Trying to block out the flashbacks, I down half my drink.
“There was this soldier, Jacob Marlow. He should never have enlisted. He was just a twenty-year-old kid trying to impress his hard-ass father. I saw that a lot. One afternoon, we were ambushed…”
I shake my head and my heart thumps harder.
“Bullets were flying everywhere. Jacob could barely hold a gun, let alone fire one. I spotted a sniper on a building opposite. At that age, I didn’t care if I lived or died, so I pushed him out the way and took a bullet.”
“Your chest?” she whispers, her blue eyes glistening. “That scar I saw the night of the party. Was that…?”
“Yup. Three inches lower, I would have never made it home. I took medical leave, but the slimy fuckers wouldn’t let me back into the army. Said I failed my psychological evaluation.”
“I can see their point,” she says, throwing a hand to her mouth. “Shit. Sorry. I shouldn’t make jokes.”
I snicker. “You get that from your mother. It’s fine. Anyway, I never asked for help, started drinking, you know how it goes. Then one morning a year later, I got a knock at my door. I was four months behind on rent, so I just assumed it was mylandlord. It was Jacob Marlow, the guy I took a bullet for. He had some crazy tech business idea, and he needed a hundred grand to get things off the ground.”
Harper’s eyes are burning into me, so I look away. I’ve never told anyone this stuff before, but I can’t seem to stop.
“You ever heard of the Kingston Boys?” I ask.
“No. Who are they?”
“Not nice people,” I say. “They ruined this fucking city. Getting kids hooked on crystal meth then making them steal to pay for their fix.”
Thinking back to the moment I kicked their meth lab doors in, I clench my fist. Six on one wasn’t exactly great odds for me, but they never stood a chance. I had years of pent-up rage and they ate it all.
“The best thing I’ve ever done in my life was chasing those scumbags out of town. And they left everything behind, including half a million dollars in cold, hard cash.”
“Oh my God!” she gasps. “What did you do with the money?”
I gave four hundred thousand dollars to a charity who looks after traumatized soldiers.
I shrug. “Gave a hundred thousand to Jacob for his start-up. Can’t remember what happened to the rest. Probably drank it.”
Downing the rest of my drink, I lower the glass to the floor.
“Jacob left town again, and I started working as a bouncer in the local nightclubs. That’s how I met your dad. But I never realized Jacob had signed over fifty percent of his tech company to me. I only found out when he sold it fifteen months later for just over six billion dollars.”
Harper’s eyes look like saucers when I turn to her.
“Half of it was mine. Jacob moved to Europe. I went into business with your father opening nightclubs. And that, as they say, is that.” I point at the TV. “Movie’s starting.”
“One more question,” she says.
“Okay. Make it quick. Then I want two hours and one minute of peaceful silence.”
Harper flicks out her tongue. “What was the tech business? I mean, have I heard of it?”
“Oh yeah,” I tease, smirking. “Everyone has.”
“Oh my God. Is it famous?”
I grimace. “I’d love to tell you, but you’re out of questions. Sorry.”
“Meanie!” Harper twists her butt on the sofa and slams her head into my lap. Getting comfortable, she kicks her legs and rolls her cheek into the cushion. “Is that your gun?”
I try not to look, but I can’t help myself.
Her red sundress has ridden up her thighs.
Great. She’s wearing matching panties.
“Just watch the movie,” I tell her, resting one hand on her bare shoulder.
This is going to be the longest two hours of my life…
SEVENTEEN
Harper
Ninety minutes later, I’m still lying on Chris, and I reach between his legs and stuff my hand into the empty popcorn bucket.
Damn it.
I dry my eyes and grab my phone to see three new messages from Maria. Lowering it under the cushion so he can’t see, I click them open:
How’s it going?
Hey! Maria to base command. How is Operation Seduction going? Has the silver fox fertilized you yet??? Over.
Right. Enjoy your billionaire bondage grandpa. I’m hunting for a new best friend. Love you.
“Something funny?” Chris asks, so I lock my screen.
“No,” I say, sitting up tall.
Oh my God. I pause my achy stretch when I notice my dress is so high up my legs, my underwear is almost showing. “I don’t watch this bit.”
He laughs. “What?”
“Yeah.” I stand up and shuffle my dress down my thighs. “Maria told me what happens, so I skip it. Never seen it.” I look at him for the first time in ninety minutes. “How are you not crying? This is like the saddest movie ever!”
Chris frowns. “Because it’s not
Rocky. And it’s notreal either. It’s also ridiculous. Why would she give up the perfect husband for someone likehim?”
“Because it’s true love!” I tell him. “The kind that makes everything else in life insignificant. Noah might be hotheaded and crazy at times, but he loves Allie unconditionally and he’s proven it, time and time again. That means more than money and words ever could.”
“Anything else?” He asks.
“Yes,” I say. “True love is real and it’s about growing together, supporting each other and always being there, despite what anyone else thinks. That kind of ‘love’ is a verb. It’s about doing, not saying.”
“Okay,” he says.
He’s looking at me differently than I’ve seen before.
Not so much of a kid now, huh?
“Good. Now you think about that while I go pee. And if your eyes aren’t at least moist by the time I come back then you’re not human.”
He lifts a hand to his head in mock salute. “Yes, Boss.”
Leaving him alone in the lounge, I jog to the downstairs bathroom. Inside, I sit on the toilet and dial Maria’s number.
“Hey!” she shouts. “Are you pregnant? Thought of any cool baby names yet? I like Axel.”
“Keep your voice down,” I whisper. “I’m peeing.”
“TMI, Harps. How’s it going with the sexy sugar daddy?”
“Nice,” I say, instantly regretting it.
Maria gasps. “Nice? Well, that sounds boring! I thought you’d be tied to a bondage table by now.”
“We’re still watching
The Notebook.”
“Okay. Is it softening the iceberg in his chest yet?”
I sigh. “Nope. He said it’s ridiculous.”
“Guy thing. They’re all the same. None of my exes understood the romantic epicness of that movie. Doesn’t matter, though.”
“What?” I hiss. “Operation Seduction, remember? We chose
The Notebook to melt his heart.”
My best friend giggles. “I forgot you don’t have a devil mind like me. Too innocent. Hang on.”
I hear her chomping on food. I swear this girl can’t go more than an hour without eating.
“Right,” she continues, “we didn’t choose
The Notebook to melt his heart directly. His macho immune system won’t allow it. We’re melting him by proxy.”
“What in God’s name are you talking about?”
“You!” she shouts. “It’syou the movie affects because you don’t have a frozen boy-heart. And it’syour tears that will cripple him. Girl tears are total kryptonite to guys. They don’t know what to do, so they revert to the only thing they know.”
I rub my forehead. “Which is?”
“Fixing stuff,” she says. “Men fix stuff. They don’t see tears as a way to let out pent-up emotion like we do. They see sadness as a problem that needs fixing. And it makes them uncomfortable, so they want rid us of it as fast as possible. He’ll be all like, ‘Don’t cry, Harper.’ Then he’ll wipe away your tears and cuddle you, and that’s when he’s at his weakest. Lucky bitch.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.