We’ll find them, it just pisses me off to not be able to make Ezra pay for what he’d done to my woman. Harlow, after the side effects finally subsided, was able to rest and begin healing. She’d been going to the gym connected to the clubhouse to work on some of the equipment in order to gain her strength back. Shadow had even gotten in the ring with her to spar.
I didn’t like it at first; however, I knew about the night terrors she had. During this, she didn’t wake up, no she’d scream out. Sometimes they were due to what those girls did to her when she was thirteen, other times it was due to her time with Ezra. I realized she needed this as a way to release the demons swirling around in her head.
Shadow isn’t one to go easy on her, but he doesn’t ever hurt her. He knows she’s still regaining her strength, so he hasn’t given her his all.
Not yet that is.
This morning although is different. Something in my gut told me she needed more than he’s been giving to her. Standing on the sidelines, arms crossed over my chest, I watch as my woman seems to be unleashing the fury she’s held deep inside her. Harlow becomes ruthless in the ring and begins to go harder than she’s gone in the past two months. The fire in her green eyes I’ve always seen in her shines brighter than it ever has.
“She’s tormented at night.” I take my gaze off Harlow to look at Raven as she stands next to me holding Mark in her arms.
“I know she is, night terrors,” I say in agreement.
“Yep, but there’s something else. What she’s fighting I don’t think Shadow can help her with. I think you might need to be the one in there with her. Sometimes only the one who holds our heart can fight back what’s messing with our heads,” Raven states, nodding toward Harlow who was swinging at Shadow.
Without another thought, I leave Raven standing where she is and step up to the ring. I climb up and slide between the ropes, “Shadow, go ahead and let up, I’ll take it from here, brother.”
“You sure?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I nod, remove my shirt and focus on my woman who was breathing heavily. “Do me a favor will you, brother. Have everyone clear out of here and stay away from the gym no matter what they hear.”
Shadow’s gaze narrows but he doesn’t question me, instead he nods and leaves the room whistling to a couple of my brothers to get their attention. “Let’s give our brother some privacy,” he yells out.
Raven gives me a small smile and nods her head, turns and follows the rest of the guys out of the gym. Once the door slams closed, I give Harlow my undivided attention. “Alright, baby, it’s you and me in here. Give me the fury inside you,” I order.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she says breathlessly.
“You won’t, Harlow. Now give it to me. Is this about the dreams you’re having at night?” I demand gaining a glare from her. “I know you have nightmares, baby. I hear you fighting them every fuckin’ night.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denies.
“Harlow, I fuckin’ do. I sleep in the same damn bed as you, hold you while you cry, scream, and fight in your sleep. Now give me what you need to get out,” I say circling my woman. “You made a promise to let me carry the fury inside you and it’s time you give it over. I want it and I want you to live in the light without the pain of it all consuming you.”
“Ranger, please,” Harlow mutters, diverting her gaze from mine as she turns away from me.
“No, Harlow. I have watched you over the past two months. I have seen it inside you. I have allowed this up until now. But this morning something’s different and you’re going to give it to me even if that means I take it from you.” Advancing on Harlow, I get directly in her space, reaching up I wrap my fingers in her soft black hair gripping the back of her head.
Harlow’s eyes close, her breathing becomes almost nonexistent almost as if she were memorizing my touch.
“I can’t do this,” she finally whispers, opening her eyes she looks up to meet my gaze. Tears shimmer ready to fall.
“What can’t you do?’ I demand already having a feeling of what she’s about to say.
“This. Being normal.”
“Baby, you’re not normal and no one expects you to fuckin’ be. I sure as hell don’t.” And I didn’t if she were normal, she wouldn’t be my Harlow. The woman who had drawn my attention like no other from the first time I saw her.
“You say that now,” she mutters, placing her hands on my chest and pushing away from me.
I reach out and grab her upper arm as she goes to turn from me.
“Told you, baby, this shit isn’t happening. Now fuckin’ give it to me,” I snarl, growing frustrated by her stubbornness.
Harlow narrows her gaze once again, but this time she does it attacking me. With each blow she throws my way, I block. While doing this, I do the one thing I can think of that may push her completely over the edge.
Bring up the past.
Every little bit of it.
The stuff she screams about in her sleep.
What happened when she lost her dad. What those girls did to her, beating her, sheering her hair, cutting her face with a pair of scissors. What happened when she made her first kill when she was sixteen. I also brought up the girl who started her on the last job that in the end got her kidnapped. I bring up every little thing I can and as I do Harlow’s fight becomes more erratic as she
