Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(64)

“Fuck, spit it out already,” Black growled.

“What if that was Harlow?” Gray’s eyes were knowing as he looked at Black. “What if the roles were reversed, and it was Harlow who was in the middle of the ocean, and you rescued her and then had to leave her behind?”

“It wasn’t,” Black said, a sick feeling in his gut.

“But it could’ve been. What if it was Harlow we found in that hut in Santo Domingo? What if her brother was trying to kill her? Would you be as blasé about her as you are right now? Would she be just another woman we’ve rescued?” Gray asked.

“I’ve known Harlow a long time,” Black countered. “She’s not a stranger. It’s different.”

“Is it? You’re normally a protective man, Black,” Gray continued. “We’ve all seen it. But not like this. Not like you are with her. Hell, you can’t even walk by her without touching her. On the shoulder, on the hand, something. Can you honestly stand here and tell us that you’d be okay with dating her for a while, then letting her go her own way?”

“I can’t answer that because we’ve only just begun seeing each other. That’s like me asking if you think you’ll ever break up with Allye. It’s not a fair question,” Black protested.

“You can make up whatever excuse you want, but that’s all they are. Excuses. Look, what’s wrong with wanting more? Why are you going into a relationship thinking it’ll end? Why don’t you just see where things might go?”

Black took another sip of his beer and thought about Gray’s question. It wasn’t as if he wanted things to end with Harlow. It was just . . . they always ended. He got bored. The woman got clingy. Something about her got on his nerves. It was just a fact that he’d rarely lasted longer than a few months in a relationship. There was a reason his friends compared him to the iconic Seinfeld character.

But . . . it had already been almost a month and a half with Harlow. Granted, their relationship hadn’t exactly been “normal,” but he’d spent a lot of time with her, and his interest had only increased. He’d gone out of his way to plan things for them to do together that he knew she’d enjoy. While he wanted her, all of her, most of the time that wasn’t his end goal when he spent time with her. He liked being around her. Liked watching her interact with the others at the shelter. Liked making her laugh.

“I see it’s sinking in,” Ro said cheekily.

“Fuck off,” Black mumbled.

The other men smirked.

“And if you ever ask me to picture Harlow in any other fucked-up situation we’ve been in, or suggest that she’ll ever be in a situation like the ones we rescue women from on a regular basis, I’ll kick your ass. All of you,” Black warned.

“Told you,” Gray said, speaking to Ro and Arrow. “He’s over-the-top protective . . . just like I was with Allye, like you were with Morgan, and you with Chloe.”

“Fine. Thinking about Harlow being in danger makes me want to hurt somebody. Which is why we need to get this Brian guy and shut this shit down now,” Black said. Then he proceeded to tell them about what Brian and his friends had said as he and Harlow were leaving the shelter that afternoon.

“Rex still doesn’t see any reason for us to pick up Brian,” Arrow said.

“He’s wrong,” Black said flatly. “I don’t know what’s going on with him, but he’s distracted. Meat said he had to ask him twice for the additional information he’d gathered about Wyatt Newton. And that’s not like Rex.”

“Has he gotten back to Meat with the background check on Edward? Or Loretta?” Ro asked.

“Not that I know of. I don’t like this,” Gray said. “I’m with Black. I know he’s anxious because he wants to protect Harlow, but we’ve got a bunch of nothing as far as this case is concerned. So we’ll pick up Brian and see what we can find out. And we’ll tell Rex what we did after it’s done, and after we have the information we need. But Black, you have to stay in control,” Gray warned. “I know you want to kick this guy’s ass, and you can do your thing and threaten him and make him think he’s never gonna see the light of day again . . . but you know you can’t kill him, right?”

Black sighed as he walked over to the sink and poured out the rest of his beer. “I know,” he said grudgingly. “I’m pissed at him, but I’m not an idiot. The last thing we need is our shit blowing back onto the ladies at the shelter. But if he starts spouting off about Harlow, you guys need to make sure I don’t go too far.”

“You know we will,” Arrow said.

“Of course,” Ro agreed.

“We’ve got your back,” Gray said. “No one disses one of our women and gets away with it unscathed.”

Black wanted to protest the “our women” thing in regard to Harlow, but since he was trying to be honest with himself . . . he admitted that it felt right.

Harlow was his. Maybe not forever. Maybe just until she came to her senses and figured out he was far from perfect.

But he silently hoped that she’d be his for a hell of a long time.



“So . . . you and Black, huh?” Morgan asked.

Harlow smiled shyly at her new friends. She’d been nervous to hang out with them because they all seemed way more put together and sophisticated than she was. Allye was a beautiful dancer, Chloe was a gazillionaire, and Morgan was . . . well, she was the strongest woman Harlow had ever met. Chloe and Allye had been through some tough shit, but knowing what Morgan had survived amazed her.