10. Harper
CHAPTER TEN
HARPER
My first five days at the beach house are complete shit.
I’ve barely interacted with my parents aside from mealtimes when I’m forced to dine with them and Felix.
Each day, Mom drives me to and from a nearby ballet studio for class.
She tries to engage in conversation, asking about things that interest me, like dance and how my friends are, and insists Felix’s behavior is already showing signs of improvement.
I respond with one-word answers, fuming over how mistaken she is about Felix and how I can’t even tell her because I’m afraid he’ll rat me out for throwing a dagger at him and injuring that girl.
Every time I step out of my bedroom, I feel his presence suffocating me. Each morning, I go for a run on the beach then cool down with stretches by the pool. He always chooses that exact time to swim in the pool then lay on a sun lounger to watch me stretch.
He showers with the door open. Afterward, he walks freely with nothing but a towel wrapped low around his waist. I don’t want to look, but there’s no avoiding the sight of his body when it’s shoved in my face.
He has two full sleeves of ink. Tyler tells me all of his brothers work out together in their home gym, and it’s obvious when I see how defined Felix’s muscles are without a shirt on.
Sometimes, Felix catches me looking and grins, like he’s pleased his presence makes me uncomfortable.
One morning when I was stretching by the pool, he had a girl straddling him in the spa, grinding against his dick.
I wanted to throw a pool chair at the girl.
When Felix caught me staring, he smirked and called out, “Where’s your dagger this time, sweetheart? ”
I don’t know where this girl came from. My parents didn’t know about her, that’s for sure. Which tells me Felix is still up to his usual tricks.
Unable to control myself, I snuck into Felix’s bedroom, found what must have been the girl’s belongings, and tossed them out the window with no remorse. In the moment, I justified the behavior by telling myself it was a more mature decision than throwing the pool chair at her. Or a dagger.
Regardless, I hate myself for stooping so low. I barely recognize myself, fighting with my parents, feeling possessive to the point of violence, all over a guy I hate—a guy who is downright harassing me.
Thankfully, the weekend is here, and Mom has allowed Tyler to stay two nights, with the hope that he’ll cheer me up. He drove up here in the Audi Josh gifted him for his eighteenth.
It’s late Saturday evening and the two of us are in the movie room, sharing popcorn and laughing as we watch some ridiculous horror movie he picked out.
I’m freshly showered with wet hair, wearing a pink satin night dress, along with Tyler’s hoodie to keep warm.
He’s mindlessly flicking something back and forth in his hand, the object making a clinking sound.
I can’t tell what the item is. The room is dark, the movie offering dim light.
I glance Tyler’s way to identify the object but get distracted with a rush of flutters in my tummy when I catch him side-eyeing me.
We’ve made eye contact plenty of times, but this feels different.
There’s weight to it. He’s my best friend and I can read him well.
Without speaking a word, I know he’s thinking about kissing me.
I hope he can read me just as well and see how badly I want him to lean in and close the distance between us.
My breath hitches when his gaze dips to my mouth. I psych myself out, scared of how a kiss will change our friendship. “Why are you watching me instead of the movie?”
He laughs quietly and the clinking continues. “Because your hair is dripping all over me, Princess.”
My chest deflates. I don’t understand myself these days. One minute, I want Tyler’s lips on mine. The next, I’m afraid of my feelings for him.
“What are you playing with?” I take the object from his hand, raising a confused brow when I realize it’s a Zippo lighter. One of those really old and sophisticated ones. “Why do you have this? You don’t smoke.”
Something is engraved on it. I tilt the Zippo, catching enough light from the movie to read an engraving. The house always wins. Except when we play.
“It’s a souvenir.” Tyler places the lighter in his pocket, giving no further explanation, then grabs my waist, effortlessly pulling me onto his lap. “Want me to braid your hair?”
I love how he doesn’t ask whether I want to sit with him, he just moves my body as though I’m his girl .
Pre-Italy, whenever Tyler held my hand or hugged me, I would feel cherished and protected. Post-Italy, his touch makes me hot and needy.
An image enters my mind, of him handling me like this during sex.
What the hell is wrong with me? I’m so fucking perverted and am making our friendship awkward, suddenly always thinking about the two of us getting naked.
The most vulgar images have been entering my head recently, of what he would look like jerking off. What he would taste like between my lips, coming down my throat. Worst of all, I’ve been thinking about Tyler enjoying the sight of me with my fingers between my legs.
I don’t know what has spurred on all these thoughts. They’re not me. I don’t want sex.
I don’t .
Tyler starts brushing my hair, speaking during a lull in the movie. “Your parents told me you’re not settling in with Felix. You’ll let me know if he does anything inappropriate to you, won’t you? I won’t let him treat you poorly.”
I think about the first day here when Felix cornered me in the car, slid between my legs, and said he’d have fun playing with me. I should tell Tyler, but I’m fearful Felix will retaliate by sharing details about that moment in the car I want to keep hidden.
I bet you’re soaking wet for me right now.
Or worse. Felix could tell him about the dagger.
Arousal spreads through me at the memory of how hard Felix was between my legs. I made him hard.
And here I am, back to the sex thoughts again. I swear, these two brothers are going to drive me insane.
“I don’t want to talk about Felix. ”
“Harp, I know you don’t want to hear this, but maybe it’s a good thing you two are living together. Maybe you’ll become friends again.”
“Not going to happen.”
Right as I say the words, my phone lights up beside us on the couch. I glance at it, not paying attention to the screen other than to check if I’m receiving an incoming call. The screen turns dark again. A text message, probably from Cindy. I’ll check it later.
“How’s ballet?” Tyler asks, dividing my hair into sections.
“Fine, I guess. I’m taking class up here but it’s not the same as being in my regular classes.”
My phone lights up again.
“You going to get that?” Tyler passes me my phone. His hand pauses halfway to me when I feel his muscles stiffen. Before I can register what’s happened, the mood shifts from lighthearted to tense. “Who the fuck is Paul Ferguson?”
My throat constricts with panic. I snatch my phone, reading the message on my screen. Hi, beautiful. Had a great date with you last week. When do I get to see you again?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Ah… that’s not what it seems. He’s no one?—”
Tyler slides out from beneath me, putting space between us. The look in his eyes is dark. Furious . My heart pounds, having never seen him react like this.
“If it’s not what it seems, why the fuck is he calling you beautiful ?”
I’m instantly clammy, knowing I’ve screwed up. I didn’t want Tyler to find out about Paul like this. I didn’t want him to find out at all. Paul is some boring guy who means nothing to me.
“My parents are pushing me to date this guy. He’s the son of Dad’s boss. I’m not interested in him. I met up with him one afternoon at the juice bar after ballet to shut my parents up. It wasn’t a date.”
“Are you sure he knows that? Tell me what the fuck is really going on.”
I swallow hard, knowing the truth will hurt Tyler, and that’s the last thing I want to do. “I think my parents are… hoping I’ll marry him.”
His eyes turn vicious. His voice even more so. “And you kept all of this from me?”
“Yes, because it’s not happening. I don’t like the guy. Why are you so worked up over this?”
“You know why. What the fuck do you call this?” He holds up his hand, pointing to the scar I gave him when we were kids.
I know the meaning behind our scars symbolizes as much to him as it does to me.
“Harper, you’re not just some girl I hang out with.
You’re not just a friend. You’re the girl I have been waiting so fucking patiently to kiss and call my girlfriend and then one day marry.
You’re—” He groans, grabbing a fistful of his hair and stands from the couch, making to leave the room.
“Where are you going?” My voice is thin, realizing how much I’ve screwed up with Tyler, having misinterpreted for years how strong his feelings are for me. “I’m sorry. You mean everything to me. Please don’t leave.”
Tyler turns back to me, smooths his hair out and takes a calming breath. His chest rises heavily, still heated over our conversation, but he leans down, gently stroking my hair.
A moment ago, there was anger in his eyes. Now, he looks nervous. “Stay here please. I… wrote something for you. I planned to give it to you later but maybe now is the right time. Let me get it. ”
“Wait.” I grab Tyler’s hand before he can leave. “You wrote something for me? What is it?”
“I spent a long time trying to get the wording right. It will be best if I read it to you. Stay here, okay? Everything will make sense when I return.” He kisses my forehead then heads out of the room.
I remain in my spot, nervous and fidgeting with my hands, trying to comprehend the argument we just had and how it quickly flipped to Tyler wanting to read something to me. A letter? It’s unlike him. It’s unlike us . We’ve never written anything to each other.
Five minutes pass and I’m still sitting alone in the movie room, which makes me even more curious since Tyler’s bedroom isn’t far. He told me to wait here for him, but he should have been back within a minute.
Curiosity gets the best of me, and I step outside of the movie room, calling his name. There’s no response. The beach house is dead quiet and most of the lights are off. Mom and Dad went to bed two hours ago. Felix is… well, I don’t know what he’s doing.
I call out Tyler’s name again and walk toward his room. When I arrive, he’s not here, but a stream of red light from beyond the window catches my attention.
I peer outside, finding the source. All the lights are turned off, which makes it easy to see the pool house is in use.
Whoever is in there has pulled the curtains shut to conceal activity.
But red light streams through a crack and I can see movement.
Now that I’m paying attention, I also hear music.
Felix must be in the pool house, doing God knows what. Throwing a party? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, regardless that he knows full well my parents wouldn’t approve. Tyler must have seen the red light too. Hopefully he’s telling Felix to wrap up whatever he’s doing.
I head out to the pool house to find Tyler. As soon as I step out to the back porch, the music is significantly louder. There are voices. Lots of them. Cheering.
I cross the garden and enter the pool house through a side door that connects to a kitchen.
Finding myself alone, I open the door for the main living area, and am met with a crowd of men packed into the room.
Their backs are to me. They’re all watching something, cheering every few moments.
Whatever it is, I can’t see. I’m too short and the lights in here are turned off, replaced with a red neon glow.
I tap a guy on the shoulder and have to shout to be heard. “What are you all looking at?”
The guy glances over his shoulder at me, appearing no older than twenty. He looks me up and down with the most depraved expression that triggers alarm bells in my head, warning me to run in the opposite direction. “Take a look for yourself.”
Before I can stop him, he places a hand on my lower back and guides me forward. I squirm away from him, but the group of men is tight and I’m thrust forward to the front of the crowd.
I clap a hand to my mouth and scrunch my eyes shut the moment I see what everyone is watching. There’s a threesome taking place between two guys and a girl.