill me when he finds out. I don’t think I’m ready to die yet. I would at least like to have a chance to make it work with Harper first.
“What are you doing here?” Harper finally demands, crossing her arms over her chest, before uncrossing and shaking her head while lifting a hand to stop me from answering. “Actually, I don’t want to know what, why, or how you are here. I’m tired and want to go to sleep.”
Nodding, I stand and close the distance between us. Harper’s lifted hand presses into my chest, and my hands move to her hips. “Then let’s get you into bed. You look dead on your feet. Tomorrow after seeing Hart, we can talk, and I’ll tell you the what, why, and how of what I’m doing here.”
“Talk to Hart? Why would you need to talk to my brother?” she snipes, pushing against my chest. I ignore her questions and her pushing away from me. I’m determined to make this work between the two of us.
I press my forehead to hers and guide her by stepping backward until I’m at the bed. “What I will tell you tonight, Harper, is I’m sorry for this past week and leaving the other night the way I did. My head went to a fucked-up place, and it’s not somewhere I wanted you to see,” I say, refusing to lie to her. Lies and deceit are what fucks relationships. I’ve seen it over and over again. I won’t allow it to happen to me. Not now after I’ve decided to fight for something worth having.
Harper’s brows furrow and she tries to push me away. I don’t budge.
“Let me go,” she whispers.
“Only if you agree to rest in here next to me,” I rasp.
“Why should I sleep in the same bed as you?” she snaps, attempting to push herself away from me.
“Because, Pumpkin, I wanna make sure you’re safe.” Harper goes tense, but she doesn’t know what I do. She didn’t see the notes Venom saw on her car after picking up Lincoln the past few days. Hart asked us to look out for his sister. I might not have known until a week ago that Harper is his sister, but it doesn’t mean Venom wasn’t doing as he asked by looking out for her.
“The only one I need to keep safe from is you, Whip.”
Fuck.
As much as she tries to hide the hurt in her voice, she doesn’t accomplish it. I heard it and it guts me. I know I didn’t do the right thing when I left the other day, especially since it was right after the first time I had her pussy that I remember.
“Harper, get in the bed,” I breathe, turning so her knees are to the edge of the bed.
“No,” she whispers weakly, attempting to still push me way.
I bend at the knees and lift her clear off the floor and toss her gently onto the bed. Harper bounces and goes to roll out on the other side of the bed, but I stop her by following her. Getting into the bed, I wrap my arms around her snugly. Harper tries to pull away only to find it a moot point. I keep her back flush against to my front.
Harper finally stops fighting, and I know right away she’s crying.
“I’m sorry, Harper. I didn’t mean to hurt you the other day,” I utter the words I’ve never said to anyone besides my sister.
Closing my eyes, I’m taken back to the day I found out about Brielle being stabbed. It was one of the worse days of my life. I rode as fast and hard as I could.
“Where the fuck is she?” I snarl, glancing around the clubhouse wild-eyed wanting to know where the hell my sister is. My Mini. Brielle followed me everywhere growing up. I pretty much raised her until I left for basic.
“Whip, cool it,” one of the members of the Inferno’s Clutch tells me.
“Not fuckin’ happenin’ until I see my fuckin’ sister.” I refuse to calm the hell down until I can see my sister with my own two eyes.
“You might want to calm the fuck down before you scare her and her boys,” Ryder suggests. I ball my hands into fists, wanting to lay the asshole out. Ryder, for some apparent reason, seems to be protective over Brielle, but she’s my sister. I’m supposed to be the one protecting her: her and my nephews. Shit, my nephews, I hadn’t even met them throughout the past years of their lives.
“I’ll calm down when I see Mini,” I sneer, not backing down.
Venom and Stoney both whisper something I don’t hear. My blood is roaring in my ears, and I can barely hear through it.
“You’re going to cool it before I let you near her, man. She and those boys have been through enough. I sure as hell ain’t about to let them go through anymore,” Ryder growls, coming closer to stand toe to toe with me.
“Look, man, all due respect that’s my fuckin’ sister. I haven’t seen her in years and finding this shit out, I need to set fuckin’ eyes on her and my nephews now,” I snarl.
“Ryder, let him in,” Brielle’s voice resounds from the other side of a door.
Ryder mumbles something under his breath, shakes his head, and does as my sister says. Walking through the door to the room leading to where Brielle is, I’m struck back upon first sight at not only seeing her with her sons but at the sight of the bruises marring her.
“Mini,” I whisper, calling her yet again the childhood nickname I gave her. “Fuck.” It takes everything in me not to slam my fist into the closest thing possible.