“I don’t like that person!”
“I don’t care what you like or don’t like!” she shouted over me. “What you like doesn’t matter! You have an obligation! To this family! To our business! To me!”
“I—”
“Now, you are going to go out there and apologize to Vivienne for wasting her time.”
“I thought she was here for you—”
“And then you’re going to go upstairs and make yourself presentable,” my mother continued as if she hadn’t heard me. “You will not screw up this partnership with your pathetic whims and wiles. Vivienne is a smart match for you. She won’t tolerate your flippancy and indecisiveness.”
My mind worked to wrap around everything she was saying. It was all so definitive—all choices made without my permission. Whatever bold thing that had taken over me still held as I pushed forward.
“I don’t… I don’t want to be with someone I don’t know. I don’t want…” I said with the barest of shrugs. “I don’t want to… I don’t want to leave Wilde Bay.”
“We’ve discussed that sacrifices are needed,” she clipped.
“Iwon’tbe leaving Wilde Bay,” I said, doing my best to sound confident in my decision to stay.
“Youwon’t,” she repeated, her eyes narrowing. “And whatareyou going to do, Harley? Stay here with that boy? Be poor? Live in that ridiculous trailer of his?”
I remained silent as anxiety clawed its way through my chest. I didn’t have an answer for that. As far as plans went, I had none. This was the first time I’d ever dared to speak up, and it certainly wasn’t going well.What the hell had I been thinking?
“When are you going to learn?” she demanded. “When are you going to listen? He doesn’t want you. He doesn’t understand you. He’s just a desperate thief using you for your money!”
“He’s not a thief.”
“Their whole family is! His father was a deadbeat! His mother was a deadbeat! His brother is a deadbeat! Do you really think he’s any different? They’re all a drain on society, and you’re playing right into their hands. That boy will take you for everything you have and then move on to someone else,” she said. Every word chipped away at something inside of me, hitting places that were already cracked and breaking. “You are better than him. You will always be better than him. You need to get that through that pathetic head of yours before you regret it.”
I opened and closed my mouth, words failing me.Regret it.Those two words stuck with it. I didn’t want to regret Maverick. I didn’t want to regret anything anymore.
“Do not go down this road, Harley,” my mother warned, her voice dropping as she stepped closer. “You won’t like how it ends, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Without another word, she pushed past me and left the door open as she left. But me? I just stood there as I grappled with the dread and panic bubbling up inside me.
CHAPTER 39
maverick
Frantic banging on my door in the middle of the night had me stumbling out of bed with a jolt. Bleary-eyed and disoriented, I tried to get my bearings as the hits on my door just kept going—louder and faster like they weren’t going to go away until I answered.Fucking hell.I grabbed the hunting knife I kept under my mattress because I didn’t trust anyone damn near breaking down my door in the middle of the night.
I tried to glance out the window, but saw nothing. It was too dark to get a good view of whoever was losing their shit on my door. My hand tensed around the handle of the knife as I unlocked one lock just enough to crack the door, expecting to find Aidan in some kind of drunken, pissed-off state.That’d be pretty damn par for the course with him.
But it was Harley… wide-eyed and frantic.
I quickly undid the last lock and threw open the door. He didn’t wait for me to say anything. He just stormed right in, hand running through his hair, and his body wracked with stress.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I—why do you have a knife?” he asked, completely bewildered as his gaze dropped to my knife.
“Why the fuck didn’t you use the key I gave you?” I shot back more out of instinct than anything else as the adrenaline refused to settle. Locking the door, I wandered to the kitchen and tossed my knife on the counter. I grabbed a half-empty, warm beer off the counter and tossed it back. He was upset, I was grumpy, and beer was needed. Only after the initial fight response in my body began to fade did I ask, “What are you doing here, Harley?”
I almost regretted asking as he picked up pacing, instantly agitated all over again. He ran his hands through his hair, practically tugging on the strands.
“I didn’t know where to go,” he said quickly. “I just… I just didn’t want to be there. I don’t want to be that person! I don’t want—she’s… she’s trying to marry me off.”
Something hot and painful spiraled through my stomach.She what?
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded, the words coming out rougher than I meant them to.
