“I ask myself that every single day,” he said.
“Fine. I tell you my full name, and you leave me alone?”
“Yes.”
“Harper Mavis.” She turned on her heel, and walked away.
Grabbing his cell phone, Abel dialed a number, and pressed it against his ear. “You’re not to go near her.” He glanced at his brother, who was watching her nice round ass. “You hear me?” He snapped his fingers.
“I hear you.”
“Hi, I want the full details of a Harper Mavis. I expect it in two hours.” He hung up, and turned toward his brother. “She’s mine.”
“Tell me one thing, Abel,” Damian said as he made to turn away.
“What?”
“Is it as intense as they say?”
Abel knew what he was asking. Glancing toward Harper, he nodded. “The world falls away, and you know without a shadow a doubt that she will be yours for the rest of your life.”
****
The apartment Saturday morning was always interesting. Harper sat in her chair at the kitchen, and waited to see who would appear out of her friends’ rooms. Chewing on the cereal, she put some money on Betty. Out of her two friends, Betty was the early riser. Both had come back with men last night.
The earbuds had gone in, and she’d been listening to random styles of pop to fall asleep to. It was much nicer than the sex that was being played out in the other rooms. All three of them shared an apartment off-campus. Their first year in college, they each had a dorm, and all three of them had a roommate they couldn’t stand. So they put their money together, and made sure they were able to afford a separate apartment.
There was some distant groaning, and yes, she won her own ten dollars back as Betty exited her room, looking well and truly fucked. Behind her was a man from last night, only it wasn’t one of the guys they’d been dancing with. Damian, the guy she had been dancing with, came out behind Betty.
Now, that actually hurt.
The little game of watching awkwardness wasn’t fun any longer.
“Morning,” Betty said.
Harper averted her eyes and took another spoonful of cereal. She had never allowed herself to dance with anyone before, and Damian had seemed like a really nice guy, until his brother ruined everything. There had even been a brief spark of interest, only now there was no chance of that ever happening.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look up, and be her usual self. Betty would start asking questions, and she didn’t want that to happen. Her friends always saw too much.
“Morning, fun night?”
“Yeah, sorry. We ended up coming back home.”
“No problem. You live here, too.”
“Some guys don’t like taking girls back to their apartment.” Betty gave Damian a pointed look.
Harper stared down at her pajama shorts and small top. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and normally that didn’t bother her. Today, it did. Finishing her cereal, she made her escape, and was more than happy to do so.
Entering her room, she closed the door, leaning against it.
Why are you so upset?
You weren’t even going to go home with him.
He was fun.
He’s with your friend.