Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

“Actually, I want you to go and pick her up. I think it’s only fair. I’ll be waiting for you.” Draven hung up his cell phone and texted Axel the number that would help them locate her.

He sat back in his chair, and still, he held the number in his fist.

Putting his legs up on the desk, he smiled. When he got her back, Harper was in for a rude awakening. He was going to make her wish she’d never left Stonewall, and when he was finished, he was going to bury her right next to her mother.

Revenge was a dish best served cold.

In ten years, he’d not gotten over her betrayal.

He’d asked her to never run away, to come to him, and she’d ignored what he wanted, and now, he was going to get the payback he deserved.

Chapter Three

“My mom wants us to go to her place this weekend and to eat cake,” Ethan said.

Harper frowned. “Why?”

“It’s what engaged couples do.”

“They eat cake?” She rolled her eyes, pulling out the money the guy needed for her lunch. She was on the phone to Ethan as he was talking about the benefits of heading home, not to the apartment, but to his small town.

“Yes. We’ve got to pick what flavor we want for our cake, and the frosting. It’s a big thing.”

“I’m not much of a cake person. You pick it.”

“Honey, this is something we do together.”

Not when you’ve got four other men’s names printed on your back.

“You want me to help pick out cake. You do know I’m supposed to pretend to be on a diet right now.”

Ethan laughed. “Baby, I love you the way you are.”

After she left Stonewall, she’d lost weight.

She did skip meals often, and eating, when thinking about all that she lost, it didn’t exactly give her an appetite. In the past few years she had put some weight back on, rounding her hips and stomach once again. Whenever she looked at herself in the mirror, she always thought about those girls. The ones that wouldn’t get a choice in their life anymore.

“Then we’ll go and eat cake. I’ve got to go. Bye.”

She didn’t give him a chance to say he loved her.

“A future bride should look a lot happier than you are,” the man behind the burger stand said.

“Yeah, well, weddings don’t exactly thrill me.”

“Tell your boyfriend you don’t love him and save yourselves both a lot of money and pain.”

She took her change as well as hers and Stephanie’s lunches.

There was no witty retort that came to her, and rather than keep the rest of the people in the line waiting, she turned on her heel and walked away.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she walked back toward the shop.

She noticed the car, once again waiting. Stephanie had looked so happy this morning. She said her boyfriend had made a rare appearance last night, and it would seem he was back.

Entering the shop, she saw the Closed sign had been put into place. The moans coming from the back of the shop, in Stephanie’s office, let her know that her boyfriend was very much making up for lost time.

“I’ve got food,” Harper said, shouting as loud as she could to be heard.

Stephanie let out a chuckle, and there was a masculine groan.

“I’ll be right out.”

Harper sat on the stool, waiting. She opened up her burger and took a large bite. She was staring out of her window, when someone cleared their threat.

She smiled at Stephanie.

“I’m so pleased you came back in time. Harper, I would love for you to meet Jett Henry.”

Harper’s smile dropped as she looked over Stephanie’s shoulder. The man behind her was not the Jett she knew from ten years ago.

No, the man behind her, with a half-scarred face, was Axel Cook.

“You know, Harper knew a Jett from her school. Do you two know each other?” Stephanie asked.

Harper felt a little dizzy. Remembering she had to chew her food, she started to do so, vigorously. This was really bad. She felt sick to her stomach. The food in her mouth no longer appealed.

“I’m sure Jett is a common name.”

Axel was in the shop.

Right in front of her.

She’d recognize him anywhere, even with the scars. They stood out, but it also enhanced the side of his face that wasn’t scarred. How beautiful he was.

Axel had always been good-looking. To some women, he’d been the best-looking guy of the four of them.

Her heart started to race, and her hands shook.

“I need to use the bathroom,” Harper said.

Getting to her feet, she heard the concern in Stephanie’s voice. She stood in the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

She was white as a ghost.

Her past was back.

With Stephanie’s back to him, he’d looked fucking pissed. The ten years apart had clearly made him angry. Axel was angry at her, and she imagined so were the other three.