The Initiation (Darkness Within Duet 1)

He would keep them together at all costs. Even if it meant killing his father, he’d do it.

Chapter Eighteen

After the initiation, everything was normal.

For Harper, she felt like everyone was whispering about her and the guys. The rumors were there, but no one came out pointing. No one dared go against her guys even for a second. For the most part, Axel, Buck, Jett, and Draven didn’t change. Draven was the one who still kissed her in public, and claimed her as if she were his. Behind closed doors, the others would touch and kiss her.

Only when Draven gave them permission though, never any other time. It was always him. She truly believed all the guys got off on him being in charge, even though when his back was turned, they’d sneak in a kiss, and it would make her laugh at how they behaved. Draven knew though. He’d often wink back at her, and it always filled her with so much joy. All four of the guys gave her so much, and she only hoped that in return, she could give them everything their hearts desired.

Ian was a problem. The weekend she spent with the guys after the initiation, he did indeed call the cops, and he was the one to drive to the country house late Saturday night. No one else was around to see, but she saw the look in his eyes, the shock.

Above all else, she saw the fear.

They hadn’t talked about it, and for that, she was thankful. He always demanded that she stay home, and for the most part, she did. Draven would sneak into her bedroom window, or she’d sneak out of it.

She didn’t know why Ian tried to control her movements when he never said anything the following morning or evening when she finally returned.

“You’re staring long and hard into that window, and I’m not going to freak out because it’s a baby one,” Draven said.

Harper pulled out of her thoughts and stared into the baby shop window.

“You want to tell me something?” he asked, pulling her close and kissing her neck.

“No. Of course not. A baby would be crazy, right? Totally, insanely crazy. Besides, we’re careful.”

“We can never be too careful,” he said. “Protection doesn’t always work.”

“Sometimes, but for the most part, it does. I’m going to see the good in it.”

He chuckled. “The guys are causing a line at the burger stand.”

She glanced back to see that the line had gone from three to twenty people. “What are they doing?”

“Trying to decide what burger it is they want,” he said. “I never said I had normal friends.”

“No, you really don’t. You have crazy friends, the weirdest of the weird.”

He tugged her close and kissed her. “Then you’ve got to make us sane and normal.”

“Wow, I doubt I’m all that normal.”

“You’ll do for us.” He pulled her in close and kissed her lips.

“I’ve got to use the bathroom,” she said.

“I’ll come with you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, to the bathroom. I’m starving. Grab the guys and make them, I don’t know, stop being weird. I’ll go to the bathroom and then join you.”

“Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.” She kissed him again, stepping away.

She left Draven to deal with the order and went in search of the toilet. Entering the room, she saw two women at the sink, washing their hands and starting to reapply makeup.

She went into a cubicle. The women suddenly stopped talking, and she heard them leave.

Finished on the toilet, she left the bathroom and went to the sink. Staring down into the water, she washed her hands.

She looked up just as she was grabbed.

Before she could do anything, one of them had put a gag in her mouth to keep her silent and she was being pulled out of the toilet. A blow to the head, and she was lifted over his shoulder.

The blow startled her for a few seconds, the gag in her mouth making it impossible for her to do anything.

The men who had her didn’t go back near the food court. They took her to the parking lot and passed no one as they dumped her into the back of the van. The door closed, and they were pulling out of the parking lot. She tried to scream, but it was no good.

“The boss did say she had to be unharmed,” one of them said.

Her hands were tied behind her back, and she was on the truck floor.

Who was the boss? What the hell was going on? Nothing made any sense.

She tried to pull her hands away from the rope.

“Look, I don’t give a shit. She’s in one piece, but I’m not going to listen to her scream until we’re closer to him.”

They made no move to touch her, and she tried to fight. She could breathe, but she could barely move except for rolling around. She stopped trying to scream as it was useless. She’d need her voice for when they took off the gag.