Go Full Circle (A Go Novel Book 5)

by Scarlett Finn

  Except, what about her niece or nephew. What if they needed the support of an uncle who could get things done? Lena was sweet, not worldly. Rupert wasn’t streetwise either. If their child needed someone who’d go to any lengths for them, without her around, Ryske could be their only hope.

  Speculating there in her parents’ driveway was insane. Asking Ryske to support her niece or nephew would be impossible if she didn’t see him again. Even if they did see each other, they would need time to talk things out. If she made it as far as Windsor’s on Friday, there was zero chance they’d have enough time to communicate everything they needed to.

  Coming to her parents gave her a chance to say goodbye. She also wanted to protect her family, who may let Ophelia into their midst without realizing the danger they were in. The danger Harlow had put them in.

  Venturing forward, she shrugged off her anxiety and strode forward with confidence, channeling Ryske. Opening the front door, she went through the entryway, into the foyer and dumped her bag at the bottom of the stairs while kicking off her shoes.

  “Don’t panic. It’s only me,” she said, hearing movement in the dining room.

  When she turned toward it, her father was coming out. “Harlow?” he asked. Obviously, her family hadn’t been expecting her. Brysen glanced toward the closed front door. “Where’s Ryske?”

  She grinned. “I’ll try not to take that as an insult, that you’d rather see him than me.” Going over, she put a hand to his shoulder and boosted herself up to kiss his cheek. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving!”

  Dinner in the Sweeting house used to be dominated by the men who’d discuss clients and events and prospects. Only once they were finished with the business news did the women have the chance to chatter about their lives.

  These days, that situation had reversed itself. Her mom, Jean, and sister, Lena, ruled the conversation with talk of guest lists and centerpieces and cake tastings.

  The wedding was just a matter of weeks away. Lena had picked an empire waist dress just in case her stomach grew larger. She already had a bump. Even in her baggy shirt it was obvious and she wasn’t even halfway through the pregnancy. It was going to be a big kid.

  Harlow preferred baby talk to wedding talk. The couple was staying at the Sweetings as the apartment had sold. They were still looking for a permanent address, so Rupert’s things were in storage.

  Although they didn’t have a new house, Lena said they were registered for housewarming gifts. They were registered for wedding gifts and baby shower gifts too.

  “We thought it would be best to do the baby shower after the wedding,” Lena said. “To space things out. But if you want to get my gift before, that’s okay. I figure that you and Ryske will want to get one of the big items like the crib or the stroller.”

  “Oh,” Harlow said, glancing around at the expectant eyes. “Sure. And we know someone in the city who just had a daughter, so I can find out if she has any clothes or toys she can hand down.”

  Lena blinked and looked to Rupert who was opposite her, in what once had been Ryske’s seat. “We actually…” Rupert said. “We wanted everything to be new.”

  “Oh,” Harlow said. “Right… Sure.”

  Lena relaxed and smiled again. “So, which would you like, the crib or the stroller? There’s a bassinet on there too, but mom and dad are going to get that.”

  “We’re getting the nursery furniture too,” Jean said. “It all matches the crib.”

  “Okay, then we’ll get the crib, if that’s what you need.” Lena gave Rupert the same look she had before, but Harlow didn’t wait for the excuses. “Or the stroller, that’s fine too.”

  Lena smiled. It was funny to watch how she relaxed and tensed depending on what others said. Harlow wondered if this was an example of how her sister was going to be as a parent, looking to daddy to deliver the discipline when the kids did something mommy didn’t like.

  But it was a little scary too. Gone was silly, stressless Lena. Her sister was alert and maybe even a little on edge. Every day had to be a field day for Rupert.

  In support and just because, she gave his hand a pat.

  “You’ll have to be fitted for your dress,” Lena said, cutting into her meat.

  Harlow stilled. “My… dress?”

  “Yes,” Jean said on a chuckle, filling in for Lena who was chewing. “Your bridesmaid dress… We wanted you to be maid of honor, but Emma beat you to it. You just haven’t been present.” Lena appeared disappointed and Harlow didn’t want to disappoint her. But she also didn’t want to be maid of honor at her ex-fiancé’s wedding. “She’ll plan a better bachelorette party… It’s next weekend… you will be there, won’t you?”

  Something about her expression must have made her mother doubt it. But Harlow wasn’t sure she’d be around then.

  “Ryske is coming to the bachelor party,” Brysen said. “He didn’t tell you?”

  “Of course he did!” Not. There hadn’t been the time for that kind of wedding talk. “Of course I’ll be there,” she said and turned to Rupert. “You’re okay with Ryske being there?”

  Rupert seemed relaxed, which worried her. “Yes. He said he’d bring a few friends, so I won’t have to entertain him.”

  “Oh God,” Harlow said, putting down her fork to press a hand to her décolletage.

  Ryske and a few friends meant her crew were going to be at her ex’s bachelor party. That could be… interesting. She’d have to make sure he took Bale. The doc was the only one she’d trust to make sure they didn’t get too rowdy.

  “Would you like to bring a friend to the bachelorette party?” Lena asked.

  That perked Harlow up. “I can bring a friend? Can I bring Ryske?”

  Everyone at the table laughed. “No, they’re on the same night, silly. Besides, it has to be a girlfriend or a gay friend, someone who will appreciate the complexity of the male form.”

  Lena giggled, but Rupert’s fork dropped to his plate.

  “Oh, Lena,” Jean chastised.

  “You’re having strippers?” Rupert asked. “I thought we said no strippers.”

  Paling, Lena twisted a length of hair around her forefinger. “I know, but Emma already paid the deposit.”

  Rupert blustered. “Well, I… I don’t know if Dennis knows how to arrange that sort of thing.”

  Dennis was the closest thing Rupert had to a friend after her father. Neither man would have a clue how to hire exotic dancers. He worked at SweSec too and was everything she’d come to expect of a finance nerd.

  Patting his hand again, Harlow soothed. “Ryske will handle the strippers.”

  “He… he will?” Rupert asked, probably wondering why Ryske would do him any favors. “He won’t mind? Does he know one?”

  That startled her. “One?” Harlow asked, her attention darting around to him. “Honey, wherever your friend has reserved, you better ask for a bigger room. Ryske’s ratio will be at least two to one… how many guests will be there?”

  “Twelve, plus however many Ryske brings.”

  “So, you’ll probably need about forty girls.”

  Lena squawked and Jean was too stunned to even chastise her. “Forty!” Brysen exclaimed. “That will cost a fortune.”

  “Not for Ryske,” Harlow said, enjoying her food. “He knows people.”

  “You’d be alright with Ryske being around… that?” Lena asked.

  “Bet you’re sorry you changed the rules now,” Rupert said, almost giddy.

  Smiling, Harlow shrugged. “My motto is always the same: if you can steal him, you can have him.” She presented a hand to Rupert. “Hence.”

  “I didn’t steal him,” Lena said, but shifted in her chair and glanced toward their parents.

  “I know, honey. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that, I… I just mean if Ryske can be stolen away then he’s not the man for me. But if he was going to be stolen by a scantily clad woman willing to take off her clothes for him, believe me, it would’ve happene
d already.”

  The doorbell rang out. Her father got up to go and answer it. Harlow didn’t pay it much attention. The front door was unlocked, she knew that because she’d walked through it and left it that way. It was only locked by the last person who went to bed each night.

  So, if it was anyone for her, like Ryske for example, then he’d have walked right in without bothering with the bell.

  “How can he know that many?” Lena asked. “You have to be exaggerating.”

  Something about the way her father backed out the entryway drew Harlow’s eye to the dining room door, which gave her a diagonal view across the foyer to the glass door her father was moving out of.

  As soon as she saw the height of the person with him and the flash of jet black hair, she stood up, sending her seat clattering backwards.

  “Oh, my…”

  Rushing away from the table, Harlow ran from the room and barely gave her father a glance as she threw herself up into their guest’s arms.

  “Maze!”

  “You stupid girl,” he said, pulling her so close that her feet left the floor. “Why didn’t you call me, huh?”

  “Oh, you’re here,” she said, gasping in her desperation. “You came.”

  “You’re damn right I came,” he said, setting her on her feet and pushing her hair away from her face. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  Shaking her head, she didn’t mind that his large hands and long fingers were tangling in her hair as he tried to get it away from her skin so he could check for contusions.

  “How did you find me?”

  “Not ‘cause you called,” he said. “The doc.”

  So Bale had got in touch with Maze to tell him what was going on. “Did you get my email?”

  “This afternoon I did,” he said. “Why didn’t you use the urgent address?”

  “It’s not urgent,” she said. “And I thought you were at home. I didn’t realize you…”

  She didn’t mean to look toward the entryway that she could see around his upper arm, but she did, and he noticed it.

  “He’s not here. I can’t get hold of him.”

  “It’s okay,” she said, but when her chin began to sink, he caught it on his curled finger to raise it again.

  “It’s not okay. You need him.”

  For her plan to work, she did. But Harlow didn’t want to guilt anyone. “He needs to be where he needs to be.”

  “You think that’s away from you?” Maze asked. “We’re trying. But we don’t have a direct…” She’d looked away, and he must have figured out why. “Give me the number.”

  “No,” she said.

  He’d remembered something that most of them probably didn’t think about anymore. The cellphone Ryske had got when she was in jail. The phone that only she had the number for.

  “Does he have it?”

  “It’s not at home,” Harlow said.

  “Which means yes,” he said. “Give me the number.”

  “No.”

  “Give me the number… You know I’ll get it, so just give it to me.”

  Folding her arms, Harlow stepped back. “I know you’re good, but you can’t hack my brain.”

  His mouth closed; his jaw ticked in frustration. “Damn you two and your privacy. I told him only one person having the number was a bad idea… You know he has it. You can get him here.”

  “He still has time,” Harlow said, leaning in to set her eyes on him. “And I don’t call any man to swoop in and rescue me…” Changing the mood because she didn’t want to be fighting with him, she looped her arm through his. “Besides, you’re the one I need working for me.”

  “What do you need?”

  “We’ll talk about that later,” she said and smiled at her dad who was nearby with a sort of dazed look on his face. “Come eat dinner with the family. Mom, we’ve got one more mouth to feed!”

  Taking Maze into the dining room, Harlow almost laughed when both Jean and Rupert thrust to their feet. Lena was chewing, oblivious as always, but she did eye those who’d just leaped up.

  “Oh my goodness,” Jean exclaimed.

  Leaning in, Harlow wrapped her arms further around his. “You’re something of a celebrity around here,” she whispered to him and then straightened to address the table. “You guys know Aston, right?”

  “Rowe,” Rupert said, shimmying down and offering a hand. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  Maze shook his hand. Jean came rushing down to grab it in both of hers as soon as Rupert let him go. “Oh, we’re such fans of your family.”

  “Fans?” he asked, crooking a brow and turning to Harlow, who just shrugged. “Uh… thanks.”

  “Let me get you something to eat,” Jean said, running out of the room.

  A series of hissed whispers came from the hall. Harlow wondered if her parents were conspiring to oust Ryske. She was enjoying the idea when Lena pointed her fork at Maze.

  “You know Ryske, don’t you?” Lena asked.

  Harlow pulled him around the table and pushed Rupert back into his chair so she could sit down and seat Maze at her other side.

  “Ryske? Yes,” Maze said, looking around at the table, probably seeking alcohol. “Unfortunately, I do.”

  “Do you think he knows forty strippers?” Lena asked.

  The question made him do a double take. Harlow was smiling when he found her, but she flattened her smile and opened a hand to her sister, forcing Maze to address the question.

  “At least forty,” he said.

  It might have taken him a minute, but Maze was sensing her mood about her family, and didn’t mind sinking into the rhythm she’d set. Lena stopped mid-chew. Her eyes bounced back and forth between her sister and Maze.

  “I told you,” Harlow said. “It’s no problem.”

  Rupert leaned over her to speak direct to Maze. “We’re getting married, Lena and I,” he said. “In a few weeks. We’d love it if you’d come.”

  Maze opened his mouth, but Harlow answered. “He’s already coming,” she said. “He’ll be at the bachelor party too.”

  “I will?” Maze murmured and she nodded, so he shrugged. “Apparently, I will.” He turned to Lena. “Congratulations to you both… on both the wedding and the baby.”

  “They’re moving too,” Harlow said, cutting some of her meat and smudging it in her sauce to offer it to his lips. Maze took it from her fork. “They’re staying here until they get their new place… Will you stay over with me?”

  Maze swallowed. “Here? Sure… We can go to my mom’s if you want.”

  “No,” she said, thinking that she’d rather be with her family in case Ophelia showed up. “Ryske doesn’t get along with your mom.”

  “Neither do I, because she’d rather I didn’t live where I live or do what I do,” he said. “But the house is big enough we don’t have to see them.”

  She gave him some more food from her fork and then took his hand. “I don’t want to be that far from you tonight.”

  He nodded and ran a hand down her hair. “I’m happy wherever you’re happy.”

  “We have two guest rooms,” Lena said. “You’ll probably want the larger.”

  Her parents came back into the dining room and Jean brought a generous plate of food over to Maze. As Brysen sat down, Jean retrieved flatware for Maze.

  “He doesn’t need a guest room, he’ll bunk in with me,” Harlow said, pouring wine into the glass that her mother had put down for Maze.

  The table stopped. After they looked at each other, their gazes settled on her. Most didn’t know what, if anything, they should say.

  Lena was the first to venture something. “Should… should someone speak up for Ryske?” she asked.

  “Lena,” Jean chastised, shaking off her shock and returning to her seat, though there was a blush in her cheeks.

  “Mr. Rowe, I’m sure, you’re a wonderful young man,” Brysen said. “But my daughter—”

  “Oh, please,” Harlow said. “Ryske is capable of speakin
g for himself.” Or he would if he was there. “He couldn’t care less about me sleeping with other men.”

  “Sleeping,” Maze said, quickly clarifying and tossing her a side-glare before addressing her parents. “I assure you, your daughter’s honor is safe around me. Ryske is like a brother and until he steps aside or dies, I would never invade his territory.”

  Though her family didn’t know how to take that, Harlow scoffed and elbowed him. “You just remember our conversation about oral before you start making promises you can’t keep.”

  “Good point,” he said and sat back, resting an arm on the back of her chair. “Your daughter’s honor is safe from me.”

  “Ryske would own your ass if you touched me,” Harlow said, passing him the rest of her meat. “Eat your food.”

  Maze sat up to do as he was told. “He’d try. But he’d fail.”

  “You underestimate how motivated he’d be,” she said. “And how long it’s been since he got any.” She noticed her mother and sister looking at her, so she fudged the truth. “Because I’ve been ill. He didn’t want to get, you know, mucus and whatever…”

  Maze laughed. “Don’t try that shit with me, I know what happened.”

  Yeah, almost two weeks ago. They’d gone without for longer before, but it felt like an age, maybe because she hadn’t seen him since that night.

  31

  The rest of the dinner went along at a polite pace. Her family asked Maze about his. Harlow got to hear about Lena’s wedding again as she went over everything that had already been discussed. Maze was polite, but she could tell he’d stopped listening a while ago.

  “So, do you live in the city?” Jean asked.

  The doorbell went again. Both she and Maze must have felt the same curl of awareness because they glanced to each other. Bale was working, none of the guys would know where they were. Even if they did, they wouldn’t have gotten there so fast.

  Harlow and Maze hadn’t had time to discuss strategy, but if that was Ophelia at the door, Harlow would take her down. She wasn’t even sure she’d hesitate.