Clipped Wings

XIII

June 30th

Harper was run ragged at the diner saying yes to anything anyone asked her which made Quinn smile. Her collar flush against her neck , Harper liked it high but today it seemed to be higher than normal and Quinn noticed. Every now and then Harper who yank at the collar her face clearly in pain but she was trying her best to hide it.

"Come on Harp you can do this." Harper mutters forcefully wiping down one of the tables in the corner of the diner that Finnegan had sat in one time.

"Course you can you are Harper Marie Clancy the girl who managed to tame a dark angel." Quinn replies slapping Harper playfully on the butt with her wet cloth which made Harper yes in shock.

"But he was nice and just urgh I can't describe it ... perfect. granted a little bit of a prick to be expected you know but he .. he wasn't what I expected my first encounter with a dark one to be I thought that as soon as my head collided with him I was dead. but here I am." Harper explains moving on to laying the table again with napkins and cutlery while Quinn wiped down the booth next to Harper's rolling her eyes at how naive Harper truly was. Closing her eyes for a second as her neck begins to throb pulling at her collar again before trying to regain her focus.

Quinn noticed the action throwing her cloth on the table walking back over to Harper glancing around at the diner knowing if anyone noticed the two of them slacking off they would hear Casper scream from the kitchen about docking their pay. As he put it they aren't getting paid to gossip they are paid to wait tables.

"Babe. You alright. He hasn't hurt you has he. I mean I kinda wanna say I told you so but still if he has for you I would kill him." Quinn states and Harper gasps in shock at what she had just said muttering about how she was being silly scrubbing at the table noticing a sticky stain from where a kid had let their milkshake spill on the table after figuring out it was Banana and not chocolate.

Picking up her basket filled with a spray bottle and the new napkins and cutlery Harper moved to a different table. Finnegan truly was reeling her in with his charm and insufferable self absorption but she couldn't help it. He let her see the world out side of her rose tinted glass and she wasn't sure if she was ready to put them on. Granted she still hated profanities but the way they fell out of Finnegan's mouth made her heart soar in ways no other person had. Even if every time she hung out with him she was edging closer to the pit of hell.

"Harper table five has been waiting ten minutes for their afternoon tea. Get a move on." Casper barks from the kitchen slamming down his spatula wiping his forehead with the base of his apron. Breaking Harper out of her day dream.

Heading up to the front as a letter is placed in front of her by Casper.

"Came for you this morning. I was gonna wait till you actually did your work but it seems you might get some more work done after you read it. Whoever sent you it has the most obnoxious hand writing." Casper explains and Harper takes the paper opening it within one second of it touching her hands.

Clancy ,

I don't normally do this but I feel like you deserve the explanation. What I did the other day was a mistake. I warned you that if you play with a fire you can't control you will end up burned. I Finnegan Ridley admit even I cannot control my own power. I have been trying to suppress my desire for blood shed with other extra curricular activities. But when you tempted me I couldn't help it. Let it be known that this is the one and only time I will ever say the words I'm sorry.

On that note Clancy I am going to go and have some fun and resume the usually cocky proceedings we both love so much.

Yours

The sexy devil himself Finnegan Ridley

Harper scoffed at how obnoxious he could be even through a letter. Before the other night she would have giggled and smiled at his vain and helplessly charming attitude but after what he did she wasn't so sure.Her uncle was right if he wasn't hurting her now he was planning to do something to her at some point. Calculating the best possible time for the most damage , he was playing her like a cat and mouse chase. He was poison and Harper had begun to drink more and more of it letting herself slip further and further into a dark hole. He was manipulative and was able to say all the right things to make Harper change the way she acted almost instantly but that wasn't her. She was going to honour her mother's life the right way staying as pure as she could for the rest of eternity trying her damn hardest to stay well away from him.

" Mr Finnegan Ridley you're a liar and I never wished I set my eyes on you." Harper whispered holding the paper close to her chest.

"What's that?" Quinn questions as Harper shoves the letter into the pocket of her apron waving it off like it was just a note from her uncle about the other night. Yes , she did have to repay the damages to the ball room with helping out the younger angels with dance classes since she would never make enough money in a year to even pay for one part of the stained glass.

Harper grasps at her neck as it starts to burn , a breathe catching in her throat. Rushing to the bathroom locking the door behind her. Leaning against the wall of the toilet stall she unbuttoned the first few buttons of her dress pulling it away from her chest. Red raw was the skin around her neck. Five large quite deep scratch marks lay imbedded in her flesh. Tracing them lightly her face scrunched up like she was sucking on a piece of lemon.

"Harp you alright in there? You aren't knocked up are you. Gloria warned me you feel the elements a hell of a lot more when you are ? " Quinn questions through the toilet stall as Harper pressed her hand fully on the scratch marks tears clouding her eyes.

"No." Harper sobbed sliding down the wall of the toilet so she was sat again the cold white tiled flooring Clutching her chest even though it gave her so much pain.

"You were right Q. He is a monster. I feel so ... so stupid to think I actually started to like him. Stupid ... Stupid. To think he was changing he wouldn't hurt me. How He could never love me.." Harper starts her voice cracking with each word it produced.