Fix this shit!My head screamed at me.
I had messed up. I should have told him about my sick addictionbeforehe found the evidence of my deceit.
My heart was in a million pieces, and I felt like I was going to break down like a little kid. And that’s exactly what I did, I dropped onto the floor and cried for the first time in years. It suddenly felt like my world would never be the same again. Just when I thought I was coming up for air by being with Phoenix, that sick twisted darkness inside dragged me back down again.
I had lost him, and why?
Because what is left when the trust has gone?
Nothing.
Only emptiness.
PHOENIX
Harper’s complexion as I left her room was sheet-white, and in that part of my brain which was working, I knew I should have eased up. Given her time tobreathe and explain more about her condition and why it made her feel the way it did, but I was so damnangry.
I wasn’t stupid; I knew kleptomania was considered a mental health issue, like self-harming and OCD, nasty stuff. It wasn’t like Harper was some hardened thief that had an urge to steal out of pure greed.
Harper Radcliffe had an impulse control disorder. Why did you never see it?
Thatwas the secret she had been keeping from me. It would have been the reason why, at times, she seemed so cagey when she came back from school, that backpack she used to clutch so tightly. I knew something was off, but I’d never thought it would be something like pickpocketing.
It probably wasn’t fair to throw what happened to Micha in her face, either, and to be honest, thatwasn’tthe main reason I was so furious.
By stealing, Harper had putherselfat risk, and the thought of her attempting to survive the horrors of Juvie pushed me over the edge. The Jacksons’ house, fuck, even Dalton with his twilight visit, was a cakewalk compared to what girls went through in the detention center. Especially those that housed both sexes. The thought of Harper being violated by an anti-social, drugged-up juvenile set my teeth on edge.
I needed to get the hell away from herbeforeI said more stuff I would regret.
Was Harper Radcliffe more broken than you had thought?And whywouldn’tshe be, after what she had gone through as a child? She almost died in that fire and had the scars to prove it, both inside and out.
Maybe part of her urge to take stuff was due to having been so privileged when she was younger and now having nothing. I knew she’d come from wealth before it had all gone tits up. If you can call your father burning your house down with you and your mother inside, something soblasé.
I needed to hit something.
Reed had left me his keys, and I grabbed them and bounded from the house. As I got into the Jeep, part of me wanted to go back in there and make it right, but a)I couldn’t trust myself, and b) I was running out of time. In bed last night, I had decided to go to the gymbeforemeeting my old man to pound out my angst on the punching bag,beforeseeing him.
Going to see my father in his fricking castle was a scary thought, as I had no idea how I’d behave in his presence. Why had I agreed to meet him again?
Because you want answers, and you liked the guy, before you found out you were related.
But right then, I wanted the looming discussion as much as I wanted a hole in the head.
Harper needs you more than a man you didn’t even know existed a week ago!
Firing the engine, I made my decision. Once I left Dominic Summers’ estate, I’d come straight back home and speak with Harper, sort that shit out.
I had told Hudson I may swing by Molly’s house to fill him in after my meeting, but my fight with Harper couldn’t be left alone. The girl was a grudge-bearer, as past experiences had taught me. If things were left unsaid, they would do more damage.
As I drove to the gym, regret sank like lead in my stomach. If anything, Harper needed my support, not my shitting ire. But I was a hot head.React first and think laterwould be written on myfuckingtombstone.
As I drove away, my phone kept ringing, and I knew it was her, so I turned it off. Immediately after the gym, I would be going to see my father, and I needed a clearer head. Plus, I wasn’t at my best when talking on the phone; I always said the wrong thing.
My session in the gym went as expected, and I forced all my pent-up aggression into the bag, messing up my almost-healed knuckles. One of the PTs gave me a cool pack, but it didn’t do any good. The skin there was just too busted up.
It didn’t take long to get to the mayor’s estate. I checked the clock on the dashboard in the Jeep. I was early. Great.
I had agreed to meet him using Molly and Hudson as the messengers, and I’d promised them I’d let him say his piece.
