Chapter 13
WARREN
Harper is half asleep when I put her on my bed.
Part of me wants to cover her up and let her sleep, but I resist, needing to get her cleaned up and taken care of first. Using caution so as not to cause her any more pain, I peel her jeans off and look at her battered knees.
That fucking bastard. I grind my teeth together in rage.
If I could’ve gotten away with it, I would’ve killed him for touching her.
Her skin is scraped up, but it’s not deep, and nothing she needs to see a doctor for. I just need to clean and wrap it for the night. She’ll have some aches and pains in the morning, but she’s not going to die from her injuries.
“Don’t move, I’m getting a first aid kit,” I tell her as I get up and hurry into the bathroom.
Quickly, I wash my hands, letting the fucker’s blood from my knuckles run down the drain.
I pull out the kit from underneath the sink and jog back into the room.
She hasn’t moved an inch, and I don’t think it’s because I told her to. I think she is still in shock.
Getting out the antiseptic and some cotton, I start cleaning her wounds. I make sure all the dirt is off before rubbing some Neosporin on it and bandage it up. I’m so focused on my task that I don’t realize Harper has been staring at me until I’m done with her knees.
“Let me see your hands,” I ask her, but she still doesn’t move. I don’t like this. Her not moving or talking. It makes my stomach hurt, but most importantly, it makes me want to get back in my car, go find James and make good on ending his life.
That fucker… forcing air into my lungs, I calm myself.
Taking a seat next to her on the bed, I grab hold of each hand, inspecting the palms. They are just as bad as her knees, maybe even worse.
Fuck, who knew scrapes could look this bad.
“I’m gonna take your shirt off before I clean these,” I tell her, and she nods.
Well, that’s progress. A nod is better than no response.
I help her out of her shirt, taking her bra off while I’m at it.
I cover her up with my blanket before she can get cold, and leave her hands out, resting on top of the comforter.
Then I repeat the whole cleaning and wrapping process on her hands. When I’m done with that, I slip out of my own clothes and slide into the bed next to her. She shudders when I pull her closer, but immediately after, she cuddles into my side, snuggling so deep I think she’s trying to disappear.
“Can I stay with you?” she asks after a moment of silence.
“Of course.” Does she think I’m about to kick her out and make her go back to her place after everything that happened tonight? I’m a bastard, but I’m not completely heartless.
“I… I... don’t just mean today,” she mumbles, her voice wrapped up in sleep, the same way my arms are wrapped around her.
It takes me a moment for her words to make sense in my mind.
She isn’t asking to stay the night, she’s asking to stay for good, like move in.
The thought is both exciting and shocking.
I know she is just saying this because she is in shock.
No way would she ask to stay if she was in her right mind.
Not after everything I’ve done, everything she’s said to me.
I’m the last person she would come to for comfort or protection.
“You don’t mean that. You’re just vulnerable and scared right now. Go to sleep.”
“I mean it…” She whispers, and I tuck her in a little closer to my chest.
“Okay, let’s talk about it in the morning,” I say softly.
It’s the softest I’ve spoken to her in years.
With Harper in my arms, my heart can finally ease to a normal rhythm, and when I close my eyes, sleep easily finds me.
At least for tonight, I’ll pretend like the woman I’ve loved since I was a kid is mine.
When I wake up, Harper is no longer curled up next to me. She’s now sprawled out on top of me like I’m the mattress. With her head on my chest, her small body blankets mine, and I can’t remember the last time I woke up feeling so content.
I lean down and kiss the top of her head, smelling the sweet scent of her shampoo. Her breath fans out against my skin evenly, and her eyes remain closed. I could watch her sleep like this all day, and I might. There is something so peaceful about having her here with me.
As I lie here, my eyes glued to the woman on top of me, I wonder if I could ever forgive her. Until now, the thought seemed outrageous. How could I ever forget what she did? But in the last twelve hours, I’ve realized like never before, how much of a hold she still has on me.
Will I ever be done with her? I don’t think so, and if that’s the case, what is our future going to look like if I don’t forgive her?
My thoughts are interrupted when she stirs. Her body rubs against me like a kitten, her leg skimming over my already hardened cock. I’ve been hard for hours, aching with need, by watching her sleep. It gave me more satisfaction than anything else has before.
Opening her hazel eyes, she lifts her head from my chest and looks up at me. Then she lowers her head again, turning it so I can’t see her expression. She buries her face back into my chest. Like it could save her from me.
“You regret what you asked me last night?”
“No, I do want to stay here.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I need to hear you say it out loud.”
She lifts her head again, and this time she stares me straight in the eyes.
“Because it doesn’t matter how much you act like a monster, or how badly you treat me.
I still want you. And even though you’ve done a lot of shit to me, I still feel safe with you, and I know how fucked up that is.
So, you don’t have to rub it in my face.
But it doesn’t change anything. I want you, no matter what. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Yes,” I shamelessly admit. “I like you weak for me, and I like knowing that you need me. It makes me feel…”
“Powerful. Like a king?” Harper answers before I can finish.
“Yes, but it makes me feel useful too. Like I have meaning to my life.” I don’t know why I’m confessing this to her.
It doesn’t change anything… but maybe it can.
Maybe we can move on. A newfound excitement bursts through me.
It won’t be easy, not at all, but maybe I can put the past behind us. Maybe I can have Harper.
Harper makes a sour face at me, “What kind of meaning? Like the one you had with that girl in the hallway yesterday?”
I clench my jaw, of course, she’s bringing that up.
Then again, this is kind of my fault. My intention was for her to see me with another chick, and for her to assume that she wasn’t the only one I was getting ass from, but I’m not going to lie.
Letting Bridget paw at me, letting her think she even had a chance, it made me sick to my stomach.
“That’s sounding a lot like jealousy, baby.”
“I’m not jealous,” she lifts her chin, fire dancing in her eyes. “It’s just after your big, I’m yours, speech, I was surprised to see you with someone else.”
“I told you that you are mine, not that I am yours.” As soon as I say the words, I regret them.
The pain in her face is so much of a reminder of my own that I can’t stand it.
Desperate to wipe that agony from her face, I continue, “You are cute when you are jealous though, and don’t worry, you’re the only one I’m fucking. ”
Shoving away from me, she winces, and I don’t know if it’s her knees and palms that are hurting her or my words.
She grabs the blanket and pulls it to her chest covering her body, “You can say all you want that you don’t care about me, that I don’t mean anything to you, but you proved to me last night that I matter. ”
“How is that?” I tilt my head to the side and let my eyes roam over her. I want to peel that blanket back and kiss every inch of her silky-smooth skin.
“You saved me from James. You beat his ass, brought me back here, and took care of me. If that isn’t compassion, then I don’t know what is.” She stares at me triumphantly, and she’s right. I do care about her. I care about her too much, and that’s the fucking problem here.
“James fucked with something that belongs to me, so he got his ass handed to him. Maybe I just wanted to make sure that my fuck doll was kept in one piece?” I lie through my teeth.
Harper rolls her eyes, seeing right through my deception, “Right, is that why you still haven’t made a move to try and fuck me yet?”
“No matter what. You’re mine, Harper. Mine.”
“Why do you want me to be yours so badly?” Her question catches me off guard. Of course, deep down, I already know the answer. The thing is, I don’t want to admit it. Not to her or to myself.
“Maybe I do care about you… but I don’t know what that means yet.
I don’t know if there will ever be an us again.
I’ll let you stay here with me, but I expect something out of the deal.
” I want to fuck her, rut into her like an animal, but I need to be gentle with her, at least right now.
“Something tells me you won’t have a problem giving it to me either. ”
Reaching for the blanket, I give it a tug, and unsurprisingly, she lets it go without a fight. Her cheeks turn a soft crimson, and her lips part, that pink tongue of hers darting out over her bottom lip.
“I want you,” I purr softly.
“Like you wanted that other girl?” she whispers, and I feel the pain of her admission deep in my chest. I know confessing that I did it to make her jealous might make me weak, but after last night, the last thing I care about is letting her think I wanted someone else.
The truth is, I can’t stop thinking about her.
“The only one I want is you,” I reply, moving closer to her.