Page 41 of Healing Souls

“Breathe beautiful,” he murmurs in that soothing voice of his.

She inhales shakily and lets it out.

He nods, giving her a small smile. “It’s okay to feel lost and confused. Maybe we can help. Will you explain what you’re talking about?”

She gives a jerky nod. Grayson smiles and sits back again, releasing her hands, but Harley reaches over and grips his hand again, not letting go. Grayson’s cheeks turn bright red, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“When I ran from Tammy’s, I knew nothing. I was—” She stops and shakes her head. “No, that doesn’t matter right now. I just had no answers to anything and never had a way to find any. When I finally found Brielle, it was a rough start for me. I felt lost at first. Broken beyond repair. But then things started changing. I started working out with the guys, and Brielle and I started growing closer.

As I got stronger, both mentally and physically, I began having questions. I wanted to try to find my dad that my mom had never talked about. But then Brielle told me the story that I’m guessing you all know.” She grimaces.

We all nod, and Harley continues.

“Right. Well, I wanted more answers. Not just that, but revenge. I wanted to destroy everyone and everything. The people who hurt us. The people who hurt my mom. I needed to find revenge on her behalf. So, I wanted to go after Gabriel, since he was the one who started all of this. But now… I don’t know how to feel.

“I had this intense anger running through me, and now suddenly I am just filled with confusion. I feel like I have even more questions than I did before, and it’s making me feel really out of control.” She shrugs.

There is more that she isn’t saying. I can see it written all over her body like a book. She is tense and fidgeting slightly, her leg is bouncing, and she doesn’t look us in the eye for more than a split second. Whereas before she would obsessively watch our eyes, she is now more shut down. I peer at Ryker, who is staring at her like if he tries hard enough, he can see inside her soul.

Grayson’s brows are furrowed as he looks on. “Well, what questions do you have? Maybe we can help you. We are here for you.”

“You can’t say that,” she scoffs, shaking her head.

Ryker frowns at Harley. “Why can’t he? It’s true.”

“Because you can’t,” she snaps.

“That’s not a fucking answer, Harley,” Ryker retorts just as sharply.

She huffs and stands up, moving away from all of us. Just as she goes to say something back to Ryker, someone knocks on the door and slowly pushes it open.

Harley turns around to find Sugar. He smiles. “Hey, darlin’, Brielle is here to say goodbye.”

Harley nods and walks out of the room without even a second glance at us. Sugar raises a brow, but then just backs out and shuts the door.

The second it clicks shut, Grayson snaps, “What the heck, Ryker? Look, I get that you have wanted her here for months and now she’s here, but this isn’t the same girl! She isn’t the soft, timid, terrified-out-of-her-mind Harley we met. She has learned how to be stronger. Hell, she’s still learning. She has these walls up now. Cade almost brought them down just by saying a few words, but then you go and open your mouth. Stop pushing her.”

He stands up and paces the room, rubbing the back of his neck before he spins back towards Ryker, his jaw set so hard I wonder if he might break it.

“Stop pushing. You have to—you have to shut up!” His shoulders slump, and he takes a deep breath. “Please. I don’t know why we all are feeling things I can’t explain, but I don’t think whatever is happening is bad. So just give her time. She has barely been here, and she only came for one reason to begin with. Rage. She didn’t even know we were here. We have to be patient. If you can’t do that, then stay back because I can’t—I don’t want to lose her before we ever have a chance for… a friendship.”

Ryker stares at Grayson with his mouth open, not speaking. Rendering Ryker speechless is not something I think anyone has ever done. But it doesn’t surprise me that Grayson could manage it.

I bet that someday these two might be more than just friends, brothers. I have been friends with them for years. I see how different it is for them than it is for me. They are close and have a different bond. They just don’t realize it yet.

“I don’t know what’s happening to us, but I don’t think it is bad,” Ryker whispers before he clears his throat and speaks louder. “Gray, you never let yourself feel things so strongly. I mean, you feel a lot more than the rest of us, but you are usually so level-headed and keep it together. This is new for you, and I don’t think it’s bad, but I think it is scaring you.

“And you,”—Ryker looks at me—“I can’t believe how much you have talked. She’s good for us. I can work on backing off, but I also don’t think you have to worry that much. She’ll put me in my place.” He grins.

I’m not really sure why he’s smiling about that. “I heard you,” I say to Grayson. “I’m going to try. Be her friend.”

Grayson smiles at me. “Good.”

Ryker cackles, “This is perfect.”

Chapter Eleven

Harley

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