Chapter 24
Xander
Something was up.
Harper had disappeared after we’d frolicked in the shower with a promise of seeing me on the plane, but she’d been acting squirrelly the whole ride in the limo to the airport.
First, she didn’t sit next to me. Somehow in the mix of everyone getting into the car, she’d ended up next to Tyler.
Tyler.
Second, it fucking pissed me off to see their heads bent together as they whispered furiously about something. Then Tyler shook his head and leaned back. And I watched in disbelief as his hand came down and patted Harper’s knee.
Repeatedly.
And then stayed there on her knee. Like they were a couple. I couldn’t look away from the sight. Even with Noah babbling away in my ear about kilts and free-balling, all I could see was Tyler’s hand on my girl. And how Harper wasn’t moving away. She tipped her head and leaned into him .
What the fuck?
And no one seemed to think this was bizarre. Everyone else was laughing and talking and carrying on.
“…you think, Xan?”
The car was pulling up to the drop off spot when Noah had asked me…something.
“I have no idea.” My eyes darted from Tyler’s hand on Harper’s knee to her eyes which I noticed were fixed on the man beside me. After a beat, they darted to me and she visibly flinched.
That feeling of dread spread from my stomach. Something was up. I hadn’t felt like this since Kelly. Kelly . I never thought I’d be here with Harper.
I was jostled as everyone struggled to exit the limo and grab their shit. The whole time, I couldn’t take my eyes off Harper. Who now was putting so much distance between her and Tyler it wasn’t suspect at all. He’d literally been groping her in front of me a second ago, and now you could fit a fucking bus between them.
I didn’t get a chance to ask her about it until we were on the plane. She took the seat next to me and smiled at me like nothing was wrong. Like Tyler’s hands hadn’t been on her only minutes before.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Harper froze, and her shoulders shrunk at the naked accusation in my tone. “Uh, what do you mean? We’re flying to Edinburgh. Didn’t you read the itinerary?”
“You know that’s not what I’m fucking talking about. What’s going on with you and Tyler? Why were you guys all over each other in the limo?”
“What the hell are you talking about? Are you seriously that mad that I didn’t sit next to you? Really?”
“No. I’m mad that he put his hands on you. That he sat there and caressed your knee like the two of you are together. That’s boyfriend body language and you fucking know it. I’m the only one who should be touching you. It’s fucking bullshit.”
Harper’s eyes grew wide and she leaned away from me. “I…I can’t believe you’d say that to me.” She blinked and shook her head. “Really? You think so little of me that you’d accuse me of getting with someone else literally right in front of you? Wow. Just wow.”
“Are you seriously denying that he didn’t touch you? That he wasn’t caressing your knee the whole fucking car trip here?”
“You bet your ass I am.” Harper’s hands went to her seatbelt and she struggled to unlatch it. “I’m not sitting here and listening to you accuse me of something so gross. I don’t know what crawled up your ass today, but I’ll be damned if I’ll put up with it.”
She stood up and reached down to grab her bag.
“Ma’am? Ma’am?” The flight attendant, Sabrina, stopped in the aisle next to us and gave Harper a patronizing smile. “We’re going to need you to take your seat please. We’re taxiing for takeoff.”
“I will. I’m just moving over there,” Harper retorted, pointing to the only empty seat.
Which just so happened to be next to Tyler.
“Are you fucking serious?” I roared at the same time as Sabrina said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. We really do need you to take your seat.”
Harper sat back down with a groan and Sabrina gave me a wide eyed stare before she marched back down the aisle to the back of the plane.
Literally everyone was looking at me now.
Except for Harper who was leaning so far away she was almost on the wing.
I was seething. I couldn’t remember when I’d been so pissed off. Was she seriously denying what I’d seen with my own eyes? The bastard had touched her. Caressed her fucking knee right in front of me. It was bullshit.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Harper. I silently willed her to look at me to continue our conversations, but she wouldn’t even turn her head my way.
And then I noticed her white-knuckle grip on her arm rests.
And the way her whole upper body was tensed.
The strain in her eyes.
And I remembered.
Fuck. I was such an asshole.
I reached over and covered her hand with mine. With my thumb, I softly rubbed her smooth skin.
She didn’t budge an inch.
I sighed. “Did I ever tell you how many times Kelly cheated on me?”
Harper’s head whipped around and her glare could’ve blistered my skin.
“It might be a trigger for me that hasn’t totally healed. Clearly. But she did. Kelly cheated on me a lot. The most public time was when those photos of her and that basketball player blew up all over the internet. And the news. And Sportscom. There wasn’t a tv station I could safely tune in for like a week. So uh, I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”
Her shoulders slumped and she finally looked at me. “Apology accepted.”
“I’m an ass.”
“Clearly.” But she gave me this sweet as hell smile and turned her palm up so we could hold hands.
“The first time she cheated on me was after I took her to a (K)nave type club. She acted like she was into it. When I caught her with one of her dancers a few days later, she told me I was a freak and it was my fault she had to cheat on me because I was so disgusting. So I guess that kinda, maybe filtered my view of this morning.”
“Oh my god, Xander. That’s horrible.” Harper leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. “For the record, that is not what was going on with him. We were talking business, I swear. I didn’t even realize he’d touched me. I was too concerned about our conversation.”
“I know part of our arrangement initially was for me to hook you up with—”
“Whoa, I thought we were past all this. I’m with you. I choose you. I don’t even see him like that anymore.”
“Well good.” I felt a little uncomfortable with all my confessions. I shifted in my seat like it would help somehow.
“I barely have the stamina to keep up with you.”
A shit-eating grin spread over my face. “Yeah?”
She rolled her eyes. “Like I need to tell you that. You’re freaking insatiable.” She shifted on her seat and winced. “Honestly, I think I might need an ice pack.”
“Aww, angel.” I cupped her face with one hand and kissed her forehead before resting mine against hers. “Do you want me to call the stewardess and ask her for one for you?”
“Oh my god! Don’t you dare!” Harper all but shrieked.
And I had to laugh. Christ, sometimes it was so easy to rile her up.
“We have reached cruising altitude,” the captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker, crushing the fa?ade of our intimacy. “Flight time is just over an hour, arriving in Edinburgh around two o’clock. Current conditions are wet and rainy although officially they’re calling that partly cloudy, with a temperature of 62. You are free to move around the cabin, but I remind you that if you are sitting, please keep your seatbelt fastened for your own safety, please.”
“Oh wow.” Harper blinked and pulled back. “I kinda forgot we were even on a plane.”
I smirked. “What’s a boyfriend for? Well, aside from the orgasms and morning cuddles.”
“You are ridiculously cuddly in the morning.” Harper leaned over and gave me a quick kiss then leaned back with a twinkle in her eyes. “It’s the cutest fucking thing.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t resist kissing her one more time. I sat back in my seat with a contented grunt, and we held hands the rest of the flight to Edinburgh.
* * *
When we landed in Edinburgh, Harper ran off with Marisol muttering something about equipment. The rest of the guys headed off to see the sights with their girls. I even lost track of Noah.
So it was just me and one of our security guys, Hyde, in the hired car on the way to our rental house. He wasn’t exactly known for his witty banter or even talking at all, so I decided to check in with my brother. I just hoped the time difference was in my favor and I wasn’t waking him up.
“What the fuck?” Liam groaned into the phone after only three rings.
I winced. “Sorry, bro. I couldn’t remember the time difference. Thought maybe you’d already be up.”
“It’s fucking seven AM. Why would I be up?”
“Shit. Sorry. We can talk later.”
“Nah, Xan. It’s whatever.” He coughed a few times then cleared his throat. “I’m already up. What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to talk and check in.” I leaned toward the window next to me and my shoulders hunched. “I’m kinda bored, actually.”
“Seriously? Does that mean your new girlfriend isn’t keeping you occupied enough?”
“Shit.” I rolled my eyes and a grin stretched my lips. “You know about that?”
Liam laughed. “Kinda hard not to. It made headlines over here, and if that wasn’t bad enough, Mom called me to pump me for info. Then Dad texted me asking what was going on. Don’t be surprised if one or both of them blows up your phone in a few hours.”
“Damn, I didn’t even think about them finding out.”
“Yeah, Mom sounded pretty hyped. Said something about you pulling your head out of your ass and finally seeing someone other than Kelly. But you didn’t hear that from me.”
“That sounds like Mom.” I shook my head.
“And Dad said your girl—”
“Harper.” Liam not using her name was starting to annoy me.
“Yeah, Harper. Dad said Harper looked like a forever girl.”
“Whoa.” It was too soon to use words like that, but I was surprised how right it felt.
Liam’s voice sounded husky when he spoke again, “I for one am happy for you.”
I looked down at my lap and shrugged. “She’s pretty amazing.”
“Good, bro. You deserve it.”
“Really? You think that?”
“What? Why wouldn’t I? You’re my brother.”
“I just…I always thought maybe you blamed me for what happened when you came on tour with us. Fuck knows I do.”
“That wasn’t your fault. I made my choices. And I kept on making those choices long after you stopped. I couldn’t—I didn’t… It’s not on you, Xan. I made some pretty piss poor decisions long before coming on tour with you.”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have made them but for me and my life on the road. I’m the one who gave you your first bump of coke. I’m the one who introduced you to those assholes that got you hooked. If you hadn’t been on the road with me, none of this would’ve happened.”
“You think that was the first time I’d done drugs? Shit, I got so fucked up at prom that Zach shoved me fully clothed into a shower. Ruined my tux and I had to pay the rental place a bunch of money. Plus, I puked on it. So that might’ve had something to do with the price now that I think about it.”
“I didn’t know that. I thought I was your intro to the party scene. That it was my fault.”
“I thought you knew. Fuck, I assumed you were the same. I was a punk kid who thought I was bulletproof and nothing would ever get me.” Liam groaned and cleared his throat. “This didn’t start with you. And even if you had been the one to introduce me to drugs, nothing I did would’ve been your fault. I own my actions. You need to stop blaming yourself.”
“Harper kinda sorta said something similar.”
“Brains and beauty, huh? You should hold onto that one.”
“I plan to.”
“I’m glad, bro. You deserve to have some happiness in your life. And to finally scrape that nutjob Kelly off your ass.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “So fill me in on you. What’s going on in your life?”
Liam told me about his job at the guitar store, going to NA meetings, and his sponsor who was helping keep him on the straight and narrow.
“There’s no women in your life? Are you going straight monk?”
Liam laughed. “Nah, unlike you, I haven’t found one I’m ready to hold onto yet.”
I laughed with him. It probably should’ve freaked me out but oddly I felt calm. And I agreed.
My car pulled up to a sprawling Georgian estate. “Liam, I gotta go. Tell Mom and Dad…if you talk to them, just tell them I’m happy. I’ll talk to you later.”
“See ya bro. Take care.”
I ended the call and was grinning as I got out of the car. Suddenly I felt a hell of a lot lighter.
But I’d be damned if I was going to tell Harper she was right. She heard that way too much as it was.