Page 54 of In the Net
“If she’s so smart, clearly she’s capable of speaking for herself.”
“Right,” Harper chimes in.
Cody crosses his arms and wears a cheeky, proud grin.
Fuck. It’s a sharper comeback than I’d expect from Cody, and right now my brain is too deep in caveman mode to come up with a good retort.
It’s not like words work on a guy like Cody. He only respects action. And it’s not like I’ve ever been able to win an argument with Harper, even when I’m right.
So, I don’t even try.
Instead, I dip down, scoop Harper off her seat, lift her up, and sling her over my shoulder.
“Sebastian!” she cries. “What the hell are you doing!”
“I told you,” I grouse.
With Harper’s fists feebly pounding against my back, I point a sharp glare at Cody, daring him to do anything about it.
A mixture of bemusement and defeat rests on his face. “If you want her that bad, Lawrence, she’s yours.”
He’s got the wrong idea, but a guy like him isn’t worth correcting.
“Put me down!” Harper demands.
“I will. Outside.”
I wrap my forearm firmly around her smooth, warm legs. With my other hand, I hold the hem of her dress in place, because it’s too damn short and I don’t want all the eyes directed at us getting a view of something they don’t deserve to see.
This is the second time I’ve carried Harper. Just like last time, the sensation of hoisting her weight hits my brain like a drug, flooding me with endorphins. It’s a good thing I’m still in too bad a mood to appreciate it. If I were to dwell on why I enjoy it so much, it might raise unpleasant questions.
“Damn it, Sebastian!” Harper yells, still flailing. “You can’t just carry me away like a sack of potatoes!”
“Reality seems to disagree.”
People make way for us as I march her to the door. The swell of her breast brushes against my back, and a rush of blood goes to my cock.
“I hope you realize I’m kicking you square between the legs when you put me down,” Harper grits out.
For some reason, that doesn’t stop my dick from thickening in my pants.
Once we’re outside and a block away from Starlite, I set her back on her feet. Her jaw is set hard, the glare pointed at me sharp enough to cut through a car’s door.
“After you’ve embarrassed me in front of half the school at the busiest bar in town on a Friday night, mind telling me what was so bad about Cody anyway?”
I have no problem sharing everything I’ve heard through the grapevine about him, because fuck that guy. It all came from reliable sources, and there was way too much smoke not to be fire, even if what he’s done hasn’t risen to the point of earning him any much-deserved disciplinary action from the school.
The hard look on Harper’s face softens a bit. “Well, if that’s all true …” She stops herself short of thanking me. “I don’t know why you couldn’t have just told me instead of hauling me over your shoulder like a caveman.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “I tried. The problem is, talking sense to you is a futile endeavor.”
“The problemis,” she replies pointedly, “sense so rarely comes out of your mouth, I’m hardly inclined to trust your judgment.”
This girl is infuriating. If she got suckered into a date with Cody, who knows who she’ll go out with next. All in the service of showing up with a wedding date for one day, months from now.
It’s dumb for her to go through all this when I’ve already proposed the perfect solution.
“Just let me be your fake boyfriend already.”
