Page 28 of Their Wicked Secrets: Untouched, Vol 5 of 6

“You’re a good friend, Jack.” Her words are soft. Her eyes sparkle with love.

I release my breath and lean down to press a kiss to her lips. Kenz clears her throat. Pulling away, I drop Harper’s hand right before the door opens more and Nico’s mom comes in. When I wink at Kenz, she gives me a grin.

“I found a couple more.” Mrs. Lee looks happy as Luke and Eli come into the room. She sets a tray of snack cakes and sodas on the foot of Nico’s bed. “Help yourselves, and if you need more, just let me know.”

She folds her hands together. Eli and Luke part so she can go out into the hallway. I grab a plastic wrapped cake and open it.

“Everything good?” Luke looks between Harper and me.

“Everything’s good.” Harper’s dark eyes meet mine. “How was practice?”

We tell Nico and the girls about practice while we eat the snack cakes and drink the sodas. Caden joins us. Nico tells us how the surgery went and what the doctor said.

“Wednesday I’ll be back to school, but I have to keep my leg elevated. I’m not supposed to carry a bag or anything for a week.”

“We’ve got you.” I don’t hesitate because we do. “You’ll pretend to stay injured for the rest of the year with the way we’ll help.”

Nico shakes his head but smiles. “I appreciate it.”

We talk a little about school and classes. When Nico starts to fade, Kenz heads out, promising to bring Harper tomorrow after school. With her gone, Eli shuts the door.

“We need to be careful at school.” Eli rubs his jaw. “We need to make sure no one tries anything with Nico.”

“You need to watch out for Harper, not me.” Nico’s eyes narrow.

“We need to look out for both of you.” Caden steps away from the wall. “This isn’t a game. They could try to hurt you more seriously than you already are.”

“If you want to play in college, we need to work on your strengthening once PT is over. We can’t let anyone delay that,” Luke says.

“My dad hired a sports PT.” Nico takes Harper’s hand and sighs. “If it comes down to me or Harper though...”

He doesn’t finish the statement. He doesn’t need to. We all know what’s at risk.

Harper

I’m not one hundred percent on board with the helping me over Nico, but I understand it. There’s a part of me that’s happy they’ll choose me over him, or any of them. But the alternative of one of my guys getting hurt makes me anxious and turns my stomach.

Caden and I leave Nico’s last. Nico is practically asleep when we leave. The others promised to get on webcam tonight. I still have some college applications to get through and homework to do.

“You okay?” Caden drives me over to his house. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”

I blow out a breath and roll my head on the seat to look at him. “I wish my mom was here.”

“Maybe she’ll come back sooner rather than later.” His words are soft.

My heart clenches. “I hope so.”

We still don’t know what happened to make her run. And why she left me behind. Because of the guys or was it just the timing? Why did she have to leave at all?

Caden pulls into his garage, and we both get out. I follow him to the side door and up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. As much as I love being with him and the others, I want to go home. I want to talk to my mom.

I drop my backpack and sit on the couch.

“I’m ordering us a pizza.” Caden already has his phone out. “We can focus on schoolwork tonight. Maybe get ahead a little.”

My throat is full from the tears pushing their way up, so I just nod. I don’t have time to fall apart. As soon as Caden finishes ordering, he sets his phone to the side and lifts me to straddle his lap.

He searches my eyes. “What do you need, Harper? Do you need to hit something or cry? Whatever it is, I’m here for you.”