Chapter 114 TYLER
I stayed in Harper’s room until her father stepped in.
The second he crossed the doorway, I forced myself to stand and step out into the hallway. I didn’t trust myself to stay there much longer. Not with everything she had just told me still echoing in my head.
Racquel.
Her friends.
They tried to hurt her.
The words burned through my mind like acid.
The door clicked softly behind me as I stepped into the corridor. Peter, Jax, and Kane looked up from where they were sitting along the wall. Mark pushed himself off the opposite wall the moment he saw my face.
“How is she?” Peter asked.
I didn’t answer.
Because if I opened my mouth right now, I wasn’t sure what would come out.
My chest felt tight again. My hands curled slowly into fists at my sides.
Racquel had already been suspended. The school had punished her. And somehow she had still managed to hurt Harper.
She could have died.
The thought slammed into my chest so hard it almost knocked the air out of me.
Without saying a word, I turned and started walking down the hallway.
“Tyler?” Kane called after me.
I didn’t stop.
My footsteps echoed loudly against the tile as I headed for the exit. The automatic doors slid open and the cool night air hit my face the second I stepped outside.
My car sat in the dim hospital parking lot.
I moved toward it quickly, pulling my keys from my pocket and unlocking the door.
The driver’s seat had barely closed behind me when the passenger door opened.
Peter climbed in beside me.
A second later the back doors opened and Jax and Kane slid into the back seat.
I gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Mark stood outside the car, leaning slightly toward the open window.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
I stared straight ahead at the dark parking lot.
One word left my mouth.
“Racquel.”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
He didn’t ask another question. He didn’t try to stop me either.
Instead he nodded once.
“I’ll stay here with Harper,” he said quietly.
I started the engine.
The car rolled out of the hospital parking lot and onto the empty road.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Streetlights flashed across the windshield as I drove. My hands were steady on the wheel. My breathing was calm. But inside, something violent and uncontrollable churned in my chest.
I kept seeing Harper on that bathroom floor.
The blood.
Her pale face.
The way she hadn’t moved when I called her name.
My grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
“Do you have a plan?” Peter asked quietly.
I shook my head once.
“Right now I can’t think straight.”
My voice sounded calm. Almost controlled.
But my mind felt like it was boiling.
Jax leaned forward slightly from the back seat.
“Whatever happens,” he said, “we’ve got your back.”
Kane nodded beside him.
“Always.”
I didn’t respond.
Because right now there was only one thing on my mind. Racquel.
The car turned down the familiar street. Large houses lined both sides of the road. Perfect lawns. Expensive cars parked in neat driveways.
I pulled up in front of Racquel’s house and cut the engine.
For a moment no one moved.
Then I opened the door and stepped out.
The cool air brushed across my face as I walked up the front path. My hands slid into my pockets as I forced myself to breathe slowly.
If I didn’t control myself, I was going to do something I couldn’t take back.
I reached the front door and rang the doorbell.
Footsteps sounded inside the house.
Then the door opened.
Racquel stood there.
Her eyes widened slightly when she saw me, but then a slow smirk spread across her face.
“Tyler,” she said lazily.
Something inside my chest snapped.
Before she could say another word, I lunged forward and grabbed her by the neck.
She gasped in shock as I shoved her backward and slammed her against the wall beside the door.
Her head hit the plaster with a dull thud.
“She could have died!” I shouted.
My voice exploded out of me before I could stop it.
Racquel’s eyes widened.
“What are you talking about?” she choked.
Her hands clawed at my wrist as she tried to pull my grip away from her throat.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I growled.
My grip tightened. Racquel coughed, her face turning a bright shade of red.
Footsteps sounded somewhere behind me, followed by a familiar voice.
“Hey!” it barked. “Get the hell off her.”
I turned my head.
Sam.
A cold smile spread slowly across my face.
Perfect.
I released Racquel and turned toward him.
“You should leave,” Sam snarled, stepping forward like he was trying to look tough.
The second he reached me, my fist slammed into his jaw. The crack echoed through the room.
Sam staggered backward, but he swung back quickly, landing a punch against my shoulder.
Pain shot through my injured arm.
I barely felt it.
Rage burned too hot inside me.
I drove another punch into his face, then another.
Racquel screamed behind us.
“You’ve lost your mind, Tyler!” she shrieked.
She rushed toward me, her nails raking across the side of my neck as she tried to pull me away from Sam.
I shoved her off without hitting her.
“Stay out of this!” I barked.
Peter and the others rushed forward just in time to grab her arms and drag her away from me.
“Respect yourself,” Kane snapped at her. “He’s collecting the beating that’s meant for you.”
Sam wiped blood from his mouth and charged at me again.
His fist landed against my ribs.
I barely registered it.
My punch caught him square across the jaw.
He stumbled.
I grabbed the front of his shirt and drove another fist into his face.
“Stay away from Harper!” I shouted.
Another punch.
“And tell your girlfriend to do the same!”
Sam coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” he choked out.
The words only made the rage inside me burn hotter.
I hit him again.
And again.
His body collapsed to the floor.
But I wasn’t done.
I straddled him and swung once more before two strong arms wrapped around me from behind.
“Tyler!” Peter shouted.
Jax grabbed my other arm and they both dragged me back. “Enough!”
My chest heaved violently while I struggled against their grip.
Sam lay on the floor, unmoving.
“Tyler, enough!” Peter snapped, tightening his hold on my arm.
Jax and Kane dragged me farther back while Peter dropped to a crouch beside Sam.
For a moment the room fell quiet except for my heavy breathing.
Peter pressed two fingers against Sam’s neck.
A second later he exhaled.
“He’s breathing.”
Across the room Racquel scrambled toward the dining table and grabbed her phone.
“I’m calling the police!” she screamed.
I crossed the room in two strides and snatched the phone out of her hand.
She froze instantly.
For the first time since I had arrived, real fear filled her eyes.
I leaned close to her.
My voice dropped into something quiet and dangerous.
“You only get one warning.”
Her breathing quickened.
“You can call the police,” I continued slowly. “But if I walk out of a cell and you or your friends ever go near Harper again…”
My jaw tightened.
“I won’t hold back next time.”
The terror in her expression told me she understood exactly what I meant.
I dropped the phone onto the table. Then I turned and walked out of the house.
Peter and the others followed quickly behind me.
The world outside was quiet, but the anger inside my chest still burned.
I slid back into the driver’s seat and started the car.
No one spoke during the drive.
The silence in the car felt thick, almost heavy. The drive back to the hospital felt longer than usual, the traffic dragging every second out.
But the rage inside me still hadn’t faded.
Not even close.
Because Racquel hadn’t been the one who actually did it.
Sarah.
Claire.
They were the ones who laid their hands on Harper.
My grip tightened on the steering wheel as the car moved through the dark streets.
They were next.