Chapter Three

The rest of the night went by without anymore 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 no where to be found, ripping out of the garage on his bike at 6am this morning 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 teenaged 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've 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 definitely 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 own 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 too?"

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, he is also being 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 in the near future.

"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 pulling 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 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?

~*~

"There's a party this weekend at Karl's place," Nolan tells Priscilla and Noel, though she can hardly hear anything over the roar of the blood rushing in her ears. "You guys should try and come if you can, it's a bring your own booze but stuff will be provided if you don't drink a lot, or at all."

As expected, Nolan isn't the type of guy to pressure people to get wasted at parties, like most of the guys he chooses to hang out with. Noel has never gone to any of the parties the kids at school throw, but Priscilla has gone to a few and crashed at Noel's place, so her parents don't see her, ranting about some of the disgusting and disturbing things she sees going on at those parties.

Noel expects her to turn it down in her favor.

"Sure! Why don't you text me the address later?" she says. Noel whips her head around to gape at her, but she isn't paying her any mind, reaching into her bag to rip a piece off her muffin bag to write her number on and hands it to Nolan. "We'll catch you guys later!" She grabs Noel's hand and drags her away.

"Why the hell did you say yes for me? You know I hate those parties, you're the one who made me hate them, remember?" Noel asks.

Priscilla rolls her eyes and links her arm with Noel instead of dragging her, patting her hand empathetically.

"Relax, girl. Didn't you say that you want to try and get at least one date this year? How do you expect to meet any potential guys if you never leave the house?"

Noel sighs. She has a point, but why does it have to be a party at Karl's? The guy is just a sleaze-ball, hitting on every girl he sets his sights on, regardless of if they're interested back or not, he'll take anyone willing to sleep with him. Noel is certain he throws these stupid unnecessary parties just to scout these girls, and she doesn't plan on being one of them.

"I'll be there with you the entire time, I promise I won't drink that much so I can keep a good eye on you and the douchebags that try and get close to you," Priscilla tries to reassure her, but it doesn't work.

"I doubt anyone would even notice I'm there," Noel says.

"Oh, they'll notice, because I'm going to make them notice."

Noel stops before opening her locker, wondering what on earth she could mean by that, but also afraid of knowing the answer.

"I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up," she grumbles.

Opening her locker, she reaches down to grab the books she took home out of her bag, the locker door slamming shut above her as a hand slams against it. She follows the large black Celtic style tattoo carved into his skin, only making out the bottom of the tattoo under his rolled up shirt sleeve. It doesn't look like a simple symbol like she has seen on a few other people, there are multiple symbols and designs within the base design, she can't get a clear enough look.

"You really like checking me out, don't you?"

She freezes and squeezes her eyes shut at the deep voice of Harken.

"I was shocked, how else is someone supposed to react to you almost cutting their head off?" she grits through clenched teeth, hoping to make it at least the morning without running into him. She made sure to steer clear of him in the parking lot and scanned the hallways when coming in. Yet, low and behold he has appeared out of thin air to torment her.

"Help me find this class," he says and shoves his schedule in her face, pointing to the block of first period.

"Why do you need help, didn't you used to go here?" Priscilla asks.

A heavy silence looms over the trio. Noel should've expected he was just stringing her along, most likely going to make her run around the entire school showing him places and make her late for class, roping her into doing it out of guilt for being new here.

But he isn't a new kid here.

"You've gone here before?" she asks, not even looking at him.

He doesn't answer her. She pushes his hand aside and rips open her locker again, not bothering to place her books and dumping them inside, grabbing what she needs for the morning and slamming her locker shut.

"Find it on your own then." She pushes past Harken, not looking if Priscilla is even following her, and speed walks away from them.

Priscilla hangs back, making sure Noel is out of ear shot before she turns a glare towards Harken, standing there watching as Noel rushes down the hall.

"Look, I don't know what your deal is with Noel's dad is, but it has nothing to do with her, you don't have to such a jerk to her. If you don't like her, then just stay away from her, Noel has been hurt enough times, she doesn't need someone like you hanging around and making her life worse." She lets out a quick huff after her rant, nodding her head as if to say she is done speaking and brushes past him.

"I never said I didn't like her," he calls over his shoulder.

She snorts, turning to give him a sarcastic smile. "Well, what you say and what you do, don't really match up, so..." she trails off, throwing her hands up in a shrug, then turns on her heel and walks away.

"Just leave Noel alone!" she shouts once more then disappears around the corner of the hall.

What the hell did she mean? How could someone like Noel have such a miserable life that me poking fun at her every now and then will make any difference?

Harken knows he has toed the line with a couple things he has said to her already, but even he thinks he's going easy on her compared to how bad he could actually be with how gullible and easily riled she is.

Have I really been that bad?

It doesn't matter much to him, anyway. He just has to get through this gruelling last year and he's finally home free. He might not have any plans for after at the moment, but that's the point of shacking up with Scott and his daughter. Free room and food, a second chance at a decent education, and he already has a place in mind for a part-time job that won't do background checks.

He just needs to bide his time. Concerning himself over the feelings of one little girl should be the least of his worries.