Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(73)

“Fuck! That must be what Brian was talking about. He said his contact was going to do something to make Loretta want to sell.” Black was surprised at how fast everything was happening. Harlow had to be devastated.

“Yup,” Meat said. “Obviously, she knows she should’ve told us she’d been receiving offers before now. I could’ve already researched the potential buyers and possibly nipped all of this in the bud. Anyway, none of the offers really stand out at first glance. They’re all in the same ballpark and from known developers in the area. At this point, none seem to be from anyone who owns the buildings around her—which is weird when you consider someone wants to build apartments. But I’m looking deeper into that too. Because I have a feeling whoever’s been behind everything is right here in the palm of my hand. I just have to find him.”

“Good.”

“Oh—and she’s not here.”

“What? Who?”

“Harlow. She’s not here,” Meat said. “She met with Loretta for a while after lunch, then came downstairs looking as if the world was ending. I’m assuming she found out that Loretta is going to close the shelter.”

“Where is she?” Black barked, feeling sick. He couldn’t believe she’d left without texting him. He knew Bear wouldn’t be an issue, since he currently wasn’t in any shape to do much of anything, but he could’ve gotten ahold of his buddies.

“After she prepped dinner, she went home,” Meat said. “And yes, I escorted her to her car. There was no sign of those punks, not that I’m surprised. They’re probably too scared out of their skulls to even look at the shelter again.”

“Did you even try to get her to stay?” Black asked.

“No. Why would I? Is there something I need to know?”

Rather than getting into it with Meat—because the longer he stayed on the phone asking questions, the longer it would take to get to Harlow—he asked, “When did she leave?”

“About twenty minutes ago. She said she had a headache, and Loretta told her to go home, that she’d see her tomorrow.”

“I thought she had tomorrow off. Zoe is supposed to be back.”

“I don’t know, man. I’m just telling you what was said,” Meat informed him. “Loretta didn’t tell me anything about Zoe or Harlow, and I’ve had my head stuck in my laptop since I found out about her financial situation.”

“Damn. I’m going over there,” he said, worry swimming in his gut. “I need to talk to you again, though.”

“Go to Harlow,” Meat ordered.

He was already headed toward the kitchen for his keys. “I am. But you should know that I talked to Rex today too. He should be pulling his head out of his ass. He’s back on board.”

“Fucking fantastic,” Meat replied. “It’s about time. I’ve been buried, doing all the research shit for both of us.”

“Exactly. He’s supposed to be seeing if he can’t track down the identity of the mysterious contact. I’m not convinced he’ll find anything, but I’m guessing you’ll hear from him, so you can catch him up.”

“Will do,” Meat said. “We’ll touch base tomorrow. Watch your six.”

Black stopped in his tracks. If Meat was warning him to watch his ass, something was up. “Why? What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s just a feeling. The air feels heavy with anticipation. Something’s coming. And it ain’t good.”

Black nodded. He felt it too. He’d thought it was just because of what he’d done earlier that day. A part of coming down from the adrenaline rush that came with an interrogation. “You too,” Black told his friend.

“Of course. Ball’s coming over to relieve me later and will be staying the night.”

“Good. I’ll be in touch.”

“Ditto.”

Black clicked off the phone, grabbed his keys, and stuffed his wallet in his jeans pocket. Something was up with Harlow; she never left work early. He didn’t like being in the dark.

He also wished she hadn’t left the shelter without texting. He couldn’t get the idea out of his mind that Bear might’ve instructed his buddies to get some payback. He needed to see for himself that she was all right. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

Yes, he needed her positivity and happiness to chase away the shadows within him, but he had a greater need to make sure she was safe.

He dialed her number while heading to his car, waiting impatiently for her to answer, but it just rang and rang, then went to voice mail.

Even more worried now, Black jumped into his car. He was almost frantic to get to her place and see for himself that she was safe.

Not questioning his feelings anymore, and suspecting more and more that Gray was right, that Harlow was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, Black drove as fast as he dared to her apartment. It was time she knew exactly how he felt about her.





Chapter Twenty

Harlow had just sat down on her couch with a cup of tea when someone knocked on her door. She was tempted to ignore whoever it was, but the politeness her mom had taught her was too ingrained.

Sighing, she put her tea on the table next to the couch and stood.