Page 76 of Healing Souls

She whispers, “Will you… will you come up too? Stay with all of us?”

I grunt and release her hand but don’t step back. “That bed isn’t big enough for all of us.”

“I can sleep on the floor. I don’t care. I just want all of us together.” Her cheeks turn pink, and she glances straight ahead right at my chest.

I grumble, “Fine. But you’re not sleeping on the fucking floor.” I turn and head up the steps to the door, holding it open for her as we head inside and upstairs to find Ryker and Grayson waiting outside her bedroom.

“I’m sorry that took so long,” she apologizes as they stand from where they’d been sitting on the floor and move out of the way so she can unlock the door.

Ryker raises a brow at me, but before I can say anything, Harley does.

“Cade is going to stay too. I hope that’s okay.” She winces.

Grayson looks between us and then quickly steps forward and guides Harley into her room. “It’s perfectly fine, beautiful. Let’s just give them a second.”

Ryker steps up to me, getting in my face once she disappears inside with Grayson. “If you step foot in this room, it will mean something to her. Even more than anything that has happened in the past. If you do this, and then turn around and go anywhere near Steph or even let her within a foot of you, I will kick your fucking ass, Cayden. Don’t fucking test me on this. You’re playing with her heart whether you mean to or not.”

He’s right. But I can’t seem to stay away, so instead of doing the right thing and forcing myself to back off, I nod and step into her room. Knowing that more than likely I will break her heart someday when she realizes that I can’t give her the love I know she’s looking for.

I’m too jaded. Broken. Plus, Ryker loves her, and I would never take that away from him.

Rage (Gabriel)

Heading back to the main house, I go straight to my office and take a seat at my desk. I can’t help but wonder if I said too much.

Did I push too far? I know I got emotional, which I didn’t mean to do. But knowing that I had a kid out there for the last sixteen years that I thought was dead… and her mom having been alive for thirteen years…

It breaks something inside me. They were my family. It was my job to protect them.

I feel like I failed them because I should have never believed my father when he said that they were dead. I can only imagine what Lilian went through. How scared she must have been.

I should have fucking been there.

But I’m so glad Harley has decided to stay here. It means that she doesn’t feel like she has to keep running. Maybe she does have a place here. I know she does; I just need her to see it for herself.

I know the boys are being there for her. I see how they all stay close or keep an eye on her.

It's one of the only reasons I don't lose my shit when they go and sleep in her room every night. I want her to have people she can trust.

And no matter how badly I'd like to wring their necks, they are good boys. I trust them with her. If anything, I think I need to be worried about them telling her things she shouldn't know. It's something Sugar and I have briefly talked about, but we know the boys would want to help.

I just hope they see my reasoning behind not telling Harley what’s going on.

She’s a loose cannon right now, and giving her too much information, especially without all the answers, will send her off the rails.

Especially since we don’t have a lot of answers. Daniel is still in the fucking wind. Even with keeping tabs on Tabby, who he seems to be dating, he hasn’t been around her at all. Nerds is working on digging more into Tammy and Richard, but it’s slow going because he’s trying to look without drawing any attention that someone is snooping around.

A soft knock sounds on my partially open door before it is pushed further open. Carly—who is one of our club sluts, although she acts more like a club manager—steps in. “Hey, I just got back and saw your light on. Thought I would come say hi.”

I wave her in as I stand and walk over to the small bar cart I keep in here. Pouring two glasses of bourbon, I give her one when she takes a seat across from my desk.

Smirking at me, she raises her glass. “To the good old times?” she questions, a spark of mischief in her gaze.

I roll my eyes and sit down before taking a swig. “I think, no, I hope, we are past that by now.”

Carly came around about four years ago. She worked at the nightclub that Blade runs, Dirty Sinner. She was a waitress and got into some trouble. Her and I slept together a few times over the years, but now she mostly just concentrates on the school we are paying for her to attend so she can be a nurse.

The school is about thirty minutes from here, so she usually stays close to it during the week and stays at the club on the weekends, helping us to manage things with the other club sluts and shit going on around here.

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