He asked something too low for me to hear, but I definitely heard her response. “Not at all, I’m yours for the next three days.” I watched as he walked them into the house and caught sight of Brad watching me and shaking his head slightly before looking back to the grill.

Bree was still asking for my room as I stood up quickly. “Whatever, Bree, I’ll leave it unlocked.”

I stalked back toward the house, and Brad stopped me with a hand to my chest, “Bro, you should really think about what this could do to you and Brandon before you go startin’ shit.”

I shrugged off his hand and gave him a warning glare. “Maybe you should shut the f**k up and mind your own business.”

Before he could say anything else I went into my room and pulled out my sketchpad for a while before getting in the shower and getting ready for work. I hopped in my truck and wasn’t even out of the neighborhood before I saw her. I had to do a double take, but I’d know that girl anywhere. I rolled down my window and slowed as I came up next to her and studied her hunched-over posture. “Harper?”

She didn’t look up and didn’t stop walking. What the hell was she doing? Why was she out here?

I threw my truck in park and jumped out before quickly rounding the front and going right to her. “Harper what are you—are you crying? What’s wrong?”

She sniffed and wiped at her face roughly as she tried to walk around me. “Please leave me alone.”

Hell no! “What happened?” Who the hell made her cry? Because I sure as shit didn’t; and why is she alone? I grabbed her arms gently, making sure that I would not be able to bruise her again, and hunched down low to try to look in her eyes; she just turned her head away. My hands started to flex, and I forced them to relax. Brandon, who the hell else? That’s it, I’m going to kill him for real this time.

“Nothing happened, Chase, so just let me go.”

“Like hell. You’re crying and walking through a dark neighborhood. Talk to me.”

“Why are you even out here?”

I wanted to ask her the same thing. “I’m going in to work. Now tell me what he did.”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. You tried to warn me; you knew he would do this.” Her phone rang, and after ignoring the call, she shoved it back in her pocket.

“Princess, I promise you I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’ll kill him for hurting you. Please tell me what happened.” I let go of her arms, only to wrap one around her, bringing her closer to me, and with the other I tilted her chin up so I could look into her heartbroken gray eyes. Oh my God, Harper, what did he do to you?

A short cry escaped her, and her body relaxed into me as she cried softly against my chest.

“You’re okay, Princess, I’ve got you. Tell me what happened, and I swear I’ll do everything I can to make this better for you.” I ran my now-free hand up and down her back and tightened my hold on her when her phone rang again.

“Can you take me to the dorms, please?”

“You sure you want to go there?”

She nodded against my chest, and I knew Brian was right. I was in love with her. I wanted her in my arms forever, I wanted to take care of her when she was sick, hold her when she was upset, and kiss her senseless during the happy times. I took a deep breath and reluctantly let her go. It was not the time to push her into anything. She was upset over another guy, and I didn’t want to be the rebound.

“ ’Kay, get in the truck, Princess.” I helped her into the passenger seat and saw her body go rigid when her phone rang again as I got into the driver’s seat. “Is that him calling again?”

“Yep.”

“Are you going to answer it this time?”

“Nope.”

I scooted across the seat, cupped her face in my hands, and wiped away the last of her tears. “Tell me what happened.”

Before she could say anything her phone rang again, and she answered it this time. “What, Brandon?”

Oh hell. I was glad not to be on the receiving end of that. No more cute fierce looks; she looked like she could kill someone. I went back to my side and started driving toward the dorms.

“Seriously? You’re really going to play that game with me?—I left.” She started silently crying again and shook her head quickly. “Please stop calling me, Brandon.”—“Why don’t you ask Amanda? I’m sure she’d be more than happy to show you why I left.” Not two seconds later, she ended the call and held the power button until she could turn her phone off.

Amanda? Who the hell is Amanda? I stayed silent for a few minutes before reaching over and grabbing her hand. Thank God she didn’t remove hers. “Who’s Amanda?”

“Apparently she’s some girl he’s sleeping with. Bree and I saw her on Monday with him and a group of guys.”

Uh, I’d have known if Brandon were cheating on Harper. Even with avoiding the house. “Why do you think he’s cheating on you?”

“I was getting back in my suit and his phone kept going off! I wasn’t going to look, but I swear it went off like fifty times—okay not really fifty, but a few. It just seemed like a lot—whatever! So, anyway, I just leaned over to see who they were from, and there was a picture of this chick’s shaved vaj!” My eyebrows shot up, but I didn’t interrupt her. “So I opened his texts, and there was another picture of her boobs and her face, and she was saying things like, ‘I can’t wait ’til tomorrow’ and ‘I can’t wait to feel your lips all over me again’ I feel so stupid.”