Chapter 7
“Kai needs to look the word romantic up in the dictionary because he doesn’t have a clue what it means.” ~ Harper
Harper
M y phone rings and wakes me. I groan and cover my head with my pillow.
I didn’t get home last night until six. I guess I should say this morning. I am not getting out of this bed for the phone.
“Answer your phone, Harper,” Dad yells. “Or I’ll come in there and tell whoever it is you can’t answer the phone because you’ve been abducted by aliens and are getting probed.”
I smile at the threat. Dad used to do crazy shit all the time before Mom died. One time, he had the school convinced I was having an operation to have my sixth and seventh toes removed from both my feet. Mom didn’t let him answer the phone after that.
“Go away!”
He pounds his cane on the floor. “Answer your phone. The aliens are circling above us. ”
I giggle as I reach for my phone.
“Hello.”
“Harper. Good morning. It’s Jerry.”
I sit up in bed. It can’t be a good thing if my accountant is phoning me on a Monday morning.
“What’s wrong? What bill did I forget to pay this time? Please tell me they aren’t threatening to shut my water off.”
He chuckles. “Your water is safe.”
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“I wanted to check a transaction with you from last night.”
“Okay?”
“There’s one transaction from last night in the amount of several thousand dollars. I want to make sure it’s not a mistake.”
“Several thousand dollars?” I brush the hair out of my face. “No one’s bar tab was over a thousand dollars last night.”
And I would know. If a bar tab reaches five hundred dollars, my system alerts me and I make the table cash out. I can’t afford for patrons to not pay their big tabs.
“The name on the credit card is Kai Raider.”
“Say the name again?” I must have misheard. No way did Kai pay a bar tab of several thousand dollars last night. He was supposed to drink for free since his team won the Bootlegger Escape Room Festival.
“The name on the card is Kai Raider.”
What the hell was he thinking? “I’ll deal with it, Jerry,” I say before hanging up.
I scroll through my contacts but I don’t have Kai’s number. I drum my fingers on my thigh. Who can I ask for his number who won’t tattle to the entire town? Tough question since everyone on the island loves to gossip.
Good thing I have leverage.
“Hey, Harper,” Blossom greets me.
“I need Kai’s phone number and if you tell anyone I asked you for his number, I’m going to tell the entire island about the time you cheated at darts in my bar.”
“I never cheated at darts,” she claims.
“You bent the opponent’s darts out of shape. I had to buy new darts.” I didn’t actually buy new darts. I had the old ones re-shaped since darts are not cheap.
“Ugh. You remind me of my husband using all your facts.” She spits out the word facts, which would normally be hilarious since she uses facts to get her way as much as Jaxon does.
But I don’t have time to dig into her hypocrisy. I have a Raider brother of my own to deal with. Kai isn’t mine, but you get what I mean.
“Kai’s number,” I prompt.
“I would have given you Kai’s number without the emotional blackmail.”
“And then you would have told Jaxon and all of his brothers. The news would have spread across the island faster than Plank, the dirty-mouthed parrot, can fly.”
“Whatever,” she mutters and my phone beeps with a message. It’s a contact for Kai.
“Thanks, Blossom,” I say and hang up before she can ask any questions.
I stand and pace the room as I dial Kai’s number .
“Hi, Slugger.”
My brow wrinkles. “How do you know it’s me?”
“It’s this thing called modern technology. You may have heard of it.”
I grunt. “Thanks for the reminder of how much older I am than you.”
“Yes, you’re ancient. Were dinosaurs as scary in person as they are in movies?”
“Ha. Ha. Aren’t you funny early in the morning?”
“I’m funny all the time. Early in the morning, in the sunny afternoon, late at night.”
I shiver at how he lowers his voice on ‘late at night’. When did Kai Raider grow up and get a deep voice? Or those muscles on his chest? He’s not a little boy anymore.
But then I remember why I’m calling.
“Who do you think you are?” I spit out my question.
“I’m Kai Raider.”
“Don’t be cute with me. You know what I mean.”
“I do? You’ll have to fill me in because I’m confused.”
I open my mouth to lay into him but Dad yells, “Harper!” before I get the chance.
“I’m on the phone!”
“I can’t find my Fruit Loops.”
Those damn Fruit Loops. If I could, I’d contact the manufacturer and have the production stopped. They are more trouble than they’re worth.
“Is that a man? Are you with another man, Harper?”
Another man? As if he has some kind of claim to me. I roll my eyes so hard at his indignation, I nearly give myself a headache.
“None of your business.”
He growls. An honest to goodness growl.
“Harper!” Dad shouts again and I march out of my room to the kitchen. I easily find the Fruit Loops – it’s possible they’re in a spot too high for Dad to reach with his limited mobility – and plonk them on the table.
“There, Dad. Are you happy now?”
He doesn’t respond. Merely reaches for the Fruit Loops. I blow out a breath. Is ‘thank you’ too much to ask for?
“Dad?” Kai asks. Shit. I’m still on the phone with him. “You live with your dad?”
I open the door to the patio and step outside. I shut the door behind me and march to the edge of the deck out of Dad’s hearing range.
“Do not start with me.”
“Sorry. I’m surprised, is all. Why do you live with your dad?”
“None of your business. I didn’t phone you to discuss my living arrangements.”
“Why did you phone me?”
“Because I don’t appreciate you shoving your wealth in my face.”
“Whoa. When did I shove my wealth in your face?”
“Are you serious right now? Do you have such an abundance of money you forgot what you did? ”
Must be nice. Dad was a construction worker. He never made a ton of money, but we were comfortable before his stroke. Now? Now’s another story entirely.
“I’m not some rich prick who sauntered onto the island and is throwing my wealth into everyone’s face.”
“You’re not? You didn’t pay several thousand dollars of bar tabs last night?”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh. Those bar tabs weren’t supposed to be paid. I donate the top prize for the Bootlegger Escape Room . My donation is to pay the bar tabs of the winning team.”
“I thought…”
“You thought what?” I ask when he trails off and doesn’t finish his thought.
“Two teams tied this year. It was more money than normal.”
Don’t I know it. “What does this have to do with you?”
“Rhett may have mentioned you asked for a payment plan for your latest whiskey delivery.”
Fuck. How could I forget those Raider brothers tell each other everything? Even when they’re at each other’s throats, they have each other’s backs. Must be nice.
“My payment plan doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“I thought it would be romantic if I paid for the bill. Some grand gesture.”
Romantic? A grand gesture? I don’t need some man to come riding in to save me. I’m doing fine all on my own. Who the smuggler does Kai Raider think he is ?
I inhale a deep breath and let it out slowly but it doesn’t help. My anger doesn’t abate one bit.
“Buy a clue. Showing off your wealth isn’t romantic.
This is exactly my point about you. You’ve gotten everything handed to you.
You don’t know how it feels to have to work when you’re throwing up all over the place, or to have to skip out on the senior trip in high school because you can’t afford it.
Everything has been handed to you on a silver platter. ”
“You’re not being fair. My dad abandoned my family when I was ten.”
“Welcome to the club. My mom died when I was sixteen.”
“Shit. I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Harper.”
I ignore his sympathy. I didn’t need it sixteen years ago. I don’t need it now.
“I didn’t phone you to share our sad stories. I phoned because what you did is not okay. Throwing money in my face is not okay. It’s not romantic.”
“Lesson learned.”
“I doubt it,” I murmur before hanging up.
And here I thought Kai helping out behind the bar last night was a step in the right direction. Silly me. Kai Raider will never grow up. He’ll be fifty years old and still be immature. I want nothing to do with him.
I don’t care how sexy those abs are or how warm his arms felt around me. He’s not the man for me.