Page 62 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
So Harper gave in. She closed her eyes, clutched Evie tight, and broke down in tears.
Chapter 16
It was well past noon when Evie finished talking. She’d had to repeat herself more than once, going over certain things several times before they started to make sense. Every explanation offered, Harper’s brain automatically tried to counter, both because they were hard to accept as real and because they were almost too painful to believe.
She explained most of it thoroughly enough. Everything about the Court of Chains, the reason for all the secrecy, the danger they’d been surrounded by was gone through beat by beat. She only held back about the vampires that had held her captive. But details weren’t needed there. The scars all over her body filled the gaps in her story.
There were somany. On her neck, her arms, even her fingers. All jagged and brutal, suggesting the wounds that produced them had been severe. Or repeated.
“We tried to find you. After everything calmed down here,” Evie said. “You did a good job hiding. It took a few months before we picked up a lead.”
Harper and Patricia glanced towards Nell, who hunched in on herself.
“That was kind of my fault,” she mumbled. Harper scoffed.
“No, it wasn’t. Blame that dickhead you were dating, and those bastards at the station who didn’t enforce the restraining order you put on him.”
“Still… if all that hadn’t happened, we might have stayed in Shreveport. And if we’d stayed, then—”
“Then you wouldn’t have been safe,” Patricia said. “This isn’t on you. We all wanted to leave. You know that.”
Nell didn’t argue, but her posture stayed stiff. She only relaxed when Evie took her hand.
“It was good that you left. Some people actually came looking for you back in Shreveport. Bad people. If you hadn’t been hiding, they might have found you, and… I just wish it hadn’t lasted this long.”
Harper wholeheartedly agreed. If they had been found sooner, under different circumstances, then the journey here would have been far less precarious. The hardships of these past few months could have been avoided.
She let her eyes wander over the Lotus interior; something she’d done several times since they sat down. She had always avoided places like this. People who frequented high-end clubs had high expectations. Anything could be bought in places like this.
But that line of thinking didn’t match the energy of the room. Even when mostly empty, the air was welcoming, as though the building was inviting you in. Inviting you to stay. Like a pocket dimension designed for making time disappear.
It needed staff. Staff who didn’t have to give up a massive percentage of their tips and who would actually be on a legitimate payroll, with all the benefits that afforded.
Too good to be true. But whatever catch it came with, Harper hadn’t found it yet.
“How did you find us?” Nell glanced at Harper. “And how long were we… watched? Is that the right word?”
Evie drew in a sharp breath, exhaling slowly.
“Our scouts found you around New Year’s. But since they don’t do subtlety particularly well, we sent someone else to do the rest. Maya was the only onewatchingyou, so to speak.”
Evie crossed her arms and dug her fingers into her skin. From across the room, Natalya looked up from the contracts she’d been reading, her violet eyes locking on Evie, as though sensing her discomfort even from several feet away.
Natalya hadn’t left once since Harper and the others arrived, despite how busy she clearly was. Evie had asked her to stay, so Natalya did just that. Keeping a respectful distance but never leaving her alone.
“I actually didn’t want Maya to be involved,” Evie said, lowering her eyes. “Since she was perfect for it, I told myself it would be okay. But I didn’t really believe it. Everything got so messed up, and I… I didn’t like the idea of you being looked after by a vampire.”
Harper’s stomach dropped. They had been told Maya was working with the Chains, but that little vampire fact was elegantly skipped.
Patricia and Nell mirrored her shocked reaction, but pointed it in very different directions. Patricia kept looking at Evie, while Nell turned towards Harper, eyes wide and jaw dropped.
“You made out with avampire?”
Nell immediately clasped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Harper had the attention of the entire room. Perhaps the street, too, with how loud Nell had spoken.
“You didwhat?” Patricia’s voice, as maternally stern as expected, made Harper want to sink into the floor. The ‘no romance at work’ rule was present because Patricia had gotten sick of the drama it produced a decade ago, and she didn’t play favorites when enforcing it.
Harper gave Nell a scowl. “Way to keep a secret, you airhead.”
