His type didn’t want help, and they certainly would never admit to needing it. His rage fueled him and drove his ambition. Anything or anyone in his path would become a casualty.
Harrison was lethal on every imaginable level. Yet I couldn’t help being intrigued. What had made him so bitter and angry that he was prepared to sacrifice his own life in order to correct what he considered the wrongs of the world?
The psychologist in me had to know. After graduating, I’d never had the opportunity to practice in my field, because I spent a good portion of my life looking after my mother when she became ill with cancer. Yet I kept reading about cases and stayed up to date on the latest research.
After many years of her suffering, my mother’s death shook me hard. But what really drove me to want to learn more about human behavior was learning of my father’s infidelity. I needed to understand why people acted the way they did, what made them tick. And although I tried to never categorize a person, there were certain traits that were undeniable. Endlessly fascinated by human behavior, I studied humans the same way other people studied rocks and rainforests and extinct species. With fascination.
The ringing of my phone jerked me out of my thoughts. I checked the name on the screen. Ryder? But he’s in New York? “Hello.”
“Hey, Eva. Just wanted to find out if you were okay after what happened the other night. And to thank you for stepping in and handling the situation. It means a lot to Jade. And to me.” His voice was sincere and heartfelt.
“Somebody had to cool you guys off. It looked like you were about to kill one another with your stares alone.”
“Yeah. Not that I’m surprised by Summers’ reaction to me. But fuck him if he thinks he’s going to win. Has he called you to apologize? ”
“Nope.”
Disappointment washed over me. Every day that had passed, I'd hoped Harrison would ring me again. But after I’d walked away from the coffee meeting, he hadn’t called. I couldn’t understand why I was so damn let down. Maybe he didn’t find me attractive after all.
“Eva, I know you’re a smart woman, and I’d never try to tell you what to do . . . but,” Ryder hesitated for a few beats, “that man is trouble. Dangerous. Deadly. Stay away from him. I'm serious. I saw the way he was looking at you with lust in his eyes—”
“Really? You saw lust?” I said. So I hadn’t imagined it, if Ryder saw it too. At least I wasn’t crazy.
Ryder chuckled. “You’re a very desirable woman, Eva. You deserve a good man. And Summers . . . well . . . besides his intense hatred of bikers, I think he got dropped on the head as a baby, because he’s the craziest motherfucker I’ve ever met. And I know crazy.”
Laughing out loud, I had to agree with Ryder. “That dude is beyond intense. Poor Jade; I actually feel sorry for her. He’s trying to run her life.”
“Yeah. He is. All in the name of brotherly love. But I think it's because the fucker doesn’t understand what the hell love is. I must admit, I was fucking clueless until I met Jade. The love of a good woman can change a man. Maybe Summers needs to get lucky.”
I sucked in a breath. “Harrison isn’t attached to anyone, is he?”
The bit of digging I’d done about Harrison on Google had come to nothing. The only information I could find was when I searched Jade’s name. I found an article about the brother and sister witnessing a shootout between cops and a gang, but since that happened a decade ago, I doubted it was relevant. Other than that, I couldn’t find any skeletons. The only other news was about Jade joining her father’s firm and her recent broken engagement to an up-and-coming lawyer. That did shock me—she must have known Ryder at the time. Was my brother responsible for the breakup? Was that why Harrison hated him so much? There was so much I still wanted to know about these people that had just recently entered my life.
“No. I don’t think there’s a woman on earth who could unchain that motherfucker’s heart. He’s so screwed, tied to his fucked up past, that he’s never going to find someone to mend him.”
“What? Why do you say that?”
“Let’s just say the man has one goal in life only: to get revenge using whatever means he can. That’s it.” He paused, then as if he could read my thoughts, he warned me, with a stern tone to his voice. “Stay away, Eva. If you know what’s good for you. I mean it.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “Yes, of course. I was just curious, that’s all. I don’t want to be in his path. It sounds like one of self-destruction. I know better than that.”