Separately Together

Chapter Ten: 2/2

"Somethings off ..." I look around the parking lot feeling the familiar feeling of someone watching me. The gaze burned into my skin embedding itself under the tissue, and leaking into my soul. He was here.

"What do you mean?" I glance at Harley, almost forgetting he was here for a minute. Oh, thank God. I'm not alone, he couldn't hurt me. I will repeat this in my head over and over again.

He can't hurt me.

He can't hurt me.

"I don't know how to explain it but something's off ..." The last thing I wanted to do was let Harley Walker see any more of the raw truth behind my problems. It wasn't his job to, 'burn the world' down for me. He would only burn himself the deeper he saw into my head.

"Do you want me to go inside and then come back and get you?" There was no way I was going to let him leave me here by myself. He was here I can feel him watching me. I'm not giving him the opportunity he's waiting on. He wants me alone, vulnerable. He could get whatever he wanted with his biker friends. Would they try to get me with Harley here? Was it worth the risk? I did lock their leader up for nearly three years. Surely, they weren't going to let that slide.

"No. We'll go together." Was I walking Harley into a trap? I could never forgive myself if I got him hurt by my past.

We both got out of his truck that we rode to the wedding in, 'saving gas' he had said.

I bumped into his back a couple of times scared that if I was too far away from him that Vickers would scoop me up and do what he wills with me. "You, okay?" He asked as I bumped into him once again on the way up the stairs to my apartment.

"Fine." It was the only word I could force between my parched lips.

When we got close enough to see my door it was left standing open, and I grabbed onto his forearm and pulled him to me. "Let's go," I whispered but he heard me clear as day. His eyebrows pulled in confusion, trying to decipher what had me so shaken. He stood there for a moment more glancing from me to my broke-in apartment. A frown creased his lips, seeing something he didn't like in my eyes.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." He declared with finality. I knew he meant what he said but how could he protect me from a biker gang out for my blood? How could he keep me safe from more than a dozen men? Harley was a force to be reckoned with but that wasn't possible even for him. It wasn't physically possible. On top of all of that, it wasn't his responsibility to stick his neck out for me.

I tug harder on his forearm and seeing how panicked I was, he started to follow me but by the time we got back to the bottom of the stairs, two men were standing there. One was as tall as my brother, his vest resting against his bare chest. It read, Forefathers. Vickers gang brand. A bat slung over his shoulder; it was already stained with the blood of a previous victim.

The man standing beside him was lightly shorter but for what he lacked in height he made up for in bulk. He had brass knuckles that he tightened his grip on. The same vest lining his chest, like a symbol of my demise. "If you two don't want trouble, I suggest you let us by." Harley's voice was deadly, sending chills down my spine. Only a lunatic would dare not obey his command, but anyone crazy enough to join the Forefathers should have been in mental houses a long time ago.

Harley pushed me behind him entirely. His broad shoulders covered almost all of the view in front of us.

"Just hand her over ... "The tall one bites out with a snarl, but his voice wasn't as nearly as intimidating as Harley's. It almost sounded forced like he was trying to deepen it to match up with Harley's natural rasp.

Harley loosened his tie and took it off. What was he doing?

He unbuttoned the first four buttons before exposing that tattoo, I had seen all too many months ago when he was standing shirtless in the guest bedroom we shared. The two men's eyes went wide, and they started stuttering out apologies. Whatever the tattoo symbolized scared the two men so badly that they were shaking.