Impulsion: A Station 32 Fire Men Novel (14 page)

Ava’s eyes started to water, but she nodded. Wyatt picked up his bags and made his way down the stairs, hoping his mother would be there to see them off. He could tell this was not her idea, that she was worried. Anytime anything bothered her, she kept her distance, and she had done just that recently.

She never even acknowledged what he had seen when he went to find Harley. He wanted her to, he wanted her to tell him that he saw it wrong, to explain a woman’s mind to him somehow, but she didn’t. Which all but destroyed any hope Wyatt might have had that his anger had stripped from him something obvious that he should be seeing. This wild adventure before him was his only hope to get his life back on track.

Harley didn’t think it was possible for her body to cry another tear, not after that first month away from Wyatt. Not after waking up every single night from a vivid dream of him, the kind where she could smell the leather, the earth, the mix of spices, where she could hear his voice, hear him tell her, “You’re safe.”

Her father didn’t speak a word to her for weeks after she left Willowhaven. Her mother did
—from the moment Harley boarded the plane home to New York, her mother began to recite her ultimate threat, the threat that said that if Harley dared to speak to Wyatt or any Doran again, she would not only ensure that every horseman with any class saw them as worthless trash, but also sue them for everything and anything under the sun, with the sole purpose of bankrupting them. She even swore to Harley that if she pushed hard enough, she would find a way to prosecute Wyatt for something.

Harley was sure her father had heard some, if not all, of that threat, and he never bothered to rebut it. The first word he said to her was ‘Hi,’ in a raspy tone, and that was in the ICU; he’d had a heart attack. Harley blamed herself for it, thought the stress of what she’d put him through caused it. Her mother was sure to back up that point with every glare, every sly comment.

Months later, he still wasn’t well enough to travel. Harley tried to use that as an excuse not to have her birthday celebration states away, but he had told her that she deserved the party her mother had planned for her, even if it was wrapped around some political charity event.

Harley masked a trained smile, played the part her mother wanted her to, knowing the threat of how brutally she could destroy the life of the only people that made her feel normal was still in the air, that the risk of her father enduring any ounce of stress could be fatal.

Her mother had placed her with a cunning chaperone, an advanced business law student named Collin Grant. If Harley had a friend her age in this world, it was him. Collin saw the scam, the stage their mothers stood on, the one they wanted them to stand on.

In public, he played his part to perfection. He looked like he was born for that life, but the thing was that it was a joke to him, literally. Anytime he had been Harley’s escort in the past, as they walked in any room, under his breath he sounded like a radio announcer calling the plays, making fun of the skeletons in everyone’s closet that they all thought were secret, what plastic surgeries they had, who they were sleeping with, who was really broke, you name it. His banter would always bring forth a natural smile to Harley, make her relax a little, help her get through whatever her mother was forcing her to attend.

Collin and Harley’s fathers were old friends, so in a way they had grown up side-by-side, even had a few vacations together. There was nothing between them but friendship.

When she laid eyes on Wyatt, when she saw him move across the lobby, every tense muscle in her body relaxed and managed to swim with adrenaline at the same time. She felt herself breathe, the nightmare of the last few months fading
. She would have sworn under oath she felt the Earth move.

She was frozen in place, registering the events seconds after they happened. Harley barely caught the brush off comment her mother gave to Collin about how Harley had met more than a few people at all of her charity events, how it was dangerous to care so much but her Harley was a brave one.

Upstairs, once Harley made it to her room she rushed to her window, looking in every direction for Wyatt. She couldn’t see a thing, the wide balcony shielded most of the parking lot, and what she could see was too far away to distinguish.

Her mother came charging in her room, jerked the drapes closed and moved an inch from her daughter’s face.

“You almost
killed
your father the last time you ran off with that boy. What do you think is going to happen if you develop some kind of backbone and decide to chase that trash now?”

Harley stood frozen. For one of the first times in her life, she felt rage began to boil to the top of her emotions
—it was because she realized that she had let this woman make her weak.

Right then, before she could say a word she heard, “Oh, Mrs. Tatum, I apologize. You have caught me and my misguided intentions.”

Harley followed her mother’s stare to the doorway. Collin was standing there with a bottle of wine, two glasses. Like it was never there, the cold fury left her mother’s expression and a warm, sweet smile emerged.

“And what intentions are those, Mr. Grant?”

Collin, who was just over six-foot, a lacrosse player, well built, dark hair and bright hazel eyes, smiled warmly. “I just wanted to steal a private moment with the ravishing birthday girl. Everyone kept stealing her attention downstairs.” He looked down at his hands, let a somewhat guilty expression come to his visage. “Of course, I suppose the late hour and wine made that a bad idea. My mother would be ashamed.”

Harley’s mother let out a
cackle of a laugh, the one she always used in public. She walked right over to him, reached up and cupped his face in her hand. “No, my dear. I believe she would be charmed, for you are your father made over.” She glanced back at Harley. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.” Just to act somewhat like a mother, Claire took the bottle of wine away from Collin, shaking her head. “You may be old enough for this, but she still has three years.” She smiled at him and sighed. “I’m simply exhausted. We have breakfast with your mother in the morning. Don’t stay up too much longer.”

Collin shut the door to Harley’s suite, held up his hand, and listened to the other side of it.

He mouthed the words. “Standing right there,” as he pointed to the closed door. Then aloud he said, “I believe that was a birthday celebration to be remembered. Your mother has a gift when it comes to event planning, always brings the best people together.”

He waved his hand toward her, telling Harley to say her line. And she did. “She does. I felt like a princess. Having you there made it a night that I
’ll never forget.”

“Me?” he asked with a grin, even stepping closer to Harley.

“You always make me feel like a princess, Collin. I couldn’t wait to see you tonight.”

“You have stolen my breath, Miss Tatum,” he said as he moved to the entertainment system in the front room. He turned the music up, then motioned for her to move back into the bedroom, far away from where Harley’s mother could hear them.

“What crawled up her ass? What’s with that guy?” he asked Harley in a hushed voice.

Harley was digging in her bag, looking for some kind of comfort clothes, jeans
or something. The best she could come up with was black leggings and a top that reached her thighs. She rushed into the bathroom. Collin leaned against the door that was barely open, not looking in, but out.

“That’s Wyatt.”

“The horseman?”

That’s why she liked Collin, called him a friend; he gave everyone a proper title.

Harley had breathed a yes as she struggled to get out of her dress, even cussing. Collin opened the door, motioned for her to turn, unclasped the top and moved the zipper down, then went back to his post by the bathroom door. “Was he coming to wish you a Happy Birthday?”

She and Collin hadn’t had a moment alone since Harley arrived that morning. The last time she had seen him was when their families were vacationing just before the summer started. One night they were walking on the beach, just trying to get air. Harley could not remember how it came up, but in a roundabout way she had told him about Wyatt. She told him about the Dorans but spoke more about Wyatt, told him how Wyatt was helping her the most with her horse.

Collin looked down at her and said, “You love him.” Harley never said either way. Collin had never given her a reason not to trust him, but the risk of that slipping out was too great.

“They caught us. Mom took me away.”

“When?” he asked, stepping in the bathroom with her. Harley had changed and was packing all of her things, the things she thought she needed anyway.

“Right before Dad got sick. Mother blames me, and before that, even now she says that she will bankrupt his family, prosecute Wyatt or something.”

“That’s bullshit. Prosecute? No way she would bring that attention on you or her.”

“
We’re both eighteen now. We can figure a way around whatever hell she throws at his family.”

“You’re running away?” Collin asked.

Was she? Yeah, she was. Wyatt had fought for her, came all the way here. That had to mean he saw this the same way. No matter what her mother did, they would be fine.

“All right,” Collin said, reading her expression. “At least be brilliant about it.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning book a flight, a car for when you get there.”

That thought hadn’t crossed her mind. She’d only gotten as far as escape the hotel and find Wyatt.

Harley had no means to her name. Before being caught with Wyatt, she had a few credit cards, some cash that she never really used, but afterwards her mother took all of that, took her phone away, told the entire staff at the house that if they let her near a phone they would be terminated.

She looked up at Collin and moved her head slightly to the side. She was scared, but she was growing that backbone.

“The boy is not downstairs. I looked. They said they all ran away, then peeled out of the parking lot.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I told the head of security he was a good friend of mine and to call me as soon as he came back, that I would come down and bring him up myself.”

Gone. Harley lowered herself on the side of the tub.
Why would he just leave? Fight that hard, then leave?
When she looked up at Collin, it somewhat made sense.

“I’d be hot if I was him,” Collin said.

Harley buried her face in her hands. Collin was there in a heartbeat, kneeling before her. “Tell me where to book the flight. You’ll be there before he gets back. No harm, no foul. If he doesn’t believe you, I’ll call him.”

She looked up at him in shock. “Your mother is going to kill you.”

He smirked. “Didn’t you hear your mother? I’m my father made over, meaning I don’t give a damn what my mother thinks. This is my birthday gift to you.”

The first flight Collin could find was at eight the next morning, exactly an hour before they were supposed to have breakfast with their mothers. That seemed like a lifetime to Harley. Her backbone was growing stronger by the second, though.

She had no phone numbers completely memorized, so without her phone she had no way to call Wyatt’s cell, but she looked up every number to the farm there was and called them all every few hours, hoping someone would hear the ground line ringing and come to investigate. Then she could ask for his number, or at least Ava’s. She even called the house number to Easton and Memphis’s house, but no one answered. It was like the town had vanished. It was so frustrating that it was making her sick to her stomach.

She stopped trying at 3 A.M.,
but planned to call hours later when she knew they would be feeding the horses, when she was on her way to the airport.

Their plan was for Collin to call his mother just afte
r they were supposed to be at their breakfast date and tell her that he and Harley wanted to spend the day at a few art galleries, and that he had made a reservation for them that night for dinner. They both knew their mothers would be too thrilled with that notion to even question it, and it would give Harley a good day and a half to vanish.

No doubt Harley’s mother would come after her
. There would be an explosion of drama, but any moment alone with Wyatt would be worth that hell.

At 5 in the morning, their plans were destroyed. Harley had fallen asleep on Collin’s shoulder on the settee in the living area. Her bags were all packed just inside her room. Harley’s mother was the one who woke them, and she actually looked horrified.

“Your father had another episode. They took him back to the hospital. There’s a car downstairs to take you to a waiting plane.”

“How bad is it?” Collin asked.

“Horrifying enough to call and wake us. He has not been well since the end of the summer.” Right then, Harley knew that the grief on her mother’s face was all fake, there for Collin’s benefit. The cold glance she threw in Harley’s direction confirmed that.

“Coll
in, be a dear and take Harley to the car. I’ll be just behind you. I need to notify some dear friends. If they want to say goodbye, this may be their only chance.”