Page 34 of Healing Souls

Cade grabs Noah’s shoulders and talks to him before they disappear. More than likely trying to get Noah to calm down.

I’d normally be with them, but I won’t leave Harley. I look down at her and see that she is watching everything happening in the room, a calculating look on her face. I step in front of her, not letting go of her hand. “Hey, it’ll be okay.”

She peers up at me, her eyes jumping between mine while her lips are pinched. “The guy who shot me, Daniel, he’s just… gone?”

I nod, and she continues, furrowing her brows.

“I don’t understand why. Why wouldn’t he just wait and see what everyone said? Did something happen?” She shuts her mouth and seems to be deep in thought.

As she goes to say something else, Rage walks up to us.

“We’re going on lockdown, so you can’t leave the main clubhouse. Sugar set up a room for you, so you have your own.” He takes a deep breath as a look of determination comes over his face. “We will find him. We will find out what is going on, Harley. I promise.”

She has the same determination on her face as she says, “We will. Together. I want to help.”

Rage makes a sound almost like a grunt. “No. You can’t help. You need to rest and heal. You still have stitches from being shot. I will handle this.” He turns to me. “Why don’t you show her the room? It’s the old president’s spot between Sugar's and I’s rooms.”

I nod and he immediately turns and walks away.

Harley releases my hand and steps back, watching him go. She crosses her arms, her entire body is taut with anger. “Harley?” I murmur, and she turns her scowl on me. “He means well. He is just—”

“Stop it. Don’t make excuses for him shutting me down. I can handle more than he thinks I can. I’ll prove that to him. But he might lose any slight chance he has at a relationship with me because I am fucking done being walked over and having people keep shit from me.”

I feel a smile tug at my lips, but I try to hold it back. She looks and sounds so much like Rage when she’s angry. It’s great. Well, not great that she’s mad. I don’t want her to give up on him so easily, but I guess I can’t judge her when I have my own trust issues. I don’t say anything, knowing she won’t want to hear it right now.

“Show me where my room is, please?” she says, forcing a smile.

I sigh and nod, leading her across the main room and out to the hall where the stairs are. We head up to the second floor and turn left. The space opens up to a sitting area and tiny kitchenette I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use. We head through the hall, and I point out the rooms.

“These first two doors on the right are mine and Gray’s. Then the first two on the left are Cade’s and Noah’s.” We keep walking past our doors. The rest have tags on them. We just never got around to putting tags on our own doors. “You can see next on the right is Stone and Axe. In between their rooms is a large bathroom. They don’t stay here that often anymore. Then to the left here at the end you can see one is Sugar and one is Rage. This one in between them is what was used when other clubs would visit us. Their president would stay up here. But now it’s your room. You get your own bathroom. Lucky you,” I say, turning to wink at her as I open the door to her room.

She looks in, and her eyes go wide. Sugar really outdid himself; I’m impressed. I stand there, not sure what to do. It is late in the day, and as much as I don’t want to leave her side, I know she probably wants to be alone.

Harley steps further into the room and turns around to face me. “Thank you for showing me. I’m gonna get some rest.” She offers a hesitant smile.

“Of course. You can go anywhere in the clubhouse anytime. Just don’t leave without someone. Since we’re on lockdown, we’re all stuck in here unless we have permission and someone with us to leave. It’s just for safety.” I shrug.

She nods and thanks me again as she shuts her door. I stand there staring at her door like a weirdo. I know I’m supposed to walk away, but I can’t.

Would it be weird to sleep in the hall?

No? That’s good. I plop down on the floor next to her door and lean against the wall.

Yeah, Ryker, this isn’t creepy at all.

Unknown

Thefiringofmygun rings out loud within the walls of our small club. No one dares make a sound or try to tell me I was wrong for killing the fucker as his body drops with a heavy thud onto the ground in the center of our party room.

Heruineda perfect opportunity to capture my sweet little Harley.

She left Brielle’s safety net and came back to Jacksonville. I haven’t been able to stay and watch over her 24/7. But being the president of my own club means I can tell my guys what to do.

We have all been on a rotation system, and the rules were simple.

Don’t take your eyes off the house.

If Harley leaves, follow.

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