23. Harper
23
HARPER
“ H hhmm.” I moan as my hand runs down a hard body, over six-pack abs, and slides down to a cock.
“Keep doing that and you’ll wake him up,” Felix’s deep voice whispers into my ear.
“Shit,” I curse, jumping back. What the hell was I thinking? My head hurts, and my stomach wants to revolt against last night’s dinner. “I … I was asleep.”
“Yeah, let’s run with that.” He smirks. Before I have a chance to argue back, he tells me there’s a bottle of water and an Advil beside the bed that I probably need, and that I need a hearty breakfast in my belly after all the alcohol I drank last night. I roll over and take the pills and down the bottle of water, hoping it will rehydrate the desert in my mouth. Then my bladder retaliates, and I jump out of bed and start walking to the bathroom. What the hell did I do last night? Then I look down and notice I’m wearing one of Felix’s shirts. How did that happen? Then I feel that I’m still wearing my bra so that’s good. I close the door behind me, relieve myself, and head to wash my hands. That’s when I notice the makeup-stained washcloth beside the sink, and when I look in the mirror, I see the poor attempt at removing said makeup. Did Felix try to do that for me? Why did that make my heart skip? The image staring back at me is quite scary, I look like a mess. I think it’s shower time.
After turning human again, I walk back out into the bedroom and see that breakfast has arrived.
“Feel better?” he asks.
“Yeah. I was a mess.” I chuckle as I take a seat at the dining room table where breakfast has been set up.
“I didn’t know what you felt like, so I may have over-ordered. But you know me, I’ll eat it all.” He grins, rubbing his toned stomach with his hand. I dig into some fruit, while Felix pours me a coffee.
“Yes,” I mumble, taking the first sip. “I don’t remember much about last night so I’m sorry if I did anything embarrassing.”
Felix shakes his head. “No need to apologize, you were having fun,” he says, grabbing a banana and eating it.
“I have flashbacks of dancing on the bar.” I cringe.
“Blame your brother for that, he started it.” Felix chuckles.
“Of course he did.” I grin, taking another sip of my coffee.
“I didn’t do anything else, did I? I just have this feeling that I should be embarrassed about something, but I don’t know what,” I tell him.
“Oh yeah, you tried to fuck me when we got back to the hotel room.” I stare open-mouthed at him. “I, of course, declined.”
“Excuse me?”
“I took off your heels, gave your feet a massage as you were moaning about them hurting, and then you asked me if I was embarrassed by you, and I told you I wasn’t. Then you jumped me and pleaded with me to fuck you. You were wasted, and I told you it wasn’t going to happen. You pouted, rolled over, and passed out.”
Mortification rolls over my body. I can’t believe I did that. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“For forcing myself on you.”
“You were drunk, and you know what happens when you’re drunk?” he asks me.
“You make a fool out of yourself.”
“No. The truth comes out. Which means you want to fuck me, again.” He grins triumphantly at me as he shoves a waffle into his mouth.
“You’re such a jerk.”
“Not my fault I’m irresistible.” He winks at me. “I don’t blame you, I’m a pretty fine male specimen.” He rubs his hand over his body. “You woke up this morning with your hand on my cock. Your subconscious is giving you away. You want to fuck me.” My mouth falls open at his audacity. Then his phone vibrates with a message. “That’s the boys. I’m gonna go meet up with them for a run,” he says, standing as he grabs a T-shirt from the ground and puts it on, then some socks and shoes. Then he leans over and kisses my forehead. “Enjoy your breakfast.” Before he disappears from the hotel room, he stops. “You might want to check your socials.” Then he shuts the door behind him.
What the hell is he talking about? Rushing around the room, I search for my phone, and I see all the notifications. Internally, I curse for letting myself relax enough to let my guard down and drink. When I open my socials, I want to die. There is a selfie of Felix and I kissing. It’s a hot photo. The caption is – His. Shit. My eyes scroll down the comments, my heart beating uncontrollably out of my chest. Thankfully, a lot of the comments are nice. There are some nasty ones, about me being a whore for dating so many men, also the whole he’s too young for you, you look desperate, comment, but I move on from them. A notification pops up, and it’s from Felix’s account, tagging me in a photo. When I click on it, he’s shared the kissing photo to his profile, and his caption reads – Mine.
Harper: SOS
Kimberly: On my way.
Moments later, she is knocking on the door. “Is your head hurting? How many shots did we do?”
“Apparently enough for me to post this shit,” I say, turning my phone around and showing her.
Kimberly stares at the phone. “It’s a hot photo.”
“That’s beside the point. Did you see the caption? I wrote, His. Just now he reposted the photo and wrote – Mine underneath it.”
“He’s just publicly declared you’re dating. I guess technically you did first with your post, but who's splitting hairs.”
“It’s just been speculation before, but this kind of confirms it.”
“Is this what you wanted? You’re the PR Queen, you know how these things work.” She shrugs. “Oh, waffles!” She grabs one and takes a bite. “Ouch, flashback,” she says, scrunching up her face. “Now I know why you posted that picture. You got a text message from Josh.”
“I did?” I open my phone and scroll through it until I see a message.
Unknown Number: Where are you? I miss you.
Reading the message gives me chills.
“You then took a picture kissing Felix and I’m guessing that’s the photo you posted. You were sending a clear message to Josh that you are someone else’s. And I’m going to assume Felix has posted that same image declaring to Josh that you’re his. That you don’t mess with his woman.” Kimberly takes another bite of the waffle.
“Do you think Felix knew why?”
“You told him.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, he questioned you about posting the photo. He didn’t want you to regret it,” Kimberly explains. Then a flashback of last night enters my mind.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing him that I’m not his. That he needs to leave me alone,” I tell him angrily.
“Did something happen?” Felix asks, and I can see the concern on his face.
“I got a text from an unknown number telling me he misses me and asking where I am.”
“He fucking did what?” he says through gritted teeth.
“When he sees this, he will know.” My hands shake as I post the photo.
“And what happens if he doesn’t?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before. The same thing happened to Camryn. Her ex wouldn’t let her go and then he attacked her. I don’t want to be fucked up like her,” I say, looking up at him with desperation.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he says, pulling me into his arms as he kisses my temple.
“Nate thought the same, he was wrong.”
“How has my life turned into this? I told Felix last night I was worried that Josh would become a Harris,” I tearily tell Kimberly.
“Hey, hey,” she says, coming over and sitting beside me.
“I’m sick of crying. I never cry. I’m a fucking strong ass independent woman. This piece of shit man has turned me into a shell of the woman I used to be. He doesn’t deserve to have that much power over me.”
Kimberly holds me tightly. “Maybe you need to talk to someone. I think the shit that Josh is doing is triggering trauma you experienced while dealing with what happened to Camryn. I never told any of you, but I went to therapy to deal with what happened. I lost my faith in men. It’s why I haven’t been dating. Also, I don’t have time.”
“You should have told me.”
“Like you, I didn’t want to lump my shit on to you guys. Camryn ran off to Australia and Issy just lost her father. You were being the support net for them, you didn’t need to add my shit to it,” Kimberly says.
“I’m sorry for being a shit friend,” I tell her, cuddling her tightly.
“You haven’t been a shit friend. I think we haven’t realized how much of what happened to Camryn might have affected us until situations pop up and you’re confronted by them.” She’s right. “Look, I think you should lean on Felix. He is offering you support, even if it’s just to have a male presence in your home to take the edge off your fear. Josh is a spoilt brat, he’s nothing like Harris. He’s a bully, used to getting things his own way. He doesn’t like others playing with his toys. He doesn’t want them, but he doesn’t want others to have them either. Someone else will come along and capture his attention and then he will leave you alone.” Maybe she’s right. “Date Felix. He’s a good guy. He’s the perfect rebound. Stop overthinking it. Enjoy the summer. You living your best life is going to push Josh to move on.”
“You’re right.”
“I am?” Kimberly seems surprised that I agree with her. “Good. You’d be stupid not to enjoy that hot, younger guy. You think he can introduce me to some of his friends?” She giggles.
“Hey, I got you a water,” Felix says, handing me the bottle as I sunbathe beside the pool. Kimberly has fallen asleep on the lounger beside me.
“Thanks. How was your run?”
“Smoked them.” He grins as he unscrews the cap and chugs the bottle of water down. Damn it, how does he make drinking water sexy. “How’s the hangover?”
“Nearly gone, had a shot of tequila earlier, hair of the dog and all,” I joke. “Hey, did you want to go for a walk along the beach?”
Felix stares at me in stunned silence for a moment as if he can’t believe I’ve asked him. “Sure, what about Kim?”
“Sam and Nate are walking over, they will hang with her,” I answer, grabbing my sarong and tying it around my waist. “I’m going for a walk with Felix, can you look after Kim?” I ask the boys. My brother rolls his eyes, and Nate gives me a nod as we head off to the beach. We walk in silence most of the way until Felix can’t take it anymore.
“Okay, what’s going on? This is freaking me out,” he asks as we continue to walk.
I suck in a deep breath. “Last night and then this morning made me reevaluate things.”
“Okay …”
“I never told you about Camryn and Nate’s story because it’s not really my story to tell, but it wasn’t until Kimmy pointed it out this morning that I might be harboring some PTSD from it.” Felix doesn’t say anything but he’s listening intently. “Without going into too much detail, Camryn’s ex was engaged to someone else behind her back. When she found out about it, she dumped him. He became obsessed with her, and things escalated to a super dark place, where he drugged Nate and assaulted Camryn.”
“Shit,” Felix curses.
“That’s the CliffsNotes version. Camryn ran away to Australia to deal with it as it brought up some other traumas, and Nate had to seek therapy for what happened to him. I guess, when Josh started acting like Harris, he triggered something in me. Do I think Josh is as crazy as Harris? No. But is he scaring me? Yes. ” I reach out and link our hands together as we continue to walk along the beach. “I know I’ve been acting like a completely different person to who you met in Paradise, this is why. I got back and went into panic mode.”
He squeezes my hand. “I get it.” He brings our hands to his lips and gives my hand a kiss. Damn it. Why is he so cute? “Thanks for letting me know.”
“There’s more.” His brows raise high in surprise. “I’m all in on the plan for us to pretend we're dating. It’s the only way I can make sure Josh gets the hint. If the offer still stands for you to live with me for the summer, that would be great. I’m going crazy in that big home by myself. I’m not sleeping because every sound makes me jump.”
Felix stops walking and stares at me. “You’re asking me to move in with you?”
“Yes.”
“And we will act like we’re dating in public but friends in private?” he asks.
I shake my head as I bite my bottom lip. “I’m enacting benefits to the friend title.”
“Did I hear you correctly? That we can act like we are dating publicly and privately?” I nod. “So, we’re just plain dating?”
I guess we are. “Yes.”
He grins as he lets go of my hand and captures my face in his pawlike hands before he ravishes me with a kiss.
“I’m taking that as a yes.” I giggle.
“Yes, fucking, yes.”
“Just for the summer,” I add.
“Yeah, like you’re going to be able to keep your hands off me.” He chuckles as he picks me up and forces me to wrap my legs around his waist. “Do you think your friends will miss us if I take you back to the room and fuck you?”
“They already think we’re dating. I’m going to assume they think us going for a walk really means we are off to our room to have sex.” I wrap my arms around his neck.
“True. Good idea. If they are already thinking it, we might as well do it,” he says before taking off in a sprint toward our hotel room.