Page 27 of On the Double

“Because it’s not ours.”

“It’s a reminder of what they gave for us.”

“They were in a car accident,” I reminded him. “They hardly gave anything for us.”

“We were in that car too. We could have died right alongside them,” he said angrily.

Every once in a while, I would bring up something about my parents and Oliver would get really upset. It was pointless to talk to him about them when he still held them on a pedestal. Yes, they were great parents, but they were gone, and we were still very much here.

“But we didn’t. We should be living our lives for us,” I argued.

He shoved to his feet angrily, glaring down at me. “I’m living for me and for them. They would want to know I’m doing everything I can to make something of myself.”

The barb hit right where he intended, and I saw the immediate regret in his eyes before he stormed off. Pain lanced through my chest at his words. I tried not to let them get to me, but he was right in a way. I was letting our parents down.

“This is my life,” I whispered to myself, ignoring the tears that filled my eyes. “I will not let my dead parents rule my life.”

I pushed to my feet and headed to my room for a shower. I might not be doing much to make my parents proud, but I wouldn’t sitaround feeling bad for myself tonight. I was going out to have a good time.

When I steppedthrough the doors, my confidence immediately vanished. Luna was meeting me here, but she was notoriously late, so here I stood by myself, wearing a sparkly silver dress that made me feel awesome when I put it on, but now had me second-guessing myself as I looked around the bar. I was way over-dressed, and based on the looks I was getting, the men here thought I was looking for a fun night.

Which I wouldn’t mind, but I hadn’t come here with the intention of doing anything other than drinking a mango margarita and letting loose.

Putting one heel in front of the other, I walked over to the bar and flagged down the bartender, but he was busy talking to someone else. Flirting, more like. I opened my mouth to call out, but lost my nerve as he physically turned away from me to talk to the femme fatale just a few stools down.

“You’re going to have to do something to get his attention,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned, my eyes wide as I stared at my hero. But when he saw who I was, the sexy smirk on his face immediately dropped and he backed up a step.

“Uh…sorry. I didn’t realize…”

“That it was me?” I finished for him. “Well, I can’t blame you. I’m not wearing my customary red vest. But this is better, don’t you think?”

He clearly didn’t want to take too close a look, but couldn’t help it, letting his eyes trail over my curves that this dress just happened to accentuate very well. Maybe wearing it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Yeah,” he croaked out, taking another step back just as Fox walked up behind him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

“It’s grocery girl!”

The nickname left something to be desired, but I appreciated that he recognized me and was happy to see me. “Harper.”

“Harper. That’s an awesome name. Strong and a little crazy. I like it.”

“I can’t take credit for it. I didn’t name myself.”

He laughed as if what I said was completely hilarious, but my attention was solely on Edu, whose eyes were firmly planted on my chest. I shifted ever-so-slightly, thrusting my breasts forward.

His eyes shot up to mine and he knew he’d been caught.

“What was that?” I asked.

If anything, he seemed angry I was calling him out on his blatant staring. “I should get back to my table.”

“Hey, you should join us,” Fox said excitedly.

“Oh, I still need my drink.” As much as I was infatuated with the sexy man standing in front of me, I had no desire to get his glares for the rest of the night.

“I gotcha.” He whistled loudly at the bartender, waving him over. I hated how quickly the bartender walked over at Fox’s command. “The lady needs a drink.”

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