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Chapter Twenty-Five
Harper
“Were you going to tell me?” I ask without moving a step toward him.
“Can we talk about this in private?” he asks quietly, his chocolate brown eyes pleading with me to go somewhere to discuss this.
“In private? Why? You don’t want everyone to know what you’ve done, Satan?” I spit out as if the words have a vile taste.
“What I’ve done? I haven’t done anything but win a bid on the building I was trying to purchase,” he tells me calmly, even though I can tell he’s anything but.
“Really? You stole it from me!”
He takes a step closer to me, but I immediately take a step back and out of his reach. “I didn’t steal it, Sweetheart.”
“How long have you known that I was the other bidder?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbles beneath his few-day-old stubble. I can tell right away I’m not going to like what’s about to come out of his mouth. “Since I installed your new laptop and heard you and Free talking about it.” The admission is painful to hear.
“And you didn’t think to say something to me?” Before he can open his mouth, I continue. “You knew I was the other bidder, but you never said anything. You used me.”
He stares at me, his face hardening and his jaw ticking. “Harper –”
And then I feel my face pale as realization sets in. “Oh my God, is that why you slept with me?” I take another step back, not wanting to get too close.
He takes two steps forward until he’s standing directly in front of me. My eyes burn with threatening tears, but I will them away. No way am I going to let him see my cry. He stands there and watches me. Latham looks like he’s about to say something, but I stop him. “No. Do not speak to me!”
The ugly truth finally sets in.
He’s worse than Joey, worse than the jerk in high school who only wanted to sleep with me at prom. I told him about Keith. I shared my horrid past that I spent years trying to forget. I shared because I trusted him.
Because I was falling in love with him.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as I look at the man I thought I knew, but didn’t know at all. I had suspected he was the one bidding against me, but didn’t know for certain. But now? How will I ever trust him again? The entire timeline isn’t in his favor. It’s damaging, in fact. He shows up, wines and dines me, and then sleeps with me? I guess you really do keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
He watches me, his eyes like steel and his body tense. And my body? It cries for his. I yearn for him to tell me it’s not true, that it wasn’t all a lie.
“Harper, please –” And my heart breaks wide open.
I glance to my right and realize the entire party is standing there, watching. I hold up my hand to stop him. “Well, congratulations. You don’t have to pretend to like me, sleep with me anymore, just to get a leg up on the deal.” I swallow hard, sucking down all of the painful emotions that have bolted to the surface. “You win.” The words are barely audible as I take a step away and turn.
Before I make it more than two steps, I glance over my shoulder. “Goodbye, Latham.”
* * *
“…and I really think you should just come back to my place tonight,” my best friend drones on and on from the driver’s seat. I’m ignoring her, of course, but not because I don’t care about what she’s saying. I’m ignoring her because my drunk mind can’t seem to stop spinning enough to wrap around her words.
“I just wanna go home,” I tell her quietly, my hot cheek pressed firmly against the cool glass of the passenger door.
I have no idea what happened with Latham after I went inside the bed and breakfast. Part of me really hopes all of the men in my family took turns using his kidneys as a punching bag – especially Rhenn. He’s a black belt in ass-kicking, and I really hope he got in a few good shots, defending my honor. But the other part of me hopes no one kidney punched him because I’d never wish any amount of pain on him.
Stupid heart.
Why must it care about the Devil?
Free keeps talking the entire ride back to my place, and I continue to ignore her. The shots of tequila have done a number on my head, but it has failed to do the one thing I set out to achieve: numbing my heart. It still beats wildly in my chest, crying out in both love and pain. And that’s exactly what love is. Pain.
We pull into my driveway, her car fitting easily without mine taking up space. I almost fall out of the door when I open it, but fortunately, the still-fastened seat belt keeps me from eating gravel. It suddenly releases, and I sway forward, the ground getting closer and closer. My best friend grabs my arm, saving me from a gravel makeover, and eventually comes over and helps me out of the car.
