by Tara Rose
Mason finally looked Lee in the eyes. “Okay. But I want her to understand that this is forever. I want to give her a collar and the whole deal.”
Lee nodded. “Absolutely. Just like what the others have. I want this. I’ve wanted it since the first time I saw her, fighting with the coffee machine.”
Mason chuckled as the image came back to him. “Yeah. Should have known then I’d lose my heart to her. Who can resist a girl like that?”
They high-fived each other, then went inside Maddox’s house just as it started to rain. Mason felt happier than he’d ever felt in his entire life. Tonight he was going to tell Harper that he loved her, and he was going to share her with his best friend. What more could a man want?
Chapter Eighteen
Harper wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but she woke up when the power went out because the music she’d played on her iPod to help her sleep turned off. The charger didn’t have batteries in it. She’d meant to put new ones in this past week but had been distracted by other things.
What time was it? She picked up her cell phone and was surprised to find she’d only been asleep for an hour. Thunder crashed overhead at the same time lightning lit the room, so she pulled up the weather app. They were under a severe thunderstorm warning. “No kidding,” she whispered, crawling out of bed.
She tripped over something and fell, swearing. She didn’t even know where they kept flashlights or candles, and the house was dark. “A damn house this big and no generator?”
She got to her feet again and found her cell, then texted Lee and Mason to ask them where candles or a flashlight were. Her phone rang within seconds, and it was Lee.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“The power is out. It woke me up when my iPod turned off. I had it in the charger.”
“The power is off?”
“Yes. Must be the storm. Don’t you have a generator?”
She heard muffled voices, and then Lee was back on the line. “It should have kicked on by now. Where are you?”
As soon as Lee said that, Harper swore she heard a door creak, and she slid to the floor and hugged her knees. “Okay. You are freaking me out. I’m still in my room.”
“It’s okay. We’re right here. How long ago did the power go off?”
“I don’t know. Two minutes, tops.”
“The generator should be on by now, unless the lightning hit something on the property. It’s wicked out there.”
As if on cue, it lit up the room again the same time as thunder crashed, and Harper jumped at the sound. “That was way too loud.”
“It sounded that way from this end, too. Okay. There’s a flashlight in your room, in the bottom dresser drawer. Can you make your way there?”
“Yes. But stay on with me until I find it, okay?”
“I will, baby. You’re okay.”
His voice soothed her frayed nerves as she made her way across the room and felt for the dresser drawers. She opened the bottom one and finally found the flashlight. When she turned it on, she breathed a sigh of relief. The batteries worked. “Success. Want me to check something in the breaker box?”
“No. It’s in the basement. I don’t want you falling down stairs or something…”
“Shit.” She said it the same time as Lee did over the phone because the tornado sirens went off.
* * * *
Lee had never felt so powerless in his life. Everyone around him calmly walked out into the hallway and toward the basement stairs in Maddox’s house, but he and Mason stayed where they were. “Harper, it’s okay. You have the flashlight. You won’t fall. You know where the basement is.”
“Is it real or are they sounding them because of the thunderstorm?”
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. Get in the basement, sweetheart.” Next to him, Mason looked completely panicked, and that unnerved Lee because he’d never seen his friend look like that.
Mason caught Rafe’s arm as he passed. “Can you look on your phone and see if it’s actually a tornado warning? Harper is alone in the house.”
Rafe frowned, swiped his phone, and then nodded. “Yep. They spotted one southwest of here in Boswell. Not on the ground, but rotation in the clouds.”
“Harper, just move slowly, hon. It’s not on the ground. You have plenty of time.” She had about ten minutes, tops, until that particular cell made its way to Racy, but he didn’t want to panic her. “Where are you now?”
“Just coming down the front stairs…”
Her voice trailed off and Lee’s blood ran cold. His palms were suddenly damp and the hair on his arms prickled. “Harper? You okay?”
“Lee…I think someone is in the house.”
“What? Say again.” He’d barely heard her whisper.
“I said someone is in the house. I hear—”
And just like that, her voice cut off. He stared at the phone, but the call was gone. Thunder crashed overhead and lightning lit up the hallway. Mason tugged on his arm. “It’s probably the storm. It dropped the call. Come on. We have to get downstairs.”
“No. She said someone is in the house.” He could barely breathe.
“What? That’s not possible.”
“It is if the power is out.”
They stared at each other, their eyes wide, and Lee didn’t need to be able to read Mason’s mind to know that both men just realized the same thing. The power was out, and the generator had failed. That meant the security gate wasn’t working.
* * * *
Harper swung the flashlight beam around, trying to remember the layout. The storm was closer now, and she could barely hear herself think over the ringing in her ears. She tried to stay calm, but her heart raced. She gripped the flashlight tighter as her hands grew damp. The basement stairs were around the corner, but she’d heard sounds coming from the kitchen, just beyond where she needed to be right now. Sounds that she swore were opening and closing drawers.
She listened again, but there was too damn much noise outside now between the thunder, the pounding rain, and those fucking sirens. She had to get someplace safe before the roof blew off the house. Wiping away tears with one hand, she advanced slowly down the hall, keeping the flashlight low to the ground so it wouldn’t reflect off a mirror or a painting and freak her out.
She thought about trying to call one of them again, but since the storm had dropped her cell call, she didn’t want to waste time and chance it. She put the cell in her pocket and kept moving, one step at a time. The damn hallway had never seemed this long before.
She’d almost made it to the archway that separated the hallway from the butler’s pantry that led to the kitchen. The basement stairs were just beyond the pantry. Ten more feet and she’d be there.
A shuffling sound stopped her forward progress again, and she swung the beam around in a slow arc, blinking several times to try and get her bearings. When a figure appeared before her, she froze, at first not wanting to believe what her senses told her was real. It wasn’t possible.
She shook her head back and forth, backing up. “No…You can’t be real…”
“Oh yes. It’s me. This is real. You should have left me alone, you stupid fat bitch.”
* * * *
Mason glanced around the basement for Sean, Chad, or Harrison, finally spotting Sean. He and Lee took him aside and told him what had just happened.
“Fuck.” Sean punched the wall, and then he rubbed his hand. He pulled out his cell and tried to make a call, but it wouldn’t go through. “Come on.”
They ran upstairs and outside. Mason swore again as he realized how bad the storm actually was. Fuck that. They couldn’t just leave her there alone. Sean opened the back door of his cruiser and motioned Lee and Mason inside. He slid into the front seat, started the engine, and barked codes into his radio. Sean put on the lights and sirens, and they pulled out of the driveway and onto Birch Lane.
“Do you think it’s Avery?” asked Sean.
“Who else c
ould it be?” Mason didn’t give a shit that his voice came out hard and sarcastic.
“There was nothing I could do to him before. You know that.”
“Well there is now, isn’t there?” If that motherfucker touched one hair on her head, it would no longer matter what Sean did to him. Mason would kill him before any of the Racy cops could arrest him.
* * * *
Harper stared at Dennis, still not accepting the reality that he was in Mason and Lee’s house. Had he fucked with the generator? No. He wouldn’t know how to do that, would he? “The cops are on their way.” She had no idea if they were or not, but he might believe her considering what had happened last night in the bakery.
“I doubt that.”
Her cell indicated an incoming text, but she wasn’t taking her eyes off him to answer it. Nice to know it still worked, but it wasn’t worth it to try and get to it right now.
“See? They’re trying to reach you now. Your boyfriends. They don’t know I’m here.”
He hadn’t heard her call then. He didn’t know she’d told them she’d heard someone inside the house. That meant they were on their way. She knew it. All she had to do was hold on a few moments. Maddox’s house was less than a mile away.
“I can’t believe they left you here alone in this weather.”
“It’s only a thunderstorm.” She couldn’t believe she was speaking to him this calmly. Her entire body trembled, but she forced herself to stay in control. If she panicked, it would be all over.
“Really? Is that why I hear tornado sirens? They’re not coming out in this. No one is.”
“You did.” She swallowed hard as fear coursed through her, stinging her inside like fire ants had been turned loose in her veins. They were on their way. They had to be. They wouldn’t leave her here like this, knowing she’d heard someone in the house.
But did they know that? She had no idea when the call had actually dropped. What if they hadn’t heard that last sentence? Her pulse raced as she realized that might be why one of them was trying to text her. What if they were still in Maddox’s basement, waiting for the tornado sirens to stop? They’d never reach her in time.
“They came to your rescue last night, but they won’t now. It’s just you and me, Harper.” He advanced toward her and she took a step back, raising the beam. He put up a hand. “Put that fucking thing down, you stupid bitch. You’re blinding me.”
“Good.”
Dennis lunged and she fell backwards, landing right on her ass. The flashlight tumbled out of her hand and she reached for it, but he was faster. He kicked it out of the way and it came to rest against the bottom riser, pointing toward his feet. She crawled toward it, but he caught her right leg and reached for the flashlight, picking it up.
Harper screamed and clawed at his hand, but his grip was too tight. She’d scratched him, but her nails weren’t that long and she doubted it hurt him enough to make him let go of her. He pulled her toward the front parlor and she screamed again as she tried to grip the wooden floor, but that was useless. When he tried to move her over the carpet inside the room, he couldn’t, so he let go of her leg and put the flashlight down on the coffee table.
Harper scrambled to her feet and tried to run, but her bare foot caught on the edge of the doorway and she fell again. Tears streamed down her face from pain and fear. The storm was raging outside, and she could still hear the sirens. She swore they sounded different now, but that was probably wishful thinking. Lee and Mason weren’t coming. Dennis had been right.
She was alone in this house with him, and she’d never look into their eyes again or have the chance to tell them that she loved them. Why hadn’t she done that? What the hell was she afraid of? She knew they loved her. She saw it in their eyes, and she felt it in their touch. She heard it in the tender words they spoke, and she sensed it in the dark when she held them close as she slept.
She should be with them right now, at Maddox’s house. Not here, with this insane asshole that she’d wasted months of her life on. Harper lay on the floor and cried, shaking so much her teeth chattered, too afraid to even try and move as Dennis’s footfalls advanced toward her.
Chapter Nineteen
Harper cried out in pain as he pulled her to her feet by one arm. She could barely see his face, despite the flashlight beam. “Now, we’re going to have some fun. And then I’ll leave this hick town. How can you live here? It’s pathetic.”
“Go to hell. You’re pathetic.” Her only hope was to keep the anger going. She had to keep him talking, even if he yelled at her and hurled insults her way.
“You didn’t say that when I fucked you for six months.”
“You were the biggest mistake of my life, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t hurt me anymore.” Yes he could, but she wasn’t going to let him know that she realized that.
“Wanna bet?” He tried to kiss her, but she slapped his face and wrenched her arm out of his grasp when he recoiled. When she turned to run again, this time she didn’t fall, but he grabbed her around the waist and picked her up, laughing. “You’re not too fat to still carry.”
Her cell phone fell out of her pocket. She heard it hit the floor. She screamed and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong. He always had been, but until now she’d never had to test those limits.
Breathing was difficult, but she fought to stay conscious. She was not going to let this happen. He dumped her on the sofa and tried to climb on top of her, but she rolled off, banging her left knee on the floor hard.
Dizziness tried to overwhelm her, but she stood and ran again, scooping up the flashlight as she went. She wanted her phone, too, but she didn’t see it, so she just ran. He came after her and grabbed her top, tearing it, but she kept running. She reached the stairs just as the unmistakable sound of police sirens filled the air.
Harper didn’t stop moving. She ran out the front door, gasping as the wind blew her sideways and the cold rain stung her skin. The headlights of three police cruisers swept the drive and she ran toward them, not caring that she was soaked through in a matter of seconds.
* * * *
Lee was out of Sean’s cruiser before it came to a complete stop. He spotted Avery run around to the back of the house and yelled, pointing, but realized they’d all seen him, too. Four Racy cops plus Sean took off after him.
Lee pulled Harper into his arms, his own tears mixing with hers and the rain. He didn’t give a shit if someone saw him cry. He’d never been so fucking scared in his life. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” He just kept repeating it, like a mantra.
“I love you. I love you both. I should have told you. I was so scared. He tried to rape me. I thought he was going to kill me. Oh my God I was so scared. I love you both. Please tell me you love me, too.”
Lee saw red at the mention of the word “rape” and the realization that her shirt was torn, but that was overshadowed by the other four-letter word she’d said. Love. She loved him. She loved them both. “I love you, too. I should have told you that. We both do. Oh, Harper…” He pulled her close again as she sobbed, and just held her.
Mason was next to her, his face filled with awe. “I love you, too,” he said quietly. “I think I have since the first time I saw you. Baby, I’m so sorry this happened to you. I swear to you that Lee and I will never, ever leave you alone again.”
She lifted her gazed and looked into his eyes. “I love you so much. I love you both so much.”
Lee let go of her so Mason could hold her, and then he wiped his face. But it didn’t matter because Mason’s eyes were wet as well. She buried her head against Mason’s chest and he stroked her back over and over. His gaze met Lee’s, and neither one had to say a word. Lee knew they were both thinking the same thing. This was what they wanted. To have Harper in their lives forever, and to share her.
But reality came crashing down again as Sean and the other cops led Dennis Avery around to the front of the house in handcuffs. Lee started toward him, but one of
the cops whose name he couldn’t remember put up a hand. “Get back inside. We’ll take care of him..”
They shoved Avery into the back of a cruiser, and then Lee went inside with Mason and Harper only because he didn’t want to end up in jail tonight.
Once they were inside, the cops turned on powerful flashlights so they could all see, and then Sean leaned against the wall and turned his attention toward Harper. “I know this won’t be easy, but I need you to tell us what happened.”
* * * *
Harper glanced down at the beautiful carpet as the tornado sirens finally stopped wailing. “Everything is wet.”
“Don’t worry about that, baby,” said Mason. He helped her take a seat on the same sofa that Dennis had dumped her on only moments ago, and then he and Lee sat on either side of her, their arms around her shoulders. “Just tell Sean what that asshole did to you so they can ship him back to Michigan.”
Harper told them everything from the time she woke up when the power went out, to when she opened the front door and ran.
Sean pointed toward one of the cops standing in the archway. “Go with Mason and check the generator and the breaker box. The power isn’t out anywhere else. I want to know how it happened.”
He glanced at one of the other cops. “Find out where that asshole has been holed up. No one in this town rented a room to him.” He glanced at Lee and Mason. “We checked already.”
Then Sean glanced at Harper again. “Do I have all the e-mails and Facebook posts you found?”
She nodded.
“Is there anything else he did or said to you since this began? Anything at all, even something you think isn’t important?”
“No. Nothing.”
One of the cops came back inside. “He won’t tell us where he’s been staying. His exact words were, ‘Tell that detective to go fuck himself.’”
The corners of Sean’s mouth turned up, and a shiver ran down Harper’s spine. He was downright scary in detective mode. “Okay. Not a problem. There are only a few flea bag motels within ten miles of this place. I’m sure his groupies are in one of them. Go tell him we’ll simply check the motels, and then Bev Grace and Shannon Brook will be arrested for accessory to commit rape.”