Pretend You're Mine(101)

“I hate to say it, but Harper, you know what you have to do,” Ty said.

“I don’t want to,” she shook her head. “He’s going to think it’s my fault and be very upset.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Dial. Now.” Ty handed Harper her cellphone.

“It’s 2 a.m. here,” she tried again.

“Nice try. They’re eight hours ahead of us. Do it or I will, and you know that’ll piss him off even more.”

Grumbling, she took the phone and opened her video chat app. He’d want to see everything rather than just take her word for it. So she might as well get it over with.

Luke answered immediately.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“How do you know something’s wrong.”

“It’s 2 a.m.”

Ty crossed his arms and Harper frowned at him. She stalked out of the living room and into the dining room.

“Harper, why are there people in the house at 2 a.m. and what the hell happened to our window? Are you okay? Why do you have a bandage on your chin?”

Harper brought her fingers to her jaw. “Okay, so everyone is fine. No one got hurt. But there was a little incident here. Glenn got out of jail and broke in here tonight and smashed some stuff up until Lola bit him and then Gloria cold-cocked him with your cast iron pan.”

Luke’s face went white and she saw him take a deep, steadying breath.

“Everyone’s okay. Lola was checked out by a vet and none of the rest of us have more than a scratch.”

He was holding the laptop with both hands and Harper was worried he was about to snap the monitor off.

“Ty,” she yelled over her shoulder. “I think you need to talk him down.”

Ty, cop face on, took the phone from her.

“Everyone’s fine —” he started.

“What the fuck happened there?”

Harper ducked into the hallway and let Ty deal with it.

Once Luke stopped yelling she only caught snippets of the conversation, including “knife” and “duct tape.”

Their conversation lasted several minutes, and when Harper saw Ty panning over the damage to the window and front door, she hoped Luke was calm enough to talk.

She poked her head back in the dining room. “Is he okay to talk to me?” she whispered.

Ty nodded. “I’m gonna turn you back to Harper now. Please don’t freak out on her. She’s had a rough enough night.”

Harper took the phone back.

Luke took a deep breath. “Hi.”

“Hi. I’m really sorry, Luke.”

“Baby, you didn’t do anything to be sorry about. You did everything right. I’m just having a hard time with all the what-ifs right now.”

“Lola and Gloria were incredible.”

“Ty said that fucker put a knife to your throat.” His voice was controlled rage.

“It’s kind of a blur.”

“I could have lost you.” Pain and helplessness made his throat tight, his tone harsh.

“It wasn’t that close. I think he was just trying to scare me.”

Luke scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to go upstairs and take every piece of clothing off so I can see for myself if you’re hurt. Then we’re going to talk about how many armed guards I’m posting in the house until I come home.”

Harper laughed. “God I miss you.”

“Yeah, you think I’m joking. Get your ass upstairs.”

***

The next morning, Harper couldn’t feel her legs when she woke up. Briefly fearing paralysis, she opened her eyes and discovered the culprit was two sleeping dogs draped across her lower body. The crick in her neck told her it had been a really bad idea to sleep on the floor.

She sat up and surveyed the room. Aldo and Gloria were sound asleep spooning on the couch. Ty and Sophie were jammed onto the loveseat, recliners extended. On her right, Hannah and Finn snuggled under Finn’s sleeping bag. James was sprawled at her feet, half on Lola’s dog bed.

He had arrived at 3 a.m., presumably after his mother called him to tell him about the break-in.

Everyone was safe. The danger of the night was behind them. Harper shivered as she remembered the glint on the blade against her skin.

She was safe now. With her extended, hand-picked family.

Harper wriggled out from under Max and Lola, who grumbled in their sleep, and tiptoed into the kitchen.

It was 8 a.m., the perfect time to start a gigantic breakfast.

She pulled the packs of bacon from the freezer and tossed them in the microwave for a quick defrost. Thanks to Claire’s chickens, she had two-dozen eggs in the fridge.

She started a full pot of coffee.

She was glad Ty had made her call Luke. Just seeing his face, hearing that familiar voice made her feel safer. Luke had surveyed her bruises and scrapes and — satisfied she wasn’t hiding a life-threatening injury — made her swear she wouldn’t get so much as a hangnail for the rest of the summer. Harper was happy to promise.