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“Because then that thought isn’t just in your head; it’s in Chase’s head too, right?” he went on, voice hardening as he stepped up to his kitchen island and planted his palms firmly on it. “It doesn’t matter how secure I am in my marriage. I never want my wife to have someone trying to convince her she’s supposed to be with him. I never want my wife to be pulled into an enclosed room with another man so they can talk alone—especially about theirrelationship.”
“Brandon, I’m sorry,” I said, head shaking and my tongue darting out to wet my lips as I struggled with my shame. “I didn’t—I should’ve realized what this was doing to you, and I’m sorry that I didn’t take the time to stop and see.”
“You have enough going on without trying to look out for everyone else,” he said, shoulders slightly lifting. “But don’t think that I don’t hate this. For you. For me. I know what Harper would and wouldn’t do, but when someone comes in, trying to change that, it doesn’t make that fear any less real.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated in understanding, then pushed to my feet when the front door opened. Hurrying after Brandon when he went stalking in that direction and releasing a sound of frustration when Konrad wrapped an arm around my waist to stop me.
“If it’s just Harper, then we need to give them a minute,” he mumbled. “If it’s both of them...” He hesitated before releasing me, a look crossing his face as if to say Chase deserved whatever was coming to him. “Better not to be there when Brandon reacts.”
But before I had the chance to respond to Konrad or worry over how Brandon mightpossiblyreact to Chase if he were there, Harper’s mildly impatient sigh filtered into the kitchen seconds before she came walking in with Brandon directly behind her.
“I hung up because we were saying goodbye, and it wasn’t really a good time to answer,” she said, eyes rolling before she offered me a worried smile.
“Wasn’t a good time to answer your husband,” Brandon said dryly. “Who wouldn’t have known you were even going somewhere with Chase if it hadn’t been for Scarlet.”
A soft laugh left Harper as she turned on him, looking down at him even though he towered over her. “Chase told me that he’d texted Scarlet. Considering you were out surfing with her, I figured she would’ve let you know. I also figured I would’ve been home before you.” Her brow was lifted when she turned for the fridge and her tone fell into something uncomfortably sarcastic. “I can’t imagine why you cut surfing short today of all days.”
“You honestly think I’m just gonna—”
“I expect you to trust me.”
“I don’t trust him,” Brandon snapped, the sharp claim reverberating in the kitchen and filling the open space with a pressure that each of us seemed to feel.
Konrad muttered a curse just before I staggered back to fall into the same chair I’d been occupying, and Harper’s expression when she faced Brandon again was all shock and disappointment, twisted up with that same worry when she glanced my way.
“Fuck, I didn’t mean that,” Brandon said, voice soft but still rough. “You know he’s like my family; you all do.” He met each of our gazes, holding mine for a little longer before focusing on Harper again. “But this Chase who doesn’t fully trustus? Who can’t even trust his own mind? It’s hard to trustthat guy.”
“I understand,” I whispered when no one else responded, head bobbing subtly. “He’s Chase, but he isn’t. You trust him, but you don’t know how. Everything about him is the same and so completely different. He’s unpredictable.”
“Right,” Brandon murmured before dragging a hand over his head.
“He doesn’t think he’s in love with me,” Harper said after nearly a minute of uneasy silence. “At least, I don’t think he does. He never once mentioned anything like that.”
“Then why did he want to see you?” Brandon asked when she went back to looking through the fridge.
“Well...” A huff left her as she turned back around, waving a leftover slice of pizza at us. “I’m not actually sure it was me he wanted to see. But he called and said he needed to see me. Asked if I could meet him, and said he was already headed to the coffee shop. When I started hesitating, he said it was important.”
“So, you just went,” Brandon said, still clearly not okay with the entire thing. I wasn’t exactly thrilled either.
“Yeah,” Harper said with a shrug. “It was the way he sounded. Like he was breaking. There was this strain in his voice that I’ve never heard from him before. And like you said, he’s family. But when I got there, he wasn’t alone. He was sitting at one of the tables with, um...”—she waved the slice around again—“I always forget her name. Long, dark hair. Tons of tattoos. Super pretty.”
“Fantastic,” I breathed as she continued.
“I’m not sure if she owns the coffee shop or just works there.”
“Erin?” I asked, her name snapping from me as I straightened in the chair.
“Yes,” Harper said as she took a large bite of the cold pizza.
“Chase was withher?” I asked, tone disbelieving and a little apprehensive as the encounter from the afternoon before burst through my mind.
Harper hummed in acknowledgment, head bobbing as she leaned against the counter. Looking like she was getting ready to launch into the story. “At first, I thought maybe she was just checking in, trying to see how he was doing after everything. But as soon as I sat down, he pointed at Erin and asked me, ‘Do you know her?’”
“Oh no,” I said under my breath, worried about what she would reveal next.
“I told him that we all go to that shop all the time, so I see her often enough,” she went on. “But that I didn’t know Erin outside the shop or anything like that, and he just kind of grunted. Like he wasn’t sure if he was happy with my answer or not, and then he asked Erin if he’d done any of her tattoos.”
“Has he?” I asked when she took another large bite.
