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Harmony put a hand lightly on one of mine. "I'm going to tell you it's not that simple. You wouldn't have called in that favour if you had a choice. I've heard about this Dagen guy, he sounds like a nasty piece of work. And I know the kinds of things men do to have power over women. Taking away your ability to have children was as big a violation as forcing himself on you. Taking away your choice… It's evil."
"You're telling me," I said lightly. I didn't have any women friends, so this felt strange. Usually Jake and I just let each other rant and rave before we got back to work. It wasn't that he wasn't a good listener, but neither of us was very good at sharing deep feelings. Obviously, since it took us so long to get it together.
"He did… Other things?" Harmony asked gently. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Just know that if you do, I'm here for you." She gave me a funny look and then added, "The first time we met, I was terrified of you."
"If the next words out of your mouth are that you're not scared anymore, I'm going to be really pissed off," I said jokingly.
She laughed softly. "No, I'm still scared of you. But now I don't think you're going to have me killed."
"Not today," I agreed. "I think I'll save all of that for the black wolves."
"You're going to spill a lot of blood, aren't you?" she asked.
"A lot," I agreed. "I should have done it a long time ago. I was so busy trying not to provoke a war that I got myself caught up in a trap."
"Trying not to provoke a war is a good thing," she said. "Especially when you've got organisations like Zeta ready to step in and take advantage of any unrest."
"I should try to find a way to pit Zeta and Dagen against each other," I mused. "Let them kill each other off."
"Please do," Harmony said with surprising enthusiasm. "That would take care of both our problems."
"I'll see what I can do," I said. If I could pull that off, it would be one hells of a move. And Harmony would owe me favours until the end of time.
I looked down at my knees. My heart raced and sweat spun up on my palms. If I was ever going to share this with anyone, it would be now. I couldn’t imagine telling the guys, or even talking about it with Ben. The memory was too bitter, too raw. It always would be.
"My mouth," I whispered. Tears trickled down my cheeks.
"Your— Oh." My words must have taken a moment to register. "I'm so sorry. I should have blasted his helicopter out of the sky. It was either that or heal your friend Hutton. Paxton needed my help…"
She looked so apologetic, I found myself squeezing her hand.
"You made the right choice," I said. I would have said the same thing if Dagen had crashed and burned, literally. The past was the past. There was no point living in it. That said though, I was glad Hutton didn't die.
"This Dagen asshole must be really scared of you," she said. "If not before, then he should be now. I would be, if I did something like that to you. He tried to take away your power, but it didn't work. You're still just as badass as ever."
I wiped the tears off my cheeks. "You're right. That was exactly what he was trying to do, and he failed. And I'm going to make him hurt really, really badly. I'm glad you didn't destroy his helicopter. It would have been over much too quickly. He deserves to have his toenails and fingernails pulled out one by one. Literally and figuratively. And maybe every hair on his body as well."
Harmony grinned. "He deserves all of that and more. He's gonna really wish he hadn't crossed you."
"He certainly will," I agreed. "So will all of the men who work for him." Starting with the ones who held me down. "Every last one of them." I nodded with absolute certainty. "Thank you. It really did help to talk about it. But if you tell anyone what I told you, including Paxton, I will have you killed."
I wasn't joking now. No one else needed to know what happened. I would think about it this one last time, then never again. At least in theory.
Harmony smiled gently. "I would never tell anyone. You have my word on that. But if you ever want to talk about it a bit more, or about anything else, I'm happy to listen. Any time. I'll give you my number. As long as you can assure me it will never end up in Zeta's hands."
"It won't," I assured her. She was smart enough not to threaten me if it did, but I couldn't imagine any circumstances where I would give anything to Zeta other than a side eye and maybe a middle finger.
I also wasn't naïve enough to think this made Harmony and I friends. She was sweeter than I would ever be. Tough, but kind. Her children would grow up surrounded by love. If I'd had any children, they would have grown up surrounded by violence and blood. There was nothing wrong with those two things, but it wasn't the best environment for a child.
"The guys are probably itching to talk to you," she said. "They clearly adore you. Jake was beside himself when he contacted us. He tried to pretend he wasn't, but it was obvious. I don't think he slept in the last two weeks."
"Probably not, knowing Jake," I said. Now I felt a little bit bad because I had spent a lot of the last few days under the covers, fucking Ben. Not everything about the last two weeks was bad. Most of it, but not all of it.
"And Cooper," Harmony said as she got to her feet. "I'd be surprised if he doesn't walk along behind you, kissing the ground as you go." She laughed. "He's like a besotted puppy. Jake even calls him pup."
I didn’t explain that it was short for Murder Pup, Jake’s nickname for Cooper. Given to him because of Cooper's apparent fascination with murder.
"Cooper is very sweet," I agreed. He was certainly going to make an interesting assassin someday.
