Callum & Harper (26 page)

I didn’t listen, just kept right on threading my fingers. She slowly tried to apply lip gloss but I could tell her arms felt heavy and a deep, exciting blast of warmth shot through my legs and pooled in my stomach knowing I had that kind of effect on her. Her eyes drooped closed as she stood, then leaned back into me.

    “
Keep doing that and I’ll end up spending what’s supposed to be a fun night out in that bed instead,” she said, making me close my own eyes at the unintentional double meaning.
I wish
.

I started to run my hands over her shoulders but wasn’t able to stop them from running along her ribs and down to her hips, squeezing the bone. She let out a little gasp, her eyes still closed, the back of head resting on my shoulder, her mouth slightly open. I stared at her mouth and wished I could kiss her again the way I’d kissed her on our wedding day.
Run,
I told myself.

    “
Alright,” I barely spit out and left the room, practically sprinting to the bathroom.

Once inside, I ran the cold water in the sink and splashed my face and neck. I stood and looked at myself in the mirror.
How long are you going to be able to do this?
I flushed the toilet to make it seem like I was in there for a reason rather than trying to gain some semblance of composure. I heard a knock at the front door, then Harper making her way to the living room, then opening it.

    “
Callum! Charlie’s here!”
    “Tell him I’ll be right out!” I yelled through the door. I turned off the water, grabbed one of Harper’s ridiculous guest towels and wiped my face dry. A few drops landed on my t-shirt but it was dark and I hoped she wouldn’t notice. Charlie and Harper were laughing when I entered the living room.
    “Alrighty,” I said, trying to ignore the woman standing next to my best friend, my wife. “Let’s go.”
    The Ivories were amazing that night. At least, I think they were amazing. I couldn’t really concentrate because Harper was leaning against the bar top, facing the stage, talking to SO. They were just chatting. That didn’t bother me. What I cared about, was the punk on the opposite side of her that couldn’t keep his eyes to himself. Of course, Harper hadn’t noticed, too engrossed in whatever she was talking to SO about.
    I stood in a dark side of the room, watching her, like a freak. A cold shiver ran up my spine with no idea why. An ominous feeling crept through my veins.
Get a hold of yourself, Tate
. I clenched my hands in fists and released, over and over and over, pretending to watch the stage but every five seconds my eyes gravitated back toward her. She absently placed the back heel of her right leg on the foot rest behind her, making her left leg’s muscle tense under her shifting weight and the hem of her skirt rise a tiny bit. I wanted to fall on my knees in front of her and worship those legs.
    The punk’s eyes shifted to her thigh and I had to physically restrain myself from running over there and punching him in the face. Then he did the unspeakable. He turned toward her and tapped her shoulder. SO didn’t notice and I wanted to yell at him to intervene. She turned toward him with a sweet smile on her face. ‘Yes?’ She mouthed. He said something to her and she laughed, sending a jealous, coursing storm through my veins. He shifted closer to her and I made a move to break it up but she moved back from his invitation and into SO. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing SO would now intervene but a young blonde across the room had caught his attention and he was entranced.

Harper shook her head back and forth with the same smile still plastered across her face. She raised her left hand and showed him her ring. ‘Married’. She mouthed again.
Ugh! Good girl
! I felt my heart start to slow a little bit but pick right back up to ridiculous speed when the guy shoved her hand away and tried to push himself into her by her hip.

   
I’d had enough. I started shoving people as I made my way across the room to the bar. A few people shoved back but I didn’t care. They could follow me if they wanted to do something about it. SO had left the counter to talk to that girl, not noticing Harper’s predicament. By the time I reached her, Harper was frantically pawing at the guy to get him off of her.
    “Stop!” I heard her yell.
    Finally, I was within reach so I grabbed the guy and shoved him back.
    “Didn’t you hear my wife?” I asked him. “She told you to stop.”
Harper was wiping tears from her cheeks when she sidled up closely to me. I wrapped an arm around her waist.
    “Sorry, dude,” the guy said, throwing his hands in the air. He was drunk and could barely stand. He immediately noticed another girl he fancied and made his way over to her.
    “What an idiot,” she said laughing, trying to make light of the situation.
    “He was drunk,” I offered. “That was the only thing that prevented me from shoving him to the ground.” I thought twice and remembered how scared her face looked. I began to charge him again.
    “Don’t,” Harper said, flustered and pushing me back a little. “It’s not worth it. Come dance with me.”
    All anger dissipated at the look on her face. “Alright,” I said, cupping her cheeks and bending to kiss her forehead. We made it to the middle of the floor where the crowd watched Freddy sing one of their most popular songs. They were jumping and singing along, sweaty and red faced but happy. Harper and I sang along, jumping with the crowd. The floor was tight and Harper and I often bumped into one another. Her body was warm and soft and made me want to pick her up and wrap her legs around my hips in a searing kiss. I shook my head at the thought and found her staring at me, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, like she read every thought I’d just had. My face blushed furiously.
    “What?” I screamed, still jumping.
    “Oh, nothing!” She said and turned her attention back to Freddy.
I continued to watch her.

Something caught her attention in the corner. She furrowed her brows but she seemed to get over it quickly, turning her thoughts inward before snapping her head back to the corner. Her body seized before it begun to shake, making me stop.

    “
Harper?” I yelled in her ear. “What’s wrong, love?”
    “Go!” She said, turning toward me, pushing me, terror in her eyes. “Go! To the door!
Go
!”
I picked her body up and ran for the door, not caring who I hit.
    Once outside, I got my earlier wish but under very different circumstances as she climbed my body, sobbing hysterically, wrapping her legs around me.
    “Take me home,” she begged, her hands curled around my collar.
I tried to peel her off of me but she would have none of it, so I started walking with her wrapped around me. I didn’t care what people thought of us as they stared, bewildered.
    “What happened, Harper?”
    “John,” she whispered in my ear.
I stopped briefly before picking up my pace, practically running.
No! There’s no way he could have found us
!
It had to be a coincidence
, I thought.
    “How?” She cried into my neck. “How did he find me?”
    “I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “I have no idea. Maybe it was a coincidence.”
    “Nothing he does is a coincidence,” she whispered, afraid that if she spoke any higher, it’d make it more true.

We were pretty far away from the club now and her body had calmed down a bit so I set her back on the sidewalk. I looked around us, trying to decipher whether he was near or not. People littered the darkly lit sidewalks, talking, laughing, flirting but I could see no sign of John. The coast was clear so I decided we could hide in a nearby alley. Now, you’re asking yourself, is it really safe to hide in a dark alley at one in the morning in New York City? Yes, it is, if John Bell was the one chasing you. Those were chances you’d be willing to take.

Thankfully, we wouldn’t share the alley with anyone else so I quietly hid us behind a dumpster just in case John had followed. I pressed her body against the brick building behind her, sheltering her body with mine, ready to ask what he was wearing but I stopped when we heard someone shuffling softly through the alley. An eerie quiet cascaded around us, only the soft padding of feet was barely audible. I put my finger to my lips, signaling for her to be quiet. She nodded but I could feel her body tremble beneath mine.

“
Harper,” John sang. Tears began to spill down her cheeks. I slowly shook my head from side to side. “I know you’re around here somewhere. I can practically
smell
you,” he continued menacingly. “It’s taken me six months to find you, Harper and I’ve waited two years.” He paused, breathing hard. “You owe me,” he gritted harshly. “Just come out so I can look at that beautiful face of yours. I promise I won’t punish you too hard for going off with that asshole.”

He was inching the wall opposite the dumpster. He knew we were there. It was the only place to hide in the entire alley. ‘Run’ I mouthed to her followed by ‘Police’, remembering the mounted policemen outside the club and hoping she did as well. She shook her head, knowing I was staying to keep him from following her. I had no time to think of that. I gritted my teeth before pushing the dumpster his direction. She hesitated but I yelled for her to run and she miraculously obeyed me.

John immediately started chase as I threw my body into his and we went crashing into the brick. He was bigger than I was, had at least twenty pounds on me and was roughly four inches taller, too. I was at a size disadvantage but for some reason my strength was holding him, my desire to protect Harper stronger than his want to harm her. I just hoped it would stay him long enough for Harper to get help.

John wrapped his fingers around my throat and it wasn’t long before I could feel blood vessels in my eyes begin to burst. He was choking the life out of me and I knew I had to remove my body from his if I wanted to stay conscious. I let off a bit and he shoved me with a shoulder, hard into the chest, pushing me until my back and head slammed into the brick wall on the other side. I scrambled to push back but was weak from the lack of oxygen.

He wound his arm back, going in for a punch but I dodged it at the last second, making his hand hit the hard brick behind me. He wailed in pain and the rage built tenfold in his eyes. I could read the absolute evil this man possessed. It radiated off of him. I wanted nothing more than to get away, to avoid the taint. He grabbed my shirt at the shoulders with both hands, coiled his head back and brought it full force to mine, butting me and making me feel weak in the knees.

I surprised him by not passing out, making him chuckle. “What’s your name?” He asked.

I shook my spinning head and the added dizziness made me want to vomit. “I’ll never tell,” I said, swallowing. I wondered what was taking Harper so long. I was beginning to worry.

He smiled, reached into the back pocket of my jeans and removed my wallet before I could fully force myself on him to prevent it. I staggered toward him, dazed from the head butt and was too slow, forced to watch as he yanked my license from my wallet, taking away the only piece of protection we both had. Our anonymity. I fell to my knees, resting a shoulder against the wall, panting heavily, trying to keep the nausea down.

“
Callum Tate,” he purred. “I was so patient and now I’m one step closer to finding her.”

He was wrong. The address on that license was also hers but I wouldn’t be the one correcting him. The thought that he now knew our last name made me want to vomit for an entirely different reason. I shifted a knee up to have something to push on as I stood. I was beginning to gain control of myself again.

   
Once I was fully up, no longer needing to lean against the wall, I said, “John, you will never find her. Never.”
    “But I already have. I promised her I’d come for her. She’s such a stupid girl. She never believes me.” He sighed as if exasperated. “She makes it so difficult for herself.”
    “How?” Was all I could manage.
    He knew I meant ‘how did you find us’. “The Ivories trailer. I knew they were friends of yours. I went to every single concert, waiting, biding my time. It took several months but it paid off. Tonight.”
   
The trailer
.
    “Well, I’ve got to go,” he said, tossing my wallet and license to the concrete. “I’ll be seeing you around. Trust me, you’ll be seeing a lot of me around. Tell Harper I look forward to seeing her again. Tell her,” he said, smiling wickedly, “I’ll enjoy every single minute.”
Then he ran. And I chased, tried my damnedest, but he was too fast and I was too hazy to keep up. I could hear people shouting behind me and turned just in time to see Harper with policemen in tow heading toward the alley.
    “Over here!” I shouted. Harper turned direction toward me and the officers followed.
    “Oh my God, Callum! You’re bleeding!” She shouted as she reached me, running her hands over my bloody face. Her hand went to her mouth in a gasp. “Your eyes! What happened?” She asked, tears streaming down her face.
I removed my t-shirt to hold over the bleeding wound.
    “He got away,” I said stoically and in disbelief.

I had promised myself that if I ever saw that guy again it would be the last. I felt weak and pathetic. Next time,
I’d be prepared
. Harper and I gave statements over everything that happened. They took pictures of my head for evidence. I hadn’t glanced in a mirror since the attack and when I caught a glimpse of what he’d done in the photograph, I almost laughed. I looked like a hopped up serial killer. Blood ran down my face and my eyes were bloodshot, literally. Two red orbs stared back at me, letting me know just how serious John Bell really was.