Chapter 5
Harper
I kept blinking my eyes, thinking I just saw things. Was Cade part of The Black Angels? I never saw him wear the cut at the rally. I had no idea what to do. My mother’s arm was around me, keeping me close to her as my father droned on mindlessly about policies he wouldn’t keep and morals he didn’t hold. My stomach was concealed well, but it was still obvious. I could see his eyes latched onto my stomach while his body stood in the middle of the crowd.
I wish I’d worn a looser dress. His eyes shifted back to my stomach as something akin to panic crossed his face. I should’ve put myself in a control-top girdle. Anything to hide this stomach. If I minimized it for the rally, I could’ve brushed it off as eating a big breakfast.
A really big breakfast.
But it was no use now. Cade was here, Cade was looking at my stomach, and Cade now knew. I broke my eyes away, casting them out towards the crowd and smiling. My father said something that made the crowd erupt into applause, and that sent The Black Angels looking around. I tried my best not to let tears come to my eyes. The last thing I needed was to show that kind of emotion on stage. If I did, my parents wouldn’t stop hounding me until I told them what was wrong.
And that would mean telling them who the father of this child was.
I scanned the crowd and looked into the faces of people I knew. Mr. McDaniels, who owned the barbershop on the corner of this block. Andrea Lee, who owned and operated the best daycare in the city. Michael and Tina Carver, our neighbors and wonderful friends of the family. I recited all their names and how I knew them in my head, trying to distract myself from the fact that Cade was standing right in front of me.
His eyes were penetrative. Even from the stage, I could see his muscles underneath his leather cut. His strong arms and his chiseled abs popped into my head, puckering my nipples behind my bra as I swallowed hard. I had to think about anything else. Dead ponies or screaming babies or my grandmother naked. Anything to distract me from the fact that the drop-dead gorgeous man that knocked me up was standing right there.
In the middle of my father’s election rally.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you elect me as your mayor, I have given you all these promises. However, there is one thing I can give you as mayor that my running mate, Alexa Harrison, cannot. And that is an unbiased opinion in everything I do. Everything Mayor Harrison does is steeped in emotion. Conflict. Opinion. She doesn’t seek out facts, she listens too much to those around her, and she’s easily swayed by emotional outbursts from those who pay her under the table. What you will get with me is a fresh start. An unbiased man with strong morals who will not only uphold what you want but not allow money to deter his mindset.”
It took all I could not to roll my eyes at his statement.
My father wanted to paint himself as the perfect person, but underneath he was the biggest misogynistic asshole I’d ever known. I watched him boss my mother around while complaining about all sorts of bullshit. Like how the house wasn’t clean enough or something was missing from dinner or how she hadn’t showered even though she was sick. My mother’s place was in the kitchen and with me while I was growing up, and he wouldn’t accept anything more or less. I watched my mother go from this strong, outstanding community woman to a housewife with no opinion and no sway when it came to her own damn life.
Watching my mother succumb to my father is what flourished my own passion for independence.
My father couldn’t stand it. He tried to control me, and my mother stood by while it happened. And sometimes, I caved. Like the school, I went to. I wanted to go to California State. Right there on the beach where I could get a degree in marine biology. But my father figured I would be better off as a lawyer, so I stayed here to do school while living at home. My father checked behind my grades, made friends with my teachers, and constantly made donations to my school to be kept in the loop with things. It was disgusting, and I wanted out from underneath his thumb.
I wanted to spread my wings as I had at that biker rally with Cade.
Cade.
My eyes snapped back to his.
Holy shit, he was still staring at me.
The crowd was clapping, but I had no idea why. My mother started putting pressure on my waist, dragging me off stage as I came back to reality. Our part was done. Being the smiling, picture-perfect family was over. Which meant I could get the fuck out of here. My mother escorted me to the curtain, and I chanced a look back, just to see if Cade was still standing there.
Just to make sure I hadn’t been dreaming anything.
And sure enough, he was there. With his piercing green eyes and his sharp facial features. Just him looking at me shivered my spine. I could almost feel the rough calluses of his hands on my ass. I could feel his teeth on the side of my neck. I could feel his hand coming down on my ass, punishing me for being such a bad girl before he licked my pussy dry.
He was still staring at me and watched me as my mother dragged me off stage.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” my mother asked. “Come on.”
“I need a bathroom,” I said.
Pulling away from my mother, I rushed off before anyone could catch up with me. I knew I was supposed to stay with The Black Angels that were backstage, but now that I knew they were affiliated with Cade I didn’t want to be around any of them. Would they recognize me? Would they rat me out to my mother? My parents thought I was with my best friend that weekend researching shit for law school.
They had no idea I was spreading my legs on the back of some stranger’s motorcycle.
I shoved myself into the bathroom and locked the door. I felt like I was going to vomit. I stormed into a bathroom stall and dropped to my knees, heaving into the toilet in front of me. I couldn’t allow myself to cry. It would ruin my makeup, and my mother wouldn’t stop bugging me until I’d fed her some lie that satiated her incessant need to control something. It wasn’t my fault she lost control of her life because she was a weak little bitch. And it wasn’t fair that I had to pay the price for it.
I threw up the measly breakfast I’d had before I peeled myself off the floor.
What the hell was I going to do? Was there any way for me to get out of here without anyone seeing? Would Cade come after me and bombard me with questions? I never dreamed I would see him again, and now he was here. And he knew I was pregnant.
Was it possible to pawn this child off as someone else’s?
I knew why he was here. He was here because he was protecting the rally. Which meant he was just as blindsided as I was. But if he came after me and my mother saw, all hell would break loose. He wouldn’t be safe, I wouldn’t be safe, and this child wouldn’t be safe.
Our child wouldn’t be safe.
“Harper?” my mother asked. “Open this door.”
“Just give me a second, okay?” I asked.
“What’s going on? Do you need a doctor? Is the baby okay?”
It made me sick that she was pretending to care. I knew she didn’t care. She didn’t give a damn about her grandson. All she cared about was making sure the image of our family wasn’t tainted in the public eye. Once my father won this election-- and he was projected to do so-- they’d go back to not even trying to give a shit about me.
“Harper, you’re embarrassing me. Whatever this is, it can wait until we get home. I’m going to the car. You’ve got ten minutes.”
And there she was. The mother of the year, hissing at her pregnant daughter to hurry the fuck up so we could get home. I wished the city could see this side of them. See how they treated me and how my father treated my mother. It was my mother’s fault she had caved to the likes of my father, but I couldn’t blame her for how she coped. She’d have to live with the mediocrity of her life for the rest of it. But I didn’t have to.
That was why I’d have to go home and slowly start packing. Because come election morning, while my parents were out campaigning in the streets, I’d be leaving this place.
And I wouldn’t be coming back.