“I miss them.A lot.I haven’t seen them in years.We have an e-mail account we share, so I know what’s going on in their lives, but it’s not the same.”
“So why aren’t you with them?Why aren’t they with you?”
“I told you what happened, right?Well, getting arrested didn’t stop him.”She took another deep breath.“This is harder than I thought it was going to be…”
“Take your time.We’ve got all night,” Trent said softly.She studied his face.It was strong, the dimples, cute.But more importantly it was reassuringly calm.
“I testified at the trial.The look on the jurors’ faces when they saw the pictures of what he did, Trent… I was drowning in their pity.Everybody stared.I became that girl.”
Harper took a sip of her beer and thought for a moment.It felt more cathartic than she expected, sharing everything that had happened with him.
“So that’s why you left?”Trent asked, sitting back down next to her.
“Nathan was sentenced to eight years in prison.It’s possible he’ll get out in four.We’ll know soon enough.He threatened to kill me when he got out—said I was his and would never get away from him.I couldn’t deal with the pitying looks, everyone knowing what happened to me.Everyone walking on eggshells around me.It was driving me crazy.I didn’t even have Reid.By the time we got back from the sentencing, Reid was gone.He just packed up and disappeared.No one has heard from him since.I guess his friendship with Nathan was stronger than his relationship with me.”
The look of anguish on Reid’s face when he heard the sentence.The way he’d turned to stare at her so intently.
“After the trial, I started to get crank calls threatening my family and me.I’d find photos in the mailbox of me leaving the gym or going out for a walk—reminders that I wasn’t safe, that someone was following me.Somehow, even from prison, Nathan was getting his friends on the outside to do things for him.”
Trent put his glass down on the table and pulled her into his chest.“Someone should have been there to look after you.Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Just thinking of the police makes me angry.The list of ways in which they let me and my family down is so long it would take all night.”Harper sighed and allowed Trent to lift her chin to face him.
“Tell me, darlin’.I want to know.I need to understand.”He kissed her forehead.
“I was interviewed by the police once I had been treated in the hospital.A nice officer by the name of Patrick Doherty.”The older officer’s soft voice, with its slight Irish lilt and sympathetic tone, had helped her feel safe, protected.The medication the doctors had given her had eased the pain and taken the edge off the panic.Doctors and nurses had attended her as she drifted in and out of sleep.Her parents and Reid had taken turns sitting with her, stroking the back of her hand.Time became nebulous, something she couldn’t hold onto as the painkillers worked their magic.
The clang of metal hitting metal and someone gripping her wrist painfully had woken her.Confused, she saw her father pinning her brother bodily into the corner of the sterile room, anguish pouring from Reid’s face.
The memories overwhelmed her.Harper rubbed her wrists and turned to face Trent.“They arrested me.I was Mirandized and physically attached to a hospital gurney with handcuffs.They arrested me initially for criminal battery but struggled to prove intent so the charge was lowered to simple assault.They tried to blame me for the attack, said I’d initiated it.Said I was the one with the drug problem.”
“Holy shit, Harper.That is so wrong.How did they… why?I don’t get it.”
“Let’s just say that the police’s assistance to me was inversely correlated to the amount of money Nathan’s father was pumping into the police retirement fund.Evidence, like Nathan’s drug test results, went missing or was doctored before the trial.The cop I mentioned, Doherty.He was forcibly retired and told he’d never be able to prove he had seen the original drug results that stated Nathan had crack, meth, and MDMA in his system.He and his family were threatened.They even threatened to take away his pension after thirty years on the force.”
She allowed herself to be pulled against him, softening as he kissed the top of her head.
“The day after I was admitted to the hospital, I had a visitor.Nathan’s father, Winston, came to see me.A police officer was in my room asking me some follow-up questions.Winston offered me one hundred thousand dollars to drop the case, to not testify and just leave.At trial, both Winston and the officer swore the only thing he did was apologize.”
“Christ, I can’t believe you had to go through all that.I mean, I believe you, but you know.It seems like a movie.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t very movie-like when I called nine-one-one and they never came.”
“Fuck.”Trent growled and pulled her into his chest.“If I ever see that fucker, I’ll break every bone in his goddamn body.”His eyes were steely.Focused.“We’re in this together.We can keep you safe.I don’t want us to have secrets, darlin’.I want to know more.Everything.”
Secrets.The one thing she couldn’t promise him.Her real name was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit down hard.She was Harper now, and there was no value in him knowing about Taylor.
“I’m trying, Trent, but I promise I’ll tell you what I can.”
Lydia had called earlier to let her know that her work bag had been handed to the Sixth District Police Station on South Halstead.No sign of the car or her wallet, but her laptop was safe.Nathan was being an A+ student, and the messages on her phone were apparently coming from Gresham, Oregon, nearly two thousand miles away from Illinois.Maybe telling Trent about the text messages would be a good thing, but he would likely insist she call the police.She was smart enough to realize that there were some good cops out there.But there was no way she could ever rely on them again, and there was no point in her and Trent arguing about it.Why drag Trent any further into her drama?
He kissed her, his lips soft against hers.While she was hopeful that the worst of the storm had just passed, she had a feeling they were really just sitting inside the eye of it.
Chapter Fifteen
Going to the gym at six in the morning wasn’t usually a chore, but today felt very different.They’d talked some more before Harper had fallen asleep on his lap.Pulling himself away from her soft, naked form this morning had required a herculean effort.
He needed to work off the residual anger and frustration swirling through his veins, and Frankie was just the guy.Franco “Frankie” Reyes had been at the forefront of the early MMA scene.He’d fought some of the early UFC greats like Royce Gracie, Kenneth Shamrock, and Patrick Smith.Together, these guys had forged modern cage fighting.
