Page 116 of Hide and Seek
“Thank you,” I murmur, a small smile playing on my lips. “You know that’s what I want for you too, and you’ll find it.”
Laith scoffs. “Oh, hell no. I’m content with my single, bachelor lifestyle. I’m not looking for someone to come and screw that up. I’m just fine on my own. Don’t go jinxing me with that shit.”
I roll my eyes. There’s no surprise that Harvey Spector has always been his idol. “You know, I hope some amazing chick comes along and really knocks you on your ass.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I laugh. “I, ummm . . . I also think now that Knight and I might be something a little more than just two people mashing their junk together, I think we need to cool it on the flirty texts. Though to be fair, when I was texting you the other day, I thought you were dead and that my masked stalker was texting from your phone, but—”
“Wait. Why are you sending flirty sex texts to your stalker?” he asks, cutting me off before his eyes go wide. “Oh fuck! Was this stalker thing some kind of sexual fantasy? Were you getting railed by this guy? Holy fucking shit. I always knew you had some nasty undiscovered kinks. Were you holding back on me all these years?”
I press my lips into a hard line, regretting having brought up the texts in the first place. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Court? The office? Searching old dive bars for your next booty call?”
Laith laughs. “Oh, hell no. Don’t even try to change the topic. I wanna hear all about this freaky stalker. What did your imaginary friend do to you? Did he put it down like I can? Fuck, tiger. Give me all the filthy details.”
Fuck me. This is going to be one hell of a long afternoon.
41
KNIGHT
Okay, I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in my life, but this about takes the cake.
I’m not the type of man who gets nervous, yet here I am, standing outside Harper’s apartment shitting bricks. If she were ever going to beat my ass, then today would be the day.
She was released from the hospital a little over a week ago and is doing great. She’s been taking her meds and has gone to regular therapy sessions with Dr. Preston trying to get to the bottom of her episodes and discover what helped to manifest such violent hallucinations. She hasn’t had an episode since, and seeing the way her eyes light up instead of being clouded by fear only confirms that I did the right thing.
I hated betraying her trust like that, forcing her into a psych hold wasn’t done without thought, and seeing the way she looked at me with such profound betrayal gutted me, but now that she’s come out the other end and is actively getting the helpshe needs to put this behind her and move forward, it all seems worth it.
On the plus side, the extra few days in the hospital did wonders for her healing body. Her injuries from being jumped in that alley have dramatically faded, leaving only slight yellowing, which I’m sure will continue to fade over the next few days. She’s still a little sore from her internal injuries, but for the most part, she’s doing a lot better.
Though the second I walk into that apartment and she figures out what’s about to go down, that’s going to change.
Things have been different between us. It’s as though she’s waiting for me to run for the hills, but that’s not about to happen. I meant every fucking word when I told her that if she’s burning, I’ll step right into the fire. They’re not words that I say lightly, and they’re sure as fuck not words that I just say to anybody.
Harper-Rayn Madden is fucking end game for me, and I don’t give a shit what she has to say about it. Fuck her bullshit non-exclusive relationship. She’s mine, and it’s about time she acknowledges it.
After knocking on her door, I take a step back and wait a few moments for her to spy on me through the little peephole before finally deciding that she will grace me with her presence. The door opens, and I stare down at my girl with her long black hair that’s been thrown up into a lopsided messy bun. She’s wearing a dirty hoodie that comes halfway down her shins while holding a tub of leftover Chinese food and a fork dangling from her mouth.
I step into the small apartment, glancing down at the Chinese food, trying to remember which day she ordered this, because I know damn well it wasn’t from last night or even the night before that. “Did you even bother to reheat that shit?”
She shakes her head and pulls the fork out of her mouth. “That just seems like a waste of time.”
“I really don’t know how you’ve managed to keep yourself alive all these years.”
“If I had to guess, it was those awful college years, living off ramen and beans,” she says, whipping around and making her way back to her couch and getting comfortable. “I built a tolerance. I’ve got an iron stomach now. No form of food poisoning is gonna bring me down.”
A stupid grin pulls across my face as I follow her to the couch. I take the offending Chinese container off of her hand and lean down, bracing my palms on either side of her thighs. “Listen, I’m going to need you to waltz that fine ass into the shower while I start packing up your things.”
“Eh?” she grunts, her face twisting with confusion. “You’re gonna pack up my what now?”
“All your things, doll,” I say. “I’m moving you into my place.”
Harper laughs and shoves her hand against my chest, forcing me away. “The fuck you are,” she says. “I don’t need some over-the-top, bossy, alphahole babysitting me at all hours of the day just because he’s scared that I could fall off the bandwagon at any given point and take a trip straight back to Crazyville.”
“This isn’t a negotiation, Harper,” I tell her. “I haven’t come to discuss it with you.I’m telling you.Your little pain-in-the-ass self is going to get in the shower, and then you’re going to help me pack up all your shit, and then you’re moving in to my place.”
“Oh, I see where we went wrong. I didn’t realize your little caveman act came fully equipped with a tiny pea-sized brain. That’s awesome, but obviously you’re missing the key component of this conversation. Let me make this a little clearer for you,” she says getting to her feet and making a show of clearing her throat. “If you touch even one thing that belongs to me and try to remove it from my home, I’m going to tear you straight through the center, starting from the asshole. And if thatwas also too hard to understand, then allow me to dumb it down. I’M NOT FUCKING MOVING IN WITH YOU.”
