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IcantellClaireis nervous as we head down to Portland to meet Harvey that weekend. I understand why, and I wish that she'd have let me drive down by myself...but she was probably right to come with. If I went by myself, I don't think I would be able to control myself in terms of not kicking the guy's ass.
I still might. With her permission, of course.
"Don't stress about it," I tell her as we pull into the parking lot of the storage unit. "Plan's simple--like a heist. We get in, I load up the truck, we get out. And you get to show Harvey what he's missing out on."
Claire shakes her head. "This was a mistake. He never cared about me before, I don't know why he would care now. Things are just...things."
I stop at a stop sign and put my hand on her knee. "Claire, look at me."
She does.
"This ain't about your ex," I say. "This is about you. What you need to makeyouhappy. If you don't want to talk to him, you're welcome to stay in the car and I'll deal with him. You’re also entitled to get back your belongings, especially if they matter to you. You’re doing the right thing."
She nods. "I'll see how we feel when we're face to face."
We keep driving until we come to the right unit, where a white BMW is parked outside. A skinny, clean-cut guy with blond hair leans against the car, his eyes narrowing as he takes in the truck.
I park and leave the car running as I get out. "You Harvey?"
"Yeah," he says. His eyes dart toward Claire, who's looking anywhere but at him. "Who the hell are you?"
"Claire sent me to pick up her shit," I say. "You wanna let me into the unit so we can get this over with?"
Harvey jerks his head. "She's not going to get out and say hi?"
I scowl. "Open the damn unit, and don't even try talking to her."
Harvey grumbles as he leads the way to the unit, fumbling for the key. I give Claire a reassuring nod before following him inside.
The unit smells musty and unused, and I have to push aside a few cobwebs to get to the boxes labeled with Claire's name. Harvey hovers behind me, his eyes fixed on my back.
"You know, I always liked her," he says. "I didn't mean to hurt her."
I grunt. "This isn’t about whether you liked her. This is about you being man enough to keep up with someone like her. You couldn’t, and now she's moved on."
Harvey glares at me. "Who the fuck are you, anyway?"
I hoist up one of the boxes, not even looking at him. "The guy who's taking care of Claire now."
I start loading the boxes onto the truck, relishing in the sound of them hitting the bed. Harvey tries to make small talk, but I ignore him. Soon, he leaves me alone--and I realize with a jolt that he's talking to Claire.
She's still in the car, the window rolled down. "I don't really want to talk," she's saying. "I'm just here to get my stuff, then you'll never see me again."
"You show up with some meathead and don't expect me to try and talk to you?" Harvey says. "What? Did you bring this guy here to make me jealous? Well, I'll have you know I've moved on to, and I'm doing so much better than I ever was with you--"
He lets out anoofas I grab him by the scruff of the neck and turn him around, slamming him against the truck with my arm on his throat. Harvey's eyes are wide, his mouth gaping.
"What did I say about talking to Claire?" I growl.
"Holy shit, dude, calm down," Harvey stammers. "I didn't do anything to her."
"You almost destroyed her, you useless piece of shit," I say. "But I'm here to tell you that you lost out on a hell of a woman, and I'm gonna give her everything you couldn't."
I don't even hear Claire get out of the car, or feel her hand on my shoulder. I don't notice her at all until Harvey's eyes glance over my shoulder, then down at Claire's belly.
"You're pregnant?" he gasps. "Fuck, Claire, you...how long has it been, four months?"
