Page 15 of Fractured Souls

Lex shoots Harley a look, almost like a, you can’t seriously be siding with them look, but Harley doesn't say anything. Instead, she's staring right at me, almost as if she's trying to read me. The fear I saw earlier is gone, and I'm not sure why she's not showing fear now.

Lex storms off, and I nod my head to the guys. We all start walking with Harley to her class. She wraps an arm around her ribs, trying to keep from wincing with every step, but I see it. We really need to get home and talk to Noah.

Noah is Cade's brother, but Noah has kept all of us out of trouble for as long as I've known him. He's all our brother, and we'd be fucked without him. He's the enforcer at The Sons of Silence MC, where he goes by Blade. We all have had shitty childhoods, and now we all live at the clubhouse with Noah, and he has guardianship over us. It only worked out that way because Nerds, the MC’s tech guy, hacked the system and made it happen. No way would a judge actually grant a twenty-two-year-old custody of three teens and have them living in a motorcycle clubhouse.

Gray and I are sixteen and have been with Noah and Cade for two years now. But we've been best friends with Cade since we were eight. Cade is seventeen already, having had his birthday at the beginning of the school year, and Noah has had custody of him since he turned eighteen.

I grew up watching my dad hit my mom, and when I tried to stand up for her, he turned his fist to me and from then on beat both of us. Seeing Harley hurt brings something out of me. I'm not that kid anymore; I can protect her. I need to. I feel this pull to her that I've never felt, and I just know I need to help her and be in her life in some way. I shake off those thoughts of my childhood as we watch Harley head into her class. I know Lex is up to something; I’m just not sure what yet, but we've had a tail on her for a while. Even before Harley came around, we’ve been watching her. But now with Harley in the picture, I'm worried. Lex has never picked up new friends. She hates just about everyone, so whatever this is, I have a feeling it's not good.

During piano, I get to see Harley look delighted with a sparkle in her eyes as she loses herself to the music. She did admit once that she has no way to play outside of class, so I make sure to practice any other time I can so she can play a lot during class. I want to give this girl the world so that peaceful look she gets when playing stays on her face forever.

When she's done warming up, she glances at me and gives me a small smile, then she grabs a notebook and starts writing before handing it to me.Thank you for this morning. I'm sorry about Lex. I'm not sure why she doesn't like you guys. But thank you for standing up for me.

I look over at her, and she blushes and bites her bottom lip but doesn't duck her head like she usually does. That sends a warm feeling through me I want more of.

“It's okay, Harley, no worries. Lex has her own shit, but she doesn't get to take any of it out on you. You deserve better.”

Her eyes go wide, and her cheeks turn bright red. I see a sheen of tears in her eyes, but she quickly blinks them away and turns back to the piano. She starts playing again, working on the piece we were assigned to learn. I watch her, completely entranced by her. When she's done, she peeks over at me, then drops her eyes, her cheeks instantly flushing again.

I chuckle and lean in close to her, making sure to move slowly so she sees me and can move away if she wants to, but she stays still.

“I think you will be my little flame. Beautiful red hair.” I run my finger through a few strands of her hair as I say it. “And your cheeks turn the brightest shade of red sometimes.” I slowly run my finger lightly over her cheek. “And, well, little because you're tiny, but I think there is an unlit flame somewhere inside you, and you just need someone to light it for you.”

She turns her head towards me, my finger still resting by her cheek, now lightly touching her lip. Her eyes are wide at how close our faces are. I can feel her breath on my face. I give her my most genuine smile, and she very slowly reaches up and runs her finger over my dimple on my left cheek before dropping her hand. She sighs heavily and opens her mouth but immediately shuts it.

I scan her face but don't understand what changed. I decide to let it go for now, figuring that I've probably pushed her too far already.

“Alright, my little flame. Let's practice this shit.” She grins and nods at me.

* * *

After school, we head back to the clubhouse. It’s about a fifteen-minute ride from the school. We all take Noah’s truck together since Noah mostly just rides his bike. As we get closer to the club, the houses lessen. We are farther out away from town. You turn down a side road that leads to a farmer’s land on the left, and on the right is the compound. It is all fenced in, and we pull up to the gate where a prospect is in the gate house. He opens the gate for us, and we head through down the road. It’s all trees on either side until you reach the main building. Then it’s an old-style warehouse that was renovated long before I was around. It’s three stories with the first floor being half a huge garage and then the main room, kitchen, and offices. There is a basement with a gym and the second and third floor is where members live.

As we pull up, all you can see is the huge warehouse with the garage and main parking lot to the left, and to the right the road continues around the warehouse. Cade parks the truck in our normal parking spot, and we all head inside to talk with Noah about Harley.

The two new prospects that came on over the summer are at the bar drinking beer. Pretty sure they are supposed to be doing prospect duties but when prez isn’t around, they fuck off and do whatever they want. They aren't good guys, and I still don't get how they even were able to make it on as prospects. But I think we see a different side to them than the prez does.

Daniel smirks at us as we walk past. I don't know why he acts all tough; I have kicked his ass before, and I sure as hell can do it again.

We find Noah in one of the offices on the phone, talking about a new security business he is getting up and running. He plans to let us work part-time at it once it's going until we turn eighteen and can prospect for the club. We take a seat on the couch and wait for him to be done.

Prez set up a bunch of offices off one hall from the main room about two years ago for anyone to use. Noah has never told us, but we know that the club used to be dirty when Rage's dad was around and now Rage is turning it around and trying to make things more clean. One of his new things is if you want to run a business or start something up, the club will back you. So he created the offices for all members to be able to use. They are bare bones. Just some shelves on one wall with a desk in the middle and a few chairs on the opposite side, along with a couch on the back wall. Basically, all the other open offices look the same, as well.

Noah finishes up and looks up at us. “What's up, boys?”

We all glance at each other, realizing we never did decide how to bring this up.

Noah looks between us, then sighs and leans back in his chair. “Spit it out,” he commands, bringing out the enforcer in him.

I speak up first, being the most sane to hold a conversation.Ha. If only you knew what a joke that is. I'm the craziest out of my brothers.

“Alright, so, last month, this new girl started at the school, Harley. We knew something was up day one but couldn't tell what then. On her second day, she came in with a split lip, and I'm pretty sure her face was bruised too—”

“Pretty sure?” Blade cuts in. “Brother, we don't do pretty sure. You either know or you don't.”

I nod. "Well, I know then because she has a scar on her face going from below her eye to her chin, and it was half covered like she had some kind of makeup shit on. So, I'm going with my gut here. She was bruised. Anyways, after that, we've kept our distance just watching her and have noticed that she started pickpocketing people. She still is, and she’s gotten damn fucking good at it.

“Now, the thing is, we've been watching closely. We see the limps, the stomach holding, the careful movements, the getting out of a desk slowly. Also, the girl only owns two pairs of jeans and four hoodies. At least, that's all she ever wears. I don't know, man, we decided to come to you because something is off. This is our town and yeah, it's just not right.”

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