Harper
My gaze keeps ping ponging back and forth between Evan and Jackson. I don’t know what happened between them, but I’ve never seen Jackson as angry as he is right now.
He’s not a violent person. I’ve never seen him throw a punch or even get angry enough to do that. He’s normally the one calming everyone else down.
Yet right now, he looks seconds away from murdering someone.
“Your little friend is jealous and decided to punch me. Dude has anger issues,” Evan hisses, glaring at Jackson.
I frown as I slowly turn my gaze to my best friend. Why would he ever be jealous of Evan? That doesn’t even make sense.
“Oh, please! There’s no part of you I'm jealous of.” Jackson rolls his eyes as he steps around Evan. “I’m out of here. It was a mistake for me to even come.”
My stomach falls and I feel like I'm going to be sick. Why does he think it was a mistake for him to come? I’ve been looking forward to seeing him for days and yet he regrets coming?
I want to reach out to him and stop him from leaving, but I don’t want him and Evan to get into another fight. I think it’s better if he leaves and I’ll go find him when I'm done here.
“Why did he punch you, Evan?” I stare down at my pathetic excuse for a boyfriend, I refuse to call him my fiancé. Right now, I’m wondering what I ever saw in him. He’s been nothing but rude since Jackson showed up here and that’s not the type of person I want to be with.
“I told you, he’s jealous.”
“Jackson doesn’t get jealous. Try again.”
“I'm not joking, Harper. He was jealous.”
“Of what?” I let out a humorless laugh, more than done with him tonight. He’s been super possessive and I don’t like it.
“Excuse me?” He growls, narrowing his eyes on me.
“He’s a major league baseball player. He could have any woman in this place.” I motion around the bar. “Why would he be jealous of you? What could possibly make my best friend get so angry at my fiancé?” I over-enunciate the word, hating that I'm even uttering it.
“I'm sorry, what?” Some girl blinks at me before turning her attention to Evan. “You’re engaged? Are you kidding me? You were just kissing me!”
“She’s lying!” Evan’s terrified gaze meets mine. “Jackson must’ve put her up to this. I’ve never even met this woman before. Why would I want her when I have you?”
“Are you an idiot? If I had known Jackson McLaren was here, don’t you think I would’ve been trying to kiss him instead?
” She rolls her eyes before turning towards me.
“Your fiancé is a lying piece of crap. He was kissing me. He told me he was single. Jackson saw him and called him out. Do yourself a favor and walk away from this one. Go chase Jackson and live your happily ever after with a good man.”
She flips her hair over her shoulder and makes sure to step on Evan’s stomach with her heels as she leaves. He lets out a grunt and winces.
“Harper! Don’t listen to her!” Evan scrambles to get off the ground. He reaches for me and I take a step back.
“Don’t touch me, Evan. I think-”
“No! Don’t break up with me. We can make this work. I'm sorry and I’ll never do anything like this ever again. We belong together!”
My mind drifts back to the night of my surprise party and the events that took place.
When Jennifer and I return to the party, I do my best to mingle with my friends and avoid Evan and his family. I'm sure his mom will think I'm being rude, but right now, I'm in survival mode.
If I approach his family, there’s no telling what will be said or how I'm going to respond. I know his mom isn’t a huge fan of me to begin with so it could go either way.
I'm not sure his dad even knows I exist. The man is always too focused on work to really pay attention to anything going on around him.
It’s so odd to me. My dad pays attention to every little thing I do.
He cares about me and wants to help me in any way possible.
I'm lucky to have him, even if he met Mom in the worst of situations.
He saved both of us once upon a time. Gave us a better life.
A safe life. He even protected us from my biological father.
Jackson’s dad is the same way. Scott stepped up when Jackson’s biological father wanted nothing to do with him. He never treated Jackson like he wasn’t his and he changed Jackson’s life because of that.
“Sweetheart, come say hi to my parents.” Evan smiles at my friends as he says, “Excuse us.”
He takes my hand in his, practically dragging me across the room. If I thought I could dig my heels into the ground and avoid going over there, I would. Anything to stay away from the conversation that’s about to ensue.
“Oh, darling! It’s so nice to see you. Happy birthday.” Mrs. Fodder takes my hands in hers and kisses each of my cheeks. She’s acting like we’re the best of friends, yet our entire relationship, she’s treated me like the dirt on the bottom of her shoe.
She doesn’t think my family is good enough. An ex-cop turned personal security company owner and an operating room nurse is beneath the Fodder’s wealth and status. We’re just mere peasants to them.
“Thank you.” I smile like this is all normal and there’s nothing odd about the personality change she’s apparently had.
“You look beautiful, Heather.” Mr. Fodder smiles at me like he did something good.
“Her name is Harper,” Evan hisses.
“Oh, I'm sorry. My new assistant’s name is Heather. I swear I call her name a thousand times a day. It was just a slip up.” He waves off any concern like he hasn’t known me for four years and is still completely unaware of what my name is.
His assistant’s name is Hannah. She’s a very kind woman and she’s been working for him for a decade.
She told me she doesn’t love it, but he pays well so she won't leave.
“Thank you, sir.”
“No need to call me sir.” His smile is a little too big. Too bright. Too forced.
He’s checked his watch ten times since I walked over here and now it’s making sense.
He wants Evan to move this along because he has places to be that aren’t here.
A birthday party for his son’s girlfriend is probably a living nightmare for him.
He could be at the club playing a round of golf or schmoozing one of the more powerful men there.
“You should probably just start calling me dad.” He smiles like he did something he can be proud of.
I glance up at Evan with furrowed brows. He looks like he’s seconds away from hitting someone.
“Um… I don’t think that would be appropriate.”
Mrs. Fodder hisses something in his ear. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but based on the wide eyes and instant regret, I'm assuming she just informed him that Evan hasn’t proposed yet.
Evan turns his back on his parents and plasters a fake smile on his face. He leads us to the middle of the room and whistles loudly. As everyone quiets down as he takes my hand in his and scans the room. He loves being the center of attention. I swear it was bred into him.
“Thank you all for coming to help me celebrate Harper’s birthday. I'm so glad we can share this occasion with all of you.”
I try my hardest to smile and look happy, but based on the crazy look Jennifer’s giving me, I don’t think I'm pulling it off well. I'm not good at hiding behind a mask. I'm used to just being myself and not caring what other people think.
“Before we dig into the delicious food, I’d like to say something…” Evan turns his full attention towards me. He takes both of my hands in his and stares down at me like a man who wants to appear to be in love.
I don’t think Evan actually loves me. Not the way a man should when he’s about to get down on one knee and propose.
I should just walk away. Tell him this is a bad idea and escape before anything else can happen.
“Harper, my life took a turn the day I met you. I’ll never forget when you walked into our English class and were scanning the room for an empty seat. I wanted to put my hand up and wave it through the air like a crazy man. Anything to get your attention.”
I frown because that’s not how we met. We were both lost and looking for our class. We showed up late and the teacher wasn’t happy. He wasn’t watching me from a seat. Does he forget that day entirely?
I swallow hard and glance around. I need to find a way out of here. A way to get him to stop talking.
“I was so nervous when I first asked you out. I thought you were going to turn me down. I figured I had no chance with the most beautiful woman in the world.” He flashes me a grin.
Yet that grin does nothing to me. It doesn’t make my heart skip a beat or butterflies to erupt in my stomach. Nothing like it should.
I should be mesmerized by every word coming out of Evan’s mouth. I should be tearing up and thinking this is the best night of my life. I shouldn’t be looking for the nearest exit or wondering if I can make myself throw up to get him to stop.
“Our life together has been pure happiness.”
Lies! It’s all a lie. We’ve broken up half a dozen times over the last four years.
“We’ve loved each other so deeply.”
Not true! I’ve never even uttered those words. I’ve never felt that deeply for him.
“We make the perfect couple and everyone tells us we’re destined to be together.”
Ha! I’ve had countless women tell me they don’t know why I'm dating someone like Evan. That I could do so much better than him. That he’s flirted with them, even when he was dating me.
I ignored all of it and I shouldn’t have. I should’ve run in the opposite direction and found a better man… Or told Jackson how I really feel about him.
Jackson…
I’d give anything to have Jackson being the one to say these things to me.
To watch Jackson drop down to one knee and take my hands in his.
For him to confess his love to me in front of a room full of people.
If he were the one proposing, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.
Before he even got the entire question out, I’d be nodding my head and wiping happy tears from my cheeks.
“Harper Stone, will you marry me?”
Wait… did he seriously just call me Harper Stone?
My last name is Bradley. I’ve never gone by Harper Stone…
That was my biological dad’s last name, not mine.
Until I was six years old, my last name was Brennan.
When Maddox and Mom got married, I took his last name.
Why would Evan use the name Stone? I never told him about my biological dad past me never knowing him.
My gaze snaps to Jennifer and she shakes her head. She’s thinking the same thing I am. How can he be dumb enough to get my name wrong? Everything about this is wrong.
“You got my name wrong,” I whisper, shaking my head as he comes back into view and I'm pulled back to the noise of the bar and away from that horrible night he proposed. His eye is already bruising from Jackson and he looks so pathetic.
“What?” His brows furrow as he tries to take a step closer to me, but I hold up my hand to stop him.
“When you proposed… you said Harper Stone, not Harper Bradley. Why would you call me Harper Stone? I’ve never told you my biological dad’s name. It’s not a name I’ve ever gone by. How did you know it?”
“I… I…”
“I don’t really want to hear whatever lie is about to come out of your mouth. I don’t really know why you proposed. We’ve never been serious enough for marriage and you proposed out of nowhere.”
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying I'm not marrying you! I didn’t even want to marry you when you asked. I only said yes because you proposed in front of a room full of people. Your entire family was there! It was so awkward, Evan! I felt like I didn’t have a choice but to say yes.”
“So, you were going to marry me just to save yourself from one awkward night?” He growls.
“No! I was going to break up with you at the end of the semester. I didn’t know what else to do, so I said yes with the plan of ending our relationship entirely.
Because when I figured out what was going on, I realized one thing very quickly…
I knew exactly who I wanted to see down on one knee asking me to marry him. And that wasn’t you.”
“Please, Harper! I can be the type of man you want. I can change!”
“Do you hear yourself? You’re willing to change yourself after I just said you aren’t the man I love? I’ve never loved you, Evan. I never will.” I slip the ring off of my finger, happy to feel like I'm free again. Happy to have this weight off of my shoulders.
I place the ring in his palm and exhale deeply, proud of myself for not chucking it at his head.
It feels good to end this relationship. To walk away, feeling very little guilt.
If he couldn’t be faithful to me a week after we got engaged, he was never serious about us to begin with and I don’t feel bad about what I did.
“Have a great life without me, Evan. I’ll leave a box of your things on my porch.”
I turn my back on him and exit the bar. There’s only one person I want to see. One I need to talk to.