“You shouldn’t.” Oh my God, what am I doing? This is the perfect opportunity to get her away from Brandon, but if she was this upset over the possibility of his cheating, I knew I wouldn’t be able to be more than what I already was for her. She needed to get over Brandon on her own another way, then come to me; but not from something she thought was happening. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think you’re wrong, Harper.”
“Excuse me? I know what I saw, Chase!”
I pulled up outside her dorm and put the truck in park before turning to look at her, “I’m not saying that, but he wouldn’t do that to you. That’s not the kind of guy he is, but even if he were, he would have told one of us. We tend to brag about girls we’re with. And as much as I hate him for it, all he does is talk about you.”
“Do you realize how all over the place you are? A week ago, you were telling me not to go on a date with him, and now you’re defending him?”
Yeah, I realized it; and yeah, I was driving myself just as crazy as I was driving her. “I’m not doing it for his benefit, trust me. I don’t want you with him, that hasn’t changed; I just hate seeing you hurt like this.”
She looked at me curiously for a few moments before removing her hand and reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride, Chase.”
“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to stay with you?”
“I’ll be fine, I’m tougher than you think. Go to work; I’ll see you around.”
I watched her walk inside before putting my car in drive again; once I pulled into the shop’s parking lot, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Brandon.
“What?”
God, he sounded rough, “Just thought you’d like to know where Harper is.”
“What’d you do to her?”
Thank God I was already stopped or I would’ve slammed on my brakes. “What did I do to her? I’m not the one who had her crying!”
“I know that, Chase! I feel like shit enough as is; but you have her. Why do you have her?”
Had her. Had. And I pushed her away. Again. “Don’t blame me for being there to pick her up when you broke her heart. She’s in her dorm room, by the way; you’re welcome for getting her there safe.”
“Damn it”—I heard his keys through the phone and knew he must be getting ready to go over there—“Chase, I didn’t do anything, I swear—”
“I know.”
“You have no idea what Harper means to me.”
My stomach tightened, and I ground my teeth together as I pulled the phone away from my ear. When I was sure I wouldn’t snap at him, I brought it back, “I’m pretty sure I have an idea. I gotta get in to work. Talk to you later.”
“Thank you.”
The sincerity in those two words didn’t help the jealous knot in my stomach one bit. “Uh-huh, see ya.” I hung up, tossed my phone on the passenger seat, and rested my head against the steering wheel. What the hell is wrong with me?
“CHASE! WHERE WERE you this morning?”
I looked up from waxing my board to see all the guys from the house and one of Bree’s booty calls making their way toward me, “Stayed at my parents’ last night.”
Six boards dropped near me, and Derek snatched the wax from my hand before going over to his own board. “Thought we were going to be short you and Brandon. If it weren’t for Harper finally kicking him out of their bed, I don’t think he would have come with us.
Their bed? If she’s moving in, I’m kicking him out. Okay, maybe not, but still. I’d had more than enough time of bitching to Brian and my parents about what had happened last night to know I’d made the wrong move by helping them out. I ground my jaw and searched until I found another piece of wax to finish up.
“She that good that you can’t even leave the bed to go surfing?” Drew snickered, and Brandon and I both froze. “Bet that whole virgin thing was just a play; girls like that are freaks in—”
“Swear to God, you talk about my girl like that one more time, and you won’t be talking anymore, got it?”
I wanted to be happy Brandon was defending her rather than talking about her in a way I know Drew was searching for, but the fact that Brandon was defending her instead of me just made my already pissed-off mood explode. “That little body sure does feel good in my arms though.”
Brandon sat back on his heels and turned to look at me. “The hell did you just say?”
I smirked and went back to waxing my board. “Having her run back to me and fall into my arms last night was just what I needed. I’d missed being able to hold her.”
His hands fisted on his legs, and I tried to contain my smirk from going into a full-blown smile. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m tired of this bullshit with you, and I know you’re lying, so just give it up.”
“Chase,” Brad hissed, and when I looked back at him, he was shaking his head. “Stop.”
“You can think I’m lying all you want”—I glanced back over to a red-faced Brandon—“you know I’m the one that had her since I called to tell you where she was. Just think about all the time in between when I got her and when I called you. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and ask my princess what we were doing before I called you last night.”
I’d barely gotten the last word out before Brandon was knocking me over and holding me down in the sand with one hand against my throat, the other fisted in the air, “Let’s get this straight right now. You didn’t want her, I made sure of that before I pursued anything with her. Now she’s mine, and I don’t care that it’s been a week since I met her. I’m telling you I am never letting that girl go. Don’t talk about her, don’t go near her, and don’t push me because I swear, brother, I am five seconds from ripping into you even though I know you’re full of shit.”