Chapter 23
Harper
A gunshot went off, and panic rushed through my veins. Where the hell did that come from? Who just got shot? Was it my father? Was it Cade? Had someone shot that man? I tried tugging at the zip ties again, but the only thing that happened was the door jiggled.
I could hear commotion outside of the van. I had heard my father’s voice, but he wasn’t talking anymore. I could hear guns cocking and people bustling, but no one had opened the van doors yet. Didn’t they know I was back here? Didn’t they know I was alive?
I started rocking the van before I heard a sound behind me.
“Hello!? Who’s there? What do you want!?”
Someone was in the back of the van with me. I could hear them crawling along the floor. I felt heat approaching me as I pressed myself into the door, trying desperately to get it open. I couldn’t hear what was going on outside anymore. The voices in my head were screaming too loudly. My arms were restrained, and someone was approaching me, and my ankles were bound.
“Just hold on,” the voice said.
The voice I heard was different. Kinder than the man that had been talking with me before. I felt a pair of hands come down onto my ankles, and I tried to get away, struggling underneath the crumbling weight of my body. My entire being was alight with pain. I was hungry and thirsty, and I had urinated on myself. I was embarrassed at my state as the pair of hands pinned my legs to the floor, but then I heard a sound that frightened me.
It was the sound of a blade sliding from its home.
“No, please. Stop. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me, please.”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” the voice said. “But you’re bound pretty tight. Just keep still. Cade’s right outside.”
Cade? This man knew Cade?
I relaxed into the man’s grasp and I heard him cutting through the substance that bound my legs together. They were freed within the span of a few seconds, but the man continued to hold me. His hand slid up my leg, and I panicked, thinking the worst of him. But then he picked up his hand and laid it on the small of my back.
“My name’s Ink. What’s yours?” he asked.
“H-Harper. Um… are you with… with the-?”
“I am, yes. Just hold still. You’re still bound to the door.”
I heard my father’s voice pierce the air outside and I braced. He sounded frantic. Panicked and shaken. I wanted him to know I was alive. I wanted him to know I was okay. Even though he was a terrible man with shitty morals, I was beginning to understand the fear of a parent. There had been moments where I thought that man was going to harm my child, and with my body being restrained I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it.
I got a dose of the panic my father was experiencing now, and I wanted to alleviate it.
“Please get me out of here,” he said.
“Just one second.”
I felt the blade scoot underneath my wrist, and I hissed. The cool metal stung against my broken skin. The zip ties fell free, and I dropped to the floor of the van while Ink helped get the bag from over my face. My hands gripped at the blindfold, ripping the fabric from my face as my eyes tried to adjust.
I looked back and saw a man hovering above me, his leather cut boasting the Black Angels logo.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked breathlessly.
I watched him nod before he threw open the van door.
“Harper!”
I heard my father’s voice, but I still couldn’t see him. The morning was still dark, and I was frantically searching for Cade. I poked my head out of the van as I drew in a sweet breath of fresh air as my eyes searched the park. I could tell there were a lot of people standing around, but I still couldn’t make out their faces.
“Why can’t I see?” I asked. “I still… I can’t see anyone.”
“It’s okay. It’s all right. I’ve got you.”
I heard Cade’s voice and instantly crumbled. I fell to the floor of the van before I felt a pair of arms scoop me up. The moment I descended against the man’s chest, I knew it was Cade. I would know his touch anywhere. If all of my senses failed me at this moment, I would still know the touch of his skin against mine.
“Give me my daughter.”
I heard my father’s voice growling, and I pressed myself deeper into Cade.
“Ink. Get rid of that before she sees,” Cade said.
“Get rid of what?” I asked.
“Nothing. Just stay close to me. That’s it. Such a good girl,” he said.
“I want to see my daughter!”
My mother’s voice caused me to jump as Cade tightened his grip on me.
“The two of you are startling her. Just give her a moment,” Cade said.
“Take me away,” I said breathlessly.
And without another word, I felt his body move.
I kept my eyes screwed shut as I heard people grunting. My mother was protesting something, but I didn’t catch what she was saying. I felt myself being carried in Cade’s arms as the sounds of the night fell into the background. This was the only place I wanted to be right now. This was the only area of my life that made sense at the moment.
I felt Cade sitting down on a bench before I lifted my gaze to him.
His piercing green eyes looked down at me, a mixture of anger and relief ebbing behind them. His eyes raked down my body, taking in every bruise and scab I had on me. I felt his hand grace the dried blood on my thigh, his head whipping down to my leg as I whimpered.
“I’m just going to take a look,” he said. “Nothing else.”
I felt his hand pulling up my nightgown as he surveyed the gash in my thigh. I felt his entire body pull taut with anger as his jaw clenched. My eyes were finally focusing as his strong, chiseled features came into view, and I raised my hand to cup his cheek.
That drew his attention away from my wounds, and I could’ve sworn I felt him nuzzle into me.
“I will always come for you,” he said. “I will always do whatever it takes to protect you.”
“I know,” I said breathlessly. “I know you will.”
“I thought that-”
I watched him swallow hard, trying to keep his fiery emotions at bay as he held me close.
“Cade, look at me.”
His eyes drifted back up to mine as I raised myself in his lap.
“Kiss me,” I said in a whisper.
And for the first time since I’d known him, he did as I told him to do.