Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

HARPER

W e stand outside the warehouse, my hand intertwined with Asher’s. The night has fallen, and we watch every single one of those fuckers enter that building. Jax’s phone lights up.

“The doors open. We can move.” Jax grabs a duffel bag along with Chase.

“Where’s mine?” I ask.

“Nate has it. He’s already inside the building. He’s meeting you in the third room on the right.”

“Why isn’t he here with us?” Brooke asks. Jax exchanges a look with Chase. It’s so quick you can barely see it.

“He wanted to make sure we could get in before we get close,” he says.

That’s a lie. He’s not ready to see Brooke, or he’s worried it will distract them. It’s obvious.

“Oh.”

“You ready for this baby?” Asher asks me, his thumb running over my finger.

“I am.”

“Okay, let’s do this. Remember, get in, set the charge, and get out. We meet back here at the truck.”

We walk the long way around the building, entering through a door, careful not to make any noise. “Nine fifty-two, set your times for 10:07 p.m.,” Jax says.

“I’ll see you soon,” Asher whispers, kissing my cheek. “Always and forever, remember baby?”

I nod. “Forever and always,” I whisper back. He smiles at me before pulling away and leaving me. I walk down the corridor, my sneakers not making a sound down the eerie hallway. I count the doors on my right before opening one slowly. Nate sits on the table, looking up.

“Thank fuck. You ready?” he asks, and I nod. He picks the bag up, handing it to me before pulling his gun from the back of his jeans. It’s a surreal sight. A year ago, we were just teenagers, normal, blissfully ignorant teenagers, and now here we are.

He sweeps the dark, shadowy corridors as I walk behind him, holding the bag close to me to avoid knocking anything. I feel the cool metal of my own gun reaching around to wrap my hand around the grip in case I need it. We walk with a quick pace, silent as we can be, until we reach the far end, turning right and seeing the large pillar where we’re meant to place the charge. I look down at my watch. Okay, that took us seven minutes to get here. We have eight minutes to set this and get out. Everyone’s charges are likely set. They have to have been set two to three minutes ago. Fuck were cutting this close…

“We’re going to need to run straight after we set this. It took us seven minutes to get here, We need to get out really in five to be safe.”

“We can do it.”

He places the charge against the pillar, taping it around to secure it. I look up, following the pillar and seeing where it goes. Jax was right—this is load-bearing. This whole place is going to collapse.

Nate looks at me. “Ready to move?” I grab the bag from the floor.

“Leave it. It’s gonna get burned anyway, and it’s going to slow us down.”

I nod, dropping it back onto the ground.

He twists the wires together carefully. I can see his fingers shake before pressing the button. The clock timer lights up and immediately starts counting down.

“Move,” he says and I turn on my heel, running back where we came from. Just as we turn the corridor, we hear someone, see their shadow on the floor coming toward us. “Fuck, in here.” He grabs me, pulling us into an open room.

“Nate, we don’t have time.” I look down at my watch. “We have less than four minutes to get the fuck out of here, or this building comes down on us.”

“Shit, I know.” Two voices get closer. “I’m not that good of a shot, Harper, and we start shooting, everyone hears us.”

“Not me.” I pull my gun from my holster, showing him the silencer on it. “I can make the shot. Just give me a second.”

I slide out of the door, seeing two men in front of me. I recognize both of them. “Hi, boys,” I say, smirking before pulling the gun from behind me and shooting each one twice before they drop to the floor. They barely had a second to register what was happening. Now, their blood soaks the cool tiles.

“Go,” I shout at Nate, both of us running as fast as we fucking can. My chest heaves, skidding as I hit the end of the corridor, smashing into the wall but not registering the pain as Nate grabs my hand and pulls me along with him. We make it out, but barely, I’m sure of it. He pulls his hand from mine. “Go.”

“No, we’re meeting by the truck.”

“I’m not coming. I need to get back to make sure my alibi stands. Harper, fucking run.”

I turn, taking off, not having time to argue with him. I run to the end of the street, seeing the truck at the far end. I see all four of them. Asher grabs my arm, pulling me up onto the back of the truck with Jax as Chase and Brooke get into the front seats.

“Where the fuck is Nate?” Brooke screams.

“He’s fine. Chase, drive,” I shout, and we speed out of there as quick as possible.

The sound comes first, this almighty boom sound that makes me cover my ears and then I see it, the fire.

We drive around to the front, wanting to make sure no one gets out. We can hear them screaming then the gas must have ignited because it throws a huge fireball into the sky. “Go. No one is getting out of that,” Jax shouts over the noise. The truck starts up again, and before we know it, all we can see is smoke in the sky.

“You’re sure Nate got out?” Chase turns, asking.

“I’m sure. He needed to get back, but call him just in case.”

“I can’t. We can’t call him till he messages us to say it’s okay. Fuck” He punches the steering wheel. “Why the fuck didn’t he come back with you? That was the fucking plan.”

“Easy.” Brooke tries to comfort him, but Chase stops the truck with a halt.

“Message him, Jax. See if he gives us the code word so we can call him.” Chase jumps out of the truck, pacing as Jax taps on his phone. It seems like forever as we all wait for his phone to get a response, but then the chime comes through.

“He’s safe but can’t talk.” He shows the phone to Chase.

“He’s with someone, okay, okay, okay.” He paces, exhaling loudly.

We have all thought about how Brooke is handling Nate getting caught up in this, but none of us considered Chase. Things have always been tough between them, mainly because of Brooke, but Chase never wanted his brother involved in this. It’s why he never tried to salvage their relationship.

I let go of Asher, jumping down from the truck.

“Hey.” I grab Chase’s hand, and he stops, turning to look at me. “I promise you he got out and he was fine. He just wanted to get back so he didn’t get caught. He needed to make sure his alibi was sorted.”

He looks relieved, his thumb running over my hand until he pauses. His head cocks to the side as he looks down at the platinum band on my finger. He stares at it as if trying to figure out what it is. His head moves, looking up at Asher.

“You guys…”

Asher nods and jumps out of the truck toward me.

“Wait, what?” Jax asks, walking over. Asher places his arm around me and smiles.

EARLIER THAT DAY

“Are you sure you wanna do this, baby? You don’t even have Brooke here.”

I nod, “I really am. You were right. Neither of us knows how tonight will go. Neither of us knows how this could end. I love you and I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If anything happens to either one of us at least we get to have this moment.”

He pulls me against him.

“I love you, Little Demon.”

“And I love you, Boss Man. I don’t need anyone else but you here.”

“I should hope you need me here since I’m about to be your husband.”

“That sounds so weird.”

He twirls the diamond on my finger, “From fiancé to husband in less than eighteen hours.” He smirks.

“Well, it’s a good job someone high up owed you a favor, or we wouldn’t have got this in time.” I grin, twirling the marriage license we got this morning. I stand up on my tiptoes, kissing him when someone awkwardly clears their throat.

“We’re ready for you.”

“Do I look okay?” I ask him, smoothing out the white dress we brought this morning. It’s not a proper wedding dress, not even Asher could have swung that in time, but I saw it in a window of a vintage shop we passed, and I knew it would be perfect.

“You look beautiful, Harper.”

I smile up at him and he walks me into the registry office.

“Are you both ready to get this going?”

We both look at each other, nodding. We hand over everything we need to before following them through to the altar.

They start talking since we opted for a quick, simple ceremony. We didn’t have much time, but to be honest, that’s not what was important to either of us.

“And I’ve been told you guys wanted to say your own vows.”

Asher nods. “I wouldn’t ask her to obey me. I don’t agree with that shit.” I nudge him.

“Ash.” I laugh.

“Sorry,” he says to the officiant in front of us before turning back to me.

“Okay, baby, you’re up.”

I laugh, looking at him. Taking the ring from the random stranger we pulled into this with us from outside the office, as we needed a witness. Her boyfriend sits on the chairs as she smiles at us.

“Asher, I could say so many things to you in this moment but none of them seemed enough to truly tell you how I feel about you. When we first met, I knew you were the one I was meant to be with and though it’s taken a lot of pain and heartbreak to get to this point, I know that it was meant to happen for us to get here. You are my heart, my soul, and I love you.” I feel the tears falling from my eyes as Asher’s fingers reach out to catch them. “I know life can be dark and brutal, but I know with you, I’ll never be afraid of the dark again. Thank you for taking the risk and opening your heart to me because I know how hard that was for you. I know your sister is here and watching over us, and I know she would be so proud of her baby brother, just like I am. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Forever and always.”

I slide the band onto his finger as he leans forward, resting his forehead against mine. “I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you,” I whisper back, trying not to cry anymore.

“Little demon.” I laugh because, of course, he calls me that in his vows. “I was so lost; I didn’t think I would ever get out from this pain I felt. My life was a void that just sucked the life out of me slowly each day. And then the rain came, and I saw you. This stunning angel just drenched in the rain, and I knew that was it for me. You had been sent to me to save me because that night, I started breathing again. You don’t just show me what it’s like to love but to live.

“I put you through hell, but here you stand about to become my wife. I can only promise you that my last breath will be spent making you happy. I will always follow you, no matter how dark this road gets, because I know we will pull each other out of it. You said my sister would be proud of me. I know she would because she would love you. She would love your strength, and your fire, and your ability to not let anything break you.

“I am madly, truly, and completely in love with you, Harper. Always and forever.” He slides the ring onto my finger, his forehead not moving from mine until the officiant speaks. We don’t really hear her until she says the words we both long to hear.

“You can kiss the bride.” Asher wraps his arms around me lifting me up as he gives me the most tender kiss he ever has. My arms going around him, and I know in this moment that nothing will ever break us apart again, and god help the person who tries.

PRESENT TIME

“Oh my god, you guys got hitched,” Jax says. We both nod and Jax jumps forward, picking me up and spinning me around.

“Hands off my wife, Jax.”

We both laugh as he puts me down and I punch Asher in his shoulder.

“Sorry, fuck bro. I’m so happy for you both.” He then grabs Asher, picks him up, and does the same to him.

“What the fuck? Put me down, dude.” Jax drops him, laughing as they both embrace.

I look at Brooke.

“Are you happy?” I say to her nervously. I know Chase proposed to her, but it never really got off the ground.

“So, fucking much,” she cries out, hugging me as Chase walks over to Ash.

“I never thought I’d see you settle down. I’m fucking proud of you, bro.” They embrace and we’re all now an emotional mess.

“When did this all happen?” Jax asks.

“Today,” I say as Asher wraps his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on the top my head.

“We made the decision last night that we wanted to do this. If any of this has taught us anything it’s that anything can happen at any moment to any of us.” Asher explains.

“We already knew this is it for us. Neither of us would ever leave the other one, so we wanted to make it official.”

“Damn, I can’t believe you proposed to her.”

“Well, I technically didn’t. She asked me.”

“Hey, you were the one that said you saw this for us before I asked you, so technically, you told me we were getting married before I even asked you.

“You sly devil.” Jax laughs.

“Fuck waiting until tomorrow—we need to celebrate,” Chase shouts out. “Let’s find a bar or a club or something.”

Ash laughs. “Tomorrow, bro. Right now, I just want to spend the night with my wife.”

Damn, why does that sound so weird and so right all at the same time?

“We should probably get out of here anyway. We’re not exactly far from our own crime scene.” Jax laughs.