My smile fell, and I quickly pulled the clothes on when I heard Knox coming down the hall. My face morphed into confusion when he held out his cell phone to me. “Wha—”
“Call your parents. Warn them, do whatever you have to do.”
My stomach dropped. How could I have forgotten? “Hadley’s still in the hospital,” I whispered. “Collin had her moved to a suite.”
“Then they need to get her out.”
I nodded as I tapped out my mom’s number as fast as my fingers would let me. My dad answered instead.
“Hello,” he said sternly.
“Dad, it’s Harlow.”
There was a brief pause. “Harlow, whose number is this?”
“Uh . . . that doesn’t matter right now. I need to talk to you, and I need you to listen to every word I say, and ask as little as possible,” I begged in a shaky voice. “Just know that I’m doing this to save all of us. It’s an emergency.”
“What in the hell are you going on about, Harlow?”
“Harlow?” my mom’s distant voice sounded on the other end. “What’s happening, is she okay?”
“She’s talking about saving—”
“Dad, have you seen Collin since we left this afternoon?”
“Well, no.”
The relief I felt was minimal, but it was still something. “And no police officers came back?”
“No. Are they going to? Is Hadley still in trouble?”
“Not like that. This is where I need you to listen to me, and just trust me, okay, Dad?”
“Harlow,” he began.
“Dad, please.”
“Okay. Okay, I’m listening.”
I took in a shaky breath and looked up at Knox, who nodded in encouragement as he stood there with his arms folded across his bare chest. My mouth opened, but no words came out. My throat had stopped working. I’d spent years avoiding this exact conversation, years fearing this conversation.
Seeing the panic that must have settled over my features, Knox let one hand go out to cradle my cheek while the other stayed tucked under his arm, and I let his presence calm my trembling body.
“Honey, you still there?” my dad asked.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember the way I’d felt when I’d first realized Collin was going to kill me. I need to save them. I need to warn them, I said to myself, and before I could psych myself out again, blurted, “Dad, I need you to get Hadley out of the hospital, and I need you to get to Connecticut to Hayley tonight. If not tonight, then first thing tomorrow. Don’t tell anyone; don’t even tell Hayley.”
When I opened my eyes Knox was nodding, and I knew he agreed with my decision to get them as far from here as possible.
“Dad . . . Collin is bad,” I choked out.
“What?” he asked in disbelief, and I knew this would be hard on him—on my whole family. Collin walked on water, as far as they were concerned.
“He’s abusive,” I started, but he cut me off.
“Harlow,” he said in a disapproving voice.
“I’m telling you the truth!” I said a silent prayer as tears welled in my eyes—I needed him to believe me. My voice continued to waver and crack as I tried to make him understand. “He tried to drown me in the tub after we got home from the hospital. He was going to blame me for Hadley. He admitted to giving her the drugs this afternoon.”
“What?” he repeated, but this time it sounded like he was in shock.
“He’s been beating me since we got married, I haven’t left because he always threatens to kill one of you. He thought I tried to poison him this morning; that’s why Hadley is in the hospital.” I was sobbing now. “I promise I didn’t—but it’s my fault she’s in there. Dad, you need to get her out, and get all of you out of the state. He thinks I’m dead, but soon he’s going to know I’m not.”
My dad cursed and started mumbling something to my mom.
“Don’t tell anyone,” I reminded him. “Just leave.”
“You’ll meet us in Connecticut,” he said flat out.
I started to agree, but stopped. “He’ll be looking for me soon. He has police that work for him on the side . . . that’s how he got Hadley’s charges dropped. That’s why they got to her so fast today in the first place; they’d been following her. If I go to the airport, he’ll probably have airport police detain me. I can’t risk it.”
“Well, I’m not just leaving you here to deal with—”
“I have you,” Knox said, having heard everything.
Dad stopped. “Who was that?”
I swallowed thickly. I didn’t want to have to explain this over the phone, but I also would never be ashamed of the man standing in front of me. “It’s Knox, Dad. Knox Alexander.”
“Why would—is this his phone you called from?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to explain yourself,” he said suddenly. “You’re going to have a lot to explain.”
“I understand, but right now I just need you to believe me, and do what I said.”
“Your mom is already on it. How do we get ahold of you if we need you?”
“My phone,” Knox answered.
Another pause, then my dad said, “I’m going to have a talk with that man. For now, tell him to keep you safe.”
“He will, Dad. I love you, and I’m so sorry.”
“If what you’re saying is true . . . well, I think we’re the ones who have to apologize for not seeing it. Love you, too, baby girl.”
A sharp sob burst from my chest when I ended the call, and I fell into Knox’s waiting arms.
“They’re going to be fine,” he assured me, but he couldn’t know.
Collin might not have been in the hospital room, but none of us knew where he was right now. I just nodded and let Knox lead me over to the bed. I crawled in when he pulled back the covers, and let my eyes follow him as he walked around the room to put on a pair of boxer briefs and toss our old clothes into a hamper. Once he was done, he flipped off the light and climbed in beside me. As gently as possible, he wrapped me in his arms, and I rested my head on his bicep when he pressed his body against mine.
“I’ve got you, Low. I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”
“To the stars,” I vowed, and let my heavy eyelids close.
Chapter 19
Knox
Present Day—Thatch
“SEATTLE?” I ASKED, and suppressed a groan as I glanced over my shoulder to where Harlow had been sleeping for the last few hours. Seattle was more than three hours from Richland. “Couldn’t you go to the airport in Walla Walla? It’s barely an hour from the hospital.”
Harlow’s dad sighed, and the sound let me know exactly how much this day had been weighing on him. I knew how he felt. “We couldn’t get out on a flight until six tomorrow morning. There are flights that leave Seattle tonight just after ten P.M., and another just before eleven P.M. if we don’t make that one.” He paused for a moment, then said, “If what Harlow told us is true—”
“It is,” I growled, my anger with their whole family apparent in those two words. I’d known within seconds of seeing Harlow that something was gravely wrong with her. I’d noticed Collin’s fascination with pressure points within minutes of seeing them together . . . and her family had been blind to all of it. If they hadn’t, Harlow wouldn’t have always been worried about their safety, and she could’ve worried about her own long before it had gotten to this point. “I’ve seen it happen,” I added, and heard him choke back a cry.
“Then . . . then Seattle was the right move. I need to get my family out of here tonight. I couldn’t risk waiting until tomorrow.”
“You’re right,” I murmured, but didn’t add that Seattle might be the place Collin expected them to go back to. I didn’t need to add any more fear. “What time will you be landing?”
“If we make the first flight, just after nine A.M. If we don’t, then not until sometime after noon.”
“All right. Call me as soo
n as you land, or if anything happens before.”
He didn’t respond, but I knew he was still there. Just when I was about to ask if he’d heard me, he whispered, “Why is my daughter with you?”
“Should I assume you mean physically, right now?”
Harlow’s dad cleared his throat. “Right this moment, that is what I mean. After you answer that, we might get into the rest.”
“She’s here because it’s where she should be—where she always should have been—and because I’m the one who’s going to make sure Collin never touches her again.”
When her dad spoke again, I instantly recognized the I’m-the-father-she’s-my-baby-girl tone he was giving me—it was the same one I’d gotten when I’d asked him if I could marry Harlow years ago—but there was a hint of respect in his voice as well. “Now just how long has this been going on between the two of you?”
“Seven years,” I said immediately, and without hesitation.
“Seven years?” he yelled, the respect now gone. “Young man, you have a hell of a lot to—”
“Mr. Evans,” I began, cutting him off. “I ran into Harlow just over two weeks ago. That was the first I’d seen or heard from her in over four and a half years. But I never once stopped loving her or thinking about her in all that time. These past two weeks have consisted of her trying to hide what her husband has been doing to her, and me doing everything to help her—even though the idea of anyone helping her has terrified her. Please understand that I say this with as much respect as I still hold for you—which right now isn’t much because I hate that you never noticed what was happening to your own daughter,” I seethed. “Not that I will ever talk to you about our romantic relationship, but neither Harlow nor I have anything to answer for when it comes to us. Having said that, we’ve always meant something to each other throughout the past seven years.”
Silence stretched on for long minutes, but given how I’d just laid everything out, I expected him to be even more upset with me than he already was, so I let him have his time with his thoughts. He sounded worn out again when he finally spoke. “If you weren’t right, I wouldn’t let you speak to me that way.” He exhaled heavily and began speaking before he was done. “I always wondered what happened to you. My wife and I—well, we always thought it would be you.”
“Me?” I asked incredulously. “You were the one who made me promise to push her into enjoying a life away from me when she left for college. If you hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t have spent years without each other. She wouldn’t—” I cut myself off before I could say any more, but it was clear where I’d been going with that. If I hadn’t agreed to his conditions, Harlow probably would have never had to feel the pain Collin had inflicted.
“Yes, you,” he answered after a second. “We respected you, and the way you respected our daughter. If we hadn’t, we never would have let you fill her head with ideas of being together later in life. I never would’ve given you permission to . . . I guess it ended up not mattering. None of us had expected it when that day came and went, and suddenly Collin was there instead, but it was even more surprising when you never came back.”
My jaw clenched tight. I didn’t need to be reminded that I hadn’t fought for her.
“That, however,” her dad continued, his voice stern again, “does not mean that we would be okay with you two together now. Despite what is going on, my daughter is a married woman, and you would be wise to let her have her own space until all of this is worked out. She will need plenty of time to deal with what has happened, and then more to decide what she wants with you—if anything. Do you understand that, Mr. Alexander?”
His words were so similar to ones I’d heard before. Back then I’d smirked the entire way to the jeweler, because I’d known there was nothing keeping me from making Harlow mine in every way once she turned eighteen. I wasn’t smirking now.
I’d had a lot of women since losing Harlow—too many to count or even remember. All had been single, that was my only rule, until this afternoon with Harlow. Marriage, to me, was sacred. I knew that when I married I would marry for life; which is why I had only ever mentioned it to one girl—unless you counted joking with Grey to make Graham mad. And not only was Harlow married to a man who wasn’t me, but I wasn’t stopping us from being together, and I knew I wouldn’t continue to.
In my mind, she was mine. Collin had made a decision to break their vows the first time he’d hurt her, and Harlow had left him and their marriage emotionally at the same time since she couldn’t leave physically. But others wouldn’t see it that way.
“As I said, I will never talk to you about my romantic relationship with your daughter,” I responded, my voice assertive, but not defiant. I didn’t want to be in a position with Harlow that people questioned, but I also wouldn’t let them question us.
I could tell he was disappointed, but the slightest hint of respect was back in his voice. “Well then, I guess I’ll be speaking with you in the morning. Please watch over my daughter, and if anything . . .”
“I will let you know.” I finished for him when he couldn’t. “Safe travels, Mr. Evans.”
“Thank you, Knox,” he said softly before he hung up, and I knew it wasn’t for my parting well wishes.
I released a heavy breath, dropped my elbows onto my knees, and let my head hang. A million thoughts were rushing through my mind. Some about my past with Harlow . . . some about our future. A lot about Collin and what he was doing now—or if he even knew Harlow was alive yet. And the rest about Harlow’s family and if we did the right thing in having them fly out of the state.
A knock sounded on my bedroom door, and my head snapped up, but I didn’t move from my spot on the edge of the bed. I’d told Harlow I wasn’t going anywhere, and the edge of the bed already felt too far for me.
After a few seconds, the door slowly opened, and Graham popped his head in. When he saw me sitting there, he took a few careful steps in.
“Asleep?” he whispered, and I nodded. “She okay?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions, and don’t act like you give a shit.”
He seemed to deflate on himself, and crossed his arms over his chest to try to recover his original stance. “I do—we do,” he amended, then looked behind him and called for Deacon.
A second later, Deacon rounded the corner into my room, and I rolled my eyes at his wounded expression.
“Can we talk in the living room?” Graham asked, but I didn’t bother responding in any way. He took my silence and stillness as my answer, and sighed. “We do care,” he said, still speaking soft enough that he wouldn’t wake Harlow. “But it’s hard when we’re worried about what the consequences could be, when we’ve always worried about that.”
“Try to see it from our perspective,” Deacon cut in. “We were in college, and you only cared about a girl who was too young for you—who was considered illegal. And, I mean, for shit’s sake—” He cut off when Graham gave him a look for talking too loud. When he started again, his voice was so soft I could barely hear him. “You told us everything. We were already sort of worried, but when you first told Harlow you would wait for her, and she told you that you would be wasting your time, that was it for us. We knew she was playing you. And then every time the two of you talked, she told you the same thing. We didn’t know why you were the only one who didn’t see that you were.”
“It was—that’s not what she meant.” I groaned and rubbed at my jaw. I scrambled for a way to explain it, but didn’t know how to. “It was . . . our thing, I guess.”
“That’s a weird fucking thing,” Deacon mumbled, then waved off my warning glare. “Were we dicks during those first few years? Yeah, we took it too far. We’ll admit that now. But then she turned eighteen, and she did exactly what we’d always worried she would, and did we rub it in your face?”
I didn’t answer.
“And now this. You haven’t seen her in years, but it’s like no time has passed for you. You’re ready to take up
where you left off. Once again, we’re worried. Even more so, because not only is she married, but we had to watch the kind of person you turned into for those first couple of years after what she did to you the first time.”
Graham was nodding, and before I could ask what Deacon meant, Graham explained, “You never showed us that you were upset, but you were suddenly . . .” He trailed off and searched for the right word. “Uncontrollable. In everything. It wasn’t until Grey’s fiancé died three years ago that you finally snapped out of it and calmed down. Well, calmed down into the Knox we’d always known growing up.”
“I-I didn’t know,” I whispered, but swallowed roughly, because now that I was thinking about it, I did. They drank and hooked up with girls, but I pushed for the nights to go longer, and the girls to multiply.
“It’s okay,” Deacon said when he noticed what I’d just realized. “Like I said, we know we took things too far back then. We know we made it hard for you two then, but can you understand our side at all?”
I didn’t have to think about that answer. “Yes and no. I understand why you were scared for me, but I will never understand why you did what you did—and what you’ve been doing before tonight.”
Graham raised an eyebrow. “Again, you couldn’t see it from our side. All we knew was that she never once tried to find you or even contact you for years, and all of a sudden in the last two and a half weeks, she had you caught up in all this bullshit, and threatening to walk away from your best friends. There are red flags when a girl does that; there are major red flags when she’s married and using you.” He was quick to continue: “We get it; she wasn’t. We know now that she wasn’t lying, and that all this shit is real. That doesn’t mean it was easy to believe then.” His head dropped so he could look at the floor, and he shook it once. “Speaking of, what are you going to do about the husband? You really think he’ll come after Harlow?”
“I know he will, but I don’t know what we’re going to do about him yet. I don’t know how many officers he has on the take, but I know from what Harlow told me this afternoon that it stretches farther than Benton County, or even the state of Washington.”
To the Stars Page 24