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A soft voice called out, “It’s Harper.”
I turned in my desk chair as soon as I heard her voice. “Come in,” I called back.
Harper stepped into the room, cleaned up from our earlier encounter. Her hair was damp and pulled back into a bun. She was back in her more usual attire—an adorable brown and pink plaid knee-length skirt, a pink sweater, and tights. Her glasses perched on her nose.
There was the sexy librarian look again; the look that had driven me wild.
She stared down at me, her arms crossed in front of her. Then her eyes flicked to my laptop screen, and she frowned.
“Are those the photos the media released of your dad?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why are you looking at those?” Her eyes fell to the floor. “I mean, it was years ago, I would think it would be easier to just move on.”
“I’m always trying to find out if there’s anything new, Harper. I can’t just let this drop.”
“Oh,” she said softly, without looking me in the eye.
“Are you okay?”
She cleared her throat and stood tall again, meeting my gaze. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just think we need to talk about what happened.”
This sexier, more confident Harper was a sight to behold.
“What’s there to talk about? If you don’t want it to happen again…” I noticed her cheeks flushing, which told me she absolutely wouldn’t mind it happening again, but I knew when to not push things. “We don’t ever have to do it again, nor do we have to acknowledge it happened, if that’s your wish.”
“No, I mean… what are we going to tell Kat?”
“Kat? Like I told you before, I don’t tell her about my dating and sex life, and I don’t expect her to tell me about hers. I would really rather not know,” I said with a shrug.
“I disagree. I’m her best friend, Jackson. She deserves to know the truth about what happened between us.” Harper took a seat on the bed, but only for a split second as if she was afraid we both might end up there again if she got too comfortable.
I stood up and offered Harper my seat, which she took. I pulled over one of the armchairs from the sitting area so I could be closer to her as I thought out my response. After a couple minutes, I replied, “I mean, I find that weird, but if you feel more comfortable telling her, you have my permission. Just be prepared for it to cause some drama.”
“See, that’s the last thing I want to do to your family, Jackson. I figure telling her is better than her finding out on her own some other way.” Her eyes flicked to my laptop screen again before she continued. “After all, the truth always comes out, doesn’t it?”
“If you’re referencing what happened with my dad, the truth has not come out yet,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, the media lied about it all. Or someone else did, and I’m determined to prove that the photos and all the info they have on him is fake.”
“Jackson” Harper looked stunned. “You think your dad is innocent, after everything that happened?”
“Of course I do.” My jaw clenched tightly. “I know my dad better than anyone, and he had a strong moral compass. He might not have been the nicest person around, but he wasn’t a cheat, and he didn’t scam anyone.”
“But the photos—”
“They’ve been doctored, and I’m going to prove it.”
Harper stared at me much like everyone did when they heard my rant. With pity. No one believed my dad was innocent, not even Nathan or Aiden who should know as well as I did that Dad wasn’t any of the things the media painted him to be.
“Okay, well, that wasn’t what I came here to talk about anyway,” Harper said, her voice soft and gentle. “I just think it’s best if Kat hears it from me, I believe there will be less drama that way.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t care.”
And I didn’t. I didn’t care what Kat thought of me. Not that she ever liked me anyway. She always had a vendetta against Dad, and after he was out of the picture, she turned against me for defending him.
