“You have sorely underestimated the reach of my power, and that includes your brother.”
“Of course,” I scoffed. That shouldn’t have surprised me.
“He negotiated quite the deal for himself—”
“I don’t want to know,” I cut her off. It hurt enough to know my own damn brother sold me out. I didn’t need to know how much.
For the life of me, I stupidly wrestled with the choice for all of a hot minute.I loved Harley.God, I fucking loved him. But how many times did life have to prove to me that love just wasn’t for me before I listened?
My dad.
My mom.
My brother.
Life came with built-in people to love you, but mine didn’t. I wasn’t worthy enough of their love, so why the hell had I thought that I was worthy of Harley’s love?
“You win,” I whispered.
“That is the smart choice, Mr. Fox,” Mrs. Lowell said. “After I leave, you’re going to ask the Sheriff to make your phone call. You’re going to use it to break my son’s heart, so that he isn’t under the illusion that he should wait for you. If you tell him the truth, I’ll know. Do you understand?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t like I had another option.
CHAPTER 43
harley
Ikept calling him, but his phone just kept going straight to voicemail. When that didn’t work, I drove to his home with hopes of finding him.
Instead, I found police tape over the door.
I parked my car right in front and just stared.What the hell had happened?My chest constricted painfully tight, making it almost impossible to breathe as panic burrowed through every fiber of my being. My mind ran rampant with every scenarioabout what could’ve happened, each one worse than the ones before—from being arrested for something he didn’t do to Aidan seriously hurting him. The latter made me lightheaded and nauseous.
As I sat there, my phone vibrated in the dashboard dock, an unknown number lighting up the screen.Maverick.Somehow, in my heart, I just knew it was him. I grabbed it and almost fumbled it in my desperation.
“Maverick,” I let out breathlessly when I answered.
“Hey,” he said. The sound of his voice brought on a flood of relief, and I sighed heavily.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “Are you safe? I got to your house, and you’re not here, and there’s police tape—”
“We need to talk, Harley,” Maverick interrupted. The sharpness in his voice settled uncomfortably in the pit of my stomach.
“Are you okay?” I repeated.
“No.”
“What can I do?”
“You can go home,” he snapped. The world shifted with his words as my mind tried to catch up.
“I don’t… I don’t understand,” I whispered, struggling to get the words out. “What about last night? What about—where are you, Maverick?”
“Jail.” My heart sped up. He kept talking before I had a chance to ask more. “You weren’t supposed to say yes, Harley. You were supposed to go back home—play the back and forth game while I figured shit out.”
“What—”
