Page 282 of Untouchable

"Oh my God Parker," she says, almost affectionately. "What happened to taking it slow?"

Parker shrugs.

“I tried,” he says. “I swear I did. But… I dunno. It just happened, and then—”

He feels a swell of something bittersweet and his words catch in his throat.

Mindy squeezes him and frowns. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it right now—"

“No,” Parker says. “I mean, you already kicked… what’s his face out—”

“Adam,” she says. “And, believe me, I’m not missing out on much.”

Parker smiles weakly and takes a breath.

“I know telling him that kind of freaked him out, not even because… he doesn’t feel that way—or at least that’s what I thought—” He shakes his head. “Anyway, that’s not even… So, then, Christmas morning, his brother showed up and… god, Mindy, he hated me. Like, from the very first moment. And I tried so fucking hard to get him to like me, and he—fuck. What did I even do to him?”

His voice cracks, and the tears start falling again.

"Nobody hates you," Mindy insists. "How could someone hate you? He just showed up?"

“Yeah,” Parker says. “I mean, Harp was… pissed, I think. But it’s his brother. He couldn’t just send him away. I dunno, though. He was such a dick to me the whole time, but really passive aggressive about it, you know? God, it was like being around my family. And then we went out to dinner tonight and—” He lets out a long shuddering breath.

“Anyway, dinner was… a disaster. Gil was… being Gil. And I just—I got so fucking sick of it, and so… I… I basically told him to fuck off.”

Mindy's eyes go wide.

"Seriously? You really did that?"

Parker frowns and nods.

"I'm so proud of you," Mindy says. "Did it feel good?"

“No,” Parker says. “Well. Yes. Kind of. I told him he couldn’t treat me like that, and then he accused me of trying to… I don’t even know. Manipulate Harp or something. For his money, or whatever. I guess I’m glad I said it, because it also kind of felt like I was telling my family to fuck off, too. Or Cole. Or anyone, really. But… it didn’t really solve anything, you know? I guess I always thought that… if I could do that it would fix everything. I dunno if that even makes sense.”

Mindy snorts. "I love the idea of you as a gold-digger," she says rolling her eyes. The accusation is so far off it doesn't even seem like something that could be real when Mindy says it like that. "I feel like you'd own a lot more... I don't know, bedazzled booty shorts if you were trying to wheedle into some rich old millionaire's will. Although I guess you can't exactly pull the brother aside and say, 'Look, I'm after Harp's dick, not his dollars,'" she says, staring at the ceiling.

Parker laughs.

“Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have helped,” he says, thinking back to the first impression he’d made on Gil. “Anyway, so, I left. I just realized there was no point in staying and trying to convince him to like me. And so Harp came outside while I was waiting for the car and it was just… weird, you know? Like, I knew we wouldn’t be able to have a constructive conversation or whatever so I just asked if we could… wait. But, I dunno. It was like I couldn’t read him at all, and I had no idea what he was thinking. He was so distant. It was like I didn’t even recognize him.”

"He didn't defend you at all with his brother?" Mindy said, her voice sharpening.

“He did—” Parker says quickly. “Well, I mean—not really, but, like—look, you’ve met Harp. He gets… really nervous around other people, and the restaurant was ridiculously crowded, and, I mean, Gil and I were going back and forth and so it was hard for him to get a word in anyway, and—”

Mindy frowns deeply. She doesn't even have to say anything to stop Parker mid-sentence.

“What?” he says sullenly.

"You shouldn't have to defend yourself against his brother who doesn't like you for literally no reason."

“It’s not like that—” he says. “He wasn’t—he couldn’t—I wasn’t about to ask him to choose between his brother and me, okay?”

He avoids her gaze and pulls out his phone, wincing at the new lock screen photo—a picture of him and Harp in front of the tree. There are no new texts, but it’s possible Harp hasn’t made it back up the mountain yet. Maybe he and Gil are having a nice night out without him. He hopes so.

"You shouldn't have to ask him to choose," Mindy says. "He should choose you, no questions asked."

Parker frowns.

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