Page 73 of If You Were Mine
Me: Tell them all you want. You’re the one who will end up hurt more than me.
I ran my hands over my face, then tossed my phone onto the bed.
Why had I even replied back to her? Just feeding into my mother’s narcissistic personality would be the end of it.
“Are you okay?” Harper asked as she walked out of the bedroom, squeezing the water out of her hair with a towel. I swallowed hard and just stared at her.
I loved watching her move, watching her walk. And frankly, at this point, I loved watching her breathe because a week ago she had scared the shit out of me.
She’d stayed overnight for observation, and we came back to her apartment. Lucky lay on the small armchair in the corner, watching her every move as well. He had been just as scared as I had been after we’d come home, and he’d watched Harper like the guard dog he was.
Since I was close enough to him, I reached out and ran my fingers through his fur. He bumped my hand for deeper pets, and I just smiled.
“I’m fine. Just glaring at my phone.”
Her gaze went to the middle of the bed where the phone lay, and she turned back to me. “Your siblings or your mother?” she asked, and I held back a snort.
“I suppose it could be anyone at this point,” I said drily.
“While I know why you’re avoiding all of them, there’s really only one that I wish you would avoid for the rest of time.”
I moved forward then and slid my hands through her wet hair. Lucky let out a whimper, and I knew he was jealous I was now petting my girlfriend, but he would get over it.
“I don’t plan on texting my mother back again. But yes, that was her.”
Harper grimaced. “What did she say this time?”
“The usual bullshit. How I owe her.” I paused. “And how she’s going to tell my siblings the truth.”
I hadn’t known if I wanted to even say that out loud. Because there were probably only three people in this world who knew the truth. Maybe more if I thought about lawyers and other people good at keeping secrets, but in reality, it was just the three. And two of them were in this room.
“She wouldn’t. She can’t be that stupid.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Oh. She would be. To get me to do what she wants? She’ll act the idiot.”
“How is her ruining her own reputation—albeit whatever it is—going to help? All it does is hurt the both of you. Not that I think your family is really going to react in a way that will harm you.”
“I don’t know how they’re going to react.”
My phone buzzed again, and Harper pushed past me to pick it up.
“If it’s my mother, just throw the phone out the window. I’ll get a new one.”
“It’s Aston. I didn’t read the text though. I’m not that into your privacy.”
“I don’t have any more secrets from you, Wellesley.” And wasn’t that a strange thought. Somehow Harper Wellesley had become the center of my universe. The person I shared everything with. It should scare me. It should terrify me, and while a part of me agreed and went down that path, the other part not so much. It felt as if that was what was right. What was needed.
Maybe I was just losing my damn mind.
“What did Aston say?” I asked.
Harper gave me a look and then plugged in my passcode, because of course she knew it now, to see.
“He says to call him back and stop hiding. Because they’re wondering why you keep acting so grumpy since you’re finally with a woman that can make you happy.”
Her cheeks pinked and she looked up at me.
“Maybe I should read all of your texts if they’re going to be that helpful.”
