“Thank God,” she said, the concern washing off her face.

I reached up and gently wiped the tears from her eyes.  “I’m so sorry, baby.  This is all my fault.”

She nodded and then asked, “Remember when I said that I could handle your shit?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, if you feel the need to hurt those assholes, and when I say hurt, I mean so that they can never threaten another woman with that, you need to know that I can handle that shit, baby.”

Fuck me.  Blessed.  That’s what I was.

“Good to know.  Because I’ll be making damn sure that they’ll never hurt another person.  Now sweetheart, we need to get you cleaned up.”

She nodded in agreement, and I helped her into the shower.  The deep burning hatred I had for Bullet was consuming my thoughts, and I hoped to hell that Blade was making him suffer.

***

Six hours later, Harlow was asleep in my bed.  She hadn’t wanted to stay at her mum’s house that night so I’d brought her to mine.  I’d spent all afternoon and night with her; I hadn’t called J or Nash to find out what had happened.  This was the first time in my life that I’d put Storm second.  I never wanted to let Harlow out of my sight ever again.  Knowing her, though, that would never happen.

I stood in the doorway and watched her sleep.  She’d had trouble getting to sleep so I’d found a sleeping pill of mine to give her that had eventually done the trick.  My phone vibrated with a message.

Blade: You want in on this?

Me: Yes, but not tonight.  Tomorrow.

Blade: Call me when you’re ready.

I watched Harlow for a little while longer and then I went outside to call Dad.

“Scott, thought I would have heard from you by now,” he said, not even a hello to greet me.

I ignored him.  “You hear from Blade?”

“Yeah, he’s got the men he wanted.  They were the four at Harlow’s house.  The VP of Black Deeds stepped up and took over; he’s made sure there’s no blowback on Storm for this.  But those fuckers killed Stoney to get to Harlow.”

“Fuck!”  In my gut I’d known that; it was the only explanation for everything.  Stoney wouldn’t have gone down without a fight so they would have had to kill him.

“How’s Harlow?”

“She’s fine but I didn’t call to chat; I just needed to know that everything had been taken care of and it has, so I’ll talk to you later.”

I disconnected the call without waiting for him to say anything else.  My patience for my father was growing less and less every day.

***

I pulled the café door open and waited for Harlow to walk in before I followed her.  Cheryl was waiting for her, and enveloped her in a hug.  They embraced for a long time; her mother gently patting her hair.  She’d spent some time with Harlow last night but I imagined her distress as a mother would be unspeakable.

“Thank you, Scott,” Cheryl said as they pulled apart.

Fuck, I was the last person she should be thanking; if it wasn’t for me, Harlow would never have been put in that situation.  I shook my head.  “No, it’s my fault.  Don’t thank me.”

“No, it’s not.  Did you tell that man to do what he did?  Did you have any control over his actions?  No.  People do shitty things all the time; they’re responsible for their own actions.  Not anyone else.  So, don’t ever blame yourself for this.”

Christ, I saw where Harlow got her purity from.

“Thank you,” I murmured, still uneasy about it all.

Harlow turned to me, and the gentle look she gave me, softened my hard heart a little.  “She’s right.  This wasn’t your fault.  Okay?”

We hadn’t talked much this morning; both of us still contemplative.  So, I had no idea what was going through her mind about all of this.  I was giving her some time to process it; tonight we would talk.

I nodded.  “Babe, you gonna be alright if I leave now?”  I had to be at Blade’s within the next hour to take care of Bullet and that was one meeting I didn’t want to be late for.

“Yes.  You go and do your stuff.  I’ll be here all day.  Can I stay with you again tonight?”

As if she had to ask.  “I’ll be here to pick you up at five.  Yeah?”

“Five is good.  I’ll see you then,” she said, and leant forward to give me a quick kiss.

Five minutes later, I was on my way to take care of Harlow’s request to make sure that Bullet couldn’t fuck with any other women.

Chapter 31

Scott

I couldn’t deny it; I was a twisted fuck sometimes.  The idea of fucking Bullet up made me one of the happiest men on the fucking earth that day.  And when I entered the room where Blade had him, I realised that my half brother and I shared more than a father; we shared a darkness inside us that only physical violence could sate.

The room was on the lower level of Blade’s warehouse and was a concrete room with clear plastic lining every surface; the roof, walls and floor were all lined with it.  And I was sure that once we’d finished here today, that plastic would be replaced with new plastic for the next occupant of this room.

Bullet was laid out naked on a table, his arms and legs restrained in the same fashion that Harlow had been.  I noted that Blade was wearing a black outfit of training pants, t-shirt, and runners.  He indicated to a table in the corner of the room that had an identical outfit laid out.  “Change room is through there,” he pointed to the corner where there was a door.