Chapter 20Orion
I woke the next morning to watery gold light streaming throughHarper’s window. The storm had abated, the rain had stopped. She slept peacefully, wrapped in my arms, and thank God for that.
Jesus, last night…
While the minutes had ticked by at the country club, I’d started to think she was going to stand me up. That she got cold feet about exposing herself to the vipers. Not that I’d blame her. But Harper was brave and fierce, and my gut told me it was something worse. Even so, the last thing I expected to find was her sobbing and bleeding, abandoned and broken.
The heavy scene had whacked me in the chest. That kind of pure, raw emotion—like a storm raging inside the house just as fiercely as the one without—was shocking. Not something I’d ever witnessed, certainly not in my house. My heart ached to see her so wrecked, and I had to fix it immediately. Put it all back together. Putherback together. To make right what had gone horribly wrong so that everything was okay again.
Now, I smiled with relief. The storm was over. The choppy seashad grown calm again.
From somewhere on the floor, Harper’s phone rang. She blinked sleepily, smiled to see me, then frowned as last night came rushing back.
“God, it all really happened, didn’t it?”
“Yes, love,” I said, brushing a dark curl from her pale cheek.
She sighed and bent to grab her phone.
“Emery? It’s early.” She listened, brows furrowed, then nodded. “Of course I will. Tucker, that asshole. Jesus, Em, I’m sorry I missed your call last night.” Harper shot me a loaded glance. “Are you okay?” More listening, and then she smirked. “Thank God, and yes, I canhearyou smile. Tell Xander I said hi, I told you so, and that I’m proud of him for finally getting his head out of his ass.”
She ended the call and tossed her phone aside. “After the election party, Tucker drove Emery out into my neck of the woods and abandoned her when she refused to have sex with him.”
“Bloody arsehole,” I muttered. “Jesus, I might’ve driven right past her to get to you.”
“It’s all right. Xander came to her rescue, and they’re together now. As they should be.”
“That’s my boy.”
I kissed Harper’s shoulder and pulled her back to me, spooning her, reclaiming her from Emery’s crisis. Her eyes were a bit puffy from crying, and her lips were swollen too, from my kisses. I could kiss Harper for hours; she tasted like cherries, her mouth soft but biting too. Everything about her was a contrasting sensation that drove me mad with want. How she was beautifully soft and warm, but strong and fierce too. Warm-hearted but keenly intelligent. Kind but sharp-tongued and witty.
And all of those traits had stirred me to heights of desire so that when she was naked beneath me, I’d felt something I’d never felt before with a girl. Something more than just bodily lust. An attraction to every part of her that had made every kiss, every touch, heightenedto a level I’d never experienced before.
And nerve-racking. I’d been handed something precious and fragile and entrusted not to drop it.
“You stayed.” Harper rolled over to face me and brushed her fingers over my cheek. “What about your curfew?”
“Atlas Hall blokes watch out for each other. We have a system if we need to get around the curfew. It’s how my vampiric roommate comes and goes as he pleases. Think nothing of it.”
She smiled faintly. “Wait, what time is it? What about school?”
“I was thinking of taking the day off,” I said. “You should too. And the little man. Let’s go to Newport. Have some fun. I think you both need it.”
“I can’t,” she said. “Dash needs to sleep, so I’ll take the day off, but only to study and get caught up. I have too much work to do. We have that paper due for history on Friday. I have a quiz in Calculus, a poem to write for English, and the Vivaldi that Wolfe assigned that I haven’t even looked at.” She frowned at me. “Don’t you have a lot too?”
“Well, yes, but…I figured after last night you’d want a breather. Let’s do something fun and forget all about last night.”
Her frown deepened. “I can’tforget. My roof is about to fall in. And I can’t take a breather, either. Especially not now.” Harper sat up, pulled on her sweatshirt, and rubbed her eyes. “God, so much work to do, and my mother fucking left. She knows about the NoSci and how much academic pressure I’m under. It’s why we came here. And she doesn’t care. She doesn’tthink.”
I struggled for something to say that would comfort her that wasn’t a joke or jest, but jokes and jesting were all I had.
“And the fucking roof.” Harper scrubbed her hands through her hair. “I knew it. I knew when she bought this place and didn’t do a damn inspection, there’d be a problem. And of course, I was right. She’s like a child while I have to be the adult. Again.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought them back.
“No, I’m not going to break again. Not for her.” Anger colored herwords and colored her cheeks. “I have too much shit to handle. Too much of her mess to clean up.”
“I’ll handle the roof,” I said, grateful to have something todothat would help. “It’s too much for you and…”
