Page 30 of Healing Souls

Iwatchasalook passes between Cade and Harley, and a feeling of contentment flows through me. I knew she was what we needed.

Noah clears his throat, causing them to drag their eyes away from each other. Gray and Harley take a seat again, and I go on to finish explaining what happened the night I broke in. As I explain knocking out Richard, I expect for fear or worry or literally anything except what comes over her face.

She smiles and then lets out the best sound I’ve ever heard. An evil little cackle. I grin at her before finishing telling her the rest.

Part of me hopes that by sharing everything with Harley, she will feel more comfortable and want to share everything with us too. I don’t like being in the dark about things, but I know I have to try to be patient with her. She’s not intentionally keeping things from me; she just doesn’t know how to trust us yet.

One thing is still really bothering me about all of this, and as we lapse into silence, I can’t let it go. “How come everyone said you were mute, and you didn’t speak at school?”

I watch her face closely as she seems to lock down her emotions before answering.

“I—” She clears her throat, straightening her spine as if she is preparing herself for a fight. “I wasn’t allowed to speak.”

We all wait for her to say more, but she doesn’t, and it’s clear she doesn’t plan to. Surprising us all again, it’s Cade who speaks up next. “She did something to your voice.”

Harley gives a sharp nod. “Yes. I could still speak, but it hurt. Not using my voice was the best decision at the time. Things could’ve gotten worse had I tried.” Apparently, she’s done talking about it because she changes the subject. I guess I’ll take what I can get for now. “Earlier, I asked why Tammy thought I was telling you things, Noah. Why would she have thought that? I had never met you back then.”

He sighs, “The week before Thanksgiving, you hadn’t been to school, and the boys were worried, so Rage, Sugar, and I decided to go over there and check in. I was playing the high school student’s concerned friend. We didn’t say much, just that I went to school with you and wanted to check on you, but they told us you were at a friend’s house.”

We all watch as her eyes flash with something, but she masks it so fast I don’t know what it was. She clenches and unclenches her fists and immediately jumps up again to pace. It’s like she can’t sit still when her mind is running.

She’s going to pull her stitches again, but before I can comment on that, she mutters to herself. “Liars. Dirty, rotten, fucking lying bitch.”

I glance at the others to see if they heard, and they did because Noah speaks up.

“Who are the liars?” When she still doesn’t answer or stop pacing, he tries again. “Harley, who are the liars?”

We all watch as she spins around to look at him. Her beauty takes my breath away as her long, wavy hair flows down her back. I want to run my fingers through it and play with it.Or pull on it.Her eyes are large, and when she’s angry, they seem to get darker. Going from a light hazel to almost a brown color.

Her perfect pouty lips turn down into a frown as she opens and shuts her mouth like she isn’t sure what she wants to say.

My leg bounces as I watch her try to contain the side of her that is itching to come out. Not being able to sit and watch anymore, I jump up and walk to stand in front of her. “Stop holding back. Whatever it is, let it out. What did they do, Harley? Who lied? Tammy?”

Her body shudders at me saying Tammy’s name, but she doesn’t open up. She shuts her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. That’s not going to work.

“Ryker…” I faintly hear Gray say, but I ignore him, focusing on my little flame.

“Harley, what is it? What the fuck are you hiding? Because there’s still a lot you don’t know, and from the looks of things, we still don’t even know if maybe you were helping Tam—” Before the word fully leaves my mouth, her eyes are flashing with the fire I knew was in her, and she explodes.

Did I take it too far? Probably. But I don’t regret it. She is so stuck in her mind with what to say and who to trust. It would’ve taken months to get what we are about to get. I’ll make it up to her later.

“Don’t fucking say that! Don’t you dare think I had anything to do with that bitch!” she seethes, stabbing a finger into my chest. “I lived in hell for three fucking years. I got away on my own. I didn’t need help. I don’t even understand why you all would be looking for me or wanting to help me.”

She doesn’t hear Rage, Sugar, and Atlas come through the door and stop short as they watch this unfold.

Harley shakes her head, sputtering, “The things—the things that they did to me, I can never forget. The way they made me feel worthless. To believe that I was nothing but a punching bag forher.”

She makes eye contact with me, and I open my mouth to tell her how that’s bullshit. She’s not worthless.

But she shakes her head, not breaking eye contact with me. “I’m broken. I’m so far damaged that I don’t think I can ever fully recover. Moth—” she scoffs. “I’ve been out of there for almost eight months now, and I still am stuck in the ways of the shit she made me say and do. Mother. Fucking Mother.” She mutters the last part.

A single tear tracks down her cheek, and I step forward to gently wipe it away. “What did she do to you? Because whatever she did, we will make her pay. We will destroy her. She will never, ever lay a fucking hand on you again.”

She inhales sharply. “You don’t understand. I’m broken, Ryker. I can’t… I can’t tell you everything she did. I can’t… I won’t let someone else bear my burden.”

Grayson stands up and walks over to stand next to us. “You don’t have to give it to us. But you can let us hold some of it. We can hold it. We can be there to support you until you get where you need to be. You aren’t alone. But you have to choose not to be alone. Trust is…” he hesitates.

“Trust is a bitch,” I finish for him. “Trust can either destroy you in ways you didn’t even think were possible or build you back up and make you indestructible. But you make that choice. You have to decide who to trust.”

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