Page 96 of Emergency Exit
“Do you mind?” demanded Cooper. “We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
“Cooper! We are not in a conversation. We are not in anything! We broke up!”
“You misunderstood,” said Cooper. “I talked to Hailey. You had a Harper Moment and misunderstood.”
Harper flailed her arms and made a noise of inarticulate rage. “I did not misunderstand! You are just a douchebag who thinks I should apologize every time you do something stupid!”
“I don’t care about this,” said Emma. “I want you to get in the car.”
“Of course you don’t care!” yelled Harper. “You only care about yourself.”
“If you think you’re going to do better with that jerk with the man bun,” said Cooper, “then you really are retarded.”
“Aggggh!” Harper dropped her bag, hauled back, and punched Cooper in the face. He reeled back, the wind catching his umbrella, yanking it free from his hand and sending it tumbling down the street. Cooper stumbled, slipped, and then crashed to the sidewalk on his back, legs flailing like an upturned turtle.
“Holy shit, Harper!”
Harper turned to see Piper come out of the building with the usual crowd heading for Doyle’s behind her.
“Piper, I punched Cooper! I’m freaking out!”
“Don’t panic. It’s all Gucci.”
“Yeah, it was totally Versace,” said Emma sarcastically.
“I don’t think that’s a thing,” said Harper, distracted by Emma’s misuse of slang.
“Come on.” Emma grabbed Harper by the arm, pulling her toward the Mercedes.
“Hey, wait a minute,” said Piper. “That’s the car! Harper, that’s the car that tried to run you over.”
“I did not,” snapped Emma. “I wasn’t even close.”
“Wait, what?” Harper felt like events were happening too quickly.
“Just get in the car!” Emma yelled.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Emma reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pistol. “Yes, you are.”
Harper gaped at Emma in disbelief, unable to put her thoughts together with any sort of action. Emma grabbed herarm again, shoved her into the backseat, and slammed the door. Moments later, she was in the front seat, and Stephanie was pulling away from the curb.
30
Ash
Reasonable Demands
Ash’s phone rang, and he glanced at it, half-expecting it to be Rowan with more Mom news, but it was Mason. Ash grimaced. He didn’t want to talk to Mason. He was about to swipe down when a text from Harper popped through.
This is Piper on Harper’s phone. Harper’s been…
The preview cut off, and Ash fumbled for the phone, trying to get the text to open. Instead, he managed to answer Mason’s call.
“Shit! Mason, I’m going to have to call you back. I think there’s an emergency with Harper.”
“Harper’s fine,” said Mason, calmly.
