Chapter 4 #2
“Five minutes,” I said before hanging up.
“I did it again,” Harper said in disbelief, looking around at the fogged windows.
“Won’t be the last time,” I replied, waiting for her to look at me again.
“Yes, it will,” she said with a huff, throwing open the door.
Jesus, the woman was hot as fire and then cold as a wet blanket within the space of a minute. I felt like I was getting whiplash.
“What the hell?” I asked, following her out. “Harper!”
“This isn’t happening again,” she said, flicking her finger between the two of us. “It shouldn’t have happened the first time.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because!”
“Yeah, that explains nothing.”
“You know why,” she said, lowering her voice. “You know exactly why.”
I could tell that she believed I knew what she was talking about, but honest to God, I had no fucking clue what she was getting at. We were like lightning together, and we were already friends. I couldn’t see any reason not to see where things went.
“You’re gonna have to spell it out for me, Harp,” I said, reaching for her.
I frowned in confusion when she stepped out of reach.
“Lou.”
It felt like my mind glitched for a moment.
“What does Lou have to do with anything?”
Harper made the little noise in the back of her throat that I’d thought was so cute before but now just frustrated me.
“Everyone knows, Bas,” she said quietly.
“I clearly don’t.”
“You’re in love with her.”
I barely kept my jaw from dropping open. “I’m what?”
“Anyone with eyes can see it, okay?”
“What the hell, Harper?”
“I mean, Frankie wouldn’t even talk to me after the party. I still haven’t heard from her.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And I get it. That’s her best friend, and I just showed up and—”
“I’m not in love with Lou.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said flatly.
“I wouldn’t be callin’ you all weekend and kissin’ you if I was in love with Lou.”
“It’s messy,” Harper said apologetically. “Everyone assumed that you and her would—”
“I don’t give a shit what everyone assumes.”
“Well, I do,” she replied stubbornly. “I’m already an outsider, and now everyone’s talking.”
“Everyone can mind their own fucking business.”
“You know that’s not how it works.”
“I can’t believe you think I’d be fucking around with you while I was in love with someone else,” I sputtered. “Jesus.”
“Look, whatever it is—” She shook her head. “I don’t want to get into the middle of it.”
“There’s nothin’ to get in the middle of. For fuck’s sake.”
“It’s been longer than five minutes, and I’m fuckin’ starvin’,” Cian called as he stomped toward us. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
He jerked to a stop when he realized Harper was there.
“Oh. Uh. Hey, Harp.”
“Hey Cian,” she said. “I need to bring these keys to my dad. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Harper,” I called. She kept walking.
I wasn’t going to fucking chase her.
“Sorry, man,” Cian said with a wince. “I wasn’t trying to interrupt.”
“What the fuck have people been saying about Harper?” I barked, turning to look at him.
“Nothing much,” he hedged. “Noel saw you guys at the party and told Gray because he was looking for Harp. Someone must’ve overheard, and it spread around that you guys hooked up.”
“Why the fuck would anyone care?”
“Well, just with Lou and everything.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, pressing my fingers against the headache that was forming between my eyes.
“It was surprising, is all.” He shrugged. “It’ll blow over.”
“You’re my best friend—” I started.
“Thanks, bud. You’re my best friend, too.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Well, you are.”
“What the hell do you think is going on between me and Lou?”
“No fuckin’ clue,” he said easily. “That’s your deal.”
I wanted to hit something.
“So, every time I told you it wasn’t fucking like that, you just what? Didn’t believe me?”
“Come on, man,” he said, glancing toward his truck. “I just want a burrito.”
“We’re friends.”
“Cool. Burrito?”
I didn’t want to go anywhere. Harper was going to have to come back for the Toyota at some point, and the urge to sit my ass on the hood and wait was strong.
But I also knew that she probably wouldn’t come out if she thought I was still there, and I did have an actual job that I was supposed to be doing.
If I didn’t have that Dyna done by the time Dragon came to see the finished product, I’d have some explaining to do.
“Go without me,” I said, shaking my head. “I already took my break.”
“What the fuck, man,” Cian bitched. “Wait, how long have you been out here?”
Ignoring him, I walked back toward the garage.
“Those windows are fogged up!” Cian yelled with a chuckle.
When I got back inside, I put everything out of my mind. Focusing on the details that I wanted to get right was the perfect way to avoid the shit in my life that I didn’t want to deal with. The only problem with that was the moment I got off work and headed home, everything came flooding back.
I was soaking wet by the time I parked my bike in the covered spot in front of my apartment.
The rain hadn’t let up all day, and I wondered if Harper had ever gotten that jacket from her mom, which reminded me of what she’d said about being an outsider.
I hadn’t said anything about it in the moment because I’d been too busy defending myself over something that wasn’t even true.
I didn’t understand why she saw herself as an outsider.
The woman’s great-grandfather, both grandfathers, father, and brother were all club members. She’d practically been wrapped in an Aces cut when she was born. If there was anyone in the club that was less of an outsider, I didn’t know who the hell they could be.
Stripping off my clothes, I headed straight for the shower to warm up.
I didn’t need to be worrying about Harper when I had other shit to deal with, but I couldn’t seem to stop.
I was pissed that Frankie was being an asshole to her.
I was pissed that everyone thought they had the right to be talking about us.
I was pissed that Harper thought I was the kind of guy to mess around with her if I had feelings for someone else.
I’d thought we were friends. I thought she knew me better than that.
The racing thoughts about Harper had the benefit of keeping me angry enough that I didn’t have to think about Bernice.
As soon as I’d showered and thrown on some sweats, I swiped my phone off the bed and went to make myself some dinner. I called Lou and put the phone on speaker as I pulled shit out of the fridge.
“Hey Bas,” she answered. “You coming over tonight?”
“What’s tonight?”
“I’m walking over to Myla’s for dinner. She’s making chicken pot pies. It’s a new recipe, so it might be shit.” She laughed.
“Nah, I’m stayin’ home tonight,” I replied, opening a can of chili. “Probably just going to make some dinner and crash.”
“Long day?”
“Weird one,” I clarified. “Hey, did you hear anyone talking about Harper the other night?”
“What do you mean?” she asked slowly.
“She said something about how everyone’s been talking about the fact that Noel caught us kissing,” I said bluntly. “I was wondering if you heard any of that.”
“Oh, not really,” Lou mused. I immediately knew she was lying. “I mean, I heard a couple people mention it.”
“Why didn’t you shut it down?”
“You know how people talk, Bas,” she shot back. “I wasn’t adding to it, but it’s not like I could order everyone to stop.”
“That’s what you should’ve done.”
“Why?” She let out a huff of laughter. “It happens to all of us. They talk for a minute, and then it’s over. It’s not like they were calling her a whore or anything like that. They were just surprised at the pairing.”
As soon as the word “whore” came out of her mouth, every muscle in my body tensed with anger, which was probably why I was immediately offended that anyone would be surprised by Harper wanting to spend time with me.
“What, they think Harper’s too good for me or somethin’?” I asked. “The goofy-lookin’ kid going after the beauty queen?”
Lou let out a choked noise. “What? No.”
“Then what the fuck, Lou? Why didn’t you set them fucking straight?”
“About what?” she snapped in exasperation.
“Any of it. All of it.”
“I have no idea what the fuck you were doing outside with Harper,” Lou said. I could imagine the frustrated look on her face. “So, how the heck was I supposed to set anyone straight?”
“So, you just said nothin’.”
“There was nothing for me to say. If you want to hook up with Harper, that’s your business.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. What even is this conversation right now?”
“What you’re tellin’ me is that people were surprised that me and Harper would hook up, so they stood around gossipin’ and makin’ her uncomfortable, and you just didn’t say anythin’.”
“I’m not sure how she could be uncomfortable, considering that she ran out of the house like her ass was on fire.”
“And what the fuck was Frankie’s problem?”
“You’d have to ask Frankie.”
“Don’t give me that shit. You know the three of you have been sittin’ around talkin’ this shit to death. So, tell me. Why the fuck does Harper think that Frankie’s pissed at her?”
“She’s not pissed at her.”
“Fuckin’ hell. It’s like we’re talkin’ in circles.”
“None of us can understand why it’s Harper,” Lou said, her voice rising. “Like, seriously? Harp is awesome, but she doesn’t even live here. So, what, you guys are going to hook up for a while and then she’s going to leave and it’ll just be weird for everyone?”
I jerked in surprise.
“You serious right now?”
“It’s just a weird choice for you.”
“Harper’s gorgeous and smart as fuck and funny. Don’t think she’d be a weird choice for anyone.”
“Okay then.”
“You’ve never given a single shit who I was seein’, so I’m a little confused about you carin’ what me and Harper are up to.”
“I don’t care.”
“Seems to me, the entire fuckin’ club cares.”
“I can’t control everyone else.”
“No, but you’re one of my best friends, so I would’ve thought you’d have my back.”
“I always have your back.”
“Except when people are gossipin’ about me, right?”
“Bas, you’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion.”
“Don’t think I’m the one who’s doin’ that,” I replied pointedly. “Have fun at Myla’s.”
“Don’t be pissed at me.”
“Harper’s got enough goin’ on right now, so maybe tell your little coven to lay off, yeah?”
“What does Harper have going on?”
“My dinner’s burnin’, Lou. I’ll talk to you later.”
I hung up and tossed my phone onto the couch.
It was hard to believe that even Lou hadn’t shut that shit down when she’d heard people talking.
I hadn’t noticed any of it, but I’d been pretty much in my own head the rest of the night, and people wouldn’t have talked when I was in hearing distance anyway.
I’d hung out with Lou that night and she hadn’t said shit—
My stomach lurched hard at the realization that I hadn’t just hung with Lou that night.
We’d slept in the same fucking bed. By the time everyone else had cleared out and there were only a few of the core group left, we’d all headed upstairs to crash.
The little girls slept in twin beds, but I went straight into the king in my old room before anyone else could take it.
Lou had followed me in sometime later and passed out on the other side of the bed, and I hadn’t thought anything of it.
We’d slept in the same bed plenty of times, but it wasn’t as if anything happened.
A couple of years before, we would have cuddled or whatever, but we hadn’t done that in a long time—not since we decided we weren’t going to move things in that direction.
It was better not to blur the lines, especially since we spent so much time together.
I knew that. Lou knew that. But anyone else who’d spent the night or been at Titus and Noel’s the next morning would’ve seen us coming out of that room together.
After I’d been caught with my hand up Harper’s shirt the night before.
Fuck my life.