And it isn’t a dog nestled inside whimpering, it’s a child.
Ten
Luca
I roll over in bed, my eyes flicker open for a second, getting my bearings.The room smells different, the air cooler.
I’m not at home.
Well, not at my home.I’m at my parents' home—the compound.
And the heated memories of last night come flooding back to me.
I just had sex with Harper McKenna.
I reach my arm out for her, but the bed is empty, the spot beside me still warm.
What the hell?Where did she go?Did she decide to sleep in her own room after all?
I’ve never had a girl leave in the middle of the night, or after sex, for that matter.I’m usually the one kicking them out if I don’t want it to be anything serious.And Harper doesn’t strike me as the kind of girl to sneak out.
Heavy footfalls patter outside the hallway.It’s Harper, I can feel it.
I sit up in bed, swing my legs over the mattress and retrieve my clothes in the darkness.It takes a few seconds to put them back on and make sure they’re not inside out or backward before I step out into the hallway.
I don’t want her wandering alone in this place.
There’s trouble brewing under this roof.I’ve lived here long enough growing up to know when they’re keeping someone hostage or torturing a suspect.
My guess—torture.
Why else would they have kicked us out earlier?
And the entire reason I came home was to protect Harper.I’m not about to stop now.
It would have been nice if the reason we were locked out of the house earlier had been a surprise, like Harper had suggested.After all, they’d bought Nova a brand-new car, and sure, they could have been signing the papers for it, but I know better.
It’s so much worse than that; I feel the heaviness like an anvil on my chest.
If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have spent the night here.I wanted to go home, but Nova insisted we stay, and Harper didn’t have the slightest idea what was going on.
I wasn’t going to leave Harper alone, and while I considered camping outside her bedroom all night, her sleeping in my bed was definitely the better of the two options.
Not to mention we didn’t just sleep.
We had the most amazing sex ever.At least, I thought it was fucking amazing.If Harper claims otherwise, she is most definitely lying.I know she came twice last night, and well, I’m a little disappointed there wasn’t a third time, but we were both tired and fell asleep shortly after our festivities.
There will always be a next time.
I open the bedroom door and step into the hallway.There’s no sign of Harper.I quietly tiptoe to the guestroom and quietly nudge open the door.
There’s no sign of her.
Her bed is empty.
Just as I suspected.
Fuck.
