Page 130 of My Favorite Secret
THREE MONTHS LATER
Late afternoon, I pull up outside the beach house, desperate to see Harper.
Westbridge released me this morning. I took a six-hour flight back to New York, where my father picked me up at the airport and drove me to our apartment, regardless that I asked to be taken to Harper’s place. He said he wanted to speak with me about something important before I see Harper, but that I should rest up first after the long flight. I didn’t fight him on the matter. From there out, we engaged in civil conversation for the first time in years.
Westbridge was a total fucking waste of my time. A nightmare that will haunt me for years to come. I dare say the place was run better than any prison. The isolation. The strict routines. The social hierarchy of students. The fights that broke out.
I stuck to myself. The only thing that kept me sane was Harper. She was in my head every second of every day. At night, I would close my eyes and imagine her with me—herbreath on my skin and her body curled into mine. She was my lifeline. The only thing that mattered.
The one useful thing Ididlearn from Westbridge was what my roommate told me the first night we met.
Bide your time till you get out of here. Do what they say. Act the way they want you to. Make them think they’re transforming you into a good citizen.
This is all a game and I’ve learned how to play. The reports sent home to my father from Westbridge were immaculate. He thinks he’s some genius for sending me there. That I’ve finally been straightened out.
It’s only when I arrived home, planning to sneak off to Harper’s place, that Killian told me Tyler is spending a few days at the beach house with Harper. I didn’t bother with food or sleep. Whatever my father’s important discussion is about can wait. I quickly freshened up, changed clothes, then got in the car and drove, counting down the seconds to this very moment.
I kill the engine before the Jeep stops, shove the door open, and take the front steps two at a time, calling out Harper’s name. I need to see her, touch her, and feel her lips against mine.
I’m met with silence as I run through the house, shouting both Harper and Tyler’s names. This place is so big, they could be anywhere. Perhaps even out in the grounds or at the beach.
As I continue searching, excitement fills me, thinking about the reunion the three of us will have. Harper’s performance ofSwan Lakewill have passed and I’m dying to hear how it went. I know she would have been magnificent on stage. Without a doubt, she’ll have secured a position in a good company.
As for Tyler, he’ll have recently graduated school. We’ll be on our way to making our speakeasy become a reality.
Then there’s the sex. I can’t wait to get Harper naked. I can’t wait to share her at the same time with Tyler, all so I can see the euphoric bliss that will consume her.
After a good ten minutes when I’ve scaled the place and come up empty handed, I step out to the back porch. My heart beats faster when I see Harper in the distance, walking through the gardens like something out of a dream. She’s wearing a blue sun dress and her red hair flies in the wind, catching the sunlight. I can’t get the smile off my face. She’s so beautiful. More beautiful than I remember.
Keeping quiet, I jog up behind her as she approaches the pool house. She’s unsuspecting, just the way I want her. I’ve been dreaming of this moment when the two of us finally reunite. Of the smile she’ll have once she sees me. We won’t leave our bed for days.
I get closer to Harper. Closer. Until she’s in arms reach and I grab her from behind, spinning her to me and pressing her to the pool house with my lips. I kiss her hard and hold her close to me. So fucking close. I’m never letting go of her again.Nothinghas ever felt this good. For the first time in months it feels like I can breathe.
“Surprise,” I whisper, only getting the one word out before I’m kissing her again. I grab her thighs, sliding my hands beneath her dress and grasping her ass.
“Felix?” she murmurs with shock. Her voice is weak, like she’s about to cry. She’s trembling. Harper looks up at me, searching my face as if she doesn’t believe I’m really here. A tiny smile flickers on her lips.
I kiss her again. I don’t stop kissing her. She clings to me, her body melting into mine. Tears escape the corners ofher eyes. I wipe them away with my thumbs. “Please don’t cry. Everything will be all right, I promise. We’re together now. That’s all that matters. I love you,” I say the three words that have always been so difficult for me to speak. Now, they’re the easiest thing to confess. “I love you so fucking much.”
Harper stiffens and pushes space between us. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You can’t waltz back into my life and act like nothing happened. You broke my heart. How could you leave without saying goodbye?”
I rest my hand on the wall above Harper’s head and stroke her hair, desperate to soothe her. “I didn’t have a choice. The police were here. They took me away to Westbridge instantly.”
She blinks with confusion. “Westbridge? What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t Tyler explain everything? Didn’t you read the letters I wrote you?”
“Your dad told me you two had a fight over money and you ran off.”
I freeze, realizing something is seriously wrong. She’s been fed lies by my father. My fists clench as I try to control the anger creeping up in me. “There was no fight over money. I wouldneverrun off on you. Didn’t Tyler explain Paul’s death?”
“The hit and run? What does that have to do with anything?”
Shit. My brother lied too. I can’t figure out why.
I take Harper’s hand in mine, weaving our fingers. “Paul died in hospital because of me. Because I beat him when he attacked you. My father paid off some cops to stay quiet and fabricate a lie about Paul’s death. Dad came here the night of the party, giving me an ultimatum. Either hehanded me over to the cops to teach me a lesson, or he sent me to a behavioral correctional institute.That’swhy I had to leave. He wouldn’t give me time to say goodbye. Harper, I’ve been trapped across the country at an institute for almost five months. There was no form of communication with the outside world. I had to smuggle letters to you. You never received a single one of them?”
Tears trickle down her face. Her chest rises with rapid breaths, each one faster until she’s almost hyperventilating. She grips her stomach like she’s about to be sick. “No. No. No. No. This can’t be happening. No one told me any of this.”
