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“Harper is a… good friend.”
“Friend, of course.” Her eyes twinkled with things I did not need to see twinkling in my mother’s eyes.
I pulled her into a one-armed hug, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Don’t get any ideas, okay?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Her lips tugged into a telling smile.
“Hey, Mrs. Steele,” Noah sauntered over and pulled her into a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Noah, that was some fancy work out there tonight.”
“See, Mase? Your mom likes my fancy work.” He flashed me a shit-eating grin. “She might even say my fancy work is better than your fancy work.”
“Now, now, Mason will always be my number one.”
“And rightly so.” His expression dropped a little as he watched her fuss over me.
“Mom, come on. You can’t treat me like a kid here.” I glanced around the arena parking lot. Most of the guys had moved on already, but a few lingered, talking to the bunnies who made a habit of hanging around.
“What’s up, kid?” Noah held out his fist to Scottie, and I watched with trepidation as he navigated the social cue.
“You don’t have—” He surprised the shit out of me by fist-bumping Noah back.
“Nice game, number eleven, Noah Holden. Two goals and two assists.”
“Nice stats.” Noah winked. “How do you feel about pizza?”
“I don’t eat cheese.”
“Shit, my bad. Fries? Hot dogs? My treat.”
“Can Harper and Aura come?”
Noah slid his amused gaze to mine, and said, “I don’t know. What do you think, Mase? Can Rory and Harper come?”
“I think that would be lovely,” Mom added a little too smugly.
“Please, Mase. It’s my special trip, and I want Harper and Aura to come.”
“Fine, they can come.” I pinned Noah with an irritated look. The last thing I wanted was to spend more time with Harper. Letting my brother grow more attached. Letting Mom get all kinds of notions in her head.
Fuck my life.
But then the girls appeared, and Harper’s baby blues found me, and I knew it wasn’t Mom and Scottie I needed to worry about.
It was me.
Because it was getting really fucking hard to keep telling myself that I didn’t want her.
CHAPTER22
HARPER
“What’s wrong?”Rory asked as we followed everyone into the restaurant.
“I don’t know, is it weird I’m here? It feels a bit weird.”
“Scottie really wanted you to come.” Her eyes searched mine. “He’s a sweet kid.”
