Page 39 of Stealing Chances

“You don’t.”

“Harper, Iknow you.”

A sound like sorrow and frustration left her. “Not the way you think you do.”

My hold on her arm tightened as if I could keep her there. Keep her mine. Or maybe I could wake up from this fucked-up nightmare if I held her tight enough.

“Why do you keep doing this?” I begged through my frustration and never-ending agony.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but you need to know the truth,” she said. “You need to be told until you remember.”

“I do remember.” Her head shifted back as surprise swept across her features, but I continued speaking before she could say anything. “I remember everything from that first night I met you until the accident. Harper, I knowus.”

Sorrow replaced everything again as her head shook. “Chase—” Her gasp filled the small space when I pulled her down another few feet and into the bathroom, then hurried to shut the door behind us. “No, no, no. We can’t be in here.”

“You and me,” I said over her, pleading with her to give me this time. “The way we always were. Using the seconds or minutes when no one was around to argue or talk in a way that was us. In a way that wasreal. So, talk to me.”

“None of that happened,” she said as she pushed against me, and I realized thenjusthow weak her pushes were.

Instead of taking comfort in it, it made me pause. Step back.

Because there was nothing about her feeble attempts to stop me that shouted hesitation as if she didn’t truly want me to let her go.

It was as if she was afraid of physically hurting me.

And the Harper I knew wouldn’t have let that stop her. She would’ve used that to her advantage.

“I hate that this is tormenting you—I really do,” she went on as she kept a hand outstretched in case I stepped toward her again. “But you need to know that none of it was real so you can move on from it until you get your memories back.”

My voice was all soft bemusement when I said, “But I remember you.” I met her disappointed gaze. “I’ve known things about you and Bree and Konrad since I woke up. So, how can the rest of it not be real?”

Her shoulders sagged. “You thinkyou know things.”

“Bree confirmed them.”

Surprise flashed across her face for a moment before her head shook. “I don’t know, Chase. I don’t know how any of this works. But I know what you think happened between us didn’t.”

“I remember tossing you on my bed that first night,” I argued, reminding her of the memory she’d already confirmed for me. “I remember you threatening to cut off my dick if I touched you.”

“Lorena Bobbittyou,” she corrected as a wry smile touched the corner of her lips.

“Same thing.”

“My version sounded better.” A breath of a laugh left her before her expression fell into something more serious. “But you never crossed that line. Not that night or any night after, and I’m thankful you didn’t.”

“Harper—”

“No, Chase, you need to understand this.” She gave me a pleading look that had my defense dying on my tongue. “You ruffle my hair. You talk to me about your relationship with Scarlet because you know Bree won’t give helpful advice.”

I might’ve laughed if I were having the conversation with anyone else because she was right.

Bree always gave the worst advice.

“And the only timeyouhave ever kissedmehas been when you’ve kissed the top of my head the way you do with Bree. It has never been romantic, and it’s always been in celebration of something—like when I got engaged or married. Or when Brandon and I told everyone that we were expecting.”

My head slanted and my eyelids shut as that pain crashed into me, nearly knocking me back a stop.

Because not having Harper, not being able to hold her, was a crushing sort of pain. But what she’d just said went so far past that.

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