Page 31 of Healing Souls

“I don’t know if I can trust again,” she whispers brokenly.

“You can,” Atlas says from behind us. Harley jumps and looks past me as he continues, “You can because somewhere in you, you know what you truly need. You never trusted us. Not fully.”

She goes to protest, but he keeps talking.

“We knew that from the start. You let yourself grieve, but you grieved alone. You let yourself break, but break alone. The only thing you did is let us help build you back up. Make you stronger. Help you see some truths. But you never trusted us. And that’s okay. I hope that someday you do.

“But until then, you have hard decisions to make, and no one can help you make them. Still, I can promise you, and I will die before I break that promise: No matter what, Brielle, Lincoln, Ryan, and I will be here for you. Always.”

“Always?” she whispers, her eyes holding something I’ve never seen before. Hope.

“Always.” He nods.

She takes a shaky breath and closes her eyes. Silent tears slip down her cheeks. It’s like she needed that confirmation from him.

I know the circumstances are different, but I can’t help the spike of jealousy I feel at how his words calm her.

“Harley,” Rage says softly as he steps forward. “I talked with Nerds. Tammy had a fake birth certificate made. But he can destroy it and get your original one back, so she won’t be able to come get you legally.” She gives him a weird look that he seems to understand. He adds, “Brielle and the guys filled us in on what you have told them.”

She nods and glances at Atlas, who shakes his head subtly, but I notice. It puts me on edge. Gray’s hand comes down on my shoulder, a silent reassurance.

“With that being said, Brielle and I had a conversation this morning. There are a lot of unknowns, and I know it might be hard to talk about, but I am going to need answers. We need to make sure you are safe and there will be no backlash from you running away from Tammy and then discovering me. I’m asking that you give me a week. One week. Stay here, finish healing, give me a chance to spend a little time with you. And then after one week, you can decide.

“You can stay here in this house and live with me and go back to school or even do online classes or you can—” He stops speaking like his voice just stopped working. I think I know where he is going with this, and I want to punch him in the face.

She needs to stay. Shehasto stay here. Gray’s hand on my shoulder squeezes. I want to roll my eyes at how easily he can read me and probably sense how close I am to blowing up.

Sugar steps up behind Rage and finishes speaking. “Or you can choose to go live with Brielle and have the same school options there. No one wants to see you go, I promise you that. But no one around here is going to force you to stay if you would be miserable. I have spent the last few days at the club settin’ up a room. If you want to stay there for the week, you can, or you stay here with Rage. But both places are open to you.”

Harley says nothing. She just stares at them, her eyes moving back and forth from Rage to Sugar. She takes a minute before she speaks. “You—You’ll give me the choice? Really? You’d let me leave after a week?”

Rage gives a jerky nod. “Yes. I don’t want you to go. I want you here with me. But I won’t take that choice from you, I promise.”

She nods, a sheen of tears in her eyes as she seems to see Rage in a new light. She looks over to where Atlas is leaning against the wall, and he immediately steps forward.

He explains, “Bri wanted to be here, but she had to handle something. She’ll be back later to say goodbye. We are all going back to Virginia.”

The tears now fall from her eyes.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she whispers.

“Oh, Harls.” He cups her face and kisses her forehead. “You couldn’t lose me if you tried. We want what’s best for you, alright? Just focus on you this week and decide what you want. If you stay here, you will not lose us. Do you hear me?” He waits for her to nod. “You will not lose us.”

She wraps her arms around him and hugs him tight. Atlas freezes, but after a split second, his entire face softens, and he hugs her back.

I want to drag her away and wrap her up in my arms. She should be in my embrace, no one else’s. My fists clench, and I have to concentrate on my breathing to not drag her away from everyone.

Atlas murmurs, “I’ve gotta get back to the hotel, but we will stop here before we head out, okay?” She nods against his chest and sniffles. He whispers in her ear, too low for me to hear, and they separate. He kisses her forehead once more before shaking hands with Rage and Sugar. Then he gives the rest of us a nod on his way out the door.

I step forward so I am standing next to Harley. She turns slightly and looks up at me. I open my arms and watch as she hesitates before coming closer and wrapping her arms around my waist. My heart beats faster as I bring my arms around her, burying my head in her neck.

I raise my head slightly and whisper, “Everything will be okay. I’m here for you. Grayson and Cayden are, too.” I lean back and because I can’t stop myself, I kiss her cheek, watching as she flushes red and smiles at me.Fuck my heart.

As we pull away, Sugar turns his attention to Noah. “I’m runnin’ things for the week to give Prez a break so he can focus on Harley. Which means I need you to handle Daniel.”

Rage lets out a growl, “Sugar, maybe now isn’t the time.” He gestures towards Harley.

Harley wipes her eyes and steps away from me. “No. None of that. If I’m here for the week, we obviously have to talk about a lot of things. But I need full transparency. You can’t keep anything from me.”

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