Page 10 of Healing Souls

Cayden

“Whatthefuckisgoing on?” Rage demands, his fists hitting the table with a bang as he glares around at everyone.

The guy I fought with appears slightly taken aback before standing. “You must be Gabriel.”

Rage narrows his eyes at him. “Who are you?”

The man’s brows drop as a frown forms on his face from Rage’s demanding tone, but he runs a hand down the front of his shirt and straightens his shoulders as he speaks directly to Rage. “I’m Atlas Cromwell, and this is Lincoln Tanner.” He points to the other guy, who is still sitting. “We know Harley is here, and we need to see her. Look, I’ll be real with you. We know who you are. I mean, even if we didn’t, after knowing Harley for months now, I can see the similarities. We don’t know what she was doing coming here, but we just need to check in with her and figure out what the fuck is going on.”

He’s lying; his eyes shift downward, no longer meeting Rage’s eyes, and his fingers press into the table. He knows exactly why Harley came here. Luckily, I don’t seem to be the only one to notice. Rage glances at Nerds, who has now approached the table and taken a seat by Axe and Presley.

Nerds shrugs. “I didn’t have time for a deep dive, but I did a basic background check, and they check out. They live in the same area as Brielle.”

Rage nods and glares at Atlas, who glares right back. They are stuck in some kind of stand-off.

“Rage.” He snaps his head toward Presley, who is still sitting on Axe’s lap. “Sit down. Everyone. They came in here looking for her, and they were worried and scared. Not wanting to take her or hurt her. Let’s just all have a conversation. Okay?” She says it like she is talking to a feral beast, which she probably is.

But besides his VP, Presley is the only other one who can calm him down. He looks at her like a little sister and has since she came into our lives.

Rage nods, exhaling sharply, and takes a seat right across from where Atlas also sits down. “How do you know Harley?” Rage asks carefully. I can see the tension running through him, the way he clenches and unclenches his jaw.

Atlas eyes him like he expects him to leap across the table at any moment. Lincoln, the other guy, speaks up, “Alright, let’s just be real, okay? If you meant any harm, we’d be dead by now. We will be honest if you will also be honest and tell us where Harley is.”

Rage looks back and forth between them before having some kind of silent communication with Sugar, who is across the room. He turns back to Lincoln and nods.

With a sigh, he says, “She is at my house here on the compound. Someone she knows from when she went to school here last year is sitting with her. She is currently unconscious.” He pauses, letting out a breath. “She was shot.”

As soon as the last word leaves his mouth, Atlas flies out of his chair, slamming his hands on the table. “Who the fuck shot her?” he roars.

I tilt my head as I study him. Rage also doing the same thing.

“You care about her,” I say, surprising even myself, but I’m curious to see his reaction.

He turns his furious gaze towards me, his eyes softening slightly at the thought of her. “Of course I do. She is like a daughter to me, and I have spent the last six months keeping her afloat. I don’t care what she has done. I will lay down my life for her.”

I nod and glance at Rage. He looks at me, and I see the dark rage behind his eyes, like he is contemplating killing these guys right now. His hand has been twitching towards his gun this whole time. Something I have been able to pick up on easier since I don’t talk much. I probably would’ve picked up on signs that these guys aren’t a danger to Harley too, had I not been in such a fog earlier. I definitely owe Atlas an apology, but he isn’t going to get one.

“So, when she ran away from here last year, she went to you?” Noah asks, furrowing his brow.

Atlas tenses. “Was she staying here before she ran away?” His eyes narrow on us.

Noah shakes his head. “No. She was staying somewhere else. Look, let’s just get this shit over with. At the end of the night, it’s either you end up with a bullet between the eyes, or we decide to trust you.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal and then continues. “My boys met Harley at the high school here in October. They tried to become friends with her, but she couldn’t speak and was skittish.

“They kept an eye on her and wanted to do something to help her, but there wasn’t a lot we could do at the time. They also noticed that she was always hurt, anything from bruises to broken ribs. But because of other shit happening, we couldn’t do anything. When we finally decided to try to get her to come here, she had already left. I tried to follow her but lost her. We’ve been looking for her since then but haven’t been able to locate her.”

Nerds starts talking then, “I found her earlier tonight. Figured out that Rage was her father and that she was in Virginia. But then she showed up here.”

“Why would she show up here?” Atlas says, mostly to himself and Lincoln, who rubs his hands down his face with a sigh.

“We have no idea. But she came storming in here and had a gun. She aimed it at me. But before I could talk her down, a prospect shot her. She’ll make a full recovery, but she isn’t awake yet, so we can’t ask questions.”

“Fuck,” Lincoln whispers.

“What?” Rage snaps at him impatiently.

Where Atlas shows his hurt and fears through his anger, Lincoln is closed off. I can’t read him very well. Lincoln looks at Atlas, lets out a long sigh as Atlas clenches his jaw and gives a small head tilt.

“Do you remember Brielle? She went to school with you,” Lincoln asks Rage.

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