Текст книги "Stealing Harper"

Автор книги: Molly McAdams

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

Princess shook her head slightly, went up on her toes and kissed the corner of my mouth before beginning to move out of my arms. “I love you, Chase.”

“Baby, please. Don’t do this!” I gripped her hand, not willing to let her leave yet. I couldn’t just let this end like this.

“I have to, I’m sorry.”

“Why? Why can’t you be with me?” When she didn’t answer, I swallowed back bile and asked the one thing I’d been worrying about most in the last month. “Are you sleeping with him, too, Harper?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Please”—I shut my eyes as I prepared myself to ask again—“just tell me if you are sleeping with him.”

“I’ve only been with you,” she whispered softly, and all the air left my lungs as she pulled away and began to walk away from me. I looked up at the same time she stopped walking, her body going rigid before she gasped.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I have to go,” she shouted, and took off running for the house.

I stood there in shock for a few moments before forcing myself back to my truck and driving to Brian and Marissa’s. I had no idea what had just happened; all I knew was that she’d just shattered my world.

Marissa answered the door, and, with one look at me, her jaw dropped, and she quickly covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, Chachi.”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out, and I hung my head as my tears fell to the concrete.

“Brian should be home soon,” she said softly, and stepped back from the open door. “C’mon in; you can crash here tonight.” Marissa called Brian to let him know I was there and sat on the chair across from the couch I was on. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know if I even could talk about it.

“What are you gonna do, Chach?”

“Wait—” My voice was low and rough as I spoke around the lump in my throat. “Wait for her. I’ll always wait for her. It’ll always be Harper for me, I’m never going to stop wanting her to be mine.”

“Chach—”

“Riss, I won’t give up on me and Harper. I can’t.”

Chapter Ten

I’D FULLY MOVED back into my house the day after Harper had shattered me. I’d been prepared to stomach seeing her and Brandon together, see them going to and from his room and her in nothing but his shirts. But I hadn’t seen her at all. It’d been a week, and while I saw Brandon a few times, he was always alone. I’d seen him yesterday morning when he was coming into the kitchen, and I was leaving, but it ended the same as it always does lately. Completely silent. I didn’t know what to say to him anymore, so I didn’t say anything. Before, I’d hated him for getting the girl. Now that I’d had her, and she’d left me for him again, I couldn’t stand to see him without wanting to die.

I went through my everyday forced routine. Surf in the mornings, now with Brad and the guys again even though Brandon had been missing over the last week. Class during the day and work at night. I was standing outside my last class of the day, trying to kill time by talking with some old buddies, when I was knocked into one of them.

“What the he—” I broke off when I turned to see a mess of auburn hair and wide gray eyes staring at me. “Princess?”

Without saying anything, she bent down to grab her phone, which had dropped into the middle of the circle she’d just plowed into, and turned to leave. Fuck that.

“Harper, wait up!” As soon as I caught up with her, I grabbed her arm and turned her so she was facing me. “You’re not even going to say hi now?”

She dropped her head, and a shaky “Hi” came from her.

Why won’tshe even look at me? I placed a knuckle under her chin and lifted up, and my chest tightened when I saw that her eyes were filled with tears. Why the hell is my princess crying? “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Her cheeks went red, and she blinked her eyes rapidly to hold back the tears. “Nothing, it’s just allergies or something.”

Bullshit. She looked side to side quickly, and I figured my touching her wouldn’t fly with Brandon if he saw us, so I took a step away and let my head drop to stare at the space between us. “I haven’t seen you around my house much. I know you don’t want to be with me, but don’t feel like you can’t be there, I won’t bother you and Brandon.”

“That’s not why I haven’t been there. I um, I broke up with him.”

My head snapped back up, and I stared deep into her stormy eyes. “You did? When, why didn’t you tell me?” Was it twisted that I couldn’t help but hope that I was finally going to get what I’d been wanting for over five months?

“A little over a week ago. But it hurt me more than I could ever explain to do it, and I need time to get over that. I can’t just rush back to you because Brandon and I aren’t together anymore.”

I can’t just rush back to you . . . Does that mean she plansto come back to me? Hope surged through my body, and I cupped her pink cheeks in my hands as I bent down, so I was closer to her eye level. “I love you, I’ll give you all the time you need.” Shit, stop assuming. “Unless. Unless you don’t want me anymore?”

I held my breath as she grabbed my left hand and pressed her cheek harder to it. Her eyes drifted shut, and she took a deep breath in. “I’ve told you, I will always love you, Chase, but I’m still not sure you won’t eventually leave me. Because of that fear, I don’t know if I can be with you. And some things have changed since we talked last, so you might change your mind about me altogether.”

“That’s not possible.”

She removed my hands from her cheeks only to wrap herself up in my arms. I exhaled deeply and started to thank God when she kissed my throat and buried her head into my chest, but then she whispered, “I wish that were true.”

What doI have to do to convince this girl that I loveher more than anything? Tears suddenly clouded my vision, and my voice cracked as they spilled over. “It is, Harper. I love you so damn much, why can’t you see that?”

Her wide eyes started watering as well, and her jaw started quivering. The next thing I knew, she was out of my arms and walking away. “I have to go; I’m sorry.”

“Harper, please. Please don’t just walk away. Talk to me, baby.” She didn’t stop and didn’t look back at me. “Princess, please stop walking.” Nothing; she kept her head down and continued away from me, and I was terrified that if I let her go, I’d never get her back. “Harper, please talk to me!”

She turned suddenly, but I didn’t stop walking until I was directly in front of her.

“I will,” she promised. “We will talk, but right now I have to go.” This time she cupped my face to wipe away my tears.

“Promise?” When she nodded, I whispered, “I love you,” before kissing the inside of her wrist and watching as she stepped away from me. I was so focused on Harper I didn’t notice anyone else was there until Bree touched my arm. My eyes flashed between the two of them, and I tensed up for their reaction at saying that out loud in front of my sister. But they both just smiled at me, and my body relaxed until I looked around and noticed we’d caught other people’s attention. Ducking my head, once again I quickly walked away from the girl I loved.

“YOU LIKE IT?”

Brad smiled as he looked in the double mirror to see the ink I’d just finished on his back. “Yeah man, Sarah will love it.”

I put ointment on the tattoo and covered it before Brad pulled his shirt back on and hopped up onto the table. I wanted to make some comment about how Brad was whipped for getting Sarah’s name on the back of his shoulder, but Brian had already done the piece on my arm that had “Princess” hidden in it. So I didn’t have much room to talk.

Jeff walked up to my station and threw a soda at Brad and me before opening up his own and sitting on my counter. It was a slow night in the shop, and Brian was the only one with an appointment . . . and it was his brother.

“We going surfing tomorrow?” Brad asked before taking a long drink.

“Yep. Do you know if Brandon’s going?”

Brad shrugged his shoulders. “I swear, you two switched places, you’re getting back to yourself, and Brandon’s disappeared, well . . . except for lunch the other day.”

“Yeah, but he left as soon as I sat down.” And Brad was so wrong. I wasn’t getting back to myself, I was just hoping that every day was the day I would finally get to take Harper in my arms again. But with each passing day, that hope had slowly started to fade.

“You’re not still fighting, are you? I mean neither of you have Harper, so there’s no point.” My expression deadpanned, and I shot a warning glare at Brad, who raised his hands in surrender and smirked. “Hey, man, you know I’m still pulling for you. I want you to be happy. But it’s the truth.”

I rolled my neck and sighed deeply. “We haven’t fought since he went back home over winter break. But we’ve only talked once since he got back, and that was the morning Princess fainted.”

“Well, I wouldn’t talk to you either if you had fucked my girl,” Jeff huffed, and dodged my empty soda bottle. “Well, I wouldn’t!”

I’d fucked plenty of girls. And what Princess and I had could never be considered a fuck. “He doesn’t know.”

“Yeah he does!” Brian called out from his station, never looking up from his brother’s calf. “Hell, even when you two fought all the time, he was still in here getting work done. Now your boy’s peaced out. Your girl dumped him, and he’s avoiding you now more than ever? Trust me, bro, he knows.”

“I doubt it.” Brad said at the same time I shook my head, and said, “There’s no effing way. He’d beat the shit out of me if he knew.”

“Exactly,” Brad agreed, and pointed his empty bottle at me. “You shoulda seen the way he went after Chase. Not saying Chase didn’t deserve it, but he was beyond pissed. And that was before anything happened.”

“He knows,” Jeff disagreed. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t be avoiding you.”

“He’s avoiding everyone.” I tightened my hold on the back of the chair I was leaning against. My heart had started racing with the possibility of Brandon’s knowing what had happened between Princess and me. I quickly glanced around the shop to make sure we were the only ones in there, and my gaze settled on her name on my arm.

“I just don’t get why you’re still waiting for her,” Jeff said. “You’ve been waiting for months, and now she breaks up with her boyfriend and . . . how long has that even been?”

I gritted my teeth as I answered, “Over a month and a half.” And no . . . I hadn’t been keeping track . . .

“Month and a half,” he continued. “and she barely talks to you. Just get over the girl already.”

“He loves her!” Brian called from his station, and I snorted a laugh. He’d listened to me bitch and whine about Princess for over half a year, and he still backed me up in my feelings for her.

“Whatever!” Jeff said exasperatedly. “It’s been a month and a half since she said they’d ‘talk,’ and that still has yet to happen.”

I continued to stare at her name on my arm as I thought about the few times I’d seen her since she told me she’d broken up with Brandon. It’d been a handful of times, maybe a little more, but almost all of them were glimpses as we passed each other. She’d said she would talk to me, and I’d given her plenty of time for that. But her birthday was in two days, and I had a plan. “It’ll happen.” I looked at Jeff, then over to Brad, who nodded. “I’ll make sure it happens.”

I ONLY HAD one class tomorrow, but it was Harper’s birthday, and I had a surprise planned for her. So on my way out of my last class, I stopped by my professor’s office and handed over the paper due, saying I’d be out of town. I’d just left his office when I saw Harper rush into the bathroom, her hand covering her mouth. Looking around to make sure no one was around, I pushed opened the door and heard her getting violently sick in one of the three stalls. Her backpack had been discarded on her way to the stall, and she hadn’t even closed the door.

Walking up behind her, I leaned against the side of the stall and rubbed large circles on her back until she was finished.

“Go away,” she groaned as she flushed the toilet.

Not likely. I did step away, but it was only to wet a few folded-up paper towels and bring it to her. “Here you go, Princess.”

She grabbed it and wiped her mouth before standing up and turning to look at me. “Thanks.”

I looked over her, but she didn’t look sick. She looked beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. “Are you okay? Do you want me to take you somewhere?”

“No, I’m great.”

“Great? You just threw up, Harper.”

She took a deep breath in and held it as she returned my stare. With a subtle shake of her head, she looked back down and moved past me out of the stall and over to the sink to rinse her mouth. “I know, and now I feel fine.”

“If you don’t want me to take you, at least let me call Bree so she can take you home.” I thought about my conversation with Dad this morning, and added softly, “Speaking of, when were you going to tell me you moved into my parents’ house?”

She turned off the faucet and put a piece of gum in her mouth, chewing a few times before asking, “Does that bother you?”

“Not at all, but I just found out this morning that you’ve been living there over a month. I would have come around more if I knew you were there and not hiding from me in your dorm.”

“I haven’t been hiding from you, Chase.”

I almost snorted. Jeff had been right last night—I’d barely talked to her in the last month and a half. I knew she wanted time, but she always seemed to run in the opposite direction from me. My head dropped, and I stared at her backpack sitting between us. “You sure about that?”

She was quiet for a few moments, and when she finally said something, her voice was soft and shaking slightly, “I’ve just been busy, and you haven’t been around much either. You haven’t come to a family day in months.”

“As before, Harper, I’m giving you the time you asked for.”

“Oh.”

Yeah.

She picked up her backpack and walked past me, and when I turned to look at her, she was looking at me expectantly, her hand on the handle of the door. I followed her outside, and remained silent until I caught her looking up at me from the corner of my eye.

“Harper, can you tell me one thing?”

“I’ll tell you anything, Chase.”

I touched her arm to stop her and waited until she was looking at me with those wide gray eyes. “Have I—have I missed my chance?”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean with you, us. Did I miss my chance?”

My chest tightened painfully when she closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around me. The night on my parents’ driveway when she kissed me softly before telling me she was staying with Brandon flashed through my mind, and I held my breath and gripped her tighter when she answered.

“I’m sorry that you would even have to ask that. I wish you knew how much I love you, Chase, it’s just been a hard time for me. I didn’t know you were still giving me time; I figured I’d already lost you.” Her voice broke at the end, and I almost thanked God out loud.

“Aw hell, baby. That’s not possible.” I kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tighter to me. “What’s been going on? Is it still because of Brandon? Or did something else happen?”

“We need to go, Harper.”

I dropped my arms and stepped back when I heard my sister’s voice. Once again, I expected Bree to freak out, but she just stood there with a soft smile on her face.

Harper looked up at me and touched my arm softly. “See you.”

“Bye, Princess.”

I watched her walk away from me again, but this time I promised myself it would be the last time. Tomorrow, she would be mine.

I hoped.

Chapter Eleven

I’D GONE TO Los Angeles early in the morning to get everything I needed for Harper’s surprise and barely made it to school in time after dropping it all off at Brian and Marissa’s. I laid the bouquet of orange lilies onto the chair that was propping open the door to Breanna and Harper’s class and stood back, hidden from view. Not more than five minutes later, the girls were walking up. I watched as my princess looked up, then did a double take at the chair. Her footsteps faltered as she walked slowly over and picked up the bouquet. Her body straightened as she turned around and scanned the crowd before picking the note out and moving the bouquet to the crook of her arm while she read it.

When she turned back around to look through everyone again, she had the widest smile on her face, and it took everything in me not to go to her. Bree took the note from her and shook her head slowly before looking around again as well. As soon as they walked into the classroom, I pulled out my phone.

You look beautiful today

Princess: Were you watching me?

Maybe. I finally got to give you your lilies

Princess: You already gave me my lilies a few months ago, remember?

I couldn’t forget that day even if I tried

Princess: Well, you could have given these to me yourself, you know. I would have liked to see you

It was worth it to see that smile on your face

Princess: :) Thank you for my flowers. I love them

What are you doing for your birthday?

Princess: Dinner with your fam tonight, movies at the house after. You’re invited

I’ll see what I can do

I wouldn’t be there. But I sure as hell hoped she loved her surprise.

Since I’d missed it this morning, I went surfing with Brad and Drew before going back over to Brian and Marissa’s to help get everything ready for that night. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Brian knee deep in lilies.

“Good look for you, Bri.”

He pointed a bunch of lilies at me and glared. Coming from a man of his size, mass of hair, tattoos, and piercings . . . that shit was hilarious. “Watch it, Grayson! I’m doing this for you!”

“And I appreciate it.”

“Chachi?” Marissa came running into the living room. “Do you think we got enough flowers? We can go scope out some flower shops around town.”

My eyes widened as I looked around their living room. “Uh, Riss. We bought every orange and white lily they had at the flower market. I think we’re good.” My phone rang, and I answered without looking, “Yeah?”

“Hey, sweetheart!”

“Hey, Ma, what’s going on?” Since Mom and Dad had sent me back to my house, I hadn’t seen or talked to Mom much as Harper was usually with her. Hopefully, that was all about to change.

“Well, um, I don’t know if you know . . . because you know . . . well maybe—”

“Mom, just say it.”

“It’s Harper’s birthday, you know.”

I smiled widely. “Oh yeah? Huh. That’s good.”

“Are you rethinking your feelings for her?” She sounded panicked, and I took my phone away from my ear to look at my screen for a second.

“Hell no. What’s going on? You okay, Ma?”

“Oh that’s good . . . that’s real good.”

Seriously, why is she being so weird?

“Well, we’re all going out to dinner tonight for her birthday, and I know she’d love it if you were there.”

“Yeah, look, I’d like to, but I just can’t. I’ll be busy tonight.” If she hadn’t started to weird me out so much, I might have told her my plans; but she just wasn’t acting like my mom.

“I hope you don’t give up on you and Harper, sweetheart.”

“Mom.” I spoke softly into the phone. “I haven’t. I promise. I have things I need to do tonight though . . . all right? If it eases your mind, I’ve decided to stay in San Diego after graduation.”

She blew out a relieved breath, “Oh thank God. All right. Well, if you change your mind, we’re going at six tonight.”

“Six. All right. Love you, Ma.”

“Love you, too, honey.”

We got all the flowers put together before I had to go in for my first of two appointments at the shop; and by the time I was done with the second, I was rushing to get the lilies, so they were covering every surface in the living room and breakfast bar at my parents’ house. I walked into the kitchen in search of anything I could scarf down quickly and a book sitting on the end of the kitchen table caught my eye. I did a double take when I saw the title and froze.

What. The. Hell.

I took a tentative step in the direction of the table, praying my eyesight had just declined significantly, and I wasn’t reading it correctly.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting was there, right in front of me. “This better be a fucking joke,” I whispered to the empty room and noticed the top of a white bookmark peeking out of the top about a fourth of the way through. Taking a deep breath, I flipped to the page and saw that the bookmark was actually an ultrasound picture.

I was going to kill Konrad.

I pulled the ultrasound photo out of the book and let the book fall to the table again as I stared at my niece or nephew. The front door opened, followed by gasps and a low whistle before I heard it shut. I turned and was yelling before I could storm out of the kitchen and see my family. “Are you fucking kidding me? How could you guys keep this from me? Where the hell is he? I swear to God, I’m going to kill him!”

“Chase!” My dad bit back at me, and took a protective step in front of Princess, Mom, and Bree. “Calm down. What is going on?”

Calm down? Calm down? Is he serious? “I saw the books, I saw the effing ultrasound pictures!”

Dad straightened his body and crossed his arms over his chest, one eyebrow raised. “And?”

“And? Dad!” I flung my arm toward the girls, pointing with the photo. “Bree’s knocked up, and all you can say is ‘and’?”

Bree crossed her arms over her chest, making her look just like Dad. “Please. I’m not as stupid as you. I’m not pregnant.”

“Breanna!” Mom hissed, her eyes wide.

Not as stupid as me? Wh—just . . . what? “Then what the hell is this?” I shoved the photo directly in front of her face and held it there with a shaky hand until Harper pulled the picture out of my hand. Her voice was soft and controlled.

“It’s mine, Chase.”

I looked over to my princess and was about to apologize for blowing up on her birthday when what she said finally hit me. It’s mine, Chase. The book, the ultrasound picture . . . were hers? My princess is pregnant? But she’d told me she’d only been with . . . oh holy shit. My legs started shaking as everything started clicking in my mind. I couldn’t stop the wide grin that crossed my face as I realized the girl I loved more than life itself was carrying our baby.

My gaze left her worried expression to travel down her body until I hit her slightly rounded stomach. Holy shit. How had I not noticed before tonight? “You’re pregnant, Princess?”

“Yes,” she answered softly.

I glanced up and smiled at her before looking back to her stomach, which she had just placed her hands on. “Is it—is it mine?”

“Of course it is.”

A surge of warmth spread through my body. I knew what she was saying. I knew what this meant, but I couldn’t stop asking her, “We’re going to have a baby?”

“Yes.”

I grabbed the ultrasound picture in her hand, my fingertips barely grazing her baby bump. “This is our baby?”

“Yes.”

Glancing back up at my gray-eyed princess, I studied her beautiful smile as the tears started pouring down her face. “We’re having a baby,” I said out loud.

She laughed and nodded as she watched me.

I huffed a laugh and ran a shaky hand through my hair, grabbing a fistful before letting go and looking from Harper’s stomach, to our baby’s picture, and back to her stomach. That was us. This baby was ours. And Harper’s smile was saying more than her words could. This beautiful girl was mine.

“I love you so much.” I took the last step toward her and brought my mouth down roughly to hers.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I straightened, lifting her from the ground as we moved our lips against each other. For the first time in almost three months, I felt alive again, and I never wanted to go back to a life without Harper in it. I set her back on the ground and kissed her one more time before dropping to my knees so I was eye level with her stomach. I gently ran my hands over the small bump, and my breath came out in a huff. I couldn’t believe I’d had no idea. Lifting her shirt enough to see the bump, my heart took off as I looked at her tattoo of orange lilies wrapping around so they barely touched the edge of where her bump was.

Mine.

Leaning forward, I gently kissed her small bump twice before running my hands over it again and standing up to cup her face in my hands. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Harper shrugged, her gray eyes glistening with tears. “I was scared; I still am.”

“You don’t have to be scared,” I whispered, and kissed her nose softly. “I’ll take care of us,” I vowed. Always.

She looked around to my parents and sister as she grabbed my hand. “Can you guys excuse us for a minute?”

I followed her up the stairs and to my room. As soon as we were in there, her next inhale was audible as she just stared at the bed for a few moments before going to sit on the edge of it. I fell into the middle of it and pulled her with me so we were lying down, me on my back, and her curled onto her side against me. We stayed silent for a minute, and I grabbed her hand, so I could link our fingers together before bringing it down to kiss her palm.

“I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”

Harper exhaled harshly, and my body locked up. “About that . . . Chase—”

“No.” No way was I going to let her do this to us again. “Don’t do this again, please.”

“Just hear me out, okay?” She leaned up on her elbow and looked directly into my eyes, “You’re twenty-two, you’re about to graduate from college, I don’t want to take your life from you. If you want to live your life, I won’t stop you. Just because this baby is yours, don’t think that means you’re forced to be with me . . . with us. I want you to be with us, don’t get me wrong. But I will let you go if that’s what you need.”

I knew she was being serious, but I couldn’t stop smiling at her. “Are you done?”

“Yes.”

Good. My turn. Since apparently you still haven’t figured this out. “Harper, I love you more than I could ever explain. Meeting you changed my world. Even when I thought you would never be mine, I couldn’t continue to live a life I knew you hated. The night you told me you loved me was the best night of my life, up until tonight. I never want to let you go again, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to marry you someday, Harper.” I paused when her gray eyes widened. “I would do anything for you. I don’t know what to do to make you believe me, but I’ll spend forever trying to show you.”

“You want to marry me?” she asked softly.

More than I want to breathe. “You have no idea how much.”

“Not just because I’m pregnant?”

I brought her back down so she was lying on my chest and tilted her head back to kiss her lips softly. “Not at all. I gotta admit, it’s a little bit of a shock, but I’ve always thought about being with you and starting a family. And even though it’s sooner than I thought it would be, I’m so freaking excited that it’s happening. When should we be expecting him?”

“Him?”

“Yep, it’s gonna be a boy.”

She laughed softly and ran her fingers through my hair, “I’m due October 4.”

I quickly added up the months and grinned again. “So six months, huh? Do you want to take next year off from classes?”

“I can’t go back to school.”

I squeezed her shoulder. “Of course you can, I’ll help you.”

“No, not that. I know you would.” She took a deep breath and rolled off me and onto the bed, grabbing my hand. “I told Sir that I’m pregnant.”

“And?”

“He uh—isn’t going to pay for school anymore, and he said I’m not welcome back home.”

“Bastard,” I mumbled softly. “Are you serious? We’ll figure it out. If you want to finish school, we’ll make it happen.”

“Really, I don’t even want to go back after this semester. That’s not why I’m sad. I just hate how he is. I hate how he resents me for having been born.”

I pulled her closer to me again to run my hand up and down her side. How anyone could hate this girl, especially her own father, is beyond me. “It’s not your fault. He’s a douche, and it’s his loss for missing out on an amazing daughter.”

“I was afraid you’d resent me, too,” she admitted into my chest, “for getting pregnant. You wanted to stop, and I pushed you.”

“It’s not like you had to push hard, I wanted you so bad.” I laughed, but she remained silent as she traced patterns onto my chest. “I don’t resent you, Harper, I never will.”

She leaned up to kiss me soundly, and we lay there silently until my sister opened the door to let us know they were going to turn on a movie. When the door shut again, Harper didn’t move, and neither did I.

“Harper, I want you to be mine—and not just because we’re having a baby though I’ll warn you, I’m about to tell everyone that we are.” Her eyes brightened, and I smiled at her before kissing her nose. “But I want to be able to hold you in public, I want to show everyone that you’re taken, and you belong to me. That you’ll always belong to me. Are we done torturing each other by staying apart?”

“Are you done leaving me?” she countered, and I rolled over to rest above her, my mouth less than an inch from hers.

“I’ll never leave you again, sweetie.”

“Then I’m yours.”

She reached up to kiss me and I smiled through our kiss. Finally. This girl is mine.

“BRANDON, WAIT UP!”

He hesitated for a second before continuing to close the door to his Jeep. Both hands scrubbed down his face before falling to the steering wheel.

“We need to talk.”

We still hadn’t spoken to each other since the morning Harper fainted. All the guys in the house knew she was pregnant and that we were together, but Drew had been joking about Harper’s “Buddha belly,” and next thing I know, Harper’s hyperventilating. I’d freaked out, trying to figure out what brought it on all of a sudden, and when I looked up I saw Brandon walking away from all of us. I don’t know what her reason to Brandon was when they broke up, and I didn’t know if all of our joking about it was the way he found out. But I owed it to him to talk to him about it.

“I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to say to you.” He kept his eyes trained straight ahead of him, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“Harper’s pregnant.”

He snorted. “Know that. And I know the baby is yours.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did; I should have come to you first.”

“Not really necessary since I’ve known. She told me the day she found out.”

I blinked quickly. “So you knew all that time, and you never said anything to me?”