Chapter Fifty-Four: Harlow

Harlow hurried through the door, standing still for a moment, before allowing herself the chance to lean back against the wall in the hallway after the door had shut behind her.

“You did what you needed to do?” Caelan’s voice came from somewhere off to her right, but Harlow didn’t turn towards him. Instead she shook her head, closing her eyes for a long moment before turning to face the tall, muscular man.

“Not yet. But it’s a start. I need to talk to Mr. Rose. Now if it’s possible.”

Caelan raised an eyebrow as his gaze swept over her before tilting his head down the hall. Reaching into his pocket he retrieved his phone, sending off a quick text before gesturing down the hall in the direction of the elevators. “After you. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Harlow nodded and sucked in a long breath, before squaring her shoulders. She hoped so too.

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Fifteen minutes later Harlow was sitting across from Mr. Rose, doing her best to appear calm as she began to explain why she was back. This shouldn’t be so hard, but it was. She felt a lump rising in her throat and she fought to push it, and any accompanying tears, down.

There was a place in her head that she retreated to when she danced, or did other things that kept her bills paid and kept Kayla clothed and fed, and she tried to force herself to go there now. In that place in her mind, nothing she did with her body, or that happened to her, could reach her. She was locked away from her emotions and she knew that’s where she needed to be now, if she had any hope of going through with her plan.

“I want to take Briar’s place.” Mr. Rose’s eyebrows shot up and the edges of his mouth twisted into a smirk of obvious amusement. When he didn’t speak right away she rushed on, hoping that the fact that he hadn’t cut her off altogether and had her thrown out of his office would mean something.

“She has a chance at happiness. And I want her to have that. She’s been through a lot and she doesn’t belong here. But I do.” Harlow tried to sound like she meant the last part, but wasn’t sure if she succeeded. “She isn’t really an Omega. She’s just a middle of the pack wolf, isn’t she? I mean no, she hasn’t had sex, but that’s only good for one night, right? And then you’ll just have a heartbroken, unhappy She-Wolf on your hands.”

“I might not be a virgin, but I am a shifter who’s never shifted. That has to mean something. It makes me unusual and different. And that sells. You’ve got to have a great marketing team, who could spin that, somehow. And you can take seventy-five percent of what I make. As long as my daughter is somewhere safe and cared for, and you let Briar out of her contract, I don’t care about how much I leave here with, as long as everyone else is safe, I’ll be fine.”

Mr. Rose didn’t say a word, he just sat staring at her for a long moment, his eyes taking her in. Like her half sister, she was gorgeous. But she had an edge and hardness to her that Briar didn’t have. And he had to admit that she might be right, especially if Briar had somehow found a knight in shining armor in the last twelve hours. He didn’t want a lovesick woman working for him. He shook his head slightly. It was unusual but not impossible.

“I made another deal with Briar. If you want me to consider this then you should know about it.” Harlow nodded, her brows drawing together as she tried not to frown.

“She was part of the deal.” He tilted his head to the side and watched as his words sunk in. “She was going to have weekly sessions with me as well.”

Harlow could tell by Mr. Rose’s growing smile that he knew that she would accept. Sleeping with him wouldn’t be any more unpleasant than anything else she was forcing herself to do. At least he was handsome. And he wasn’t any more of an asshole than most of the other men she’d dealt with in the last few years.

Theon’s face flashed through her mind, but Harlow quickly pushed the image away. The Alpha had been kind, they had amazing chemistry, and she was certainly attracted to him. But what were the chances that they would have ended up with their own happily ever after? It didn’t seem likely to Harlow. Too much had happened.

Briar was her sister. Harlow was certain of it. She couldn’t end up with her sister’s rejected mate, whose inaction had nearly led to Briar’s death. Attraction and chemistry would have to come second to the fierce loyalty she already felt for Briar. Besides, it seemed clear to Harlow that only one of them could live happily ever after, at least, for the time being. And it was only for a year. At the end of that time she and Kayla could hopefully find another place to settle, far away from the life that she was now determined to leave behind.

“What do you mean, exactly?” Harlow had a feeling she knew exactly what he meant, but she needed him to say it. This wasn’t the time for misunderstandings.

“Once a week I was going to spend the evening with her doing whatever the Hell I wanted. If we make this deal I expect that you will hold up that end of the bargain too.” Harlow nodded, numbly.

“Fine.”

“Fine?” The smirk on his face had grown and Harlow wished she was in a position where she could slap it off his face. That couldn’t happen though.

“Yes. I’ll take her place in every way that I can. You have to promise me she won’t have any repercussions from breaking the contract.”

“That can be arranged. But I have one last demand.” Harlow tried not to wince outwardly at his words. “I’m basically getting one girl to work here, when I was pretty certain I was going to have two. I want you to make it up to me by signing a contract with an option to extend your time here by a second year. The decision will be entirely mine. If you perform exceptionally well I might be willing to let you go early. What do you say?”

Two years? Harlow closed her eyes for a long moment.

“And if I say two years is too much?”

“I would say you’re free to go. Briar isn’t.” He was grinning now, widely, as if he already knew what her answer would be. “Unless you want to attempt to convince me to come around to your terms?”

Harlow glanced down at her hands before looking up and meeting Mr. Rose’s dark eyes.

“What exactly do you want from me?” She bit down on her bottom lip, knowing the answer again, even before he spoke.

“If you have to ask me that, maybe you aren’t the right girl for this job after all, Harlow.”

Afraid that the chance to take Briar’s place was slipping out of her hands, Harlow stood and walked slowly across the room, her hips swaying from side to side with each step. A small fearful voice in her mind asked her what she would do if she gave this to him now and he decided he wasn’t going to offer her a contract at all. But she couldn’t think like that. There wasn’t any room for doubt.

The dress Brielle had helped her decide on earlier was already low cut and form fitting, but as she closed the distance between them, Harlow reached up and unbuttoned several of the buttons that held the satiny red fabric closed. She let the dress slip from her shoulders and then pool at her feet, a satiny puddle that she easily stepped over before coming to a stop in front of Hudson Rose and dropping down onto her knees.

Closing her eyes as she took his long, thick length between her lips, Harlow imagined that it was Theon she was kneeling in front of, even though he was the last person she wanted to think of while she was on her knees in front of Hudson. She felt Hudson’s hands tangle in the dark mass of hair Brielle had carefully helped her style. That had only been a few hours earlier, but now, as Hudson thrust forward, filling her mouth and throat, it felt like it had been much further in the past.

She let her mind drift as her body did what she had trained herself to do.

This would be worth it, she promised herself, tears leaking out of her eyes as he pushed himself as far as she could take him, before pulling out and giving her a chance to gasp for air. Briar would be free and Kayla would be safe. And maybe someday she would find a happily ever after of her own. It simply wasn’t in the cards for her just yet. But she could endure just about anything if she took it one hour at a time and didn’t look too closely at the calendar.