Chapter 2
HARPER
With the back of my hand, I wipe some sweat off my forehead as I finish unpacking the very last box. Finally. It took me long enough. Then again, considering I moved my entire life without having any help, I guess I didn’t do so bad after all.
My one-room apartment is small and shabby, but it’s mine.
By one room, I don’t mean one bedroom, plus a kitchen, and a living room.
No, I mean one room all together, and no, it’s not a huge space either.
It’s only ten by fifteen square feet. It’s a little better than a jail cell.
My bed is in one corner, while a desk and chair are in the other.
Next to the entrance door is a tiny kitchenette with a two-plate stove, a mini-fridge, and a microwave.
The only other room that is part of the apartment is the attached bathroom, which is just big enough to hold a sink, a shower stall, and a toilet. Did I mention the tiles in that said bathroom are green and pink? Yeah, I know, disgusting.
I’ve put everything into unpacking over the last couple of hours so that I didn’t have to think about the events of earlier today.
Shivers wrack my body as I recall the darkness in his eyes, the hate that pulsed just below like lava bubbling up to the surface.
I could feel it, it coated the air, making it hard for me to breathe.
“I’m going to break you, crush you until you’re begging me to take mercy on your pitiful body.” His words wash over me, playing on repeat in my mind like a never-ending song. Moving away from the box, I sag down onto my bed, the mattress squeaking as I do.
Warren is here. I don’t think that reality has sunk in yet.
And he hates me, really hates me, and I don’t understand why.
What have I done to him? The last time I saw him, we were sixteen, and I was in the back of my parents’ car driving away from his family’s mansion.
For years, I wondered why he never said goodbye, how he could go from caring about me so much, to despising me in the blink of an eye.
I thought maybe it was the fact that I was the maid’s daughter, but that never seemed to bother him.
Maybe he changed his mind? My parents always warned me, told me that we would never work out, his family had money, and mine had nothing.
I didn’t listen. I loved Warren, and I thought he loved me. Pfft, what a lie that was.
Seeing him today awakened feelings in me I’ve tried to forget for years. In fact, I’ve tried to forget him altogether, but I never could. I tried to date but never made it past a first kiss. That’s usually when I realized that the guy wouldn’t ever measure up to Warren.
I kept waiting for that spark, that excitement I used to get when kissing Warren, but it never came with anyone else, and I’m not sure if it ever will.
Which means I’ll never feel that spark again since Warren clearly has no interest in ever being with me again.
I don’t know why, but that bothers me. I shouldn’t still want him, but I do.
Like a moth drawn to a flickering flame, I don’t care about burning, if it gets me a little closer to him.
Absentmindedly, my hand comes up to my face, and my fingers brush over my chin, where he touched me earlier.
The skin there still tingles, like he has left a part of himself behind.
Branded my skin with his touch. The thought sends a rush of euphoric need through me.
I still want him, even though I shouldn’t.
Shaking the thought of him away, I roll over and reach under my bed, feeling around for my special box. When my fingers touch the smooth edge of the shoe box, I grab it and pull it out.
Still halfway hanging off the bed, I open the lid and look at my small but diverse collection of dildos and vibrators.
The miniature purple one has always been my favorite.
It’s small but packs quite the vibrating punch.
And that’s what I need right now. Something that will kick Warren right out of my mind and make my toes curl in the process.
With a smile on my lips, I place the vibrator next to me on the bed.
Lying flat on my back, I shimmy out of my yoga pants and panties, kicking them both to the floor when they reach my ankles.
Falling back onto my pillow, I reach for Roger, that’s what I call my little purple friend.
I can already feel the tension easing out of me.
Closing my eyes, I turn on Roger and let my legs fall apart. Bringing the vibrator to my clit, I draw circles with the tip, teasing myself. My blood hums and pleasure blooms deep in my belly. I keep the vibration on low for now, almost like my little private foreplay.
When I can’t stand waiting any longer, I push the vibrator lower and into my opening. I’m already wet, so it slides in with ease, and a shudder ripples through me at the movement. Even though I’m alone, I bite my lip to stifle the moan trying to escape my lips.
Moving the vibrator in and out, I up the speed and let the pulses of vibration buzz through me.
It doesn’t take long before the sound of my arousal fills my ears.
I’m so wet, I should be embarrassed. Closing my eyes, an image of Warren pops into my mind.
I can feel his hands on me, his knuckles skimming against my wet folds.
“Look at this mess. You’re all fucking wet… what will I do with you now?” My pulse quickens, and my pussy quivers, my body on the edge of an orgasm.
“Oh, god…” I pant into the empty room, fucking myself faster and faster.
“Come, show me how much your pussy craves my cock...show me, Harper…” I squeeze my eyes closed tighter, and air rapidly enters my lungs as I fall over the edge and into stormy waters to the sound of Warren’s deep angry voice.
I let the waves of pleasure wrap around me, tugging me deeper and deeper.
My heart races, and I do my best to focus on the pleasure and not the fact that I just came to imagining his voice.
I’ve barely come down from my high when a loud knock fills the room. For a moment, I’m paralyzed, still suspended in time. Is someone at the door? I can’t be sure, my mind hasn’t fully returned to this room yet. Part of it is still somewhere up in the clouds.
“Open the door, Harper. I know you’re in there.
You can’t hide forever,” my cousin Valerie’s voice pierces through the lustful fog around my head.
I’m up, scrabbling to find my pants and pull them on before she kicks the door in.
Seriously, she would do it. I’ve finally got everything into place when I start walking toward the door.
Then I remember the vibrator is still on and sitting on the bed. Shit.
“Do you want to pay for a new door because I will seriously kick…”
Rushing over to the bed, I turn the thing off and stuff it under my pillow before jogging back over to the front door.
I tuck any loose strands of hair behind my ear and unlock the door, opening it slowly.
I know before Valerie even says anything that I look guilty.
My cheeks are blazing, and my insides are knotted.
What’s the point of masturbating if I didn’t get to enjoy the aftershocks?
Valerie eyes me like she’s a detective. “What were you doing?” She questions walking into the small space with her arms crossed over her chest, and her eyes narrowed.
Rolling my eyes, I close the door, “Nothing, Val, unpacking and getting used to the place.”
“Hmmm.” She nibbles on her bottom lip. “Why are you so sweaty?”
Self-consciously, I look down at the floor. “I’m not, and if I am, it’s because of all the moving.”
“Right, like I believe that.” She busts out with laughter. Looking up from the floor, I see she’s straightened her silky brown hair and painted her face on.
“What do you want? I thought you had plans, and that’s why you couldn’t do Chinese with me?
” I try not to sound upset about it, but I kind of am.
After the crap with Warren, I really could’ve used someone to talk to right away.
Valerie, of course, said she had plans, and I wasn’t going to spill my guts about Warren to her over the phone.
“No longer is it me that has plans but us.” Her thick brown eyebrows wiggle back and forth, and I know whatever it is that’s including us, I’m not going to like.
“What are these plans you have because if it involves boys, booze, or birth control, I’m not game.
” I purse my lips and stare at her head-on.
Valerie and I couldn’t be any different.
Yes, we look similar, both of us having the same silky brown hair and light hazel eyes, but outside of that, there is no comparison.
I’m a straight A student, grades and blazing a path for myself have always been the most important things to me.
Drinking, partying, and sleeping around have been Valerie’s.
Since she was a teenager, she’s been trouble, and college life was merely a gateway to all of her favorite events.
Valerie doesn’t go to school here, neither does she want to.
She chose the local community college, and honestly, I was surprised by that.
To finance her school, she works as a waitress at a local burger joint, which she claims she loves because of the great tips.
I can hardly believe that since waitresses barely make anything.
“There is a party at one of the frat boys’ houses.
I always go alone but want you to go with me tonight.
It’ll be good for you, let you check out all the guys, and maybe make some friends?
I don’t go to school here, so I can’t help you during the day, and we both know you could use the extra help with making friends. ”
Gritting my teeth, I prepare to deny her claim, but really, she isn’t wrong.
Since moving away, I’ve found it hard—if not impossible—to maintain friendships.
Maybe because of the way things ended with Warren, or maybe it was because I had to start over as a sophomore at a different high school.
I don’t know. I just never got a chance to really click with anyone.
That doesn’t mean that the friends I want are going to be at this party though.
“I need to make friends with people that care about their grades and studying, not people who are focused on chugging a beer the fastest or who slept with who last.”
Valerie frowns, “Will you just come and stop being such a downer. You’re nineteen, but you act like you’re ninety. Live a little.”
Live a little? I scoff. Valerie has lived enough for at least five college freshman girls. I’m okay living inside my bubble away from the rest of the world. Nonetheless, if I don’t go, she will continue to beg and plead, and truthfully, I could use a drink even if it is stale frat boy beer.
“Fine, I’ll go,” as soon as the words pass my lips, I regret them.
“Oh, my god. Yes!” Valerie squeals, jumping up and down in her heels that look like something a stripper might wear. “I’ll do your hair and makeup and make you all sexy. No one with a penis will be able to stop themselves from looking your way.”
“No, no, and also… no.”
“Yes, yes, yes! I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“If I go with you to this party and let you use me as a human doll, will you leave me alone for the rest of the year?”
“The year?” Valerie throws her hands in the air dramatically. “How about I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the semester?”
“Deal,” I sigh in defeat. I don’t know why I’m even agreeing to this, probably because I’ve always had a hard time saying no to Val. Today is no different. I just hope I don’t run into Warren at this party. Then again, these are Valerie’s friends. What are the chances of him being there anyway?