Page 14 of My Revenant
Harper’s family sounded like a bunch of pricks. A different flavor of shitty than mine, but shitty all the same. They’d tried to put him in a box they created for him. They didn’t like that he didn’t fit. His dad didn’t like that he was gay and tried to set him up with a woman, so he’d told him to fuck off and left to live with his boyfriend. It sounded like that was a big deal. With his family allegedly being in the spotlight as much as they were, it meant he had reporters following him everywhere.
He got quiet after that, and he hadn’t explained why he was here alone.
“So… you know I’m going to ask. Who did you piss off to get that beauty?” I gestured to his bruised eye.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Someone else I’m supposed to have heard of?”
“Maybe. Ever hear of Benny Forrester?”
“Oh, shit.” Alright, so I actually had heard that name before. “As in MMA champion Benny Forrester? Wait, you got hit by an MMA fighter?”
“FormerMMA fighter. His shoulder’s all fucked from a fight last year. Now he just runs a gym.”
“Okay. I’m starting to see what might have pissed him off, but proceed.”
“Yeah, well, he’s my boyfriend.”
Oh.Oh. So he’d left his family for his boyfriend, and his boyfriend had given him that bruise. I was starting to get the unpleasant picture. What a piece of shit.
“So you’re on the run.”
“So I’m on the run.”
“Me too.” I wasn’t sure what made me confess it, but I regretted it immediately.
“Yeah? What are you running from?” he asked, leaning in closer, attention obviously piqued.
My scalp prickled with unease, but I feigned nonchalance. “Mmn, I’m the doctor here, remember? I’ll ask the questions.”
Harper rolled his eyes. “Alright, then. Keep your secrets.”
seven
Jonah - Present
LOYAL TO A GHOST.
Once the bar had closed, Harper waited for me to clean up. Marty hadn’t given him more than a glance when he’d shown up to take care of the money, so I assumed it was fine for him to be here until I was done.
It was weird walking anywhere with company. I was extra jumpy in the short time it took to get back to the hotel, and I concentrated on concealing my limp from Harper as much as possible.
If he noticed it, he didn’t mention it. He also, thankfully, hadn’t asked many more questions about me either. Maybe it was obvious they made me uncomfortable.
Harper had been standoffish at first, but now he’d decided to open up to me, he wouldn’t shut up. He told me about the city, about his friends, about Benny Forrester and how hesowasn’t like what people would expect. I wasn’t sure about that. A big man with violence issues as an MMA fighter kind of made perfect sense to me.
It was nice, though, just listening to him talk. Reminded me of when Becca would just talk at me. It filled the silence, and sometimes I really hated the fucking silence.
By the time we stopped out the front of my room, he was still talking. I reached into my pocket for my key card and turned to say goodnight only to find him stepping closer to me. Harper was so much shorter than me, but as he closed the distancebetween us, I shrank in on myself. Pale blue eyes flicked from mine to my lips, and I swallowed heavily.
What was this?
Harper was pretty—he wasreallyfucking pretty—and the rest of his body was probably just as beautiful. But now that we were here and he was looking at me like that, my gut twisted in discomfort, telling me I should not be taking this any further.
The first real chance I had at getting laid in a year and my conscience decided it wanted to stay loyal to a ghost. “Well… I think… we should probably go to bed, right? In our own rooms?”
His confusion was clear as he took a step back. “What? I thought… Have we not been flirting all night?”
