Harper's Little Spitfire

by Angel Steel

  Bodies pushed against them from every direction; her foot was stomped on, more than once, and someone had even grabbed her ass. “Hey!” she screamed as she spun around. No one was there.

  “What’s wrong?” Bri yelled beside her.

  “Someone grabbed my ass.”

  Laughing, “Yeah, that will happen here. Just go with it.”

  What! She wasn’t going to just let any random person grab her ass when they felt like it.

  Lilly leaned over the bar and spoke to some guy. When she finished, his head popped up and looked their way. Nodding, he lifted his hand to a bouncer near the end of the bar, ushering him over. He leaned forward saying something to him, then walked behind Lilly as she made her way back to Sage.

  Pulling something out of her bag, she flashed it in front of Sage, but she couldn’t make out whatever it was out.

  “VIP passes, baby,” Lilly giggled.

  Shaking her head, Sage followed between Lilly and Bri as the bouncer directed them to where they were sitting. Unhooking the rope to the VIP section, she was glad that their table was close to the dance floor and bar, which must be why the VIP tables were in the back.

  Stepping around the bouncer, Sage slid into the booth, glad to be sitting down. Her feet were killing her and she had only been in these boots for the last two hours. Shifting her leg onto the seat beside her, she flexed her foot back and forth, stretching the leather over her foot; it helped a little but she wasn’t in a hurry to get back up just yet.

  Lilly handed something to the bouncer as he moved to the edge of the VIP section and stood there; obviously, it was his job to attend to VIP customers.

  “Where’s Kaidence? Thought she was coming with us?” Sage asked.

  “She texted me when we were leaving. Something came up, didn’t elaborate on it.” Bri yelled towards her over the music.

  “Oh, okay. Hope everything is all right with her,” she replied.

  “If it isn’t, she’ll tell us, Sage. Don’t worry.” Bri squeezed her shoulder as she spoke.

  A waiter appeared moments later. “What can I get you beautiful ladies to drink?” He was a cute guy, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two, with sandy blond hair, brown eyes and a nice build. He would definitely grab the women’s attention here.

  “I’ll have a Sex on the Beach and six shots of tequila,” Bri answered.

  “Vodka and orange for me,” Lilly replied.

  His eyes landed on Sage next. “Um, can I have a Double Black vodka, please?”

  “No worries. I’ll have your drinks back in just a few minutes.” He winked and walked off.

  Looking over at Bri, Sage spoke loudly over the music, “You won’t be able to walk out of here if you have all those shots, Bri.”

  “They’re not all for me, sweetie. They’re for all of us.”

  “Nope, not touching that stuff.” Sage hated tequila. It wasn’t because of the taste; she enjoyed that very much. It was how bloody drunk she got on it and the way she acted on it.

  “Sorry, Sage, but you’re drinking it, even if I have to hold you down and force it down your throat.”

  Groaning, “Why me?” she thought of a plan. She would have just one, then after that, she would pretend to drink the rest, and pour it into one of her empty cans.

  Glancing around the club, there were bodies everywhere: not only on the dance floor, but at the bar, and the area in front and beside the DJ. Even the line up to the toilets was long. Sage couldn’t even make out a space more than a meter-square in the club. It was really packed.

  Some guy walked up, leaned down and spoke to Lilly. Watching as she giggled at whatever he said, she lifted her hand to his and disappeared out onto the dance floor.

  Bri declined offers to every male that came to their table.

  “You know you can go and dance with them, Bri. I don’t mind sitting here, alone,” Sage said with a smile.

  “Never leave one of your girls alone while in a club full of horny, out-of-control men.”

  They laughed at the pact they had made. The first time the four of them went out, Lilly stayed behind at their table while the rest of them danced away. It didn’t take long for one male to ruin it for them. Lilly declined an offer to dance with someone, who obviously didn’t like the word no, so he came back with a mate of his and tried forcing her to leave the table. If it wasn’t for Caleb showing up right at that time, God only knew what would have happened.

  She didn’t want to think of the Harper brothers right now. She needed to get her mind completely off them and onto something different, like the guy who was staring at their table from across the bar. Lifting her drink, she swallowed the lot, getting her nerves under control. She needed this for herself.

  “Wow, slow down, chugger. What’s the rush?”

  “You wanted me to loosen up; well, this is me doing exactly that.”

  “Well damn, Sage, about bloody time.” Pushing a shot of tequila towards her, she instructed, “Take it easy with these though. I know how you get on tequila.”

  She didn’t have to be reminded of that. She knew all too well what happened when she drank too much of the stuff.

  Tapping the glass with Bri, she lifted the glass to her lips, and without thinking about it, shot the glass back and swallowed the liquid. Jesus! She forgot how much it burned going down. Slamming the glass on the table and reaching for her other drink, she gulped mouths of it, removing the burn in her throat. Bri laughed beside her as she reached for her other drink herself. The beat of the music ran through her system. With just that one shot of tequila, her body wanted out on the dance floor. Her foot tapped against the floor as the music roared through the club. She had no idea how she could hear the conversation that Bri was having with her; it was like the music floated over towards her and entwined around her, pulling her to the floor. The waiter returned with another tray of shots. Winking yet again towards her, both Bri and Sage lifted one after the other and slammed them down. On the fourth one in a row, she spluttered and coughed the mouthful of alcohol onto the table, causing Bri to break into a fit of laughter. Luckily in the laughter state she was in, she still managed to pat her on the back.

  When she finished, Sage stood on shaky legs and pulled Bri from her seat. “Time to dance, sweetie.”

  Both of them giggled as they made their way towards the dance floor, not caring who they ran into in the process.

  ~~*~~*~~

  Logan slammed the file against his desk, frustrated at what he read. Nothing made sense to him. It wasn’t just the files that did it, it was also the way he acted with Sage that afternoon. Damn it! Of all the times to show up on her doorstep, only to have her answering the door in a bloody towel. Fuck, Fuck Fuck! He needed to get the image of her standing in a towel out of his fucking head.

  For the last two years, he had been holding himself back. Sage was like a sister to him. Jesus! What the hell would his brothers think if he ever voiced the thoughts he had been having of her? Yeah, there’s something seriously wrong with me! The way she looked at him, he knew there was something between them. The way her breathing picked up as his eyes glanced over her nearly-naked body. Slamming his fist against the desk, he stood up abruptly, pushing his chair against the wall. He couldn’t be having any kinds of thoughts of her.

  Stomping over to his mini bar, he pulled out a bottle of bourbon and poured himself two nips on ice. Lifting it to his mouth, he threw it back and enjoyed the burn it sent down his throat. He needed to go out and get laid, taking his mind completely off the little temptation of Sage Mathews standing in a bloody towel.

  Pouring another two nips, he placed the bottle back in the mini bar and leaned against the bookcase in his office.

  “Well something must be up if you’re hitting the hard stuff now, bro.”

  Zebastian walked in, making himself at home as he sat in Logan’s office chair and threw his legs up on his desk. Walking over towards him, Logan pushed his feet off the desk and shoved him out of his chair.
r />   “Damn, Logan, what crawled up your ass?” Zeb growled as he moved to the chair in front of his desk.

  “Nothing, okay. Just work stuff.”

  “Sorry, not taking that excuse. It’s more than that, so fucking spill it.”

  Breathing in, he couldn’t tell his brother what really was on his mind. He shouldn’t even have the thoughts that he was having at all; he was kicking his own damn ass inside, so he didn’t need one of his brothers doing it literally for him.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Fucking drop it, Zeb,” he gritted out.

  “Fine, don’t give a shit anyway.”

  They both sat, not a word mentioned between them. He hated the silence; that’s what got him in trouble before his brother walked in. He loved and hated the silence. The thoughts that he had on a regular basis, the many ways he wanted to have Sage, both scared and excited him. He couldn’t get the thoughts of her under him, over him, his cock deep inside her wet heat or sliding into her mouth out of his head. Groaning as images flashed before him, he mentally slapped himself, yet again, at the outrageous thoughts he was having of her. Something he shouldn’t be. She was family. His parents loved her like their own daughter.

  Glancing over at his brother, he asked, “What are you doing here anyway? Didn’t you have a quote to give at the Watson household?”

  “Yeah, already done that. They’ll give us a call back if they want the security system set up.”

  “Have you heard from Mac or Caleb today?” He needed to keep up with everything with their business, but it was kind of hard when his mind wandered off in the completely wrong direction. Fucking stop thinking about her, man!

  “Caleb’s helping with security at that new club that opened up in town, Sway’s. And Mac, have no idea where he is.”

  Harper Security had received the first ever application for Sway nightclub, when they first heard the old bank building was going to be turned into a club. Logan jumped on that offer to have his name as security there; it was going to be big crowds there from Friday night till early Sunday morning. Mac, Caleb and Zeb all signed up to be the VIP bouncers there, as well as a couple of their other employees they had with the company.

  One of them had the Friday, and the Saturday went to one of the other crew members; he didn’t want to work himself or his brothers to the ground with the hours they would work, plus Sway’s nightclub wasn’t the only company they supplied the security for.

  Glancing at the clock, he saw it was ticking close to 10 p.m., and he was still in his office. Standing up, he placed the files on his desk in his drawer, locked it, and moved towards the bathroom that joined to his office.

  As he was taking a piss, he heard Zeb’s phone ring then his voice followed moments later.

  “Talk to me.”

  Flushing, he walked out closing the door.

  “Really. That little liar. I knew something was up. Okay, I’ll let Logan know and meet you there.”

  Logan watched as his brother disconnected his phone with a laugh. “What’s so funny?” Logan grabbed his bag and walked over towards the door, waiting for Zeb to follow.

  “The little brat lied about what she was doing tonight.”

  Well, that was nothing new. She constantly did that, not wanting them to know the truth of where she was going. He hated not knowing where she was. He had a fierce need to protect her. Not knowing where she was prevented him from doing this.

  “Sage?” he clarified.

  “The one and only.”

  They walked out of the office and stood near the lift, waiting for it to arrive to their floor.

  “When did you speak to her today?”

  Stepping into the lift once it arrived, Logan hit the car park button and looked at Zeb as the doors closed, taking them to their cars.

  “I called her after lunch, seeing what she had planned tonight. Was going to go over after we went to the club, but won’t have to worry about that,” he laughed again.

  “Why? Where the hell is she if she isn’t at home?”

  “At Sway’s with Bri and Lilly.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Agree with you there. She is going to get her little ass spanked for pulling this shit, I tell ya,” Zeb gritted out.

  Logan raised his eyebrow at him, questioning what he meant by that exactly.

  “Really? You honestly want me to explain what the hell is going on between her and all of us, now, bro? I’m not stupid. I know she does the same damn thing to you as she does to me, Caleb and Mac. Mac will never admit what she does to him. But I sure as hell will.”

  Well, fuck me sideways! He never thought that Zeb had the same kind of feelings towards Sage, the little spitfire, like he did, but all of his brothers? Jesus. What did he say to that? He was still dumbfounded by hearing the words come out of Zeb’s mouth.

  “Are you just going to stand there and not say a word? You feeling absolutely nothing towards her at all?” Zeb asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Fuck, Zeb. I’ve been going over this shit in my head for the last two years about her. I shouldn’t be feeling anything towards her, let alone you and the others feeling the same way. She’s like our sister, in a sense. But Jesus Christ, the shit that she says and what she does, it’s driving me up the fucking wall. I have no idea if she is doing it on purpose or if she doesn’t know she is doing it. But I sure as hell can’t stay away from her any longer.”

  The lift doors opened as they arrived to car park level. Walking out, he strolled over towards his bike.

  “I agree with you, Logan. We need to get the other two and sit down, and have one hell of a chat about Sage. I doubt any of us, except Mac, will hold back much longer, and I don’t exactly want to scare her off either, so we need to come up with a plan or something.”

  “Agreed. But first we need to get over to Sway’s and find out why she went there without telling us in the first place.”

  ~~*~~*~~

  Sage, Bri and Lilly giggled like school girls as they danced together at Sway’s. She was having way too much fun dancing seductively with her girls. Every time she turned from them, there was at least a guy or two trying to get in on dancing with them, but it wasn’t happening. Lilly was all over that shit. One guy in particular got in Lilly’s face, calling her a cock tease, which in fact she wasn’t doing at that point. She usually did, but would end up going home with the guy she was doing it to. But tonight was for her to get laid, apparently. It wasn’t that to Sage though; she simply wanted the three of them to have a little fun, on top of maybe hooking up with a random guy, and of course, getting Sage out of the house.

  Staggering back to their table, Sage swiped the last shot left on the table as she fell into the booth. Bri and Lilly followed behind, laughing so hard that Bri fell on the floor. She hadn’t laughed so hard in her life. They were all plastered. She had taken her boots off an hour ago, since they were killing her, and Lilly was doing the same right now.

  “I think we need more drinks,” Bri slurred.

  Standing up, she wobbled a little and held on to the table as she waved for the waiter to come over.

  “Ladies,”

  “Can we get some Cock-sucking Cowboy shots please?” Sage asked.

  Laughing, he said, “No worries, babe.”

  “Oh, he called you babe. He wants in your pants, Sage.” All of them laughed. Seriously, she wasn’t even going there.

  “I doubt that, Lilly.”

  “I need to pee,” Bri screamed.

  Standing the best she could, which wasn’t easy, they all helped each other to the bathroom behind the VIP section. The line was ridiculously long. Sage was so close to peeing her pants, she was ready to go into the men’s toilet. One of the doors opened and she pushed her way into the toilet without closing the door. She heard someone call out ‘bitch’ but didn’t care who it was for.

  She sighed in relief as she relieved herself. Flushing, she pulled her skirt down and held on to the wall as she went to wash
her hands. Bri bumped into her at the sink, as some stupid bitch pushed all of them together. Frowning, she turned around to see who it was and was getting a dirty look from some redhead standing at the door, looking back at them.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” Sage growled out. Bri wrapped her arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to the sink. She squinted her eyes trying to get a better look at the girl, but nothing registered in her brain as to who she was.

  The girl leaned to the side and said something to her friend, and they both laughed as her friend pointed towards her.

  Growling, she pushed away from Bri and stumbled over to her. Both girls backed up a little at her approach. Pointing her finger in the redhead’s fake-ass chest, she shot out, “Do you have a problem, bitch?” The alcohol fuelled her anger at their high school behaviour.

  “Oh, look, Sage, has a backbone.” Both of them laughed at her. Fucking dumbass stupid bitch! Of course she had a fucking backbone, more than what she could say about the skinny-ass skank standing in front of her. Moving forward, she pushed the redhead against the wall, “Fucking oath I do, so what’s your problem?” she gritted out.

  Redhead shoved her back out of the way, and stumbled into Bri. “I’m not even going to waste my time or breath on you.” Both of them turned to walk out, but not before Sage saw red, grabbed a handful of the redhead’s hair and reefed her back, her friend in tow.

  “Get your hands off me, slut.” Oh, no, she didn’t just call me that!

  Her fist came up, and in a flash, connected to the side of her jaw. An almighty crack echoed through the bathroom as everyone in it froze.

  The redhead’s screams shook her out of her daze as her eyes zeroed in on the bruise forming over her jaw.

  The redhead’s friend grabbed her arm, pulling her through the door. “You’re going to regret doing that, you stupid fucking bitch!” she screamed towards her. Sage was ready to go after her, but Bri grabbed her arm stopping her from doing that.

  “Jesus Christ, Sage. What the fuck was that?” Bri asked.