Stealing Harper

Brandon walked into my line of sight and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched us, and my laughter died as I set Harper down. I hated seeing that possessive and concerned look in his eye when he looked at her. I hated that he was looking at her at all. I pulled her away from everyone in the kitchen and waited until we were in the entryway before turning around and pulling her close to me. “I don’t want you with him.”

“What is your deal with him? Is there something he did that you’d like to share?”

He looked at you! “He’s not good enough for you.”

“How do you know what is and isn’t good for me? You don’t even know me!”

All of a sudden, Brandon’s hands were on her shoulders, and I realized I’d been holding her against me. I dropped her arm and took a step away as my eyes burned holes in his hands, which were by then going up and down her arms.

“I thought I told you to back off, man?”

“I don’t really think that’s up to you.”

No, but God I wish it were. I glanced up at Harper’s innocent face as I fought with myself over what I wanted and what I knew she needed. “You hurt her, I swear to God, I’ll break your neck.”

I stalked past them and into the kitchen, grabbing a new bottle of Patron and walking over to one of the many hallways off the main room. I didn’t bother with a glass; there wasn’t much of a need at this point. That girl in the entryway with one of my best friends was driving me absolutely insane, and I hated it.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about, huh?”

Glaring up at Natalie, I kept my eyes on her as I took another swig out of the short bottle. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the heat as it made its way through my chest. “Shut up, Natalie.”

“I’m just saying—”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

People started cheering in the kitchen, and I rolled my eyes as I took another large gulp before wiping my mouth on my forearm.

“Do you want me to help you relax?” she asked huskily, and began pulling at the buttons on the top of her shirt.

I let my eyes fall over Natalie’s tall, slender frame. “Later,” I said as I made my way back to the kitchen to make sure they weren’t letting my princess play. Of course they were, and Brandon was playing against her. How is this protecting her? I watched her laugh outrageously with everyone and flirt way more than was necessary with Brandon. Who taught her to look up from under those insanely long eyelashes? And who gave her those shorts? I would kill Bree for taking her to the mall if this is what came from it. No one else needed to be looking at her. I thought about Natalie’s barely there skirt and thanked God that at least she wasn’t wearing one of those.

I took another long gulp of the liquor and almost choked on it as Brandon walked right up to my princess and kissed her, picked her up, and took her into the living room. What the hell was this and where was the pure-as-snow Harper? Her legs had instantly wrapped around his waist, and when he sat them down, she arched her body into his. I pushed off the counter too quickly and had to grab onto the pantry door to steady myself as the alcohol really started to catch up with me.

“Easy there, tiger.” Natalie wrapped an arm around my waist and started pulling me toward the living room. “I saw them, too. You ready to relax now?”

With Natalie? For once, no. I wasn’t. But with the way Harper was acting, I sure as hell was going to act like it. Two can play this game, Princess. I let my arm fall around her shoulders and nodded once. “Let’s go.”

“Calm down,” Natalie whispered, and grabbed at my hand.

My hand had curled into a fist as I watched Brandon kiss down Harper’s neck. I knew this would happen. He had no idea because she was acting like a fucking slut, and all too soon one of the best traits about Harper would be gone. Time to throw on Brandon’s emergency brake. If it weren’t for the fact that I was sure she was about to hate me, I wouldn’t have been able to stop smiling. “So much for the PG rating.”

Princess’s eyes snapped open and widened as she took in her surroundings and scrambled off Brandon’s lap. Good.

Brandon shot a quick glare at me, and I could actually see my words click in his brain, and he looked at Harper, confused. “Wait, ‘PG’ is a rating they gave you?”

That’s right, brother. My rating for my girl. “What, she didn’t tell you? Princess over here was as virgin as someone could possibly get until she met you. Now she’s just simply a virgin, I guess we can raise it to PG-13 until later. I’m sure she’s ready to get rid of it altogether. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.” I ground my teeth and tried not to finish with, But I’ll kill you if you touch her more than you have.

Natalie laughed softly and shook her head but otherwise kept quiet until we were outside. “Oh my God. I seriously can’t believe this right now.”

I withdrew from her and couldn’t help but look back into the living room in time to see Brandon facing the sliding glass doors and Bree talking animatedly to him. He looked pissed. I didn’t blame him, but I didn’t care either.

“Chase Grayson is whipped.”

“Not whipped, Natalie.”

“So I’m guessing you don’t want to relax the way I had in mind?”

Bree took off for the hallway that led to my room. Had Harper gone in there? Brandon looked up and met my stare, and he looked ready to murder someone. I smirked, and his head snapped in the direction of my hall seconds before he took off for it. Shit, she must be in there. Oh God, did I make her cry? I took two steps toward the door before Natalie caught my arm.

“That’s probably not the best idea right now.”

“I have to—”

“No, what you need to do is calm the eff down before you make that situation worse. Don’t get me wrong”—she laughed and dug around in her purse before pulling out a metal container—“that was priceless to watch; especially since it involved you. But I’ve seen your boy fight, and he looked pissed, so you might want to stay away.”

I looked up in time to see Brandon stalk off in the direction of his room, and Bree came our way with a look on her face that would make me proud if it weren’t directed at me.

She flung the door open and held her hand out as she continued to punch me in her mind. “Key, asshole. Now.”

Ouch. Guess I deserved that one. I dug it out of my pocket and dropped it in her hand, “Love you, too, sis.”

“Go to hell, Chase.” She huffed and slammed the door shut. I really wanted to go in her place.

“Huh, sweet girl,” Natalie said from behind me.

I heard the click of a lighter and turned to watch Natalie light up a joint. “Seriously, Natalie? Put that shit away. No drugs in or around my house.” Legalized or not. Too much changed and could go wrong if you put that into the mix. The couches inside the house were already tilting up as it was from the liquor; I really didn’t need any secondhand benefits from her right now. System of a Down started playing, and I reached for my phone. “It’s the shop, I gotta take this.”

“God, you got boring over the summer.”

“Then feel free to leave. You already figured out why I needed to keep you around these past couple weeks, and obviously I’m done with you now, so go.” I watched her walk away and had to really focus on the screen, so I would hit the green button instead of the red. “Yeah?”

“Hey, man, sorry; I know you have the night off, but we’re slammed, and some people are requesting you. Can you come in?”

Bree came back out and went straight to whoever this guy she brought for the night was. Where was Harper? “Uh, no, Brian. Sorry, but I can’t swing it tonight.”

“There’s a couple really hot chicks asking for you.”

“That’s great, man, but I can already barely stay standing as it is, there’s no way in hell I could drive or hold up my gun long enough to ink anyone—not to mention make it what they want.”

He laughed loudly away from the phone and brought it back. “God, I miss college. All right, man, see you tomorrow. Do everything I wouldn’t do; I need to live through you since I’m tied down.”

“Nice. I’m telling Marissa that next time I see her.”

“Do, and I’ll deny it.”

I looked back through the glass doors and realized Harper still wasn’t there. Had I upset her that bad? I looked again, and Brandon wasn’t there either. I swore to God that if they were in my bed together, I wasn’t threatening anymore, I was doing. “Yeah, yeah; look, man, I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

“Later.”

I was through the door and storming down the hall before I could hit the END button. Thank God she hadn’t locked the door because I slammed right into it as I threw it open. I almost sighed in relief when I wasn’t met with yells to get out from Brandon, but wanted to curse myself for making her want to be alone like this.

“Can’t you just leave me alone?”

That was almost laughable. No. “Once again, Princess, you’re in my room.”

“Fine, then I’ll go.” She got off the bed and tried to walk around me, but I held her in front of me. “Chase, let me go!”

“Not until you talk to me.”

“We have nothing to talk about!”

We have everything to talk about. “I’m sorry I hurt you, but I was just so damn mad!”

“Do you know how immature you sound right now? You decided to hurt me because you were mad? What did I ever do to you, Chase? And why do I always end up with your hands on me? Let. Me. Go.”

Maybe because I want to touch you, and you’re always running away? “Because you won’t stop and talk to me for five minutes!”

“Then you should understand that I don’t want to talk to you. Answer me! What did I do to make you mad?”