by R. Linda
I bit his shoulder to stifle my laughter, and Nate pressed his lips together to silence his chuckle. Brody’s footsteps retreated down the hall.
“You’re going to get us in trouble,” he whispered.
“You’re the one who rolled us on to the floor. Why didn’t you just announce to Brody I was here?”
“My intentions were good,” Nate murmured against my lips.
“Good…really?”
“Very good.” He pushed his hips forward, and my eyes rolled back into my head.
Chapter
Twenty-One
Nate
Dead.
They were dead.
All of them.
I was going to strangle them with my bare hands. Squeeze the life out of them.
I hated bowling.
And what was more, I hated bowling on a date.
Oh, and I hated dating…when it wasn’t Harper.
And I really, really hated double dating with Brody and the two blonde bimbos Indie so happily set us up with.
Conned, more like.
Duped.
Tricked.
Whatever you wanted to call it, she did it. Rang to tell me Linc was picking me up for some event at the Surf Club that she couldn’t attend because she had a meeting. The word “meeting” should have been an instant red flag. She was a graphic designer and worked from home. She didn’t attend meetings. “Dress nice,” she said. So, I did.
I walked into the living room to find Brody dressed equally nice, though if I was being honest, I looked better.
“Where you going?” I asked him. We’d been at the hospital again, visiting with Audrey. I’d seen her three times now, and things were getting easier.
“I have a date.”
“During the day?” I laughed. What a terrible time for a date. I hope he hadn’t suggested it.
“Yeah. Where are you off to?”
“A presentation for Linc.”
“You his hot date?” Brody sniggered.
“Yeah. Indie couldn’t make it.”
A knock sounded at the door, so Brody opened it.
Indie waltzed into the room with Linc following close behind, an amused smile plastered on his smug face.
And then, out of nowhere, two blondes walked in. Twins.
“Guys, this is Cindy.” Indie pointed to blonde number one. “And this is Mindy.” She smiled brightly as she pointed at blonde number two.
Cindy and Mindy. No joke.
I smiled briefly in an attempt to be polite and not make them feel uncomfortable or unwanted. Even though they were.
“Can I speak to you for a minute?” I ground out. I grabbed Indie by the arm and dragged her into the hall.
“You’re welcome. Mindy is lovely. Isn’t she, Linc?” Indie smiled happily.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I told you I was going to set you up.”
“And I told you no!” I raised my voice. Linc stepped in front of Indie and pushed me back. As if I’d hurt her. But I did respect him a little more for protecting her over me.
“But then Linc told me your plan to set Brody up, and I thought why not set you both up.”
“Why not? I’ll tell you why not. Because I am not interested.”
“Well, you can’t very well turn them away now. Can you? That would be cruel, Nate.”
I stared at her. Opened my mouth but closed it again, unsure what to say. Linc rocked on his feet, whistling softly.
Glad he was amused.
He probably put her up to it because he knew about Harper and me.
The thought of Harper had my pulse racing and stomach flipping. After the whole “just friends” thing with her brother a few days ago, things had been tense. I got the feeling she wanted to make us official or something, but I wasn’t entirely sure because she wouldn’t open up to me about what she was thinking or feeling.
“Get back in there and show those girls a good time.” Indie ushered me back into the room. “Who knows? One might be your soulmate.”
“Doubt it,” I muttered under my breath. Pretty sure my soulmate was sitting on top of a water tower.
“Ready to go?” Brody asked when I returned to the living room.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Which was not at all.
I turned to speak to Indie one last time, but she and Linc had already gone. Jerks. They deserved each other.
“Let’s go.”
Bowling sucked.
And bowling with Cindy and Mindy sucked even more because they were more concerned with breaking a nail than knocking over any pins.
Where the hell did Indie find these girls?
Brody seemed to be enjoying himself, though. So that was good. Maybe Cindy and Mindy would be his soulmates, and then I’d be free to take Harper out on a real date and not just sleep with her.
“I’m hungry,” I announced after Mindy closed out the final frame. Those two games seemed to drag on. For. Ever.
“I could eat,” Brody agreed.
Yes. Maybe we could lose the girls somewhere and go get some food.
“Oooh, yes.” Cindy clapped her hands. Or was it Mindy? I really couldn’t tell.
“Let’s go.” Brody grabbed Mindy’s hand and pulled her toward the door.
Cindy stared at me expectantly. Or was she Mindy and Brody had walked off with Cindy?
Shit.
I was confusing myself.
“Let’s go, hot stuff.” The blonde chick whose name I really didn’t know skipped over to me and linked her arm through mine, pressing her body against my side.
I tried not to cringe, but I couldn’t help it. Hers was not the body I wanted rubbing against mine. I recoiled slightly and faked needing to tie my laces so I could untangle myself from her. I wasn’t even wearing laces, and she didn’t notice I was pretending to tie air.
Yeah.
They were dead.
All of them.
***
It didn’t matter how hard I argued with Brody, he wasn’t taking no for answer. I tried everything. At one point, I opened the car door and tried to throw myself out because that would have been more pleasant than what was waiting for me through those doors.
Damn Johnny for making the best goddamn burgers in the state.
Why couldn’t his food taste like shit? Then no one would want to stop there. If his food tasted awful, then Brody wouldn’t have insisted on taking the twins there.
I felt like this whole thing was a setup.
Someone planned it this way so Harper would catch me on a date with someone else when I couldn’t give her anything more than “just friends.” I was really beginning to hate that word.
“Get out of the car,” Brody said.
“No, you go. I’ll just head home.”
“Seriously, dude. You’re acting like a tool.”
We argued back and forth for ten minutes until one of the blondes climbed into the passenger seat, leaning over the console and whispering in my ear all the things she’d like to do to me.
I was out of the car in a flash. Unfortunately, so was she, and she seemed to think since she told me she wanted to tie me to her bedposts and cover me in whipped cream that we were actually dating and physical contact was perfectly fine.
She attached herself to my side. She was like a leech. Only she wasn’t sucking my blood. She was sucking out my will to live.
Just kill me now.
Her arm snaked around my waist, and her hand slid into my back pocket. I moved away from her. She followed. I couldn’t shake her. She was determined, I’d give her that much. But the thought of walking into the roadhouse with Airhead Barbie fused to my side made me sick. I wanted to throw up.
Reluctantly, I followed Brody and Airhead Barbie number…whatever into the diner. Maybe I’d luck out and Harper wouldn’t be there. Ha. Even then, I’d still have to see the disappointment on Johnny’s and Julie’s faces when I walked in with someone other than their niece.
Dropping my head so I wo
uldn’t have to see the look in anyone’s eyes, I tried to remove myself from my not-date, but it only made her purr in my ear and tell me how she liked guys who played hard to get.
I wasn’t playing.
I could sense her eyes on me. Cold. Hard. Hurt. I looked up and straight into the murky brown eyes of the woman I loved. No longer were they the bright sparkling caramel colour I got lost in. No. They were dead. And so was I with one glare.
She tore off her apron and slammed it on the counter, still levelling me with her glare. She had too much pride to look away or cry. I took a step forward, but the leech pulled me back.
With a slight shake of the head, I tried to convey to Harper it wasn’t what it looked like. But she just curled her lip in disgust and took off into the bathroom, leaving me staring at Johnny, who was casually throwing the meat cleaver in the air and letting it stab into the bench.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
I’d ruined everything before it began.
They were dead.
All of them.
Slow and painful, just the way I felt right then.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Harper
I refused to cry.
I couldn’t breathe. My chest constricted, and my head spun. Everything I believed, everything I thought I knew was wrong. I’d never felt my heart break before. Not like that. Not when my boyfriend in high school broke up with me. Not when Brody broke up with me. I wasn’t sure I even had a heart left to break after what my parents did to me. After Jeremy left me.
But I did.
That beautiful, handsome, kind man out there pieced my heart back together and held it in his hands. I thought he’d take care of it. Cherish it.
But Nate Kellerman wasn’t the guy I thought he was.
He was a liar.
A cheat.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes had dimmed, glazed over with tears. I turned the tap on and splashed my face with cold water, hoping to shock my system into recovery.
He wasn’t a cheat.
I couldn’t honestly call him that.
We weren’t in a relationship. We never were. We were just friends. He’d said it himself numerous times. I’d even tried to convince myself of it as well, but my fragile heart had other ideas, and look where that got me.
Slumped against the bathroom wall, trying not to cry over a guy who was “just a friend.”
I never would have expected him to do something so hurtful. If he wanted to date other women, he should have told me, not brought one into my home, parading her around like goddamn Miss Universe. He wouldn’t have to sneak her in and out of his house. Or kiss her in the shadows. He didn’t have to hide her behind the bed or lie about what he was doing when he was with her.
I could hear raised voices outside the bathroom door.
Uncle Johnny threatening to slice Nate open.
Nate arguing, pleading to get past. Past where? The door, in here? I scurried into a toilet stall and locked the door.
Brody wondering what the hell was going on. Why everyone was so worked up, and why I had run off like that.
“Harper,” Nate called.
“Leave. I mean it, kid,” Uncle Johnny seethed, most likely holding the meat cleaver at Nate’s throat…or crotch, deciding which to slice first.
“Not without speaking to her first,” Nate said before shouting through the closed door, “Harper! Talk to me. It’s not what you think.”
“What’s not what she thinks? What am I missing?”
Oh, god. Brody was going to find out.
“Johnny, please,” Nate begged.
Don’t let him in.
Don’t let him in.
I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want his pathetic excuses. I didn’t want to see the sad look in his eyes. Or his beautiful smile. Because that would be my undoing. One hopeful smile from him, and I would melt in a pool at his feet. And I couldn’t let that happen. I had to protect what was left of my heart. The small pile of dust it had become when he shattered it completely.
The bathroom door opened. Footsteps shuffled in. Lots of footsteps. I was still locked safely in the stall. He could try all he wanted to get me to open it, but I wouldn’t.
“Harper? You okay?” Brody asked quietly.
I groaned. Why couldn’t he have waited outside? This thing between Nate and me was over. There was no use in Brody finding out now. It would only needlessly hurt him.
“Go away.”
“Harper.” Nate banged on the door. “Talk to me. Come on.” He sighed. I heard a thump. It sounded like he banged his head on the door. “We’re so good at talking things through. Let me explain.”
Thump.
“Explain what?” Brody was getting agitated. Confused. And he wasn’t getting answers.
“I don’t care what you have to say.”
“You should, because I care. I care, Harper,” he murmured, the pain in his voice evident through the door.
My resolved weakened, and I approached the door.
“It’s not real…” Thump. “The date, I mean.”
I braced my hands on the door, leaning forward until my head touched the cool timber, much like how I imagined Nate would be standing on the other side. How could a date not be real?
“Indie. She tried to play matchmaker.”
Yeah, that sounded like Indie.
“She set us up. I thought…It doesn’t matter what I thought. Point is, I didn’t know. Not until it was too late.”
I paused. The bathroom was silent. He was set up. And he wasn’t the type of person to intentionally hurt someone’s feelings. He was conned into a double date and did the right thing by Miss Universe and didn’t embarrass her.
But he embarrassed me. Made me feel like a complete fool.
“Can I tell you a story?”
Yes. I stayed silent.
Feet shuffled on the other side. Someone cleared their throat.
“I don’t—” Brody said, cut off by Johnny telling him to be quiet.
“I had a friend.” Nate’s voice was low and rough. “We were great friends. Kind of became close one night by accident, you know?”
I knew. I closed my eyes and listened to his rough voice.
“Anyway, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see my friend again after…that. But I did. For three months, I had a friend I couldn’t wait to see. Couldn’t wait to talk to. For three months, all I could think about was my friend. It was stupid and reckless, but I didn’t care. I loved spending time with them. We shouldn’t have been friends, but for whatever reason, we continued our friendship in secret.”
“I’m so confused,” Brody mumbled.
“But after a while, my friend didn’t want to be friends anymore. My friend told me we couldn’t…” he paused, thinking to of the right word, I guessed, “play together anymore. It wasn’t right. My friend was worried about getting in trouble and making our other friends jealous that we played together so much. So, I let my friend go. I promised myself that if not playing with me made my friend happy, then I’d be happy too. Harper?”
“I’m listening.” I could barely get the words out from the lump in my throat.
“But I wasn’t happy. I missed my friend. I missed playing together. I missed sneaking around. I just missed them. I was heartbroken. I never told my friend how I felt then, but I should have. I should have told my friend when we started playing in secret again three months later that they were the best thing that happened to me. They were my best friend.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away. He was my best friend too.
“Do you know why, Harper?”
My heart stuttered in my chest. Taking a deep breath, I asked, “Why?”
“Because if had told my friend before how much I cared for them, I wouldn’t be standing outside this door begging you to be my friend again. I wouldn’t be on my knees. I wouldn’t be asking you to play with me again and not keep it a
secret. Screw the consequences. Will you be my friend, Harper?”
I had no resolve left. None. He broke me. Shattered. Completely.
Screw the consequences.
With trembling hands, I unlocked the door and stepped out. Nate scrambled to his feet—he really was on his knees begging—and a look of relief washed over his features.
I didn’t pay attention to anyone. The only person I could concentrate on was Nate. The way he pulled me into his arms. The way he wiped the tears from my eyes. Brushed his fingers through my hair. Cupped my face and said with a smile, “I am so in love with you, friend.”
My heart stopped, my knees gave out, but Nate’s strong arms held me as I processed all the things he’d said. All the things I hadn’t realised I was so desperate to hear.
“I’m in love with you too,” I whispered against his lips.
And then…the bathroom door slammed.
We both turned to look at the vacant space Brody had just occupied.
“Touching, really. All that friend talk. But I think you might have just pissed off another one,” Johnny said.
“Screw the consequences, right?” Nate asked, threading his fingers through mine.
“Screw everything.” I nodded.
He was totally worth the risk and the fall.
Nate kissed me quickly and chased after Brody.
“This really what you want?” Uncle Johnny asked.
“It is.” I smiled, even though Brody was out there hurting. I couldn’t help it; I was happy. Nate loved me.
“Okay, then.” Johnny wrapped an arm around my neck and kissed the top of my head. “You better get out there and make sure they don’t kill each other.” He chuckled as we left the bathroom.
“Come on. It won’t be that bad,” I scoffed. I knew Brody would be upset and angry, but he’d get over it. Right?
“You sure about that?” Johnny lifted the meat cleaver and pointed it in the direction of the parking lot.
“Shit.”
Brody and Nate were rolling around on the gravel, attracting the stares of the two guys filling up their cars with fuel.
“Come on,” Brody screamed and punched Nate in the face. “Fight back.”