Trusted Page 2

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  “Fuck!” I whisper to myself as I pull on my hair. As I lean against the wall outside her room my mind is racing with the thoughts of what could have happened to her. I look up to see a restroom sign and walk over there, opening the door quickly and straight over to the sink. I bring my hands out in front of me, turning them over, and turn on the faucet, watching the redness of her blood swirling around the sink and down the drain. My hand hit the button twice for the soap, and I rub my hands together, lathering it up. By the time I’m done most of it is gone so I grab a paper towel and dry them. I look up in the mirror to see some on my face so I gather my hands under the running water, once again, and splash some on me then rub hard. When I look again the blood is gone so I dry off and head back to the wall outside her room. Stitches, I guess it could have been worse, but to think of any scars on her unblemished and delicate skin pisses me off. Drunken bastard! I want to ram my fist against the wall, but stop myself when the curtains open and the nurse smiles at me, cocking her head into the room. I push myself from the wall and head inside. Pearl is laying down, clothes on, and talking with the doctor.

  The doctor turns my way and walks over to me. “I’m Dr. Phillip Whiteman, family friend and doctor for, well, all of Pearl’s life and longer. But you can call me Dr. Phillip. I appreciate you bringing Pearl here. She’s a little doped up. Are you okay with taking her home or would you prefer I call her family to come get her?” I look over at Pearl. Her head is lying back against the pillow, and her eyes keep opening and then slowly closing.

  “I’ve got her.” The doctor nods and looks at the nurse, who then leaves the room, and he looks back at me.

  “Very good. The nurse is getting a wheelchair and will bring Pearl out the front doors if you’d like to bring your car up there.” I look back at Pearl and then the doctor, nod and head out of the room.

  Once the nurse helps to get her settled into the car, I reach over and buckle her in. Her eyes open and stare into mine. The close proximity of our faces makes my heart beat a little faster. I start to stand, but her hand grabs my arm, and I stop abruptly. “Thank you,” she whispers. I don’t move. I’m mesmerized by her eyes and the look of gentleness on her face. I feel her hand slide up my arm, over my shoulder until it reaches my face. Her hand opens and rests against it, and my eyes close as I feel the touch of her soft skin. I haven’t felt the soft touch of a woman since…. My eyes snap open and I stand quickly, shutting the door and walking around the front and get in the driver’s side. Slamming the key into the ignition, I turn it quickly and then push the gearshift into drive and slam my foot on the accelerator. From the corner of my eye, I see her body being pushed back into the seat, and she lets out a quiet groan, so I ease up on the pedal. As I pull out of the parking lot and onto the street, my eyes shift back and forth from the front window to her.

  “Sorry,” I whisper.

  She looks over at me with such a confused look on her face. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have….”

  She’s too nice for her own good. My feelings can’t be denied yet I have to keep them to myself, for her own good. “You shouldn’t be so nice to me. I don’t deserve it. I’m not worth it.” Her brows crease and she turns her head to look out her window. I can see her reflection and watch as her eyes slowly close. Her head leans over, and I know she’s asleep. Once I pull into the parking lot behind the bar, I get out of the car and quickly run around it and open her door, grab her purse, setting it on her lap, lift her still body into my arms and carry her up the back stairs. I fumble a bit with getting her key out of her purse and then into her apartment door but finally unlock it. I push the door open and shut it behind me with my foot then proceed to carry her through the vast room and up the stairs, finding her room quickly and laying her on the bed. Not sure what to do with myself and not wanting to leave her alone, I spot a big leather chair in the corner of the room and sit down. As I watch her sleep my mind fills with thoughts of another time, another place that I don’t want to remember but can’t stop them from flooding my head.

  “Come on, Harley! Hurry up!” Venice’s voice fills my head, and the feelings of love and desire overwhelm me. She takes my hands, pulling me into my room, and I go without hesitation. “You know he won’t be home for hours. Come on.” Once we’ve entered my bedroom, she walks right into me, her mouth covering mine and her love fills me.

  “Ungh.” I hear Pearls moan and my eyes focus on her, with all thoughts of Venice dispersing like a cloud of smoke. I stand and walk to the side of her bed and see that she’s still asleep. Unsure of what to do, I sit back down in the chair, my head laying against it and close my eyes.

  “What have I told you about disobeying me? You’re a disgrace and I’m tired of telling your ass!” His drunken slur and stale breath pissing me off further as he squeezes the nape of my neck. His fist quickly connects with my face, again, and I can feel the blood flowing down from the dig of his ring into my skin. “Fucking, no good piece of shit! I don’t know why in the hell the state keeps giving me losers.”

  “Fuck you!” I spit, blood splattering on his face. I fall to the floor when he releases his hold and when I look up, I’m staring into the barrel of his gun. I lunge as he fires, my hand grasping his wrist while my other hand fists the front of his shirt, and we begin to struggle. With my weight, we’re knocked to the ground and….

  “Harley.” My eyes snap open, and I sit up straight looking over at Pearl. She still seems to be asleep but calling out my name. I stand, walk over to her, carefully sitting down on the bed beside her, and lightly brush back some of her soft hair from her face and watch her sleep. Finally, I get up and sit back in the chair, close my eyes and hope for some peace.

  My body is stiff from sleeping in the chair, well, with what sleep I actually got, but I guess it’s no more uncomfortable than the bed of my truck. At least, I can stretch out a bit more there. I’ve just finished making her eggs and put them on the plate when my eyes shift to the doorway of the kitchen, and I see her limp in. Her hair is a mess. Bandages cover part of one leg, and another wraps around her upper arm, and little cuts are showing over the rest of her once unblemished skin around the bandages. She walks over to the table and sits down slowly, her hands holding on to the surface. I grab her cup, take it and her plate over to the table and set them in front of her. Once I’ve gotten my coffee, I sit down across from her and take a sip.

  She looks down at the plate, then the cup and picks it up closing her eyes as she takes a drink. Her eyes snap open and look directly into mine as she tilts her head. “Mocha latte, how’d you….?”

  Setting my cup down, I lean back into the seat and cross my arms over my chest. “You have a latte machine. I’ve seen you drink them at the bar so I figured you could use one when you got up.” My shoulders shrug, and I’m confused why she thinks this is such a big deal.

  She smiles, my heart beating a little faster, and she takes another sip. “Mmmm, this is perfect. What can’t you do?” she asks setting down her cup. I open my mouth to speak, but I’m stopped when she picks up her fork and takes a bite of her eggs, her eyes closing and I can see them rolling around under her eyelids. “Oh, my God!” Her eyes open as her eyebrows raise. “You can cook too? Damn!”

  I take another drink of my coffee, and am thinking rather quickly that maybe it’s time to leave. My eyes won’t leave the purple camisole and matching panties she’s wearing, and I’m wondering if she’s in her right head and even realizes what she has on. Maybe when she hit her head last night, it really did do some damage. “Uh, maybe I better….” I start to stand, my chair moving back but she quickly opens her mouth.

  “NO!” I still, and she looks around frantically. “I mean, sorry. I won’t ask you any more questions. I know you’re a very private person but please…. Please don’t go…. I….”

  Picking up my cup, I walk over to the sink, rinse it out and put it in the dishwasher, then walk to the doorway and turn my head to her. �
��Don’t. Don’t forget to put the ointment on your cuts. I….” Her eyes search mine, and I can see they’re damp with moistness. “I gotta go.” Quickly, I walk through the doorway, almost jogging through her living room and out the front door. It turns into a full run as I move down the hallway and out the side door into the alleyway. I keep running until I’m out on the sidewalk, look both ways down the street and then run across. Once I make it down the street and around the corner of the last building, I manage to get to my truck, taking my keys out, unlocking it and jumping into the front seat. I lean my forehead against the steering wheel and take some deep breaths. I raise up and then smack the wheel with my fist. “You’ll hurt her and she’ll end up hating you. She won’t understand. No one will. Get your shit together and block your heart again, dammit!” My biggest fear is that it’s too late.

  Chapter Two

  I shut my mouth after watching him leave and totally lost my appetite. Crap, just when I thought he might talk to me a little, I go and spoil it with too many questions. But then I think, he made me breakfast, he was so concerned for me, took care of me and stayed with me. Sigh. Oh, my God! Quit thinking about him! He’s not gonna change for you. My phone rings and I stand and walk over to the wall where my cordless phone hangs. I know, I’m one of the last people on earth to still have a landline. “Hello?”

  “Oh, my God, Pearl! I just heard what happened! Are you okay?” Stormy screams into my ear. I pull it away from my ear a bit until she calms down. “I’m coming over! You need some TLC, sis!” I open my mouth to speak, put the phone back up to my ear and all I hear is a dial tone. Well, I guess Stormy’s coming over.

  I limp upstairs, carefully remove my clothes and struggle putting on a bra, t-shirt and shorts. It won’t be long that it’ll be too cold to wear this anymore. As I walk downstairs the loud beating on my front door alerts me that Stormy is here as she and Bo are the only ones that have an extra key to the back door from the outside except my parents. Oh, yeah¸ and my family’s bodyguards, Ralph and Emerson. I half jump, half hop, with my bad leg until I reach the door and barely get the locks undone when the door pushes open and Stormy is hugging the shit outta me. “Stormy, you’re killing me here,” I choke out.

  She releases me quickly, kicks the door shut and takes my hand, helping me to the couch. “Oh, sweetie! Are you okay?” She keeps ahold of my hand as I get comfortable, her face showing me how concerned she is.

  “Hey, no stress. I don’t want my babies to feel that and you need to be careful,” I tell her as I lean over and rub her little belly that’s barely showing. “Ever since you got back from your honeymoon you’ve been doing so great keeping the stress under control, don’t ruin it now and especially because of me.”

  She sighs then gives me a big smile. “I’m good, really. Even though it’s been a month and a half of being pretty stress free doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever. Now, Tonya called me and told me what happened. Between me getting hurt in your bar before and now you, it doesn’t seem like a real safe place. Pearl, why don’t you go back to painting?”

  My brows lower and I look up at the ceiling then back at her and smile. I sigh, but then sit up straight. “I’m not giving up and I love my bar. I don’t want to go back to painting. Accidents are going to happen and brawls will come and go, that’s why I have bouncers.” Her face still shows worry, so I lean over and take her hand. “Please don’t worry about me. Ha! Okay, well, I know that will happen anyway but please try not to. I’m a big girl, Stormy.”

  She smiles and then looks shyly at our hands. “Well, and then there’s Harley. He helped you too I understand.” Her eyes move up, and I freeze. A knock comes on the front door, and I turn my head as it opens and Bo walks in. After shutting the door he walks over, leans down and kisses the top of Stormy’s head and winks at me. Then turns and starts walking towards the kitchen.

  “Just grabbing a bottled water,” he shouts.

  “Um, don’t say anything about Harley to Bo, okay? I don’t think Bo likes him and well, you know my brother isn’t going to ever like anyone who will give me the time of day. Protective,” I whisper. The confusion on her face is apparent, so I backtrack. “Besides, Harley is my employee and doesn’t like me in ‘that way’.” My laugh doesn’t sound convincing, even to me. He walks back in and sits down on the couch next to Stormy, puts his hand on the back of her neck and when she turns her head, he gives her a kiss on her mouth. She turns around and smiles at me as he takes a drink.

  My eyes snap to him when he speaks, but I knew this was coming. “So, Harley helped you out last night, huh?” I swallow and just nod. “Well, I gotta hand it to him. That’s twice he’s helped out our family. Says something about him. What, I’m not sure yet but it’s a start.” He takes another drink and smiles.

  “Well, yes, he certainly has helped us out.” I look at Stormy and then at Bo.

  He leans forward and gives me his brotherly look. “Just do me a favor and still try to keep your distance. He may have helped us out, but I’m still not sure I trust him completely. He’s just so quiet and secretive, I dunno. Just strange if you ask me.”

  I let out a laugh and shake my head. “Dang, bro. We just work together. Sheesh. You don’t have to be all melodramatic.”

  He chuckles and then grows serious again. “Yeah, well, I’ve seen how fast you fall for someone only to get your heart crushed. I just don’t want that to happen again. Or worse. I’m still not quite there on trusting him, just yet.”

  Thank God, Stormy picks that moment to stand, grabs his hand and winks at me. “Okay, come on, big bro. Let’s get home and get outta Pearl’s hair so she can get ready for work and I need to do the same.” I wink back and turn as she pulls him up and they walk passed me.

  “I’m not her big bro. I’m her little bro but if you wanna just call me big….” Stormy playfully smacks his arm, turns her head to me and mouths, “I’ll call you later,” then she pulls him out of the door.

  Well, that wasn’t too bad, now I just have to get through to Mom and Dad, but for now, I’m going up to take a little nap and then get ready for work. It was a long night last night and my body aches. For once I’m not looking forward to working tonight. Maybe I’ll feel better after my snooze. I hope.

  I get to the bar early and only the cook is here. Sitting in the office, I’m on the computer looking over Bo’s updates on the sales, and then I update the inventory from the back room. A noise outside my office causes me to snap my head to the door. My heart beating rapidly but then I sigh and roll my eyes as it occurs to me that I’ve locked all the doors. Damn my jumpiness! But then I jump when Harley appears in the doorway, and my confusion takes over. “How? How did you get in here? I locked the door.”

  “The door in the kitchen was unlocked. You should be more careful,” he replies in his low, raspy voice. “How are you holding up? Shouldn’t you be resting?” I slump in my chair at his words. First, I feel like I’m losing my mind because I could have sworn I locked the door when I came in and second, his voice and the look of concern on his face is overwhelming me and making me feel hope when I don’t think there is any. I straighten up in my chair and put on a smile.

  “Yes. I’m great, actually. A little sore but that’s all. No big deal.” I look back at the computer monitor, not really seeing what’s on the screen. I feel him walk up to my side and can see from the corner of my eye his fingers hovering over my arm and then pull back, and I turn my head. He takes a few steps backwards until his back is against the wall.

  “It is a big deal. You were hurt last night. Thank fuck it wasn’t worse than it was.” His eyes closed for a split second and then opened again. He doesn’t wait for my response and walks through the doorway, his head turning slightly. His mouth opens like he wants to say something, but then closes it, turns and walks away.