Stealing Harper

“You’re ruining any chance with her by trying to fight her boyfriend almost every day!”

I heard Brandon, Derek, and Drew all yelling from the other side of the house and flung the door open, stomped down the hall, and pushed against Zach when he tried to stop me from getting out in the living room. Derek and Drew were doing the same with Brandon, and he looked pissed. Good.

“So, I heard you know now!” I called over to Brandon. “She feels real good underneath you, doesn’t she, brother.”

Zach and Brad started yelling at me to shut up while Brandon was saying he was going to kill me, and Derek and Drew were yelling at him to calm down. He tried to charge again, and the guys took that as their opportunity to force him back down the hall and to his room.

“Go!” Brad shoved me toward the front door. “Get out of here until you calm down!”

Leave, or sit here and listen to them screw each other? Yeah, no thanks. “Gladly.”

I wasn’t scheduled, but I went to the shop anyway and told Brian the whole thing. He was siding with Brad. Bastard.

“Chase, bro, you’ve got to fight for her, but fight smart. You’re taking a step forward with her every Sunday, but then you do shit like this and take two steps back.”

“I just can’t stand the thought of them being together, it—God it just pisses me off all over again thinking about it.”

My phone rang, and I answered without looking, “Yeah?”

“Chase!” Bree screeched. “What the hell did you do to her?!”

I sighed deeply and leaned against the counter at Brian’s station. “I didn’t do anything to her.” Brandon, on the other hand. . .

“Brandon just showed up here at the dorm, looking for Harper. She’s not here, and obviously she’s not with him, and he was ranting about you when he left. So what. Did. You. Do to her?”

“Shit, she was at the house with Brandon when I left! Where would she go, Bree?”

“I don’t know, Chase! What did you do to her?”

I ran out of the tattoo parlor and shoved my keys into the ignition of my truck. “I didn’t do anything to her, I did—shit, I said something to her.”

“What did you say?”

“I was being an ass, she was mad because I was ignoring her, and I said something about the fact that she has a list of guys, and I’m just one of them, but I’m not getting the benefits of f**king her, too.”

Bree gasped and relayed everything to someone she was with, “Chase Grayson! You are such an ass**le! Why would you even say something like that to her? You know she’s a virgin! No wonder she left! You embarrassed her again!”

I huffed a laugh, “Virgin. Right.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Was, is more like it. I heard all about her and her friend from back home, and how she’s screwing Brandon.”

“I don’t care what you heard, you’re wrong! She doesn’t even like Carter! He kept trying to kiss her, and she was pushing him away and telling him to stop! And she’s not having sex with Brandon, you dumb-ass! She and I talk about everything, so I know exactly what they are and aren’t doing, and I can assure you she is not having sex with him! You are such an ass**le, I can’t believe I’m related to you. Find her and make this better!”

“What do you mean she’s not having sex with Brandon?”

“I mean exactly what I said. What does it matter to you?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and cursed loudly. “Bree, if he finds her, let me know. I have to go.” I ended the call and dropped it into one of the cup holders. “Son of a bitch!”

“HARPER.” I BREATHED and bit back a groan when those gray eyes flashed their hurt before she could turn to walk the other way.

I’d already gone back to my place by the time Brandon called Derek to see where he’d taken her Thursday night, so I knew she was safe, just like I knew she had spent an entire weekend in a hotel room with Brandon. But I wasn’t going to keep assuming anything about her. She’d spent entire weekends with Brandon in his room, and according to Bree, she was still a virgin. So I was praying a hotel room didn’t change that. Bree called out Harper’s name, and I knew I only had a few minutes before she would be gone for most the day. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop.

“Princess, stop walking and just talk to me.”

“Why? So you can let me know again how much of a slut you think I am?”

“I don’t.” God, could I have been more of a dick to her? “I don’t think you’re a slut. You just caught me on a bad day.”

“Let me guess, Chase; you hurt me because you were just so damn mad . . . am I right?”

Her bruises flashed through my mind when she threw that line back at me, and I felt sick. I backed her into the wall and brushed the hair that had fallen in her face back so I could look at her stormy eyes. “This is why I told you I would never be good enough for you, all I do is hurt you, Princess.”

“This isn’t about your being or not being good enough for me. I just want to be your friend, and you’re making that impossible.”

“Friend.” That one word hurt so much, I could barely make it out to be more than a whisper. Could she not see that I needed all of her or none of her? Because being friends with her just left me with the hope that I could change that, and I was aware that, for her sake, I never could. Her eyes did that pleading thing again, and I knew I was gone. Anything for that look. Always. I grabbed a fistful of hair in exasperation and spoke on a rough exhale. “Okay, fine, we’re friends. But I need you to stop approaching me around my house and at school.”