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I walked downstairs into the bar and found Asher behind the counter, taking inventory. "Harper and Theo broke up."
He looked over his shoulder and said, "Are you finally going to man up and make a move on her?"
Asher had heard me talk about Harper since the moment I met her. When he finally met her in person, he had the same look as I'm sure I did when I saw her in the dining hall all those years ago. Yup, my best friend was totally falling in love with her.
He was still in denial about liking her though. I'd caught his subtle glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking. Or how he'd instinctively went into protective mode whenever she was in the bar with us. Once, I'd heard him honest to shit growl at a customer who was flirting with her.
For the past year or so, she had been with Theo; she was still flirtatious with me and even Asher. I didn't even think she realized she was doing it. It was almost like she was naturally drawn to us.
The weird thing was, when I first noticed her checking out Asher in the way she checked me out when she thought I wasn’t looking, I didn't feel any kind of jealousy or envy like I had any time she'd even mentioned Theo's name.
The wheels in my head started turning and I couldn't believe I had never thought of this before. I needed both of them to realize we should all be together. I knew she would be into the whole poly relationship because she reads a shit ton of reverse harems romance novels, which apparently are when the female main character had multiple love interests and didn't have to pick just one to be with.
I chose to ignore his question. "Harps asked if she could crash with us until she finds a place to live. You cool with that?" I knew he would be, he wanted her just as badly as I did, even if he didn't want to admit it.
Once she was living with us, I'd have to work on getting them to realize their attraction for one another and solidify us all as a couple or was it a throuple?
"Why does she need to find a place to live? She is over our apartment all the damn time; she might as well just move into our spare room. Fuck, some of her shit is already in the room."
I couldn't help the smirk that reached my lips, my thoughts exactly. "Yeah, we can discuss it with her in a few days. Between the shit with her parents and now the breakup…I think she's going to have a nervous breakdown."
Asher turned his giant frame so he was facing me fully. "Did that fucker do something to hurt her?" Asher and I were the same height but Asher was bulkier than I was. I hovered around two hundred and ten pounds of tone muscles, he probably had an additional forty pounds of muscle on me.
We both stay in pretty good shape thanks to our little home gym. We had to due to my sweet tooth and Harper’s baking. We were her taste test subjects whenever she came up with a new recipe. And that woman could bake.
I nodded and answered, "I don't know the whole story yet. Just that they broke up." I clench and unclench my hands on the bar top before finishing, "He fucking made her cry. Dude, I've never heard her like that before. It took everything in me not to drive down there and break his fucking face."
Asher was silent for a few minutes. He was like me; he couldn't stand to see a woman upset…especially Harper. "She's better off. There was something off with Theo."
I smacked my hand on the counter and yelled, "Thank you! I've been saying that since the beginning." He nodded and turned back around to finish taking inventory.
Harper and Theo's relationship never flowed well; I could never put my finger on why.
We sat in comfortable silence for about five minutes as the jukebox played music in the background.A soft knock wrapped around the door; even her knock sounded sad.
I opened the door to find her standing there, her eye makeup smudged a little, shoulders slumped and not because of her overpacked weekend bag and a sad smile on her face. "Hey." She whispered. Fuck. I hated when she was upset, it gutted me.
Once she was safely inside, I locked the door behind her and hugged her tight. Her bag fell to the floor and she immediately broke down in my arms. I murmured in her ear, "Shh, sweetheart. It's going to be alright." Fuck I couldn't take it when she was hurting. But she would be ours soon and would never have to hurt like this again.
Asher looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of something or someone—same dude. I nodded and he approached us from behind the bar. He hesitated before his hand reached out and lightly stroked her back.
I felt her sigh and decided to get speed up my plan. I kissed the top of her head, before I spun and pushed her into Asher's arms. Surprised, both look at me before they melt into one another.
I grabbed up her bag off the floor and dropped it onto one of the bar seats. I made my way around the counter grabbing a bottle of her favorite rum and started work on making her a mixed drink. I knew she’d probably want tequila, but I also knew her well enough to know she would thank me tomorrow.
I made her a malibu bay breeze, which was just malibu coconut rum, cranberry juice and pineapple juice. Harper was still in Asher’s embrace when he muttered, "Don't worry, firefly, we got you."
After another minute in his hold, she pulled herself together. Asher led her to an empty seat at the bar and I placed her drink in front of her before I turned to pour two fingers of whiskey for myself and Asher.
Asher wordlessly walked down the hall into his back office. He was gone for less than a minute before he returned with a bag full of bagels from Harps’ favorite bagel place around the corner. He knew if he didn’t force feed her before she started day drinking, she wouldn't eat at all.
We' were all eating a bagel silently before Harper broke it by saying, "Theo cheated on me with Peter. I walked in on them having sex." She said it with such a flat tone I almost thought she was joking. Asher started choking on the bagel while I stared at her with my jaw hanging open.
A beat passes. I closed my mouth and shoved my finger in my ear to clear the wax because I was sure I had heard wrong. "I'm sorry, Harps…what?"
She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I walked in on Theo getting railed by Peter."
Nope. Yup. I heard right the first time.
