Never Been Worse (Evergreen Park #3)

Chapter 25 – Wes

TWENTY-FIVE

WES

“What are you three doing?” I ask, walking into the kitchen after leaning in the doorway for some time, not a single one of the women noticing me as I did. I got home after a day at the studio, excited to see my wife, only to open the door to the raucous laughter of Harper and her friends.

“Jesus, Wes, you scared the shit out of me!” Ava says, putting a hand to her chest.

“I’ve been standing here for at least three minutes,” I say with a laugh, my eyes moving to my wife, whose blush is burning a pretty, bright pink. The three of them have been sitting at the kitchen island, hovering over Harper’s laptop and laughing hysterically nearly the entire time.

“We didn’t see you there,” Harper says, and I smile.

“I got that,” I say. “What are you guys doing?”

Jules and Harper look around like they’re trying to find some appropriate answer written on a wall, but Ava, as always, holds nothing back.

“Ordering a pile of elephant shit to be delivered to Jeremy’s house,” she announces triumphantly, continuing to type in numbers from the credit card in her hands.

I could ask what that means , but I don’t think I would learn much from her answer. Instead, I go with, “And why are we doing that?”

“Because he’s an asshole and deserves the shittiest karma.”

I nod, trying to at least feign understanding. “Why are we planning revenge when the last time you guys glittered his yard, you got arrested?” I ask, but Ava shakes her head.

“It wasn’t the glittering that fucked us,” she says as if the tiny details make a difference. “It was the forking.”

“It was a good idea!” Jules shouts, throwing her hands in the air. “I swear it was.”

“It took forever,” Ava says, glaring at Jules, who I’m assuming thought of the forking.

“It’s not my fault that our intel was wrong!” Jules yells, pointing at Harper. “She told us he would be out of town, and they had no cameras!”

“He was supposed to be!” Harper shouts in return, lifting her hands in defense. “I also told you all that we were broken up after months of him lying to me about his whereabouts, so maybe you should have known my intel wasn’t the best. I suggested we call Jaime and have him watch Jeremy for us, make sure he wouldn’t be around to catch us.”

“Jaime would have shot it down,” Ava says.

“Then maybe you wouldn’t have gotten arrested,” I add, stepping further into the room, and Ava turns her ire on me.

“Yeah, and then you’d still be single and pining after Harper, so there’s that.”

“Ava!” Harper shouts, eyes wide with panic.

“Girl’s gotta point.” I make my way over to where Ava is still typing in card numbers slowly. “You can’t use your credit card,” I say, tugging the laptop out of her hands.

“Excuse me?” she asks, clearly annoyed and glaring at me.

“You can’t use your credit card for this.” Reaching in my back pocket, I slide out my wallet while opening up a new browser.

“Wes, no. Absolutely not,” Harper says, taking a step toward me. “You are not paying for this.”

I shake my head, continuing to open the page I’m looking for.

“This is not about paying for things, little wife. It’s about discretion. If you buy anything to fuck with Jeremy with your credit card, he can track that back to you.”

“ Little wife! ” Jules says in a whispered squeal, and Ava smiles at her. Harper does not.

“We’re sending it as a gift,” Harper says, ignoring her friend.

“Do you think he can’t call up the website and ask who sent it to him as a gift ?” She glares and then rolls her eyes. I type a few more things in, then add in my credit card.

“If your info comes up when he asks, it will be even worse,” she says, crossing her arms on her chest like she won that battle. I smile wide, then take the code I just got back from the first website.

“And that’s why I purchased a Visa gift card and am using that to purchase it.” I look at Ava. “Are we good to submit, or do you need to add more to it?”

She smiles. “No, I think it’s all pretty set. Thanks, Wes! You’re one smart cookie.”

I nod, not knowing if that’s a compliment or not, considering it’s coming from Ava.

What I do know is that something happened in the last twelve hours to reignite Ava and Jules’s anger at Jeremy Vaughn, something that has all three of them up in arms and craving justice once more.

“Got it,” I say, then finish the order and hit send. “Should be delivered next week.”

“I love him for you, Harper,” Ava says, with a smile.

My eyes are on my wife’s when she looks at me with a soft smile.

“Yeah,” she says low, and warmth runs through me at that single, seemingly insignificant word. I shift away from the laptop over to her, pulling her into my side. I expect her to go stiff or pull away, but instead, she melts into my side, her arm wrapping around my waist. Something big has changed in Harper in the last few days, and it bodes really fucking well for me. I’m not all the way past her walls, but they’re cracked, and I’ll take what I can get with her.

“What are you three up to next?” I ask, then press my lips to Harper’s hair. Jules audibly sighs at the move while Ava smiles, like she knew this would happen all along. I’m glad one of us was always confident I’d make my way past Harper’s walls.

“I think we earned a nice little sweet treat,” Ava says, putting a hand to her stomach that’s just starting to show.

“Oh, yes, please,” Harper says, the words nearly erotic with want.

“Who wants ice cream?” I ask, knowing I’d do just about anything if Harper requested anything in that tone. “I know a place that has great dairy-free options for you, Ava.” Her eyes go wide and I don’t miss how Harper’s arm tightens around my waist with appreciation for my thinking of her friend.

“I would do absolutely feral things for ice cream right now. This baby only wants sweets, but it’s so hard to find anything that is actually good without milk.” I almost see her eyes watering.

“Got it. Ice cream it is. I’ll drive.”

“YAY!” Ava shouts, then claps. “Harper, if you don’t stop fucking around and tie this man down for real, I’m going to riot. He’s getting us ice cream .”

Harper tips her head in her friend’s direction, giving them a face I can’t see, but when they start loudly laughing, I find myself smiling as well. Harper huffs, then moves away from me and toward the front door.

“Are we going?” she shouts when she’s out of sight.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I say as Jules follows her out, but Ava doesn’t, standing in the kitchen and taking me in.

“You’re good for her, you know,” she says low, like she’s worried Harper will hear. “Don’t stop fighting for her. She’s just a little trigger shy and isn’t sure if she can trust her gut these days.”

“But you’re saying her gut is pointing to me?” I ask, reading between the lines.

She smiles wide.

“Oh yeah. Big time, my friend,” she says, then turns away toward the front door without another word.

I follow before we head out the door. Harper is quiet, letting Ava and Jules chat, but she takes the passenger seat beside me, the girls sitting in the back.

And when she reaches over to where my hand sits on the center console, gently twining her fingers with mine, I can’t help but think I’ve somehow passed another test Harper doesn’t realize she’s been assigning to me.