I stilled, as the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. The light on top of the gates into my mother’s house started flashing, and I pulled the sun visor down, another shit attempt to conceal myself. Luckily, Reed’s truck was nice and shiny and didn’t look out of place. Hudson’s piece of shit Ford Ranger would have stuck out like a large rusty thumb.
I watched as a large Cadillac Celestiq pulled out onto the street. A blonde man was sitting in the driver's seat, and in the back, I just caught a glimpse of the woman who must have been my mother and the boy sitting next to her. She didn’t look much different from the shot that had been stored in the file I clutched. A bitmore polished. I could only see the top of the boy's fuzzy hair. As the vehicle drove past mine, I guessed he’d be around ten or eleven?
The woman had hair the same color as mine, and she looked happy, and why didn’t I hate that? She had abandoned me. I should be pissed and want the bitch to be miserable and ridden with guilt.
But. I. Didn’t.
Those earlier thoughts of scaling the walls into the property disintegrated, and I knew it was time to go home. Hudson had sent me a few texts to check I was OK, and I replied by saying I was heading back. Ma was making meatloaf, my favorite.
Hopefully, Harper would be there for supper. She’d been cramming for some exams and had spent a few late nights at the library at school. That sweet place where my brother Hudson had first met his girl Molly, when we were all at the same school together.
We were college boys now and soon to become football gods. It was only the first semester, and yet so much was going on. I didn’t have time to deal with family shit. I needed to focus. I promised Hudson that I’d get my head in the game and start to work hard. I’d only just graduated from high school by the skin of my teeth, and college would only get harder.
My mother had failed me when I was only five years old, and after a piss poor attempt to visit me when I was taken into care, she’d given up and walked away, starting something new.
I may have been left in the shit, but I had been given a new lease of life when I’d found Ma. We all had, including Harper.
Harper Radcliffe.
She was a thorn in my side that I had no power to remove, and didn’t want to. And one day soon, I would force her to fill in the blanks on her life when I left. I knew it wouldn’t have been easy, living with the two Barker kids.
As I pulled out into traffic, I wondered where Dalton Barker was. He’d been a year older than me, and I hoped to see the fucker at college, but nope. He and his sister no longer lived with Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, as I’d checked a couple of years ago. During one of my stealth visits to check that Harper was OK. She’d not seen me; I’d made sure of that.
Dalton and Daisy Barker.
Who cared? Good riddance. Neither of them belonged anywhere near my Harper. There it was again,myHarper, that possessive streak she was responsible for.
Thoughts of that kiss still lingered; her hot body pressed against mine. I’d enjoyed it, but it had been way too carnal. When the time came, I would ease Harper in slowly. I knew she was innocent. I’d made sure of that, kept all the little shits at Harbor Heights away from her. She was a Sawyer, too good for high school boys.
But to step up and be that man, I had to make something of my life first. And I could only do that if I worked my ass off without any added complications.
A dull ache throbbed between my eyes as I drove back home. Tortured pasts and broken promises would have to wait. I would not lose control and let that storm inside me consume all sense and reason.
Once I’d figured shit out, I would make my move. And then those that I had targeted would know about it.
I was Phoenix Carter, and I had every intention of rising from the ashes. And I wouldn’t be alone. I had promised Harper that I would be there for her, take her with me.
And one day, I would.
Hudson and I had started to look at transferring to one of the dorms on campus. He craved privacy with his girl, and who could blame him? Moving out would also give us more independence, as well as reduce the burden on Ma. And then Harper and I could see if therewassomethingrealbetween us.
That couldn’t be determined living in the same house, not for those first steps anyway. I was no relationship guru, but that wasn’t the way of things. If I were going to do something about me and Harper, it wouldn’t involve sneaking about in the dead of the night. I’d want to do it right, be open about it; trans-fucking-parent. I also couldn’t disrespect Ma and her rules.
Harper and I belonged together like two lost souls. I just needed her to wait for me a little while longer.
FOUR
HARPER
“What are you doing in here?” Phoenix’s deep voicefinallyechoed from behind me. My heart began to thump a steady rhythm, and my pulse took off. I suddenly felt as if I had been plugged into the mains as heatchargedthrough me. “I thought you hated it in here?”
I was in the den, and I did. The place usually reeked, either of testosterone, general ass-hole-ness, or the shit they smoked.
I had been waiting in that pit for him for ages, which was why I was annoyed. Well, that and the fact that I found out earlier that kids had broken into my old home. They hadn’t made it as far as my bedroom, but they’d graffitied in what was left of the kitchen; trespassing scumbags. I wondered if they knew that people had died in there?
Radcliff Manor was now a condemned building and had been awaiting demolition for years. It was supposed to be a secure site. Only I knew about the secret entrance. It appeared someone had pounded some of the boarding loose since my last visit. They had also left joint butts everywhere, and I hated smoking for obvious reasons.
“Earth to Harper?” Phoenix huffed as he moved to stand beside me.
