“I’m fine,” Harper groaned, and tried to sit up once we had her on the couch. “You’re all being ridiculous.”
Brandon looked at her like she was crazy and pushed her gently back down. “Sweetheart, you were out for—”
“I get that, but I’m fine now.” She sighed and rolled her eyes at the same time her stomach growled loudly. She smiled and pointed at her stomach. “See, I’m fine.”
It felt like I couldn’t breathe. Something as ridiculous as her stomach growling, and all of a sudden all I could see was us in my bedroom, her nak*d body on top of mine as she arched against me. That had been the best morning of my life, and I would give anything to go back and replay it over and over.
“Uh, Brad?” Harper’s voice snapped me back to the present, and I saw her wince as she looked at Brad holding a small towel to her leg. “Could you ease up? You’re hurting me.” Her face fell when she saw him stand up with the bloody cloth. “What the—”
“You dropped your mug, and a big chunk sliced your leg pretty good,” Brandon hurried to tell her what happened, and his head dipped in to kiss her neck. Harper’s eyelids fluttered shut, and she inhaled deeply.
The pain in my chest intensified, and once I knew she was all right, I couldn’t stand to be in the room with them anymore. I hung my head and stepped away from all of them, wishing for the thousandth time I could go back in time to when I first met that gray-eyed girl and do everything differently.
I walked back into Brad’s room to grab my keys, and when I turned to leave, he was standing in the doorway. “You leaving again?” When I just nodded, he asked, “For how long this time?”
“I don’t know, man, I’ll probably keep staying at my parents. Watching her go in and out of his room would kill me. But I’ll be around.” He pointedly looked at the keys in my hand, and I raked my free hand over my face. “Have to get to class, then to the shop. You guys surfing at our spot tomorrow?”
“Always.”
“All right, I’ll be there.”
Brad grinned, and I made my way past him and to the hall. Brandon was making breakfast in the kitchen when I went past him, and I tried not to grit my teeth when he spoke.
“Where’ve you been, bro? I haven’t seen you for more than ten seconds since I got back.”
“Just been busy with the shop.” I shrugged. “Mom and Dad’s house is closer to work. It’s easier just going back there.” I heard Bree and Harper talking down the hall toward Brandon’s room, and looked up at him. “She okay?”
“Harper? She’ll be fine. Bree said she hasn’t eaten since yesterday morning; I’m guessing that’s it.”
I looked back at the breakfast he was making her and thought about the only time I’d ever cooked for her and how my life had turned to shit while I was doing it. “Well, take care of her.”
Brandon’s eyes widened before narrowing as his brow bunched together, but before he could say anything else, I took off for the front door and left for school.
“NO FUCKING WONDER your parents kicked you out of their house.”
My eyes widened, and I looked over at Brian and another artist, Jeff.
“If this is how you looked all the time, I’d kick your ass out, too,” Brian finished as he moved aside some papers and hopped onto my counter at the shop. The door opened, and Jeff and I looked over to it, but Brian just sat there with a shit-eating grin. “Oh, by the way, Riss is coming to tell you off.”
“You’re serious, Brian? You called your wife to come yell at me?”
“Chachi!” Marissa snapped, and I groaned. “It has been a month. A month! You have two choices: grow a pair and ask her if she’s made up her mind yet or get over the bitch.”
“Marissa,” I growled in warning.
She smiled impishly. “That’s what I thought. So go ask her.”
“I can’t!” I flung my sketchbook onto the counter and crossed my arms over my chest. “She’s made up her mind. That’s it.”
“No, she told you to give her some time, and you have. You’re still freakin’ miserable, you’re only moving back into your house because your parents kicked you out of theirs, and she can’t get out of what she did like this.”
“Like what?”
“She can’t tell you she needs time to decide just for you to ignore the issue completely. That’s letting her get off easy. She cheats on her boyfriend and goes back to him without consequences? Fuck that, Chach. Your girl needs to face the shit hole she’s made, and she’s never going to if you just sit here wanting her from a distance. Otherwise, she’s just going to keep doing it, whether it’s with you again or someone—”
“I’m the one who pushed her into all this! I pushed her away, pushed her right into his arms. She didn’t do anything, I’m the one who created this mess. So stop talking about her like she’s a whore!”
“Well, if it talks like a whore, spreads its legs like a—”
“Marissa!” I uncrossed my arms and stepped right up to her. “Swear to God, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut the f**k up. Now. I don’t give a shit that you’re Brian’s wife or that you’re a woman. You don’t f**king talk about my girl like that again. No matter who she chooses tonight. You got me?”
She smiled wide and bounced up and down on her toes a couple times before throwing her arms around my neck. “You’re going to talk to her tonight? Chachi, I’m proud of you, and we’re here for you no matter what happens!”
“What the hell? Just—what?” Brian and Jeff laughed at me as I stood there with my arms hanging limply at my sides, “Bri, your wife’s bipolar!”
Marissa leaned back slightly but kept her arms around my neck. “I’ve heard all your stories about her, I don’t think she’s a whore. I just think she’s confused and in love with two guys. But you needed to go talk to her.” She hugged me tight again, and I chuckled softly as I hugged her back.
“So all that bullshit was to get me to go talk to her?” I let go and stepped away from her, watching as she went to Brian’s arms.
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” she asked smugly. “You said tonight.”
“Yeah . . . thanks, Riss. Next time try a different approach though, yeah?” I kissed her forehead, smacked Brian across the head, and clapped Jeff’s shoulder before grabbing my keys and phone. “I don’t have any appointments tonight. See you guys tomorrow.”
“Good luck, Chach!”
Marissa’s words had me remembering what I was about to do, and I took a deep breath in. I had a feeling I’d need a lot of luck to get through the night.
I called Brad, and he said the girls still weren’t back from family day, so I drove to my parents’ house and had to take another deep breath in and out when I saw Bree’s car sitting in the driveway. The ache in my chest was already making itself known, and I hoped this wouldn’t end in a way that ruined me forever.
Bree’s laughter came from the kitchen, and I drifted in that direction to find her at the kitchen table, Harper standing right behind her with a bag of chips in her hand, both staring at Bree’s laptop. Bree noticed me first, paused whatever they were watching, and folded her arms across her chest as she sent an impressive glare my way. Princess still had her eyes glued to the screen.
“Well, look who decided to join the party. Mom and Dad are already asleep.”
I kept my eyes on Harper as she slowly looked over to my sister, then up to me. Her gray eyes widened, and the bag of chips slipped from her grasp.
“I was busy.” It’s not like Mom and Dad didn’t know why I’d been avoiding today. “Harper, can I talk to you?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah I guess.” She started walking toward me and her face paled drastically, her arm shooting out to grip the counter. “Whoa.”
“Are you okay?” Bree was out of her chair, and I was rushing toward Harper when she held up a hand to stop us.
“I’m fine, I just got dizzy for a second. Thought I was going to faint again.”
My hands clenched into fists. I needed Bree to not be here; it was taking everything in me to not go up to her and hold my princess. To check her myself and make sure she was okay. Is she sick? I hadn’t seen her since over a week ago, when she fainted in the kitchen of my house, and even now she still looked like she might fall over at any second. Bree and Harper spoke softly to each other before Harper said she’d be back and stepped toward me again.
I turned without a word and walked halfway down my parents’ driveway before turning to look at her.
Her eyes took me in, and even in the dark, I could see the color come back to her face, along with the blush I loved so much. She bit down on the corner of her mouth and shifted her weight a couple times before saying, “Hi.”
I blew out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. A month without talking at all, and all she can say is ‘Hi’? “Hey, Princess.”
“Where have you been?”
“Working a lot, classes, surfing. That’s about it.”
She nodded and looked away, then down before talking again. “Your family misses you.”
This was it. This was where I needed this to go. I steeled myself, and shakily asked, “Do you?”
Her eyes snapped back up to look at me, and I hated the pain I saw there; but it gave me the smallest sliver of hope. “Of course I do, Chase.”
“Harper, I’ve given you more than enough time. I can’t stand to stay away from you anymore, so I need to know who you choose.”
“You’re really going to do this now?” she hissed, and looked at the door before taking a step closer and speaking low. “Bree could be listening from the front door!”
“Yes, now.” While I still had the balls to do this! “I need to know.”
“Chase, how can you even ask me to choose between you two?”
What?
“You left me, like you always do. You expected me to think you still wanted me after you’ve completely avoided me for a month?”
Seriously? What. The. Fuck. I threw my arms out and looked at her like she was insane. Does she not remember anything she’s told me? “I was giving you time! You asked me to give you time!”
“I didn’t want you to avoid me like the plague, I wanted you to fight for me. To show me that you loved me like you said you did.”
Could she honestly even question my love for her after what happened between us? “I do love you, Harper, and that’s why I gave you that time to think about things without my interfering.”
She stepped back, and I closed the distance again. Her eyes held mine, and I watched as they filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Chase, but I can’t.”
Oh, shit. “No. No, no n—”
“I can’t be with you. I love Brandon; I’m sorry.”