“Yes, but—” I cup his face. “You. I’m worried about you.”
He leans into the touch and then kisses my palm. “I have you. I’m just fine.” He reaches for his phone that’s sitting on the table and dials Adam on speaker.
“Yo, man, what’s up?” Adam answers.
“I’ve got you on speaker with Harper. And that’s the question we have for you. What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Isaac is still holed up in his house. I went to check on him and he’s doing a lot of pacing and not much more. I’m watching him myself. Harper’s mother is loopy on the drugs but fine. I have Jesse, one of our best, with her.”
“She sent me a text message,” I say. “It says, ‘Does Eric know?’”
“What? That’s
odd. Hold on.” The line clicks as he obviously mutes it.
“Should we call Blake?” I ask.
“That’s what Adam’s doing right now, I promise you. He’s communicating with Jesse and Blake.”
I nod and stand up. Eric pulls me back down. “Relax, baby. All is well.”
The endearment does funny things to my stomach, perhaps because it’s new. Perhaps because there is such tenderness in his face and his voice when he says it. “Baby? You never call me baby.”
“Would you prefer princess?”
“It’s situational. I just—baby works.”
Adam comes back on the line. “Your father is fine, Eric. No change. Your mother is awake for the first time in a few hours, but she’s struggling with the effects of the drug. She’s drunk on Xanax. He knew she was calling you. He has no idea what the message is about. We can take her phone.”
“No,” I say. “Not yet. Let me call her.”
“Just shoot me a text,” he says. “Let me know what you need and want on this.”
“Will do,” Eric says, disconnecting the line. “Call her. Let’s find out what it is that she thinks I know or don’t know.”
I have a horrible feeling this might be about the secrets I’ve kept from him. A really horrible feeling. My gut twists and I desperately want to tell him before I call her, but there isn’t time. There’s too much going on, too much danger in the air for me to delay. I dial my mother, but I don’t put it on speaker phone. She answers on the first ring. “Harper! Harper. God. Harper. What if he dies? What if he dies?” She starts to sob. “And they won’t even let me go to him.”
I inhale and let it out. “They’re trying to keep you safe.”
“I need to be there with my husband and my daughter. Are you safe?”
“I’m safe.” It hits me that she knew I was here when I didn’t tell her I was here. “How did you know I was here, mom?”
“Know? You told me.”
I told her? I blink. What? She’s drugged. Obviously, she’s very drugged. “What was that text message you sent me about?” My eyes meet Eric. “Does Eric know? Does he know what?”
“I—I don’t want him to know. He can’t know.”
“Know what, mother? What are you talking about?”
She starts to sob again. “It would be bad. Oh God. What if he knows? What if he’s the one who did this? What if it was him? What if—”
I stand up, angry now, certain this is indeed about the dirty deeds this family has done to Eric. Certain I have to tell him. I walk toward the window, my voice low, but my fury palpable. “He didn’t do this, but my God, mother. He has every right to hate this family. Can you imagine if they’d done to me what they did to his mother and him? How can you not see what they are? How can you not understand what they’ve done is evil?”
“It was all Isaac. Isaac did it all, not your father.”
“He’s not my damn father and Isaac didn’t do half the shit this family did to Eric. It was Gigi and her damn son. Your husband. And you’re close to both of them. Please tell me that you didn’t have any part of any action against Eric. Because if you did—”