Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“I’m not hiding anymore, Harley. We spent too long lurking in the shadows of each other’s lives. I want daylight with you. I want all the things we never had, and no one and nothing is going to keep you from me—do you understand? If I have to face down the whole town to make you mine, then so be it.”
She flushed all over, a smile finally gracing her features. “Then so be it.”
3
HARLEY
Chase stayed the night.
He was still here the next morning when Bailey came home and commented on the state of the living room, proclaiming immediately that she just didn’t want to know what had happened. Though, at the worsening look of Chase’s black eye, she was curious.
“So, your brothers flipped? I knew Whitt would,” Bailey said. “Eve and I can talk him down. Should I make the call?”
I shook my head. “I appreciate it, but it’s not your fight.”
“It shouldn’t be a fight at all,” Bailey said.
“I agree, but I probably need to sit down and have a real conversation with them.”
“How about this? We’re together. Fuck off. Does that work?”
“I agree with Bailey,” Chase said. He stepped out of my bedroom, running a towel through his hair.
It still mystified me to have him in my house. Like in the house I rented and not at the house he owned. It was such a big step even though every other one we’d made recently should seem more significant. This one hit me the hardest.
I’d always belonged in his world, and he’d never belonged in mine.
Until now.
So seeing him with wet hair, using my cheap towel and smelling like my floral shampoo, was a whole new experience. And I liked it.
“Well, there will be no conversation about whether we’re dating. That’s decided. But I did want to bring them in on this easier. They’re my family. I want to smooth it over.”
“I still think I should go with you,” Chase said.
“She said smooth it over,” Bailey pointed out. “I doubt you’d do much more than make it worse.”
“She’s right.”
“I liked it better when she was on my side,” Chase argued.
“Too late, lover boy. I’m always on Harley’s,” Bailey countered. “You’re just lucky you’re on her side.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Then, he stepped forward and kissed me long and hard. “So very lucky.”
Bailey sighed dramatically. “I’m going to have to deal with PDA all the time, aren’t I?”
“Probably,” I said with a laugh.
“Definitely,” Chase said.
Even that small word made me swoon. We were a couple. The thing I’d wanted for three years that I was sure would never happen was now my reality. And every time I looked up at him and remembered he was mine, something fluttered in my chest all over again.
“I should probably go deal with my brothers though.”
He sighed. “If you’re sure.”
“I am. We need to have this out. This isn’t going to be the last time they see us together. And they’re going to have to get used to the idea.”
“Doubtful,” Bailey muttered under her breath.
I shot her a look, and she barely muffled her laughter. “Keep it together, Bails.”
“I love you, Harley Davidson,” she said with a headshake. “But your brothers are over-the-top protective. I get it; Eve is that way with me. But four brothers? That’s a lot.” Her eyes flickered to Chase. “Better be ready for the fallout.”
“I’m ready,” he said easily.
“There will be no fallout. There will only be them getting used to the idea and dealing with it.”
“If you’d thought that was true, then you would have told them about this,” she said, pointing between us, “a long time ago.”
She was right. I hated that she was right.
I huffed out a breath. “Well, might as well at least deal with damage control.”
Chase pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You’ll be fine. I have faith in you.”
“Yeah. I also have an ace in my pocket.”
Bailey raised an eyebrow.
“Mom is here.”
She laughed. “Lord help those boys.”
My mom was staying at Whitt’s house for the week. I was proud that I’d gotten her to agree to come for a whole week. She hadn’t been to Lubbock for more than moving me out and back in since I’d moved here. Not with Grandma and Grandpa to look after. I was going to be sad when she left again tomorrow afternoon, but I was glad to have her here today.
She pulled me into a hug when I walked into my brother’s house. “Hey, sweetheart.”
I breathed in her familiar scent. “Hey, Mom.”
“I heard about what happened.”
“Whitt told you?”
“He did. I didn’t realize until it was too late that all your brothers had disappeared last night. I’m so sorry that happened to you.” She touched my cheek. “You didn’t deserve that.”
Tears came to my eyes at her words. God, I hadn’t realized how much I just wanted someone to take away all my problems until that moment. How much easier it would be to just sic Mom on them and make it all stop. But I couldn’t do that, unfortunately.