Chapter Eight
Harley
Something about Neo holding my hand and hearing his voice soothes me in a way I don’t understand. There’s so much I don’t understand right now my head hurts.
When we hit city limits my panic begins to rise inside me as Neo turns down the road to go to the clubhouse.
Oh no.
I can’t go there.
Th–That woman is there.
“Take me home please,” I whisper, my body starting to shake.
“What?” Neo asks, pulling over to the side of the road. “Why are you shakin’, Harley?”
I lift my gaze to see his confused one staring back at me. He hadn’t released my hand and has twisted his body toward me. I guess he’d used his left hand to put the truck in park.
The sounds of motorcycles rumble behind us. Stoney, Shadow, and Venom had followed us the entire way here and are still behind us as we sit still on the side of the road leading to the clubhouse.
God knows the thought of going there makes my stomach churn.
“Take me home please,” I say, repeating myself.
“Angel Eyes, you gotta stay with me for now,” he says gently.
“No,” I say breathily as I shake my head in denial while closing my eyes.
There’s a tap on the window and then the window is down. My panic starts to get the best of me.
“What’s going on?” Stoney asks.
“I don’t know. Harley just spoke for the first time since we picked her up,” Neo says.
My door opens and my other hand is takin’ into one just as big as Neo’s massive one. “Harley, what’s going on?” Stoney asks.
“Take me home please,” I whisper. “I can’t go there, not again. I don’t want it to happen again.”
“What to happen again?” Neo demands, his hand tightening around mine.
Maybe if they know what happened they’ll take me home and not make me see that dreadful woman again.
I take a deep breath and open my eyes. “I don’t want her to touch me again.”
“Angel Eyes, who are you talkin’ about?” Neo growls.
“I don’t know her name but . . . but the last time I’d been at the clubhouse she cornered me. Said if I didn’t stop coming here she’d do to me what Mareena and Charlotte did. She put her hands on me,” I sob, admitting to what happened for the first time.
“Fuck,” Neo mutters, releasing my hand as my other is released. Neo opens his door and gets out of the truck, rounds the hood then stands where Stoney had been. He reaches in, releases my seatbelt, and pulls me out of the truck.
Next thing I know I’m encased in his arms. One hand cupping the back of my head as I lean into his chest. He keeps the other arm firmly wrapped around my waist.
No one says a word or at least one I can hear as Neo calms me down with sweet words and promises that nothing else will hurt me. As my tears slow, I look up and meet his gaze.
“You can’t stop something from happening. People hurt others all the time. You can’t promise something won’t happen,” I murmur as my demons try to break through the barrier, I put them in.
“Angel Eyes, I sure as fuck can make those promises. I’m not about to let anyone else harm you in any way. You’ve been through enough,” he proclaims.
“Neo’s right,” Venom speaks up. “You’re like a little sister I didn’t get to have so I’m claiming you as my family. So, babe, you can guarantee we can promise you that shit.”
“Agreed,” Shadow rasps. “Tell us who fuckin’ touched you and they’re gone, no one touches my family.”
Um, this is so overwhelming.
“Goes without saying you’re family, Harley. You belong to Neo and Venom and Shadow just claimed you as their family. So, babe, I can fuckin’ promise you long as we know what’s going on meaning you talk to us, we’ll protect you in every way possible,” Stoney declares.
I don’t know what it is about these men. Maybe it’s the fact they’re men and I don’t feel threatened by them, I’m not sure. All I know is I feel as if I can trust them. There’s not many people I can say that about but I think I can when it comes to these men. Neo, especially.
“Okay,” I murmur softly, leaning my head against Neo’s chest.
“Good girl, now, who touched you?” Neo asks.
“I don’t know her name, sh–she came in the bathroom, when I was in there.” Neo’s body goes taut as he curses.
My body starts to shake once again.
Do they know who I’m talking about?
“Venom, Shadow, I want you to personally see that bitch out of the clubhouse,” Stoney orders.
“No problem, Prez,” Shadow snarls.
“Don’t worry, Angel Eyes, she won’t touch you again. When we get to the clubhouse, I’m going to take you straight to my room while Venom and Shadow escort the cunt out.” At the mention of the clubhouse, I cringe but not as badly as before because I trust these four men.
Nodding my head, I lift my gaze to meet his. “Cunt is not a nice word,” I whisper.
Soon as the words leave my mouth Neo and the rest of them burst out laughing, it feels good to know I can make someone laugh.
“Oh fuck, babe, that shit’s hilarious,” Venom chuckles.
I shrug and tilt my head to look at one of the two men who just said I was their family. Then it dawns on me Neo claimed me as his ol’ lady. “Do you all really mean what you said? I’m yours?” I ask, blurting the question out before I can stop myself.
“Angel Eyes, I meant every word I’ve said,” Neo says gently, lifting the hand he’d move back down to my waist. He’d not once let me go since pulling me out of the truck. Even at the rehab place, once his arm was around me, he didn’t stop touching me in some way.
“Meant it, babe.” Venom nods.
“Same here, Harley. Lost my little brother, feels good to call you my little sister,” Shadow announces.
Wow.
This is unexpected.
“Alright, let’s get to the clubhouse,” Stoney orders.
Neo lifts me back into the passenger seat and tells me to buckle up. He closes my door, goes to the other side, and climbs in. Before putting the truck in gear, he looks to me, “Promising you one last thing, Angel Eyes, and I want you to promise me something as well. I’m going to be here. I want to see where this goes between us. I fucked up by not going after you when I first saw you that night before shit went down. Can’t turn back time but I can be here now. Which I am, so, Harley, I want you to promise me if you feel like everything’s becoming too much you’ll come to me. And I’m promising you now I’ll lend you my strength to get you through it.”
Um. Um. Um.
Oh my.
He really means what he’s promising. I can see the determination, the vow in his eyes shining through.
“I promise,” I say, meaning the words.
I might have been angry with him along with the rest of the world for the past month for making me go to that dreadful place and deal with those people. Only the moment I felt his strength just a few moments ago as he enveloped me in his arms, I knew. I knew I wasn’t alone anymore.