Page 64 of His Flawed Ride

Harper stands and walks toward him. He climbs off of his bike and dad and I share a slightly stunned glance when Luca collects her in his arms.

Her shoulders bob up and down, the tears we’ve been waiting for now hitting her, while Luca rubs her back affectionately.

“Considering she knows it was Luc that ran her mom out of town, it’s a little surprising that she’s clinging to him now,” I state.

“Nah, they sorted that shit out a while ago. She drove out to the city to speak with him. For all Luca’s reputation he does care about certain people.”

I join my father on the swing seat and toss my cigarette in the ashtray.

“Did you see this coming?” I ask him.

“Like fuck. I didn’t think about her to see it coming. To be honest, I thought she was too selfish to do something like this. Between us, I’m glad she’s gone. Harper will move on in time and she’ll never have to worry about what her mother is up to again.”

“Agreed.”

Slade steps out of the house, a sullen look on his face, which is soon replaced with a manic glare when he sees Luca walking toward the house with Harper.

“I wanna talk to you!”

Luca’s shoulders set straight, and I know this action. Luca is going into fight mode.

“Harps, go in the house and tell my nephew his uncle is here,” Luca instructs.

“Why? What is this?”

“I’m guessing Slade wants to talk about me running Lily out of town.”

Slade steps toward Luca. “You’re damn fuckin’ right I do. If you hadn’t, she wouldn’t have met Hopper and she…”

“Uncle Slade, it’s all been dealt with…”

“Listen to your brother. Go in the house.”

Dad rises from the swing seat and takes Harper by the arm. Reluctantly, she allows him to walk her into the house, leaving her uncle and brother in a standoff.

“Regardless of what people think of me, I’m here for my sister cause your sister has made her cry. So to answer your questions before you waste breath asking me, I held my gun to your sister’s head and promised I’d kill her if she ever came back. That literally sums up what happened.”

Slade shakes his head. “She would’ve come to me if it was just that. What else did you do to her?”

“I’m not a fuckin’ liar. I didn’t do shit to her. I didn’t need to. She believed me and did as I told her… well, until she did come back of course.”

“Why? Why run her out of town?”

“Because she’s…was, a cunt. I wasn’t prepared to watch her upset my mother and sister any longer.”

Slade flies down off the porch steps and Luca is quick to step out of his way.

“I don’t want to hurt you, old man,” Luca jibes.

“You patronising fuck.”

“Not patronising, truth. You know yourself what your sister was like, you won’t get an apology outta me.”

Slade rushes him and I stand. JJ and Dad come out of the house and together we pull them apart. Luca doesn’t throw a single punch.

“Slade! Cut this shit out!” Dad bellows. “Let’s go get a fuckin’ drink.”

“I don’t want a fuckin’ drink.” He shrugs dad off and storms over to Zach and Nina’s house.