Chapter 4 Four

The rest of the night went by without any more disturbances from Harken, Priscilla staying the night just to be safe, reminding Noel of a guard dog glaring at the door all night, daring the big bad wolf to enter.

To her surprise, her father shows up in the morning, walking in the door looking like he has slept a whole day, refreshed and energetic, rather than the exhausted and worn out look she expected him to have from working all night.

Noel has already had her suspicions that he isn't just working when he stays out late but doesn't care enough about her dad's private affairs to question him about it. He took the blow of losing her mother the hardest, she can't tell him how to cope with it the same way she did, but she wishes he wouldn't proceed to neglect his own daughter in the process.

"So, are you going to explain to me why you decided to bring one of your clients home to live with us? Should I expect this to be a new thing until I graduate, or should I just surrender my room now?" she grumbles to him at the breakfast table. Harken is nowhere to be found, ripping out of the garage on his bike at 6 am this morning and off to God knows where.

Her dad drops his knife on the table with an exasperated sigh.

"Noel, there are a lot of things I don't tell you because you wouldn't understand them anyway, and this situation is one of them. It's a lot more complicated than it seems."

She shrugs. "So, you aren't even going to try and explain to your teenage daughter why she has to live with an almost full-grown criminal?"

"He is the same age as you, he just turned 18 before his trial, which is why he is in the situation he is in now and needs my help. There isn't anyone else for him to turn to, and I don't want to see another kid falling victim to the streets. Harken might not seem like much, but he has potential. Not every smart kid is born into a good family, all I want is to just give him that opportunity."

Noel huffs out an annoyed breath. So, what if he was born into a bad family? Does that give him any reason to be a jerk to her from the moment they met? What did she ever do to him? It's not like they've ever met before, and she is more than certain Harken is a member of the gang of misfits that have gone around vandalizing and stealing cars, which means they have never crossed paths before.

"How long is he going to be staying with us?" she asks.

"Just until he finishes this last year of school, he needs a handful of credits to get into a community college at the very least, he will leave and find his place after that."

Her jaw hits the table in outrage.

"Dad, that's almost an entire year! Wait..." she stops herself to repeat in her head. "What high school is he going to go to?"

He can feel the storm before it hits.

"There aren't many public high schools in Bisbee, honey."

Oh, no. No, no. This can't be!

Not only does she get to be terrorized by this demon at home, but he is also given the chance to disrupt her peaceful school life. She can already see it now, all the hopes and dreams she had for this final year, shattering right before her.

"Dad, please let me switch schools? Or home-school me! I'm always home anyway and what's one year left of school?" Noel cries, banging her head on the table.

"Noel, you know I can't do that, I am swamped with work enough as it is, and now I've been put on babysitter duty. It's just for the school year, and then he'll be out of your hair. You'll be leaving for California before then anyway, just remember that."

Noel groans, another reminder of a hope of hers that might be crushed shortly.

"I haven't got the acceptance letter yet, we're forbidden from mentioning that until said time comes," she mutters into the table.

"What's all the noise about?" Priscilla says groggily, wobbling down the stairs.

Noel lifts her head and pouts at her friend, enticing her to come over and give her a comforting hug and pat her head. "What's up, buttercup? Why do we all look so depressed?"

"We're going to have a new kid in school today..."

Priscilla frowns in confusion at her, wondering how she knows this already until it smacks her in the face.

She tears away from Noel and slams her backpack on the ground.

"Ah hell, you've got to be kidding me."

~*~

Heads swivel and turn as the roar of Harken's bike rips through the parking lot, everyone craning their necks to get a look at the new kid. What a lot of them don't realize yet, is the rugged-looking owner of the bike isn't all that new.

In the small town of Bisbee, it's rare for there to be a new kid unless it's someone entering junior kindergarten, or someone remarried and moved the rest of the family there with other kids. Even then, that is a rare occasion, no one ever wanting to live here, everyone trying their best to find a way out. He wonders if any of the people he once hung around class with back in middle school are still hanging around, or if they all managed to graduate and get the hell out of dodge.

Taking off his helmet, his eyes scan the lingering crowd of people trying to get a good look at him and doesn't recognize any faces. Nothing he isn't accustomed to, being the new kid in the gang, or cell, and in this new case, school.

Lifting his seat compartment, he takes out his bag and locks his bike, taking a slow look around the parking lot to see if he can spot Noel and her mouthy friend. As if he developed a sixth sense, he hears loud music coming from around the corner of the street as he scans the parking lot, a fancy Subaru pulls into the lot seconds after, the long blonde hair of the mouthy friend from earlier whipping out the side of the car.

Harken follows as the car wanders towards a gathered group of guys surrounding one of the guy's trucks, pulling into the spot next to them. He waits for Noel to get out and watches as she seems to carefully assess her surroundings, peering around as if looking for something – or someone.

He knows full well she probably found out this morning from her dad that he will be attending her school starting today, and he only wished he could have witnessed that reaction from her, knowing it would most likely be hilarious.

He doesn't know what it was about first meeting her, but ever since she walked in on him coming out of the shower, her face bright red, squealing and squirming like she is an innocent child rather than an almost grown woman seeing a shirtless guy for her first time, he has found a new joy in enacting uncomfortable and embarrassing reactions from her.

When she freaked out about him putting the remote down his pants, he knew right then and there he was going to have loads of fun with this girl before he high tails it out of there. He has met many girls and women, none of them ever coming off as innocent and gullible as she is.

He wants to see just how far he can push her before she finally cracks and breaks that naïve innocence, she seems so proud of.

Harken continues watching as Noel's friend all but drags her towards the group of guys, in the direction of one in particular, hoisted up on the bed of the truck. He watches as he smiles down at them, noticing the way Noel seems to lose her balance while standing still, a shy, nervous smile touching her lips.

Oh ho, what do we have here?