Harm, p.1
Harm, page 1
COPYRIGHT
2023 Trixie Publishing, Inc.
Copyright © 2023 by Piper Davenport
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States
Harm is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Art
Jack Davenport
CONTENTS
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Back Blurb
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Primal Hunger
Book List
Reading Order
About Piper
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Harm is a novella that was originally released in the anthology, Hell Hath No Fury. That anthology made the USA Today Bestseller list and we are so grateful to everyone who contributed in helping so many women! This version of Harm has been expanded and I hope you love the additions to the story!
Jack:
Thanks for being my muse, and really great in bed!
Liz Kelly:
Thanks again. Your insight is always so spot on!
Brandy (Ziggy)
Thanks for keeping the timelines and characters straight. You are a godsend!
Gail, Mary, Carrie, and Trudy
Thank you so much for all your willingness to read and your amazing ‘catches.’ You help make my work so clean and I appreciate you so much!
BACK BLURB
Harm
My past is one of tragedy and sadness, but I’ve worked too hard to make a new life for myself with my club brothers at my back. Just when I thought everything was as it should be, a sexy older woman walks into my life, her own demons nipping at her heels.
Brynley
I’m used to putting the needs of others before my own, which serves me well as a nurse, but it’s also left me shattered and broke after a nasty divorce. And now to make things worse, my psycho ex-husband wants me back and he’s willing to do anything to get me.
For GG
You are the sister I never had. Thanks for being a positive connection to my birthland.
I LOVE you!!!
CHAPTER ONE
Brynley
“Mom?” Briggs called.
“Kitchen, honey,” I replied.
My youngest son sauntered into the room and wrapped his arms around me, picking me up off my feet in a bear hug. “Hi, Mommy.”
“Good lord, baby boy, what are you doing?” I asked with a laugh, cupping his face.
Man, he was beautiful. Blond hair, deep blue eyes, and tall like his father.
Okay, we’ll try to forgive him for looking like his father...the cheating bastard.
I had two boys. Briggs and Baylor. Baylor was twenty and in his junior year at Washington State University Pullman, and Briggs was about to start there in the fall. Briggs was graduating in two weeks, and as excited as I was for him to start his new adventure, the thought of being completely alone in my giant house scared me to death.
“Delaney’s parents kind of invited me to dinner,” he hedged.
I dropped the sponge I’d been using to wipe down the counters into the sink. “Briggs, we only have a few more days to spend together before you go.”
“I know, I know, and I’ll totally turn the invite down. I just wanted to check with you, you know, in case you didn’t care?” he asked, hopefully.
I sighed. “I do care, honey, but I know you’re going to miss her, too, so go. Break my heart in a million pieces and go to dinner with the girl with the big honkers.”
“Oh my god, Mom, gross.” He rolled his eyes. “Why do you always have to take it to a level of weirdness?”
“Because I pushed your giant head out of my vagina, that’s why.”
“I’m going to ignore the fact you just crossed the line, and take the win,” he said, kissing my cheek. “Love you!”
“Baylor’s now moved to the front of the line as my favorite.”
“No, he hasn’t,” he retorted, rushing out of the kitchen, and I heard his heavy footsteps on the stairs as he made a run for his room.
I had just dried my hands when my phone buzzed on the counter, and I saw it was Baylor calling. “Were your ears burning?”
He chuckled. “You were talking about me again?”
“I was just informing your brother that you’re my favorite because he’s ditching dinner with me to go out with Delaney and her parents.”
“Mom, she’s got huge tits, what do you expect?”
“Boy, those Sunday school classes really didn’t stick with you kids, did they?”
“They might have, but when your dad fucks around on your mom, then tries to give you Bible verses to back up his reasoning, anything that might have stuck went right out the window.”
Well, he had a point.
“Sorry, kiddo.”
“All good, Mama,” he said.
I leaned over the counter and drummed my fingertips on the granite. “So, what’s up?”
“Oh, I just wanted to let you know I got that internship.”
“Bay, that’s amazing, sweetheart. Well done,” I breathed out.
Baylor’s focus was the law and he’d been in the running for a summer internship at a prestigious law firm in Seattle. He was in competition with over a hundred other very capable candidates, so the fact he got the job was amazing, especially since he was a ‘young’ junior. He had to finish out his prerequisites then on to law school, and he planned to come back to Vancouver to practice, but that all depended on him not getting an offer from some big law firm that would take him far away from me.
I drew my eyebrows together as realization dawned.
“But that means...,” he began, trailing off.
“You won’t be home over the summer,” I said, finishing his sentence.
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
I bit back my sadness. “It’s okay, honey. You need to start your life.”
“I’m just worried you’re going to be lonely.”
I smiled. “I’ll be fine. I’ll take on some extra shifts at the hospital, and spend time with your grandma, and maybe actually go to lunch with Avery. We’ll be like desperate housewives or something.”
Avery was my closest friend in the world. We’d been best friends since junior high and she was my ride or die.
“I’ll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Baylor was my sensitive child. Always concerned about how I was feeling, and we’d always had a special bond.
“Baymax, I’m good. Don’t worry about your Mama.”
“Are you sure?”
“Hundy.”
He groaned. “Oh my god, Mom, what was that?”
“I’m just showing you I’m down.”
“Mom, I love you, but the only time you’re down is when you fall down.”
I couldn’t stop a laugh. “You know, I should have never taught you to talk back.”
“I know, I know. Love you, Mama.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
We hung up and I opened the drawer next to the fridge and pulled out a menu to see what to order for dinner.
* * *
Harm
I followed Maisie into the hospital, sticking as close to her as I could without it being weird. She was married to my president, Hatch. I was both her bodyguard and driver for the next couple of days, trading with Razor while Hatch was out in Colorado visiting the Primal Howlers.
“Are you all right?” Maisie asked in her very proper British way.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said.
“I know hospitals are hard, so if this is too much, you let me know and I’ll get someone else—”
“I’m good,” I assured her.
God, she was sweet. Well into her fifties but looked thirty, Hatch had won the lottery marrying her. She was blonde, pretty, and rich as all get out. She’d been a single mother, a widow, when they met. Her car had broken down and Hatch had quite literally rescued her from a crazy person trying to kill her.
Hatch did that for people. Saved them. He’d saved me too and I owed him everything.
We were here to visit Cookie’s old lady, Mags. She’d been diagnosed with cervical cancer and had just undergone surgery, so Maisie had insisted we visit her every day this week.
Today was day one.
Walking up to the nurses’ station, a woman smiled from behind the desk as we approached. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Yes, we’re here to see Maggie Vaughn,” Maisie said.
She gave us the room number and we headed down the hall.
“I’m gonn a hang out here,” I said.
“Okay, love.” Maisie smiled and made her way into the room.
I took a seat in one of the chairs in the hallway and pulled out my phone. I knew I was gonna be there for a while, so pulled up a game app and settled in.
I’d been in my chair for about twenty minutes when a nurse walked up and said, “Excuse me.”
“Yeah?” I raised my head, and I swear to Christ, if I’d been standing, I’d have been knocked over by her beauty. Red hair, deep blue eyes, curvy and dimples... fuck the dimples were a ten. She was stunning.
“You know, we have a waiting area that has coffee and water, and the chairs are way more comfortable. It’s just down the hall,” she said, with the sweetest smile I’d ever seen.
“I’m good,” I said. “Is there a problem with me sittin’ here?”
“Oh, no, it’s totally fine. I just thought you might be more comfortable somewhere a little quieter.”
“I’m fine, sweetheart. But thanks.”
She nodded. “Well, if you change your mind, you let me know, and I’ll show you where it is.”
“Sounds good.” I glanced at her badge. “Brynley Shotwell.”
“Just Bryn’s fine.”
I smiled slowly. “Thanks, just Bryn. I’ll let you know.”
* * *
Brynley
Oh my god.
My stomach did cartwheels as I turned and walked away from the sexy man sitting outside Maggie Vaughn’s room. I honestly don’t know what possessed me to walk up to him, but I just felt compelled to talk to him, so I made up an excuse.
It might have been a mistake because the second he opened his mouth, my heart fluttered, as did my nether regions. His voice was deep and smooth, and so very sexy.
Unfortunately, I’d figured out the second I got up close to him, he was much, much younger than me. I wasn’t sure how much, but I was pretty sure it was at least a decade.
I sighed, shaking off my romantic notions. I was too old to be mooning over someone like him. Besides, I’d never stand a chance, even if we were the same age.
I was halfway back to the desk when the code blue alarm sounded, so I rushed into the room down the hall and worked with my team to get our patient back to stable. By the time we were finished, the handsome man was gone.
CHAPTER TWO
Brynley
The next night after shift, Briggs was out with Delaney again, so I decided to swing by a local café and grab dinner to go. I had neither the energy nor the desire to cook for just me, and since there was no one around to judge me, I threw caution to the wind and made my way into Felida.
I’d seen my mystery man again today and he’d smiled at me, but I’d been too busy to make an excuse to actually talk to him.
God, why was I thinking of him as ‘my’ man?
I’d found out from Maggie, the patient they were visiting, that the woman’s name was Maisie, and she was just the loveliest lady on the planet, but I couldn’t get any information about the hottie. She’d pressed the button on her pain pump and fallen asleep mid-sentence.
“Can I help you?” the hostess asked as I stepped up to the podium.
“Hi, I have an order to go. It’s under Bryn.”
“Great. I’ll be right back.”
Food procured, I made my way outside and heard, “Well, hey there ‘just Bryn.’”
I turned to see the sexy biker from the hospital walking toward me. “Um, hi.”
He gave me a chin lift.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know your name,” I said.
He smiled. “Harm.”
“Do you live up here?”
“My president and his old lady do. I just dropped her home.”
“President?”
He nodded. “I’m part of a motorcycle club. The Dogs of Fire. My president’s traveling this week, so I’m kinda helpin’ out by driving his wife around. They live up here.”
“Oh,” I said. “Gotcha.”
“Thought I’d grab somethin’ to eat before I head home. Maisie recommended this place.”
“She’s got good taste. It’s fantastic.”
“You wanna join me?” he asked.
“Ah...” I held up my bags.
He raised an eyebrow. “You bringin’ food home to someone?”
“Well, no.”
“So, you were plannin’ on eatin’ that alone while watchin’ Downton Abbey?”
I nearly snorted. “Okay, that’s a little on the nose, buddy.”
“No shit? You were gonna watch Downton Abbey?”
“Pride and Prejudice,” I admitted.
He chuckled. “Come eat with me. I’ll put on a bad English accent if it’ll help.”
I studied him for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay,” I said with a shrug. “Why not?”
Harm held the door for me, and we walked into the café.
A hostess seated us and took my food so they could plate it. We ordered drinks, and Harm ordered food, and then we sat in silence for a few moments while they set silverware in front of us.
“How was the rest of your day?” Harm asked once the server walked away.
“Rough,” I admitted. “We lost a patient today. Everything seemed fine, then the code sounded and we couldn’t bring him back. I don’t get it, but the human body’s a mystery, so...”
“How long you been a nurse?”
“Oh, god, don’t make me math,” I begged with a laugh. “Close to twenty years now. I took a break when I had Briggs, then went back once they were both in school.”
“You got kids?”
I nodded. “Two boys.” I rolled my eyes. “I say boys, but they’re men now. Twenty and eighteen.”
“No shit?” he said. “Never woulda guessed you were old enough.”
“Flattery’ll get you everywhere, bub.”
He grinned. “I’m not kidding.”
“I’m forty-three years old next month. Plenty old enough,” I said. “How about you?”
“No kids.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And...”
“And?”
“Just how young are you?” I asked, taking a sip of water.
“Thirty-two.”
I gasped, taking water down the wrong pipe, and starting to choke.
“Jesus,” he hissed, coming out of his seat. “You okay?”
“I’m good.” I raised my hand. “I’m okay. You can sit down, really.”
He slid back into the booth, and I took another sip of water just as the alcohol arrived. I took a large sip of my wine, suddenly needing a little liquid amnesia.
God, thirty-two. Damn it. He was a baby.
“Don’t do that,” Harm said.
“Do what?”
“Spiral.”
“Excuse me?” I scoffed. “Why would you think I was spiraling?”
He frowned. “I shoulda never fuckin’ told you my age.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re gonna try to shut me down.”
“Shut you down?” I asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well at the risk of statin’ the obvious, you’re hot as fuck, Bryn, and I’d like to get to know you better, but if you let the age difference get in the way, that won’t happen.”
“You think I’m hot?”
“As fuck,” he repeated. “You got a man?”
“No.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A woman?”
I smiled. “No.”
“You got any objection to bein’ with a biker?”
“Are you a criminal?”
“No.”
“Do you have a criminal past?”
“Technically... no.”
I frowned. “What do you mean by ‘technically’?”
His expression grew dark, and he took a deep breath. “Had an incident more than a few years back. Was with a girl. Stella. She was it for me. She’d wanted to go for a ride, but it had started rainin’. I shoulda said no, but I made a fuckin’ stupid mistake and took her for a ride anyway. We hit a slick patch and went down. Her leg was pinned under the bike. No one knew it at the time, but her femoral artery had been sliced open.”
“Oh my god, Harm, I’m so sorry.”
He met my eyes. “She was the sister of my best friend, Jasper, and he’d followed us. She died in his arms. I lost him that day as well, so to say it wrecked my life for a time...”
I bit back tears, trying not to say anything.
“I don’t know how I didn’t go to jail for the crash, because I should have, but I was lucky. Hatch, my president, took me under his wing and basically saved my life and my sanity, so I’ve been able to come to terms with things.”
