Last night, I saw her for the first time in a dance club of all places, not acting like herself. I’d been livid, confronted her and when she tried to brush me off, I did something I had never done but now get why my brothers all get pissed and cart their women off. Throwing Harlow over my shoulder, I stormed out of the club we’d been at to help ease Cara back into wanting to do something fun again after the ordeal she went through.
I’d ended up driving my truck to the club due to the cold rain we’d been having all day which worked in favor for me as Harlow had been drunk off her ass. Something that seemed alarming to me. That and the women she’d been dancing with.
Shoving her into the passenger seat, I round the truck and hop in, start the engine and floor it out of the parking lot. The entire time, I could feel Harlow fuming silently in the seat next to me as I drove home. Considering my house was in the middle of five acres of nothing but fields and tree lines, I knew once getting her there she wouldn’t be able to leave without me taking her anywhere.
At least that’s what I thought until I woke up this morning on my couch to find her gone. After we’d gotten to my house, I opened the front door and Harlow stormed past me straight to my bedroom, slammed the door, locking it. I figured I would give her the night to calm down. She was here with me and it didn’t cross my mind she’d leave without me knowing. My security system on the house being top of the line.
Stupid of me to underestimate Harlow, especially since she’s related to Raven.
Sitting in an Adirondack chair, coffee in hand, legs kicked up on the railing, I debate on how to play this with Harlow being slippery as fuck. I grasped her long enough for her to slip through my fingers not once but twice now. First time was by letting her do her thing while she got to know me when she let me. Sure, I get it wasn’t much and some of that time I was pissed with her. Only because the woman was insufferable, and I can have a chip on my shoulder when need be.
My phone rings on the small wooden table sitting between my chair and its match. Picking it up I groan at seeing Coyote’s name showing up.
Shaking my head, I answer. “Isn’t it a little early for you?” I grumble, lifting my coffee to my lips.
“Nope, not when I’m heading to the hospital with Tinsley. She’s having the baby,” he declares. Fuckin’ hell. Standing up, I start for the door to get my shit and head out. “Tinsley’s been trying to call Harlow and can’t get ahold of her. Since you carried her out of the club last night, I need you to put her on the phone.”
Shit.
“Harlow’s not here, brother. She snuck out sometime during the night,” I inform him.
“Fuck,” Coyote growls through the line. “How the hell did that happen?”
“Well, considering when I got her to my house, she stormed off to my room. Figured I’d give her a bit to calm down and passed out on the couch. Don’t know when she left either,” I mutter, pissed more now than I was when I’d woken up to find her gone.
“Alright, thanks. I need to get Tinsley to the hospital,” Coyote mutters and disconnects.
Placing the cup on the counter in the kitchen, I head to my room and stop in the doorway to find Harlow standing there.
“What the fuck?” I snap, more than pissed with her at the moment.
“Why did you bring me here?” she asks softly.
“How about you answer me first, what the fuck do you think you’re doing? Pulling a disappearing act while I was fuckin’ asleep on the couch only to show the hell back up.” Yeah, you can say I’m pissed at her.
Doesn’t matter she’s mine and I want her with me. This bullshit of hers has got to stop. Disappearing when she wants, popping back up when she feels like it, it’s all fuckin’ with my head.
“I didn’t leave the house,” she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest and it’s then I notice what Harlow’s wearing. A pair of my sweatpants and a black undershirt with her hair tied up on the top of her head. Seeing her like this, something tells me it’s a sight no one is ever allowed since not once have I ever seen her with her hair up exposing her face for all to see. Normally it’s parted to the side so her cheek with the scar is hidden somewhat with her jet-black hair.
“Yeah, then where the hell have you been considering I’ve looked everywhere in this house for you,” I demand.
“I know you did, you looked directly at me,” Harlow whispers, glancing down at the carpet.
“Then where did I see you?” Stepping forward, I wait for her to answer.
“Sitting on the floor in the corner,” she murmurs, without lifting her head, to meet my gaze.
I open my mouth to speak only to shut it again as I think about her words. She’d been sitting on the floor in the corner of my room. I’d looked right past her as if she were a ghost.
Fuck.
What is this woman doing to my head?
Chapter Two
Harlow
Over the past years, I’ve harnessed more than one particular skill, one of them being invisible to those around me. I can make it so no one who knows me can see me without me wanting them to.
Last night after Ranger carried me out of the club, I’d been completely pissed beyond reason. I didn’t trust myself to speak a word to him. He doesn’t know what he could have done. Shit, if I knew they were going to be at the club I’d been at last night I wouldn’t have been there, unfortunately I needed to be.
What I was hired to do took precedence over my personal life. I’d pretty much locked everyone out except for Trevor, Raven, and Victoria. When it came to Victoria and Raven, I even minimized my contact with them. Trevor was my contact point for this one. When I’d first received the message asking for my help in finding a girl barely seventeen years old who’d gone out with some of her friends to the movies, I found out she’d been taken into a slavery organization.
Upon finding this out, Trevor suggested I bring Vi and Raven on; however, I pointed out to him both of them have families that need them. Raven just had her baby not long ago, along with their other son who is still an infant as well, to take care of. No one would ever guess that Matthew wasn’t Raven’s with the way she is around him. Victoria had Jamie to take care of and was working at Dolly’s Playhouse, managing the club for the Devil’s Riot MC. I do know from a message she left me not to long ago she’d had to assist the Inferno’s Clutch MC with a situation.
It’s mind boggling with how intertwined our family is with both clubs. Victoria being Chains’ sister and Ryder’s niece, Raven being Fury’s daughter and Pitch Black’s sister. Of course, then there’s Lynch and me, we’re Fury’s nephew and niece; however, we’re more like his children. After our mom, Scarlett, decided she couldn’t handle being a parent, she’d signed her rights over making us Fury and Ela’s children.
Growing up it wasn’t bad, I enjoyed the fact Raven was more like my sister who was the same age as me. Then that fateful day happened that altered my entire life, I left Louisiana and never went back. Not even for any of the holidays. I couldn’t go there. This decision pissed my brother off, but he understood. Pitch Black was livid about this decision, he’d been the one to find me and felt the pain of it as if it were his own. Didn’t matter if anyone told him it wasn’t his fault it happened.