Chapter 29
The Apocalypse
Nico
Harper’s been in Eli’s room for a while. My cock has been hard since hearing her cry out when she came. We’re sitting around the loft area watching a football game and waiting. The door opens, and we all turn to watch Harper walk out with Eli behind her.
I lean forward, wanting to draw her attention, make her choose me this time.
Luke holds his hand to her and she goes to him, sliding down on his lap and resting her head on his chest. This is the problem with sharing a girl. I could have been her everything.
A tight ball of jealousy wraps around my heart as I recline into the couch again.
She was mine first.
She doesn’t love them, but she doesn’t love me either. The whole purpose in returning here was to reclaim my spot with my friends and finally get the girl. I got my spot and the girl.
Kind of.
I don’t know what my problem is. Maybe things will be different when Harper and I hang out on our own. Just me and her. When I have time to explain myself, to make her see our connection is still strong.
Her gaze collides with mine.
I give her a soft smile because this is the girl I’ve been dreaming about for years. The reality is so much better than the dreams. I figured I’d have to coax her and convince her. Instead, she became mine because of them.
When she looks away, it’s like being deprived of the sun.
“I need to get some studying done today.” Harper sighs as she lifts her head to look up at Luke.
“We could go to the café.” He takes hold of her chin. His brow furrows and he turns her head my way, brushing her hair over her shoulder and pulling the neck of her shirt over. “Fuck, Eli.”
I lean over to see Luke’s thumb running over the ridges left by Eli’s teeth and the beginnings of a bruise. Anger rises inside me at the pain that must have caused. Or maybe the anger burns because he’s claimed her almost primally.
Eli smirks and shrugs. “What can I say? Our girl is tasty.”
“It’s okay,” she says softly. She lifts her gaze to Luke’s. “I liked it.”
Luke’s eyebrow raises. “Yeah?”
Her cheeks flush, and she shrugs. When Luke kisses her softly, she melts into him.
I focus on the game and not the way they are together.
When we were kids, he noticed her. When he noticed Harper, something about the way he watched her made me balk. At the time, I was afraid he’d want to take my friend away from me.
Now when I see the two of them together, I can’t help but consider it might have been something more even back then.
Was our connection back then not strong enough?
Harper and I were best friends. But whatever is growing between these two is so electric it buzzes around all of us. I’m not the only one who feels it.
Caden watches them with hooded eyes, but he doesn’t mind sharing her.
She pulls back from Luke’s kiss. “Study time.”
“Café?” He rubs his finger over her lip.
She shakes her head. “Not really looking to be put on parade there.”
“We could study here.” Eli blows out a breath. “The dining room is plenty big enough. But my parents might come home.”
Harper shrugs and checks with Caden and Jack, who both nod, before her questioning eyes meet mine. My heart kicks up a notch.
I had her to myself once, in my car. It was good but quick. I want to spend time with her. I want to talk with her and find out who she is now. What dreams have changed? How has life shaped her?
I also want to fuck her, just me and her, with all the time in the world to explore every inch of her body.
She cocks her head and shifts off Luke’s lap. When she stands, I don’t see the little girl I played with, but this beautiful woman who’s mine. Yes, I have to share her, but at least I get part of her.
She sits down beside me. “Studying here?”
The question is soft. She’s not really asking me if it’s okay to stay here, but if I’m okay to stay here.
“Wherever you are, sunshine.” I catch a strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. My fingers linger to smooth my thumb over her ear, to touch her skin longer.
Her eyes flare with heat. Passion, that’s not our problem. The attraction is steady and strong.
But I fucked up. I didn’t have her back. I’m working on balancing the guys with her, but fuck is it hard. My loyalty is to the guys and her, but when push came to shove, I had to choose. I would do it again, because it was about her safety.
What would she have done for me if I’d chosen her?
“I need to go home and get my books.” She glances over her shoulder at the others.
“I can take you.” Standing, I reach my hand down to her. “My place will only take a minute to run in and grab my things.”
As long as Mom isn’t home.
“Okay.” She slides her hand in mine, and I pull her up against me. Her other hand touches my chest to steady herself. A rush of tingles courses through me, making my cock hard again.
“Jack and I will be back in a few.” Caden stands and stretches. His gaze falls on Luke. “What about you?”
Luke shakes his head. “I’m caught up.”
Good. I don’t want him to have to go back to his house. I might be jealous of his connection with my sunshine, but he’s still my friend, my brother, and I don’t want him to get hurt anymore. He never should have been hurt in the first place. There’s a lot about the guys I don’t know.
I tug Harper through the house with Caden and Jack following us.
After a quick see you soon outside, Harper is inside my car and mine for the next half hour. A few minutes later when I pull into my driveway, I breathe a little easier. The coast is clear. No parents.
“Do you want to come in with me or wait here?” I pause with my hand on the ignition. Fuck, I want her to come in.
She smirks. “Is your mom home?”
“No.”
“Dad?”
“No. I’d like to say I won’t take advantage of having you all to myself in an empty house, but...” I shrug. There’s no use lying. If I had her in my room, it might be at least an hour until we left. If not longer.
“I should probably stay here.” A flush stains her cheeks. She looks down at her hands. I just want to spend more time with her.
“Come on. I can control myself for five minutes.” I turn off the car and unlock the doors. We both get out. When I get close to her, I hold my hand out and take hers.
“Did you expect your parents to be out?” she asks as I lead her to the back door and enter the numbers on the keypad.
“Honestly, I was worried Mom would be here, and I wouldn’t be able to sneak in and out.” I push open the door. “If I brought you in, she’d start fussing, and as much as I hate it, I let her do it because she needs it.”
She smiles, and I take her up to my room. When I close the door behind us, she wanders in the opposite direction from me. I head to my desk to load my books into my backpack.
“What are these for?”
When I turn, her fingers trail over my ribbons and awards Mom insisted on hanging. “Art shows.”
She nods and her gaze goes over each of the pieces of art. Sculptures, paintings, some charcoals. She turns the page on my art pad and sucks in a breath.
Leaving my bag on the chair, I come up behind her and rest my chin on her shoulder. The picture is a charcoal drawing I did of her. She’s laughing, and she practically sparkles on the page.
“When did you do this?” Her voice is soft, reverent. Her fingers hover over the drawing.
“In the evenings.” I reach around her and flip the page. It’s also a picture of Harper, but this time from when we were kids. It’s almost the exact same pose. Same girl but different.
“This is really good, Nico.” Her fingers ghost over the picture. “You’re way better than I am.”
“You underestimate yourself. You always have, sunshine.” I kiss her behind her ear. A little shiver goes through her. We need to go or I’ll have her spread out before me. “I have everything if you’re ready to go.”
I begin to turn, but she grabs my hand and holds me in place behind her. She leans back against my chest with a soft sigh, one that goes straight to my cock. I breathe in her vanilla scent, mixed with something earthier from her shower with Eli.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk.” She threads her fingers through mine and wraps my arms around her.
I sigh. “No, we haven’t. I hate how things went down.”
“I understand you did it to protect me, but it didn’t hurt any less. It felt like a betrayal of our friendship.” She blows out a breath and squeezes her arms over mine. “I think we need to start over—”
Frustration works through me. No, that’s not what I want. “Harper, I—”
“Nico.” She turns in my arms. Her brown eyes search inside me, and I hope she sees how much she means to me. “You and I are searching for ghosts of who we once were.”
“We’re still those same kids.” I thread my fingers into her hair, desperate to hold onto her anyway I can. “You’re my best friend.”
She shakes her head sadly. “No, we were best friends. We aren’t the same people we were back then. We haven’t been for a long time.”
“We shared everything.” I clasp the back of her neck in my hand, desperate for her not to withdraw from me. To keep her here. To make her understand she’s it for me. Everything I’ve ever wanted.
Her hand cups my jaw. “We need to figure out who we are to each other now. You were my best friend, but obviously we didn’t know everything about each other.”
Fuck, this again.
“I kept you from them. I didn’t want to share you.” I rest my forehead against hers.
“And back then, you didn’t have to.” She drops her hand. “But while you were able to grow and thrive in a new school, I was forced to hide from them.”
“You had a choice, sunshine.” I hold her neck, making her stay with me. I arch an eyebrow. “You could have just gone to a party. You would have found a boyfriend. I wasn’t the only one looking at you differently that year.”
She shakes her head. Her brow furrows. “You don’t understand.”
That she hid herself away. No, I don’t. She could have had any number of boyfriends, but she didn’t want them.