Page 93 of To Bring You Back
He’d spent twenty minutes searching the cabin after his latest fight with Adeline so he could tell Harper to leave. She’d disappeared again. Somewhere in the cabin this time because security said she hadn’t left. To avoid him, she must’ve been purposely hiding.
When Gannon last looked back at the cabin, Matt, John, and Tim had been on the patio, lounging near the grill as dinner cooked. The sharp footfalls approaching wouldn’t be one of them, nor would it be Tegan or Adeline, who never wore heels tall enough to make this racket. He braced his hands on the wall and refused to turn.
Harper had called way too many of the shots as it was.
“You look so lonely out here.” Harper leaned against the stone an inch from his left hand, her back to the lake.
He didn’t turn his head. “I want you to leave.”
“Is this about Adeline? All I did was talk to her, and not even about you.”
“If you want to know about God, I’ll set up an appointment for you with a local pastor, but you can’t force me into letting you stay by winning Adeline’s sympathy.”
“That’s not what I was doing.”
“So you want that appointment with the pastor?”
“No, I found out I don’t need as much help as I thought I did.” Her chipper tone grated on him.
“You need to leave. Now.”
She chuckled. “Go ahead. Play that game. I’m onto you.” She laid her hand over his.
He pulled away, crossing his arms. Maybe his glare would tell her what his refusal to look at her hadn’t—he wasn’t playing any games.
Her mouth twitched with a smile. “You’re in love.”
Was that what these mangled emotions were? Frustration, desperation, concern, protectiveness. A longing to see Adeline happy. “Then you know why you need to go.”
“Why can’t we be open about it? She’ll get over it.” Harper flicked her fingers through her hair. “She can’t honestly think she can steal you from me.”
Adeline?
Harper adjusted her top, then folded her hands and stilled as if he were a photographer and she was now ready for her photoshoot.
“You think I’m in love withyou?” He let disdain coat his voice. How else could he get through to her?
“You wrote a song about me.”
“You’re delusional.”
She waved dismissively. “You’re so cute. I was in your room. I found your notebook.”
He rubbed his hand over his heart. In his search, he hadn’t thought to look for her in his own room. “You have no right to be here at all, Harper, let alone to trespass in my room.”
Her shoulders lowered. “But the song—”
“Whatever you saw was about Adeline. The entire notebook, all of it is for her, songs dating back to before anyone outside your little hometown knew your name, let alone before I heard it. Understand? What you’re up against here isn’t something you can flirt into submission. For the hundredth time, you and I have. No. Future.”
“So that’s it? You never loved me? Never even cared about me?”
“How many times do I have to tell you?”
Though the glasses hid her eyes, her seething glare was obvious in the lines that formed around her mouth. “I hate you. I really hate you.”
He bit back the reply that the feeling was mutual. He stepped from the overlook to the yard. “I want you gone. Tonight.”
“What about everything that’s happened to me?” She flew up next to him, sank her nails into his arm. “What if he catches up to me again when I leave?”
