Sheriff Camden Pelter was about to lose teeth, Gideon didn’t have a temper, but the Sheriff was pissing him off. Two hours ago, a phone call woke him from sleep. The only two words he remembered were Harper and hospital, he had made it to town in record time. They’d sedated Harper when she’d arrived.

He held her hand gently and stroked her soft, warm skin. Every inch of her porcelain skin was covered with bruises or bandages.

“Mr. Jane, your fiancée—”

He glanced at Cam to find the light skinned black man shaking his head, but thankfully Cam stayed silent. It was the only way they’d allowed him to stay in her room.

“We’ll be reducing her meds in order to let her wake up.”

“What are her injuries?”

“Multiple lacerations. We have a plastic surgeon who took care of the wound on her cheek. He assures us he minimized the chances of scarring—”

“I don’t care about scarring, I just want her to be okay.” He didn’t mean for it to come out as harshly as it did, but he was pissed, Bill shouldn’t have gotten anywhere near Harper.

“Yes, sir, sorry. She should be coming around soon. Just keep her calm. The attack was savage, but she didn’t sustain significant damage. I’ll leave you to spend time with her. She’ll spend the night here for observation, but she should be released in the morning, barring any complications.”

He nodded and turned back to Harper, he raised his hand and stroked her soft hair.

“You’re not going to go all Alpha like the rest of the Crews and not let me get a statement, right?”

“That’s up to her whether she wants to talk to you or not. She’ll be going home with me when she’s released, you can find her at the farm.”

“Shouldn't you ask her first?”

“You can find her at the farm.”

He was done talking.

“Call me when she wakes up.”

Thankfully Cam left without busting his balls further.

He still remembered the panic in Twitch’s voice when he’d answered the phone. Crave’s muffled voice as the big man tried to calm his husband. He hadn’t been able to think passed the point of getting to her. He hadn’t known Harper long, but he couldn’t imagine not having a chance at earning her trust—to just have a chance of making her his. It was quick, probably insanely so, but he wanted to get to know her and needed her happy.

She’d probably fight him on it, but he knew a stay at the farm would be good for her.

A knock on the door caused him to turn, and a tall, slender man stepped inside.

“You must be Gideon, I’m Kyle, Harper’s best friend.”

“Yeah, everyone calls me—”

“Ghost, Harper said she prefers Gideon, though.”

She tended to call him Ghost when they were together.

“I waited for the Sheriff to leave before I came in.”

He turned back to Harper, and Kyle stopped on the other side of the bed.

“I shouldn’t have sent her home.”

“What do you mean?”

“I gave her this whole speech about taking a chance on you. Told her to head out to your place, maybe make you dinner. If—”

“I think the bastard would’ve gotten her one way or another.”

“She’s in denial, we all knew about him. A year ago, I made her promise not to harm herself after her last suicide attempt. It just made her find someone who could hurt her.”

“What?”

“To punish herself for what she couldn’t change. I think it’s been going on a lot longer than a year, but I have a feeling it just got worse since I made her make that promise to me.”

He studied the man as he spoke; watched the misery twist Kyle’s handsome features.

“I always knew Harper was different, so did my parents, it’s why we kept her so close over the years. My parents said she needed a loving home. Her parents were indifferent, then cruel when Harper finally figured out who she was. I just wanted her happy and the way she looked when she talked about you, I just got excited about her finding someone.

“I’ve tried to set her up on dates. For a while, I thought her and Joker had a thing going, but quickly decided that wouldn’t be a good match.”

He had to agree, Joker was abrasive and leaned toward violence. He knew Joker would never put his hands on Harper, but they…no, Harper was his, he just had to prove it.

“Then she told me she took a nap with you, I might have lost my head a bit. She said she slept and that rarely happens. I’ve lost count of the times she’d sit at the kitchen table, and we’d talk until it was time for us to go to work.”

The afternoon she’d tucked herself against him, he hadn’t slept, but he’d watched her. The way her long, light lashes fanned her cheeks, the way her makeup barely covered the dark circles under her eyes. His body had reacted to her closeness—the first time in years he’d wanted anyone. She seemed so delicate compared to him. He’d never analyzed what attracted him to someone before. Joe had been tall and broad, some would say the man was physically perfect.

He’d looked at women before, tall, short, thin and full-figured, dark and light, and he’d never questioned it. Okay, maybe in his teens when we’d figured out he was bisexual and knew how his parents felt about it, seeing their response to Gregory coming out. He’d wished they’d been more like his aunt and uncle, who hadn’t thought twice about accepting Gregory or him later when he’d told them he was bi. Maybe he’d wished to be so-called normal, but it hadn’t lasted long.

“She’ll be fine, Harper will come stay out at the farm for a while, just until she gets better.”

“I think she’ll like that. She always,” Kyle paused as a barely concealed sob caught in his throat.

“She always what?”

“Oh, when we were kids, I think she was eleven at the time, she told me her dream. Man, I gave her shit about it growing up.”

He didn’t want to pry, but he was curious as to what Harper wanted. “What was her dream?”

“Oh, she’ll kill me for this, but…” Kyle grinned and pulled up a chair. “Prince Charming, a house in the middle of nowhere, maybe a pet or two running around, and she wanted to have kids.”

“Kids?”

“Yeah, kind of surprised me, with the way she grew up, the whole happily ever after didn’t seem like something she knew much about. Well, except for my parents.”

“It’s a good dream.”

“I hope she gets it one day. After all the shit she’s been through, she deserves it.”

“She does.”

“I shouldn’t—”

“Don’t blame yourself.”

“I do, though. Harper has always been stubborn.”

“Not a bad quality.”

“Not always. I talked to Clora, and she told me to assure Harper that the store is covered and to take all the time she needs.”

He’d reached his limit of interaction, and thankfully Kyle didn’t seem to mind his lapse into silence. He absently traced the pale pink scars on the inside of her wrist, horizontal and vertical. He glanced at the opposite one and found corresponding marks. The scars made him curious about what other marks her body bore. How else she may have punished herself for something she couldn’t change.

Harper began to whimper, and he raised his hand to tenderly soothe her, he watched the rapid movements of her eyes beneath her closed lids. She instantly calmed and whispered his name, he smiled as he lifted her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles.

“Shh, just sleep, everything is okay.”

She relaxed and drifted back into a restful sleep.

“I was right.”

“Right,” he asked.

“You’re perfect for her.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, he’d try to be what she needed. Only time would tell, but if he was anything, he was patient.