22. Harlow
CHAPTER 22
HARLOW
This movie is good.
It’s not a thriller but I still really like it.
The popcorn is even good. Not spicy, but again, I like it.
And I’m surrounded by many of my favorite people.
Including Graham and Margot who are cuddled up together on one of the couches.
And we’re at my house.
I’m home.
But I want to be at home with Jefferson. At his house.
Naked. Of course. But I’d even be up for a movie first. Or even just talking to him.
And if you’d told me two weeks ago that I’d want to spend time just me and Jefferson Riley talking about random shit for no other reason than just to be together, I’d have asked for a couple of shots of whatever you were drinking.
But here I am, doing one of my favorite things with my favorite people and wishing I was with Jefferson instead.
Ugh. I’m so pathetic when I’m in love.
My phone starts ringing and I dig it out from between me and the pillow I’m leaning on.
“Sorry!” I tell everyone.
Sloan hits the pause button.
I frown at my screen. “It's my dad.”
That makes everyone else frown, too.
You don’t want a dad to call during movie night anyway, and you definitely don’t want the cop dad calling.
“Dad? What’s going on?”
“You need to come get your boyfriend.”
He sounds…amused.
I pause. Then ask, “Jefferson?”
“Do you have more than one boyfriend?”
There is something about my father casually referring to Jefferson as my boyfriend that does funny things to my stomach. And my heart.
Yeah, yeah, everyone has been telling us that it’s obvious we make a great couple. No one else is surprised. Yada, yada, yada. It’s only fully sunk in for me in the past twenty-four hours, so I’m still in the stomach-swooping and heart-skipping stage.
And I kind of like it.
“Okay, no. But why do I need to come get him. Where is he?”
“At the station. In a cell.”
I sit up on the couch, my feet hitting the floor. “Jefferson Riley is at the police station in a cell ?”
Everyone in the room swivels to look at me.
“He is,” my father says. “With Zach.”
Now I’m standing. “What happened?”
“They got into it at the Come Again. Derek called me. I’ve talked them both out of pressing charges, so they’re just drunk asses who need rides home.” He pauses. “I don’t suppose you would take Zach home, too? Since he’s staying right across the street.”
“I don’t?—”
I start, but my dad raises his voice and calls, “Settle down, Riley, I was joking.”
I laugh. “Jefferson heard that?”
“Jefferson’s usually a friendly drunk,” my dad says. “Seems that Zach brings out a different side of him.”
I’m grinning. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that too.”
“You coming?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Be there in a minute.” I pause, then ask, “How drunk are we talking here?”
“Drunk enough that he’s informed me he’s madly in love with you and would like to ask for your hand in marriage.”
I freeze. “Um…”
“I said yes, of course, but he needs to sober up and ask me again. With your mom there. She’ll kill us both if she misses that.”
“You’re ruining the surprise, Scott!” I hear Jefferson yell in the background.
“Yeah, sorry,” my dad says dryly. “We’ll have to come up with something big and fun to surprise her with.”
“Okay, Peyton will have good ideas,” I hear Jefferson say.
I laugh. Loudly. And admit that I think my pounding heart is hammering more out of oh-my-god-I-love-him-and-I-think-I’d-say-yes instead of shock.
Why am I not shocked that Jefferson is thinking about marrying me?
Or that my dad doesn’t sound a bit shocked.
“Harlow?” Dad asks. “You coming?”
“I’m on my way.” I hang up and look at all my friends. “Zach and Jefferson got into a fight at the bar.”
Sasha is already texting someone. I assume it’s her mother who will have more details.
Graham just shakes his head. “A hundred bucks says I know exactly what the topic of their ‘conversation’ was.”
I have a feeling I know too.
Especially if Jefferson is talking this freely to my father about us getting married. God knows what he said to my ex. Who he hated even without adding me into the mix.
Five minutes later, I stroll through the front doors of the Sapphire Falls police station.
My dad is sitting at his desk, doing a crossword puzzle in an actual puzzle book with a pencil.
“I hope he doesn’t have to pay a fine. I didn’t bring any money.”
He lifts his head and gives me a smile. “I broke it up before they broke anything, including each other. Really brought them down here just to cool off and sober up a little.” He tosses me the keys. “You can let them both out. Up to you how they get home.”
“Zach is not my concern or responsibility,” I say, raising my voice enough that I’m sure the two men down the short hallway in the cell can hear me.
“Damn right,”Jefferson calls back.
Dad chuckles. “Would think he’d be more concerned about making a good impression on his future father-in-law.”
My stomach does that flippy thing at the way my father refers to the future and Jefferson and me being married so casually.
Then Jefferson calls out, “You already loved me, Scott.”
“That means you can only go downhill, Jefferson,” my dad calls back.
I laugh. One, because all of that’s true. Two, because Jefferson sounds so confident in how my dad feels about him and I kind of love that. Three, because Jefferson’s words are slightly slurred. I haven’t been one-on-one with a drunk Jefferson ever. This might be interesting.
“Do I have to carry him out to the car or anything?” I ask, keeping my voice a little lower now.
Dad shakes his head. “He should be able to walk just fine. Maybe not straight. But he’ll stay upright.”
I head down the hallway to the holding cell. Jefferson and Zach are sitting on benches on opposite sides of the small square space. They’re both pouting.
“This is not how I expected to end my night,” I tell him, inserting the key into the lock.
Jefferson gets to his feet and crosses to the door. “Don’t worry. You’ll get to end this night just the way you want to.”
I swing the door open and Jefferson steps out. I peer in at Zach. “You coming out?”
“I think I’ll give your boyfriend a head start. I’m tired of hearing him talk.”
I grin up at Jefferson. “Are you being annoying?”
“Zach just happens to find my being madly in love with you annoying. No one else feels that way.”
I look at Zach. “We’ve been telling you this all along. Why are you so annoyed tonight ?”
Jefferson points at Zach. “He tried to get me drunk, thinking I’d be more honest.”
“Honest about what?”
Jefferson slides his hand to the back of my neck and pulls me closer. “You. How much I love you. That we’re gonna get married and have babies and live happily ever after.”
Of course, all of this comes out a little slurred, but my stomach and heart and my panties react.
I look back at Zach. “So you thought he was lying and that if he was drunk, he would tell you the truth?”
“Worked in high school. But I guess he’s still willing to fight for you.”
I frown. “What are you talking about?”
Jefferson puts a finger against his lips. “ Shhhhh, ” he says to Zach. “That’s between us.”
Zach laughs. “She doesn’t know? Even after all these years? You’re not gonna tell her that you broke your hand in high school over her?”
I look up at Jefferson. “Wait, what? When you broke your hand, that was fighting Zach ? About me?”
“Dammit,” Jefferson says, tipping his head back and looking at the ceiling. “You don’t need to know that.”
I turn to face him fully. “You missed the championship game because you hurt your hand! And that was because of me ?”
“Harlow…” Jefferson sighs. “Fuck.” He glares at Zach, then looks back at me. “Yes. No regrets.”
My mouth drops open. I stare at him. “Why?”
“He wasn’t getting away with what he did.” He glares at Zach. “He’s lucky I didn’t put him in the hospital.”
I look over at Zach, then back to Jefferson. “Graham told you?”
Jefferson shakes his head. “I knew, Harlow. I was at the party. Graham came and got me when he realized you needed to go home. He couldn't drive. He’d had too much to drink. I took you home and put you to bed that night.”
He’s drunk. I should just chalk this up to that. But if he’s drunk, he’s obviously not thinking fast enough to cover any of this up. “ You took me home that night?” I ask.
“I took you to our house and put you in Graham’s room. Then I went and hunted that fucker down.” He points at Zach.
I look at Zach. He doesn’t dispute any of this.
Jefferson broke his hand, took himself out of the championship game—the biggest thing in his high school career—for me.
“You did it because you were drunk, right?” I ask.
Jefferson shakes his head. “No. I wasn’t drunk that night. I knew you both were going to be at that party and I wanted to make sure nothing happened. But…” He looks so pained . “He still got to you.”
“Why would you think something was going to happen?” I ask.
“Because earlier that week I told Zach that I was in love with you and that he needed to leave you the fuck alone. That’s why the fucker tried to get you back. That’s why all of that happened.” Jefferson cups my face. “It was my fault, Harlow. So, I had to do something.”
I take a hold of his shirt with both hands and shake him a little. “Absolutely not. It wasn’t either of our faults. It was all Zach.” I step back from him and look at Zach. “You are such an asshole. Oh my God. I wish he’d had a chance to hit you once before Derek called my dad.”
Zach shakes his head. He just looks…tired. “Wouldn’t change anything.”
Yeah, well… He’s probably right.
Still I step around Jefferson, stomp into the jail cell, pull back my hand, and punch Zach as hard as I possibly can.
He howls and covers his nose.
And the next thing I feel is Jefferson pulling me back, hauling me up, and throwing me over his shoulder. Though I swear he’s laughing as he does it.
In the end, there are charges filed.
Just not against Jefferson.
Totally worth it.