5
Harper
L ast night was a nightmare. I wish I could look back on it and feel head over heels and butterflies and all that stuff but instead I feel like somebody punched me in the gut.
I drag myself out of bed, not even bothering to look in the mirror.
It’s my day off from work so I decide to be a couch potato today and wallow in self-pity.
I make myself coffee, grab my book off the table and make myself comfortable on the couch.
Breakfast can wait. I start reading but the story can’t seem to hold my grip, after an hour I give up.
My mind wanders off to last night and I hate it.
I never want to see, hear or think about Alessia fucking DiSanti ever again.
Maybe some fresh air will do me some good.
I put on my sneakers and a vest, grab my keys and leave the apartment.
I stroll through the neighborhood and smile at the kids playing on the street or the old people talking on the corners.
This part of town is such a community; Everybody knows who’s who and there’s a kind of security in that.
I keep w alking, lost in my own head until I find myself standing in front of the hospital. I look up at the building to the roof. The roof where I met Alessia yesterday.
My phone dings and I take it out of my pocket.
Alessia:
Don't do this...
Fuck her . I don’t want to see her or talk to her.
I ignore the text and I need to put my mind on something else, I bet there’s a department where I can make myself useful.
So, I walk into the hospital ready to go to work.
I take the main elevator to the basement and walk through the hallway to the dressing room.
I stop dead in my tracks when I spot Elio down the hall.
What the hell is he doing here? I stomp up to him, getting angrier with every step.
When I’m close, I shove him hard against his back and make him stumble.
“What the hell!” He whips around with a hand at his hip.
My eyes go wide. He straightens and looks at me with anger and pity.
I don’t want his anger and I sure as hell don’t want his pity!
I want him to come at me; I shove him again.
His back now connects with the wall. I start slamming my fists into his chest and he just lets me.
He doesn’t react. He doesn’t even defend himself.
When my punches lose their strength, Elio puts his arms around me and holds onto me tightly. I scream into his jacket. When my voice falters he lets me go and I take a step back.
“Are you okay there, little spitfire?” He asks.
I look u p at him. Of course I’m not okay. I tried to beat the shit out of him. Emphasis on tried.
“No, I’m not and your bitch of a boss is the problem!”
“I get that, she drives me crazy as well, but she has her reasons.”
“Yeah, it would be great if she filled me in on those as well instead of kissing me senseless and then telling me she can’t tell me shit unless I’m her girlfriend. I’ve only known her for a day!” I’m yelling at him now.
Elio looks behind me and I turn around.
There she is.
Alessia looks amazing in a black low cut satin jumpsuit and the new collection of satin Kate Louboutin’s.
This outfit doesn’t allow a bra, but her boobs look amazing without support.
The roses on her shoes give just a hint of color.
Her hair hangs in loose chestnut curls around her face and her lips are a dark shade of red.
She looks like nothing happened, while I look like an absolute mess.
“Harper.”
She walks over to me, and I stand frozen to the ground. My throat is dry, and my hands are shaking.
“Stop using Elio as a punching bag. He’s my punching bag so I call dibs. If there’s something you want to get off your chest you have my number so use it.”
I open my mouth, but no sounds come out.
“We can talk about yesterday if you’d like but I have business to attend to first. And if you don’t mind, I’m already late.”
I step t o the side so she can pass. When she’s almost out of sight I yell. “What business? You’re a damn nurse!”
She turns around and strides towards me in those eight hundred dollars shoes. How can she afford those on a nursing salary?
She comes closer and I feel the wall against my back. She puts one hand just below my breast and the other on the wall. I’m completely boxed in. Her mouth is next to my ear.
“Business which can get you in a lot of trouble, so if you want to stay alive you listen to me .”
My heart races.
“Like I said, we can talk about this later but not here and not right now. If you feel like obeying me and being a good girl, instead of acting like the brat you are now, Elio will pick you up at your place at seven and then we can talk.”
My knees tremble. She walks away and leaves me standing here in the dim lit hallway. What the fuck was that? No way I’m going into work after this little… Whatever this is that just happened. I make my way back to the main lobby, once I’m outside I grab a cab to get home.
My room is exactly how I left it this morning, messy but familiar. The sheets are tangled at the foot of my bed, a reminder that I tossed and turned all night. I should fix them, but I won’t. Not tonight.
I drop my bag onto the chair in the corner, right on top of the clean laundry I swore I’d fold days ago. At this point, I should just accept that my system is digging through the pile until I find what I need.
By the w indow, my little bookshelf leans slightly to one side, filled with a mix of medical textbooks, half-read novels, and a few notebooks I scribble in when my brain won’t shut off. On top sits the succulent my mom sent me when I moved in.
“It barely needs water,” she’d said. “Even you can keep this one alive.”
She wasn’t wrong, it’s still here, green, and as stubborn as she is.
My desk is mostly useless, except for the stack of unopened mail, my stethoscope, and my laptop, which I only ever open to check in on my sister Riley.
She just started college, living in a dorm with a roommate she barely tolerates.
I tell her it’ll get better, but I don’t actually know if that’s true.
Above my bed, there’s a picture of the two of us at the beach when we were kids, our faces sunburnt and happy.
Next to it, one of my parents in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, smiling like they do every time they ask when I’m coming home.
I tell them “soon,” even though I don’t know what that means anymore.
I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at my still-packed duffel bag half-tucked underneath. It’s been there for months, waiting for me to use it to go somewhere exotic.
Maybe soon. Maybe not.
I sigh, lean back against the pillows, and let the city hum outside my window. I close my eyes, listening to the muffled sounds of the city outside. A car horn. The distant hum of conversation.
I should eat something. I should at least change out of these clothes I’ve been wearing all day. But I don’t move. The weight of my own thoughts is enough to keep me pressed against the mattress.
I still can’t get those damn shoes out of my head.
Eight-hundred dollars. How the hell does she afford those on a nurse’s salary?
I can’t wrap my mind around it, but there’s something else that keeps gnawing at me.
Something about the way she walked toward me, like she knew exactly what she was doing, knew exactly how to make me feel small without even trying.
And then… that moment. When she closed the space between us, my back pressed up against the wall, her body practically trapping me.
I felt her hand just below my breast. Warm, firm, like she owned me.
Her other hand splayed on the wall, just enough to keep me from escaping.
Not that I wanted to escape. I couldn’t move.
I didn’t want to move. I could barely breathe, and her mouth, her voice, so close to my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
Business that could get you in trouble . What the hell does that even mean?
My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn’t.
It was like I was frozen in place. She spoke with such…
authority, like she knew exactly what I needed to hear, what would make my knees shake.
Obey me , she’d said. I hated how easy it was to picture myself doing just that.
Obeying her, being a good girl. The words echoed in my mind, and I hated how they made my pulse race faster.
Hated how they made my body react before I could even think about it.
I should ’ve been mad. I should’ve been pissed that she had me cornered like that.
Then, the doorbell rings.
I blink and sit up. My heart jumps in that half-second of confusion before my brain catches up. No one ever rings my doorbell. No one just shows up at my place.
Another chime.
I push off the bed, rubbing a hand over my face as I shuffle toward the door. When I glance through the peephole, I sigh.
Elio.
I unlock the door and pull it open. He’s standing there in his usual suit, looking as composed as ever, tall, broad-shouldered, and radiating quiet authority. The dim glow from the hallway lights casts sharp shadows across his face,
“You were supposed to be here at seven. It’s six now.”
“I know Miss Davis, but Miss DiSanti asked me to bring something for you.”
“Whatever you have for me I don’t want it.”
“Don’t be so stubborn. Miss DiSanti will bite my head off if I don’t give you this.”
An expensive looking box sits under his arm.
“Okay, let’s have it.” I hold up my hand to take it from him.
I open the box and inside there’s a note from her.
I always want you to feel comfortable around me
so please wear this and I hope you feel warm and safe. Just wear this and nothing else, no make-up, no fancy clothes. Just you, as you are. I’ll be waiting to tell you about my true self.
I’ll see you soon.
-xx- Alessia