Make Me (Sterling Shore Series #10)(49)

"I need in! My daughter is in there! I need to see her!" a woman shouts, sounding drunk and sloppy.

Briefly, my eyes flick to a face in the crowd that shouldn't be here.

Jessie Hughes.

I personally revoked her invitation. Doesn't mean she couldn't have come as someone's date though.

Right beside her is Tasha Landcaster, her eyes dancing with something sinister.



       
         
       
        

They're smirking in our direction as Harley turns to stone in my arms.

When I look down, I expect her eyes to be on them, but they're not. They're staring at a woman that security is wrestling to the floor. A woman in a blue shirt and black jeans. A woman … with blonde hair and similar curves.

"Harley!" the woman shouts, holding her hand out. "They said you'd be here. You wouldn't answer your phone!"

Harley sways, but I keep her in my arms as a hushed silence falls over the entire party, with the exception of the wailing drunk woman still being wrangled by security as they take painstaking measures to not hurt her.

"He kicked me out. I can't go back unless I have monies!" the woman sobs. "You have to give me monies!"

She came here for money?

Harley looks pale, her eyes darting around the room, seeing everyone's gaze fixed on her and the lush who's sobbing wildly on the floor. Several soft, mocking snickers escape through the hands trying to muffle them.

"I need him," the woman goes on. "And I ain't got nowhere else to go if you don't give me the monies."

Harley curses, her entire face and neck a dark shade of red as more laughter slips out of the bystanders. She pushes my arms away as she goes to the woman, but I'm right beside her.

I see her eyes cast down toward the floor, like she can't stomach looking around at everyone staring at us. My eyes narrow on Jessie and Tasha. Somehow, they played a part in this. I can see it in their smirks.

Suddenly I hear, "Shake that ass, bitch, let me see what you got," start blaring, drowning out the dramatic sobs, and my eyes snap over to see Maverick holding his phone over his head with both hands like it's a nineties boom-box.

There's only one reason that song ever plays …

He winks at me as Corbin mouths something that looks like a curse, turns a precarious shade of red, then glares at Ruby. Then Corbin turns around, slides his hands to his knees and … twerks like there's a girls-gone-wild trophy on the line.

All eyes swing to him, no longer interested in the woman on the ground when there's a Sterling twerking in a tux for no apparent reason.

I really fucking love his weird relationship with Ruby right now, and I owe Maverick for exploiting it.

"Let me get her," I say to Harley, stepping by her to lift her mother.

Harley's downcast eyes still don't meet mine or anyone else's.

Her mother is sobbing and thrashing wildly for a brief second until I have her in my arms.

"You're so handsome," she finally says as I start carrying her through the throngs of people, who are all too busy gawking at the train wreck that is my cousin shaking his ass like a professional stripper. 

We make it outside, and the valet scrambles to go collect my car, but a dark sedan pulls up, and a familiar man gets out and runs around to the back door before the valet returns.

"Everything okay?" he asks Harley, concerned.

"Can you help get my mother into the car, George?" she asks with a strained voice, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Harley!" Rain and Tria's voice has Harley turning and grimacing. "Are you okay?"

Harley just nods absently as George and I put her mother into the back seat.

"I should go," Harley tells me tightly, as my car arrives.

"We'll come with you," Tria says, walking toward the car.

"Please don't. I need to handle this," Harley says, swallowing like she's choking back emotion.

They look at the woman singing in the back of the car, so drunk she can't even sit up, and they tighten their lips as their gaze shifts to Harley again.

"Call us later and we'll come over."

Just as they start to go back in, I grab Rain's wrist. "Jessie Hughes and Tasha Landcaster-get them the fuck out of there. And make it a humiliating experience."

Rain's darkest grin emerges. "Happily."

Harley is trying to get into the front seat by George when I turn back around. I grab her hand, pulling her away, and ignoring the confusion on her face.

"I'll drive Harley," I tell George, who looks at Harley for confirmation.

I don't give her time to object as I start pulling her along behind me.

"Dale, I need to-"

"Get in the car, Harley," I say, opening the passenger door of my car for her as the valet hands me my keys.

I absently hand him a tip as I keep my eyes on Harley, who won't meet my eyes.

She blows out a breath before getting in, apparently not willing to argue in front of people, thankfully. I shut the door and head to my side, and we follow George in silence back to her house.

Harley stares out the window the entire time, her shoulders down in defeat as we pull into her driveway. She gets out without looking back, and I get out too, going to George's car.

He helps me drag the woman out, and I bend, tossing her over my shoulder, then stand to my full height to start walking her in.

"Need any more help?" George asks me, but I shake my head.

"I've got it from here," I tell him, looking up as Harley disappears into her house.

The woman on my shoulder grunts as I walk quickly through the door that's been left open, and I kick it shut behind me.

As I deposit the drunken woman onto the couch, I look around, searching for Harley.

"I need monies," the woman mumbles, her glossy eyes opening again.

"You need coffee," I retort.

"He loves me," she says, her lip trembling as she moves on from my comment like I didn't make it. "He only kicked me out because Harley wouldn't give us more monies. She's got so much of it. Why wouldn't she just-"

"That house is yours. Not his," Harley says as she walks in, holding a cup of what I assume is coffee, her eyes dead and her tone flat. "He can't kick you out. I've already messaged Vivica and the police will have him out of there within the hour."

The woman jackknifes up into the seated position, eyes wide as she gawks at Harley in horror, refusing to take the coffee.

"I love him! You can't do that! He'll never forgive me!"

"I don't really care if he forgives you or if you love him," Harley says coldly, still refusing to look at me as she puts the coffee on the table beside her mother.



       
         
       
        

Sadly, I'm starting to understand just how badly I fucked up, because I'm finally getting a glimpse into what Harley's life has been like. I understand that cycle she was referring to now.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

"All we need is the monies!" the woman shouts, outraged as she starts sobbing again. "You don't need all that monies!"

I take a step back, unsure if I should interfere or not. I know what the hell I'd like to tell her mother.

"I'm not paying for one of your guys. You know this. He's just using you, Mom. You'll be fine in a few weeks. You always are. You'll find another weasel who wants to live off you-off me-for a while. And you'll love him too."

She picks up the coffee again, and tries to hand it to the woman, but the bitch slaps it out of Harley's hand. The cup shatters and the coffee sprays everywhere on the floor, but Harley doesn't even glance at it.

"How'd you find me?" she asks, but I know the answer to that question.

"A mother should know where her daughter lives! You're a wicked girl, Harley. You're a greedy, wicked girl," she says, sobbing harder as she rolls over on the couch.

I was cheated on. I was embarrassed. I've been kicked in the nuts. I've been used by women wanting to climb the Sterling chain. And I've been mocked by women.

But I've never in my life wanted to physically harm a woman.

Until now.

Harley just rolls her eyes, acting unaffected as she goes to grab a towel and tosses it down to the floor to soak up the coffee.

Maybe she doesn't even know how much this bitch has affected her. She's been too focused on her father's influence to notice just how deep this woman has touched her.

And now I know what I have to do.





Chapter 48



HARLEY



Humiliated and ashamed, I refuse to meet Dale's eyes that keep tracking all my movements. No doubt my father, my stepmother, my stepsister, or all three had a hand in my mother finding my location.

It's too coincidental she showed up at the Sterling Gala.

My mother barely knows how to use a computer to shop online. She still wonders what "The Google" is. She didn't get on there and find out my business headquarters is here.

She doesn't read articles about me that would have said as much.

No. The only reasoning is as stated.

This was payback.

"Harley, I need-"

"You need money. I heard you the first forty times. Shut up and go to sleep," I say with no emotion as I turn and finally face Dale. I still can't look him in the eye though, so I focus on his chest. 

"Thank you for your help, but I've got it from here. I need to make arrangements to get her back home."