by Ann Carver
She’d even looked down river for jobs, but it was much of the same. Jobs she wasn’t qualified for or waitressing jobs which probably didn’t pay much for the drive it’d take. So, it was decided, she’d go to John’s Port-A-Potties tomorrow.
After that depressing thought, she put in her ear buds and scrolled until she found Naughty by Nature and hit shuffle. She rested her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes.
The next morning, Harper woke before Joey came home. She made a breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and toast. She placed the cups of orange juice on the table just as Joey walked in the door.
“Perfect timing,” she said with a big smile.
He reciprocated the smile. “Wow, dinner and then breakfast?” he asked as he made his way to her. “I could get used to this.”
His comment made her wonder what he meant by that. But she dismissed it because she didn’t want to look dumb by asking him. Instead, she took the hug he offered and then sat down to eat. “Well, you know I like to eat,” she said with a forced laugh.
Joey sat and dove into his eggs. He groaned. “Yes you do, and I’m glad for it.” He took another bite and shoved some bacon in his mouth. When he swallowed, he asked, “So, what are your plans today?”
Harper sighed. “First I’m going to fill out an application and then I’m going to paint the bedrooms.”
His brows raised. “An application? Where?” he asked.
She dropped her shoulders but didn’t mean to. If she wanted a job, she really needed to be more positive, so she cheerfully said, “John’s Port-A-Potties.”
Joey dropped his hand to the table and the fork clunked on his plate. “Harper -”
She put her hand up and interrupted him. “No! I need a job and I’m not going to live off you or let you help me. You’ve done way too much and I need this,” she said meaning every word of it.
“But port-a-potties?” he asked.
“It’s a job. A job I need and besides, this way I won’t have to work down river and spend too much time away. And, I’m applying…I don’t have the job for sure,” she said hoping she would get the job.
Joey opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it when Harper slid him a look. He went back to eating without a word. When he was done, he put his plate in the sink and went down the hall.
Harper heard the shower turn on. She knew he was upset with her. Not mad, but she knew he wanted to help and that he sincerely meant it, but she needed to do this for herself. She’d made nothing of herself but a bar waitress. A beer wench. She needed more.
She knew he was still upset when he’d went into the bedroom instead of coming back into the kitchen. She waited a few minutes and then made her way to the bedroom. He was already in his normal position on the bed when she slid in and put her arm over him, letting her fingers linger over his belly.
Figuring he’d push her away, she didn’t get comfortable. But to her surprise, he let her do it. She knew he had a hard time falling asleep without her…so he said, so she wanted to give him at least that.
Fifteen minutes later, his breathing became shallow and deep. Harper kissed his neck and slid out of bed to get her day going. Unfortunately, it was raining again and to make things worse, it was forecasted to rain for the next couple of days.
As promised, she filled out the application for the port-a-potty job. The guy sitting at the desk stared at her the entire time, shaking his head. No doubt he didn’t think she could handle the job, physically. He’d be wrong. Even though she only served drinks, she handled her fair share of assholes that had tried to grope her.
“Darlin’ are you sure you know what this job is about?” the burly guy said.
Harper laughed. “Of course. And I can handle it too, so you don’t have to worry about that,” she said with complete confidence.
“So, you know you need to drive port-a-potties to different locations, unload and set them up. Then you’ll have to go back and clean them on a schedule,” they guy said with a puzzled look on his face.
“Yup,” she said still with confidence.
“Clean them,” he repeated.
“Yes,” Harper said getting a little annoyed. She wasn’t stupid. Toilets obviously need to be cleaned. “Look, I worked in a bar in Hagerstown. I took care of myself when some asshole decided he wanted to man-handle me. If I can survive that, not to mention the puke and horrific bathrooms there, I can handle a port-a-potty.”
The man’s brows raised as he nodded his head. “All right. I’ll put you on top of the list for the boss to look at.”
“Thank you,” Harper said as she held her head high.
She left feeling confident and went to the block house where she worked her ass off again. She managed to paint the bedrooms upstairs. It was tough work and she was already feeling the effects of using muscles she hadn’t worked in a long time. Her back hurt and she wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and close her eyes. She didn’t care it was only five o’clock in the evening.
Everything had just been put away and Harper was going to leave when Joey showed up. She waited for him on the porch. The rain hadn’t let up and a cold wind had begun to blow. When he ran up to the porch, they walked inside.
“Hey,” he said as he shrugged out of his wet jacket.
“What’s up?” she asked enjoying her view of a man in a uniform.
Joey ran his fingers through his wet hair and smiled at her. “I thought I’d see how you were doing.” He looked around the living room. “Are you done for the day?”
Harper nodded. “Yeah, I painted the rooms upstairs and I’m exhausted. It’s hard work,” she complained as she rubbed the small of her back. “Come on, I’ll show you,” she said as she took him upstairs.
She showed him each of the rooms and he told her she’d done a really good job. “Better than me, I believe,” he said with a big grin.
She smacked his shoulder. “Stop it,” she said and then they went back downstairs. “Why are you in uniform already?”
“They want me to come in a couple hours early, but first, I want to take you out to eat. If I know you, you haven’t eaten all day,” he said with a wink of his eye.
“You know me so well, I could go for some nachos at the Dancing Pony,” she said as she rubbed her belly.
“Sounds good, let’s go,” he said as they walked out onto the porch.
Harper followed him to the Dancing Pony so he didn’t have to drive her back to the block house, which would be out of the way. They arrived and when they sat at a table, her stomach growled. It knew food was close.
“What can I get you, sweet-heart,” a sickening voice said.
Harper looked up knowing Cindy hadn’t even noticed who she was talking to. “I’ll have an ice water,” she said, condescendingly sweet.
Cindy looked up, quickly. “Not you again,” she snapped.
Chapter Twenty-One
Joe practically rolled his eyes at the two women. Not that they would have noticed because they were glaring at each other. He understood that Cindy was mad at Harper for sleeping with her boyfriend. But it was a decade ago when they were in high school. Cindy needed to let it go and Harper needed to stop goading her.
“Yup, me again, Cindy,” Harper said with a sinister laugh.
Cindy stood up straight and put one hand on her hip. “Don’t you have something else to do? Like the truckers at the truck stop?” Cindy gleamed in pride of her wicked questions.
Harper laughed. “Naw, been there, done that, just like Garrett.”
Cindy’s eyes went wild as she pointed a finger in Harper’s face. “You’re so fucked up, Harper. You act like sleeping around is the most natural thing, like checking the mail every day. Whore is too good of a word for you, because from what I’ve heard, you have sex without charging, which makes you a slut. The lowest of the low. You’re a bottom feeder,” she seethed through her teeth as her chest rose and fell with angry breaths.
J
oe looked at Harper and wondered what wrath she was going to unleash on Cindy. He was afraid for Cindy. And he was about to drag Harper out of there when she blinked and then smiled.
Smiled.
How the hell could she be smiling when Cindy just called her a bottom feeder? But Joe watched as she leaned forward with her elbows on the table and said, “You see, Cindy, you think I don’t have standards when it comes to sex. That’s where you’re wrong.” She leaned in closer to Cindy and whispered, “I do have standards. That’s why I turned your daddy down for sex. He practically begged me…no, he did beg. But I have standards.”
After that, Harper leaned back in her chair with a winning smile. She knew exactly how to get to Cindy. Now Joe worried what Cindy was going to do to Harper.
“Ladies,” he interrupted whatever was going to come next.
Cindy moved closer to the table and put her hand up toward his face, but turned toward Harper. “You disgusting slut,” she spat at Harper with fire in her eyes. “You’re fucking crotch has probably seen more diseases than the Center of Disease Control. I hope it rots out.” Then she stomped off, muttering something to Jax as she passed by him.
Jax had been on his way over. He’d obviously saw something was going on. “Everything okay, Joe?” he asked as he approached the table and flung the bar towel over his shoulder.
Joe shook his head in disbelief. “I think it’ll be all right now,” he said hoping like hell it would be. “They have some high school issues that appear to be unresolved.”
“She’s a whiney bitch,” Harper said as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.
Both Joe and Jax looked at her. “We keep it civil in here,” Jax said as he raised a brow to Harper and then Joe.
He nodded. “We know, don’t we, Harper?”
“Whatever,” Harper said in a pout. “But she started it.”
“Harper,” Joe growled at her. He looked up at Jax apologetically.
Jax crossed his arms with a stern look. He held the pose for a bit and then relaxed. “I know how Cindy can get, but she’s honestly the best waitress I have…and reliable. Please don’t make her quit.”
“Not a problem,” Joe said, easing the situation of some tension. “Right, Harper?” he added when she didn’t say anything.
Harper rolled her eyes and slumped in the chair. “If she doesn’t start shit with me, then I won’t start shit with her,” she said solemnly. But then she sat up in her chair with spunk. “But if she starts shit-”
Joe took her hand in his. “For the love of the stars, Harper, can you just treat her like you don’t even know her? Please?” he asked, interrupting her.
“Fine,” she huffed and then looked up at Jax. “Can you put in an order of nachos for me? I’m starving and don’t think Miss Priss will be back.”
Joe thunked his head on the table. “Harper,” he pleaded, hoping he’d reach her.
“Not a problem,” Jax said as he took the bar towel off his shoulder. “I’ll get someone else to wait on you, too.”
Jax walked toward the kitchen and Joe squeezed Harper’s hand. “Please tell me Cindy’s dad didn’t really do that.” He hoped like hell he didn’t. How could a grown man have come onto a girl his own daughter’s age?
Harper laughed as if gloating. “He sure did. I wasn’t about to do an old man, though,” she said as if that sort of thing happened on a daily basis.
Joe clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth. So it was true. It made Joe wish he hadn’t given the man CPR two years ago when he’d suffered a heart attack. The man had been saved, thanks to Joe and now he had regrets.
Not that he really wanted him to die, but again, it angered him that he was a dirty old man, soliciting sex from a high school girl the age of his own daughter. Thank goodness Harper had turned him down.
Anger was a nasty thing because it consumed you and wanted to make you feel worse. And that’s exactly what happened because Joe started thinking of Harper and his brothers. He’d almost got physically sick when he’d heard she’d slept with Tristan and Andy so long ago.
It made him doubt she was telling him the truth. “And you turned him down, right?” he asked, feeling the fire seethe through his veins.
Harper didn’t notice he was fuming. “Of course, he was a gross, old man,” she said as she turned toward the kitchen. “I hope Jax puts a STAT on that order of nachos.”
“And, what about-” but Joe got sidetracked when another waitress put two glasses of water and two beers on the table.
“Compliments of Jax,” the new waitress said and walked off without asking for Joe’s order.
Harper took a drink of her water and then looked at Joe. “What about what?” she asked.
Joe was about to ask about Tristan and Andy, but the waitress interrupted him…or saved him. “Oh, the waitress,” he said as he pointed after her. “I was going to ask about my order.”
Harper looked where he was pointing and then shrugged a shoulder. “Not a very good waitress,” she said and then looked back at him. “You can share my nachos with me. If they ever get here.” She placed a hand on her stomach as if it were killing her.
“Sounds good,” Joe said, thanking his lucky stars he dodged the bullet. Sure, he wanted to know if the rumors were true. It made more sense that they were true than they weren’t. Tristan had the outdoor, rugged good looks with his dark hair and beard that seemed to drive the ladies wild. Andy was the epitome of military handsomeness. His perfect, military style cut that barely showed his dirty blonde hair was all the rave with the ladies. Most women fell at his feet.
Joe didn’t think he held a candle to his two brothers. They were the good ones. The special ones. After all, if he’d have been special enough, Harper would have only been with him and not his brothers.
The air seemed to leave his lungs and it felt like the place was choking him. He hated thinking about Harper and his brothers. He’d never compare to them and hated that. Just when he was about to bolt out of the place, Harper touched his arm.
“Joey,” she whispered, “when are you going to be better?”
Better? Never! The thought of him having shared Harper made him ill. He stared at her in disbelief. Yeah, he really needed to get the hell out of there.
“I don’t think I can wait much longer, Joey,” she whispered when he didn’t respond. “I love what you do to me, but I want all of you. How much longer do you think the burn will prevent us from…you know.”
Ha, she was talking about his burn being better. And here he thought…well, it didn’t matter because he saw the desire in Harper’s eyes and it made him have the same. But it wasn’t going to be today. For one, it still hurt in the shower and the other, he had to be to work in half an hour.
Joe took both her hands in his. “I hope soon,” he said and then pulled her in for a heated kiss.
Harper couldn’t think straight after the kiss from Joey. She loved his kisses and never tired of them. The nachos finally came and she went to town. She’d been starving and reminded herself not to skip lunch again.
Joey ate with her, but Harper at more. She was thankful she had a good metabolism, because if she hadn’t, she’d probably weight four thousand pounds. Harper licked the last bit of sour cream off her finger, pushed the plate away, and groaned as she placed a hand over her belly.
“I don’t think I can eat for a week after that,” she said, closing her eyes as if it were going to ease her stuffed belly.
Joe raised a brow at her. “Give it a couple of hours and you’ll be eating something else,” he said to her with a grin.
Harper laughed. “Nope, I’m way too full.”
“We’ll see,” he said with a chuckle as he slid out of his seat. “I have to get to work but I’ll see you in the morning.” He put money on the table and walked out with Harper.
Once outside, he wrapped her in close and planted another mouthwatering kiss on her. She tried crawling up him. She wanted him. Every time she saw him, she wanted hi
m naked with his skin on her skin.
Harper had never felt that way about someone before. She’d had her fair share of men, but they were in it for themselves, never for her. With Joey, it was different. He cared about what happened to her…in and out of bed. She felt differently about Joey than she had toward any other guy.
She went home to an empty house and took a hot, soothing shower. Afterwards, she settled on the couch, turned on Animal Planet, and pulled out her lists. She looked them over and made a strategic plan to get it all completed so she could move in by Halloween. There would be nothing better than being in her house by then. Well, except having Joey naked in bed, blowing her mind crazy.
The ideas filled her head, so she began making another list. If she could get in by Halloween, then she’d need things, decorations. She made a list of outdoor and indoor decorations as well as what kind of candy she’d pass out to the trick-or-treaters. Halloween was her absolute favorite holiday. It was a day to be something you normally weren’t and she’d always taken advantage of it.
Around nine o’clock, her stomach growled. She thought about what Joey had said after stuffing herself with nachos. He’d been right. Not that she’d ever tell him that. The closest place to get food was the Dancing Pony. So, she grabbed her keys and headed there.
The place was the busiest she’d ever seen it. Almost every table was full and the bar was packed with people standing, waiting for their drinks. She almost thought about leaving and going down river to grab some fast food. But she didn’t want to do that.
“Harper,” someone called out to her.
She looked around and finally spotted Lila waving her hand frantically from a table that was full. Harper walked over and didn’t recognize anyone else except Lila’s twin sister, Lily. “Hey, this place is busy, huh?” she asked when she reached the table.
“Ladies night,” Lila said as she took a sip of her colorful drink. “Join us, have a few drinks with us.”
Harper thought about it for a bit, but she declined. She didn’t mind having a drink here or there, but her partying days were over. She didn’t miss the hangovers or the stupid stuff she did during those drunken stupors. Nope, she enjoyed watching everyone else be stupid. Other than the night Joey had left her, it’d been a long time since she’d been stupid like that.