Page 9 of Carte

Then a week ago, Alina came to Harley’s apartment and found it destroyed. Everything was destroyed apart from her bed and his gifts.

After that, the label changed its mind. But the demand stood firm. Harley was to be kept in the dark, and her only focus was to be the tour. There was a lot of money riding on the success of it, and they weren’t going to jeopardize that.

I was torn. On one hand, the client needed to know the level of danger they were in. I couldn’t keep them safe all on my own. Their cooperation was needed. On the other hand, I didn’t know what I could tell her.

Not just who was doing this, but I couldn’t find the logic in it. I couldn’t even begin to guess their next step. If I couldn’t do that, I had nothing . Before I let Harley in on everything, I needed a game plan she could follow.

“I don’t like it either, but there’s nothing I can find. And trust me, man, I went through every frame you gave me, every file. There’s nothing.” Stretching back in my chair, I checked that the door to Harley’s room was firmly closed.

As soon we got into this hotel suite, she marched right over to the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Just as she did for the last four days.

When she wasn’t trying to sneak out, that was.

“Is she still trying to shake you off?” Chace asked as if he was hearing my thoughts.

“Yeah,” I said, the mental image of Harley sneaking through the suite, then smiling that cat ate the canary smile when she thought she was successful in getting away unnoticed, until it all came crashing down when I came and got her at the club or restaurant she was in. The woman couldn’t spot a tail if her life depended on it, and she always had one. I made sure of it.

“You still letting her get a few hours of freedom?” Chace pushed.

“Yeah, but that has to stop.”

“She won’t like it,” Chace warned.

“She’ll like it less when I come and pick her up like she’s a teenager out past her curfew. Not to mention escorting her out like she’s a fragile figurine.”

Just then, the door opened.

Harley came out with a stubborn look on her face. “I have to go,” I said into the phone and hung up.

She headed for the door, swinging her bag over her shoulder, before she stopped, looked over her shoulder and said, “Suit up, Warden, we’re heading out.”

I almost smiled. “Warden?”

“Well, you have me locked up, or find me anywhere I go and drag me behind locked doors.” She shrugged. “It fits.”

“And where are we going?”

“Out. I need to feel tonight,” she said cryptically before she once again was on the move.

Hell.

It was going to be a rough night.

Chapter Three

Harley

I hated how unsettled he made me feel. How my body trembled, how anger, doubt, and flickers of fear bounced around my body like it was their playground. Yet, mixed in with all of that, there was an underlying buzz whenever I looked at him. Dark brown hair, that perfect fade on the side, and a fistful left wild on top. Short beard coating his squarish jawline. Mesmeric warm, light brown eyes. If he wasn’t scowling at me every time he laid eyes on me, he would be pure magic. Alas, he was scowling, so it bumped him down to seriously hot.

Still, there was a pull that seemed impossible to fight. The only way I could think of to beat it back, was to avoid him, but that was impossible since he was with me twenty-four seven. It left me with only choice I had to try and get a brief respite from the turmoil in me that came to life whenever he was near. And that was to sneak away. To have a few hours of normalcy so I could be able to feel something else. To feel free. To feel alive. It was essential for my lyrics, for my music. This past week all my songs turned dark, and dark was not me. The problem was, I was never successful in my escape.

I needed normalcy. I needed fun. I needed people. And I needed music.

The only other option was to take him with me.

I dove straight into the backseat of a car waiting at the hotel entrance already breathing a little bit easier. Just leaving the stuffy hotel room made the lyrics swim in my head and the notes whisper in my blood.

All of that came to a screeching halt as Carter slammed the door at the front seat. He turned and those cognac eyes trapped mine. “Where to?”