Page 33 of Healing Souls

As we walk out the door to head over to the main building, Harley is fidgeting with her hands. As much of a strong front as she puts on, I think a lot of this bothers her, and I hope to be alone with her later and get her to open up to me.

I step up next to her and extend my hand, giving her the option to accept it or not.

She looks up at me and then down at my hand before slowly sliding hers into mine, threading our fingers together. My heart warms at the contact and having her so close.

As soon as we get across the yard and inside through the back door, I detour and lead her to the kitchen.

“What are we doing?” she asks, furrowing her brow.

“Showing you around.” I grin, watching as she releases my hand and walks around the kitchen.

For a club full of men, this kitchen is nice. From where we walked in, directly to the right, are counters that wrap around the back wall. Then on the opposite wall is a door that leads to the walk-in pantry. Then next to the door is a large double fridge. Next to that is another opening that goes out to the hall that would take you to the front door or upstairs. There’s a large island in the middle with a couple of bar stools.

“So… you really live here?” she asks as she walks around the island, taking in the massive kitchen as she bites her lip.

I nod. “Yep. Have for about two years now. It’s not bad. I like it most of the time. This is the main kitchen. We don’t really have any certain people that cook. Gray cooks the most and sometimes Presley, who is with Axe, comes in here to cook. The club sluts don’t usually—”

She cuts me off. “Thewhat?” Her eyes go comically wide.

“Club sluts? Gray calls them club girls. Well, so does Pres, but they are girls who hang around the club. Some live here, well right now, none of them live here, but they help with things around here and sleep with any of the guys they want. They aren’t forced or anything. One of them, Carly, has been around longer than I have, and right now the club is paying for her to finish going to college, so she is only here on the weekends.”

Harley slowly nods. “That’s kind of cool. It is weird that they are called club sluts. I think I will stick with what Grayson says and call them club girls. It just seems to make more sense.”

I shrug. “Yeah, probably. They have just been called that for so long, and it’s what I’ve always heard. I bet if you told your dad that, he’d make everyone immediately start calling them club girls and not sluts,” I say with a chuckle.

“Gabriel,” she murmurs.

“Huh?” I tilt my head as I watch her.

She fidgets with her fingers for a moment. “I–I’m not ready to call him dad. Or hear him referred to as my dad. Just Gabriel. I’m not ready.” She finally looks up, meeting my eyes, a tear streaking down her cheek that she quickly bats away.

Before I can respond to her to tell her that’s completely okay and no one here will judge her for it, a door bangs open, and I hear Noah yell for everyone.

Harley walks towards me, and we both head back out the same way we came walking into the main room where Stone is holding back a seething Noah. This isn’t my brother, guardian, Noah. This is Blade, the club enforcer, who can quite literally destroy someone faster than they can blink. He rarely ever shows my brothers and me this side of himself, so to see him so angry sets me on edge.

I look around the room and see almost everyone heading into the main room. Cade is walking in from the opposite side, going straight towards Noah. Gray, Nerds, Rage, and Sugar come out from the hall that leads to their offices. I look over my shoulder at Harley, expecting to see her scared or panicked, but she looks perfectly calm.

“Where the fuck is he?” Noah yells. Stone has a grip on his shoulders holding him back, but from what, I’m not sure.

Cade steps up in front of him. “Where is who?”

Stone looks over Cade’s head, glancing towards Rage. “He’s gone.”

Rage and Sugar both walk towards Noah and Stone. What he said finally clicks in my head and before I even realize what I’m doing, I grab Harley’s hand and tug her closer to me.

Surprisingly, she doesn’t resist. She merely gives my hand a squeeze before walking towards where everyone is in the center of the room.

Noah is heaving as he explains. “We went down there, and he was gone. There were no signs of a fucking break-in. Everything was still intact. The lock was locked on the door to go down, and his cell lock was still on. Whoever did this had the fucking keys to get in. Someone let him out.” He grits out the last part.

I understand why Stone is holding him now. When Noah gets mad or fears for someone he loves, he tends to go off the rails and wants to go hunting for whatever is the threat. He probably tried to leave even with having no information.

How the fuck did Daniel get out? I feel myself barely holding on, wanting to lose my shit and find out who the fuck would allow him to just leave. Andwhywould he? If he truly only shot her because he thought he was protecting Rage, then he had nothing to worry about besides getting his ass beat.

Sugar takes over, seeing as Rage can barely hold himself together. He cares for all of us; I know that. But his love for Harley is so much different, and I don’t think he has ever felt that before. Adding in the shit she’s been through and the danger she could be in, he seems to be spiraling.

Sugar sends Nerds and Gray back to the tech room to do what they do and find out where he went. He then has Stone, Axe, and a few others check the property and put us on lockdown.

Which means no one leaves the main clubhouse.

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