Page 69 of Hide and Seek
The whole family is here just as expected.
Elias sits at the head of the table and stands when Harper strides into the room, offering her a polite smile, which I know is really anything but. Then as she turns to greet her brother and his wife, Emily, I keep my gaze locked on Elias, watching the way his stare lingers on her body just a moment too long.
Sensing my stare, he glances back at me, and the smirk that pulls across his lips makes me think that he believes we’re one and the same when it comes to Harper. But he’d be dead wrong, and if he were going to attempt to move on that bullshit, he’d have me to deal with.
Harper gives her brother a warm hug, and I can’t help but notice that things seem to be getting better there. They usually just grunt at each other. She moves on to Emily before dropping straight down and pulling her twin nieces, Haylee and Taliah, straight into her arms.
She chats animatedly with them, loving every second of it, and as she beams at them, something swells in my chest. A strange image of Harper, pregnant and barefoot, smiling at me from our kitchen and wearing nothing but a thong and one of my shirts lingers in the forefront of my brain, and the second it made itself known, I realize that’s going to have to be scrubbed from my memory with bleach.
I can’t want a future like that. I can’t even pretend to want that. Not without getting my ass kicked by Harper. If she knew, my balls would currently be tied around my throat like a bowtie.
I make my way over to Jonah, and he immediately holds out his hand in greeting. “Hey, Knight. How’re you doing?”
“Yeah, good, man. You?” I say, gripping his hand and offering a firm shake.
He nods. “Nothing to complain about,” he lies, because fuck, just being here in this room means he has plenty to complain about. His gaze shifts between me and Harper. “Did you, uhhh . . . did you guys come together?”
Have we come together? Indeed we have, but not in the context he’s referring to. “Nah, just ran into her at the door,” I say. “Pretty sure she was about to bail.”
Jonah laughs. “Wonderful. It’s gonna be one ofthosedinner parties.”
Mae strides in, seeming to have recovered from whatever the fuck just went down in the living room. She stands at the opening of the dining room, her arms outstretched. “Dinner is ready,” she announces. “Please find your seats.”
I shake my head and find a seat, unable to figure out why Mae always wants to put on these elaborate dinner parties. Even when it’s just family, she’s always trying so hard to be something she’s so clearly not.
The guests shift around the table to take their seats, and by the time Harper has finished with the girls and is looking for somewhere to park her ass, her eyes widen in horror, realizing the only seat available is right next to me.
I laugh to myself before reaching for the glass in front of me and the pitcher of iced water, doing what I can to mask my pleasure. I pour myself a drink before reaching for Harper’s glass and filling hers too.
When a waiter slides a plate in front of me, I look down with disdain. I can’t even tell what the fuck we’re eating, but what I do know is that it tastes like stale cardboard. I don’t even know how cardboard can taste stale, but leave it up to Mae to hire Blackstone’s worst caterers.
Harper makes a face with every bite, and I don’t doubt that the second she’s out of here, she’ll be stopping to grab a burger. Hell, I might even join her.
And then, just as expected, all hell breaks loose.
24
KNIGHT
The sound of cutlery scraping against Mae’s fine china fills the dining room when Harper shifts around in her seat, removing her jacket and twisting around to hook it over the back of her chair. And fuck me, she looks gorgeous in her black crop. It hugs her body just right, and I don’t doubt that at some point tonight, I’ll be tearing it off her slender body with my teeth.
As if sensing my gaze, her stare lifts to mine. Her brows furrow, pretending that she doesn’t know exactly what she does to me. “What?” she questions, pure innocence in her velvety tone.
I shake my head and look away, not wanting to draw attention, but as I focus on the table and the people around me, it becomes clear that I’m not the only one who’s noticed just how fucking delicious Harper looks tonight.
Elias shamelessly stares at her, his gaze roaming over her tits and exposed waist, and as my grip tightens on my fork, bendingthe metal, Mae glances up. She looks at her husband, putting on the smile of a perfect doting wife, but it falters a moment later, realizing what—or who—has his undivided attention.
Her gaze flicks between Harper and Elias a few times, panic rising in her stare as Harper minds her own business, completely unaware of the tension growing around the table.
“Harper, sweetheart,” Mae says in a fake, condescending tone. “It’s getting quite breezy with the windows open. Why don’t you pop your jacket back on? I wouldn’t want you catching a cold.”
Harper lifts her head and glances back at the windows as if just realizing they were open. “Oh, I’m fine,” she says with a slight shrug. “I’m not cold.”
“Harper,” Mae says, her tone shifting and taking Harper by surprise. “Jacket. Now please.”
Harper gapes at her mother as silence falls around the table, eyes beginning to shift, waiting for some kind of showdown. “What’s the big deal?” Harper questions. “I’m not cold. I don’t need a jacket, hence why I took it off.”
“Look around you,” Mae seethes while trying to keep the polite smile on her face at the same time she scolds her grown daughter like a delinquent child. “Your outfit is inappropriate. You are at a dinner party, and you come wearing nothing but a sports bra. You’re making everybody uncomfortable.”
