Cougar

by M. A. Foster

  “This is happening,” he whispers. He moves to kiss that spot on my neck just below my ear. “You can navigate this any way you want, but there will be a lot of kissing.”

  My lips are still tingling as I ease up the driveway slowly, attempting to gather my wits. Damn, that man can kiss.

  Bass, Levi, and Troy are unloading Harper’s things from the back of Bass’s Denali as I pull into the garage.

  “What did you find out?” I ask as I climb out of the car.

  “The story about her mom and sister is true. Mom died of cancer and sister died in a car accident. There is no dad. She was living with a friend of her sister’s until she shacked up with her boyfriend,” Bass tells me. “Apparently Harper was arguing with a woman outside Mac’s and the woman hit her.”

  “What? Who?”

  “His wife,” Levi adds. “Jay and Lexi walked up and saw the whole thing. Before the girls could go full-on savage on the lady, I stepped in and told the woman to leave or I would arrest her.”

  “Jesus.” I rake my fingers through my hair. I knew something was off. Jay lied to me.

  “There’s more. On her way out, the wife slashed Harper’s tires.”

  “And this is the type of girl my daughter is friends with? Do I have reason to worry, B?”

  “Doubt it. She’s a girl with no family who got caught up in a bad situation and was taken advantage of.”

  “All right.” I exhale a heavy sigh. “I’m going to help get her settled in.” I head inside.

  No matter the circumstances surrounding Harper, lying is unacceptable. Jay and I will be having a nice little chat later.

  I stop outside the guest room, just down the hall from Jay’s bedroom, and lean against the doorframe.

  “Your house is beautiful, Jay,” Harper gushes. “This place is like a fortress.”

  “It was either a fortress or a bubble,” I say with a forced smile. “If her father had had his way, she’d be living in a bubble.” I push off the frame and step into the room. “How are you, Harper?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Levi filled me on what happened tonight at Mac’s. No one will bother you here.”

  Jay scoffs. “He’s such a tattletale.”

  I turn and pin her with a glare. “It’s his job, Jayla.”

  “Not for much longer,” she mutters under her breath.

  Who the hell replaced my sweet, honest little girl with this mouthy teenager?

  “Excuse me?”

  She tips her chin. “When I’m eighteen, I’m not being followed by a bunch of tattletales.”

  I raise my brows. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Um,” Harper interjects, “may I ask… is there a reason for the bodyguards?”

  I look back to Jay. “I thought you filled her in?”

  She shakes her head. “Not yet. She just got here.”

  Pinching my lips together, I exhale harshly through my nose.

  Jay rolls her eyes. “I’m Jayla Mackenzie King,” she begins. “My dad is Marcus King.”

  Harper gasps, which turns into a coughing fit. “The Marcus King, of Royal Mayhem?” she asks incredulously. “You’re Jaybird?”

  A pained expression crosses Jay’s features before she offers a sad smile.

  “I’m sorry.” Harper covers her mouth.

  “No, it’s okay.” Jay sniffs. “I’m just not used to other people calling me that.”

  She’s right. That’s always been Marcus’s thing.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, Harper. It’s really okay.”

  “Harper, I would appreciate it if you would keep this information to yourself,” I say kindly, but with enough edge to get my point across. “Only a few people know, and we’d like to keep it that way, at least until she graduates.”

  “What about your Project Mayhem class?” she asks Jay, her brows pinched in confusion.

  Jay shrugs. “They don’t know anything. I’m just another student.”

  “I appreciate you letting me stay here,” Harper says to me, then turns to Jay. “And your secret is safe with me. Just as I hope my secret is safe with you.”

  “Of course.” Jay wraps her in a hug.

  “You can stay here as long as you like,” I offer. I truly don’t believe Harper is going to be a problem.

  Bass, Troy, and Levi drop off Harper’s things, and she, Jay, and I go to work getting her unpacked.

  We’re halfway through one of the boxes when Harper’s phone rings. She walks over to the nightstand, picks it up and points to the bathroom. “I’m gonna take this.”

  I turn to Jay just as she scoops up an armful of clothes. “You and I will be having a discussion later.”

  She frowns. “About what?”

  “The list is growing by the minute,” I grit out and point toward the walk-in closet. “Go hang those up.”

  Leaning over, I collect the last of the contents in the box. A small black book that looks like a diary or a journal and a wrinkled piece of paper with a crease through the middle, as if it’s been folded. It probably fell out of the book. It’s when I start to fold the paper that a wave of unease engulfs my entire body and I begin to shake as I stare down at the name Cole Matthew Mackenzie scribbled across the top in what looks to be Cole’s handwriting. I scan the paper and realize it’s a copy of Cole’s patient information sheet from two years ago.

  What the hell is going on?

  I quickly fold the paper and shove it in my back pocket, then make my way over to knock on the bathroom door. “Harper,” I call out. “Are you okay?”

  When Harper opens the door, her pale skin is flush and her eyes are red.

  “This looks personal.” I hold out the black book and see a brief flash of fear in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure where you’d want me to put it.”

  “Thanks.” She grabs the book and rushes to the nightstand, slipping it inside the drawer.

  Jay walks out of the closet and scans the room. “I think we got most of it put away.”

  Harper smiles affectionately at Jay. “No worries.” She waves us off. “I can deal with the rest later.” She stretches her arms over her head and lets out a yawn.

  “It’s late,” I inform them. “You two need to get to bed. We can finish up tomorrow.”

  Harper nods through another yawn. “Thank you both so much.”

  “You’re welcome. Good night,” Jay says through a yawn of her own before she turns to leave the room.

  “Good night, Harper.” I pull the door closed behind me and walk down to Jay’s room.

  I find my daughter sitting on her bed with her hands in her lap. Pushing the door closed, I move to stand in front of her with my arms crossed over my chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she says.

  I raise a brow. “What are you sorry for?”

  “For lying to you about Harper’s situation.”

  “This is your one chance to rectify that.” I sit beside her on the bed.

  Jay sighs as she falls back across her bed. “Everything I told you about her mom and her sister is true. And everything I told you about her dad, I really thought that was true. I knew she had a boyfriend, and that he was older, but Harper was so secretive about him. After dance class, Lexi and I went to Mac’s. Levi was right behind us. Harper was outside talking to some woman. I thought they were just talking at first, but something was off, and then she slapped Harper across the face.” Jay pauses a beat, then continues. “Lexi started yelling at the woman. Thankfully, Levi stepped in because that woman was about to get her ass kicked.”

  “Jay—”

  “Sorry.” She snickers. “Levi told the woman to leave, but before she did, she pointed in Harper’s face and yelled at her to ‘stay away from her husband.’ At that point, I didn’t give Harper any other choice but to tell me the truth because she had nowhere else to go.”

  “So her dad isn’t in her life at all?”

  “No. She was living with her married boyfriend, Josh
.”

  “Did she know he was married?”

  “No. She told Lexi and me that she thought he’d been cheating on her, but she had no idea he was married.”

  None of this explains what she was doing with Cole’s patient information sheet from two years ago.

  Emerson

  “Hi, I’m Emerson Mackenzie,” I say to the salon coordinator at the front desk. “I have an appointment with Lisa.”

  “You can go on back.” She smiles. “She’s in room one.”

  “Thanks.”

  Grabbing the handle, I tap lightly on the frosted glass door before turning the knob and stepping inside to find Lisa smiling down at her phone.

  I grin, thinking it’s likely Bass who’s putting that smile on her face. He’s been spending a lot of time with Lisa and staying with her almost every night after Jay goes to bed.

  “Hey,” I say, closing the door behind me.

  “Hey, girl,” she replies, still smiling as she sets her phone down and rises from her chair behind the manicure table. “Have a seat.” She holds out her hand to take my purse, then gestures to one of the pedicure chairs lined up on the opposite side of the room.

  She straddles the stool and turns on the water to as hot as I can stand it. “So what’s new this week?”

  I fill her in on Harper, which leads to me spilling the family secret about Willow being Cole’s daughter. By the time I’m finished, we’re both in tears.

  “I think you should talk to Max and Jessica first. Maybe sit down with Harper and talk to her as well.”

  “Yeah, I’m definitely going to do that. I just want to be careful. I don’t want her to feel like I’ve betrayed her either, but my family comes first.”

  “True that.”

  As she’s putting the final coat of polish on my toenails, I relax against the leather head rest and exhale a long breath. “I need your advice.”

  Lisa’s lips pull to the side. “Does this have anything to do with a certain ball player?”

  My eyes go wide as I tilt my head down to look at her with pinched brows. “Wh—how did you know?”

  She lets out a light laugh. “Well for starters, that night at dinner, I saw the way your face lit up when you saw him at the table.”

  “Oh my God.” I press my palm to my forehead. “Was I that obvious?”

  “Not at all.” She shakes her head. “You just looked really happy to be surrounded by friends.”

  “I don’t know what to do. I like him… a lot.” I immediately laugh at my admission. “And we’re back in high school.” I alter my voice to sound like a teenager. “I like him a lot.”

  Lisa and I both laugh at my expense, but my laughter quickly dies and turns into a sigh. “It’s too soon, right?”

  Lisa frowns, looking confused. “Too soon for what? To be happy? To be with someone who makes you feel good?” She’s saying all the right things, but it doesn’t squash how I feel.

  “All of it. Let’s not forget the fact that he’s too young for me.”

  “Says who?”

  I shrug. “Me? He’s twenty-eight.”

  Lisa laughs. “Emerson, he’s not a teenager. He’s a man. A fine-ass man.” She waggles her eyebrows. “You feel guilty,” she states matter-of-factly.

  “Of course I feel guilty.” I rub my hand over my heart. “Marcus was the love of my life and the only man I’ve ever been with.”

  “I felt the same after Felix.” She tilts her head. “Listen, I know how much you loved Marcus. Your daughter knows how much you loved him. Your family knows how much you loved him. You want me to tell you it’s okay to be with someone else? It is. But when you choose to move on is up to you. Moving on with your life doesn’t mean you’re letting go of your love for Marcus. If you’re worried about people judging you, they will. And if you’re having doubts, then I’d say you’re not ready. Your heart will tell you when it’s time. Will you ever stop feeling guilty? Probably not. Not because you’ve moved on, but because you’re living your life and you feel as though Marcus didn’t get to live his. But the truth is Marcus did live his life. He was successful and rich. He had a beautiful wife and daughter. And he was loved. I’d say he lived his best life. Same goes for Felix. We were young, but he was doing what he loved. And he had a wife and child who loved him. It was hard for me to move on. Not because I didn’t want to, but it wasn’t easy dating with a toddler. I was so young, and I wanted to go out and have fun like all the girls my age.”

  “At least you were still young when you started over.”

  “Yeah, and you know what that got me? Nothing but a long list of immature boys and losers. Felix was young but he was a man. None of those other boys could measure up. Finally, I just gave up on dating altogether and focused on raising my son and building my business. I guess in a way, I’m starting all over, too. Thanks to you.” She winks. “Have I thanked you for introducing me to that gorgeous man? Gah.” She shudders in a good way. “I swear I have to pinch myself to remind me that he’s real.”

  I laugh out loud. It’s good to see my friends happy.

  “So have you slept with him yet?” she asks.

  “God, no. I’m not ready for that. We’ve kissed a couple of times, that’s all. Last night he made me dinner.”

  I go on to tell her about my dinner with Cam and how he asked me to spend more time with him when the season is over.

  “I say go for it, Emerson. What have you got to lose besides sleep?” she snickers.

  Everything.

  “Knock, knock!” I call out as I push open Max’s office door.

  Max is behind his desk, typing away on his laptop.

  “Hey, Emerson,” Jessica greets from the sofa, where she’s seated beside Dylan.

  “Where’s Willow?”

  “She’s with Mom,” Max tells me. “What’s up?” He leans back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head.

  I move to sit in the empty chair in front of his desk and pull the paper from my purse. “I found this last night while I was helping unpack Harper’s things.” I hold out the paper and Max takes it.

  “What the hell?” he exclaims. “Jess, come look at this.”

  My sister-in-law stands and walks around Max’s desk to look over his shoulder. “That’s Cole’s patient information from Dr. Graham’s office.” She points to the top of the paper. “It’s from two years ago.”

  Dylan bristles. “Fucking figures, another Cole Mackenzie groupie. Maybe we should hire all male servers from now on.”

  “Dylan.” Max shoots him a “don’t be ridiculous” look as he passes the paper to Jessica. Standing, he heads for the door. “I’ll be right back,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks out closing the door behind him.

  Jessica goes back over to sit beside Dylan. “What do you know about her?”

  Dylan shrugs. “My first thought was she only wanted to work here because, like every other girl hired before her, she wants a piece of Cole. But she told me in her interview that she had a boyfriend. She didn’t seem all that impressed with him?”

  A few minutes later, Max returns. “I told Amelia to send Harper to my office as soon as she gets in.”

  There’s a soft knock on the door and Max calls out, “Come in.”

  Harper walks in and immediately scans our faces. Her spine stiffens, and judging by the look on her face, she knows what’s coming. My stomach is in knots because no matter what happens, she’s still a teenager with nowhere to go.

  “Have a seat, Harper.” Max gestures to the empty chair beside me.

  Harper sits down and clasps her hands in her lap. The pale skin of her neck is covered with red splotches.

  “I’m not really sure where to start,” Max says as he passes her the paper.

  Harper takes it and scans for only a second before her shoulders sag in defeat and her bottom lip begins to tremble. I want nothing more than to pull this girl into my arms and protect her. But I have to protect my family first.

  Harper l
ifts her head to meet Max’s stare. “This belonged to my sister,” she admits, her voice shaky. She turns her face to me. “I assume you found it in that journal?”

  I narrow my eyes. “Actually, it was loose in the box, which is the only reason I even saw it. If it were tucked inside your journal, it would still be there. I don’t make a habit of snooping through people’s personal things.”

  Harper nods and holds the paper out to Max. “It’s not what you think.”

  “So you’re not stalking my brother,” Dylan chimes in sarcastically.

  Harper turns in her seat to face Dylan. “No. I’m not.” She returns her attention to Max. “I’ll tell you everything if you’re willing to listen.”

  Max motions for Jessica to take the chair behind his desk. Dylan moves to stand behind his mother.

  Harper turns her face to me once again. “That journal you found last night originally belonged to my mother. But after she died, my sister got a hold of it. I didn’t even know it existed until after she died and I was packing up her room. That paper”—she gestures to the paper now lying on Max’s desk—“also belonged to my sister.”

  “Who is your sister? And why does she have my son’s personal information?” Jessica asks with a frown.

  Harper sucks in a deep breath, then blows it out. “My sister was Jaden Price. Willow’s mother.”

  I gasp in shock and my eyes well up with tears. I certainly wasn’t expecting that.

  Max straightens to his full height and narrows his eyes at Harper as Jessica brings one hand up to cover her mouth and the other to her chest.

  Dylan exhales a curse under his breath. “Cole is gonna lose his shit.”

  “He’s not,” Max says, looking over his shoulder. “Because we’re not gonna tell him.”

  “Max—” Jessica begins, but he holds up his hand, cutting her off.

  “Is that why you’re here?” he asks. “So you can get close to my son?”