Page 18 of A Touch of Heaven

“And you… Are you involved in it?”

I take a slow breath, wondering how much I should say. I don’t want her involved at all…to know what it’s doing to me but I can’t lie outright to her either.

“Yes, when he needs me to be, and yes, the same for Jax before you ask. I don’t want you anywhere near it, so Brooke…drop it,” I say, my tone deeper and severe.

If she knew the things I was capable of, the things I’ve done and will do, she would run for the hills. She should run. I should stop this with her, but I’m selfish. I need her. She’s the brightness in the dark, and every day, I take a step further with the guys. I feel a little bit more of the shadows creeping in. She’s the one that keeps me grounded. Keeps me sane, but I won’t have her involved in it. Even if it kills me.

She nods, sensing I’m serious, and I sigh in relief.

“I just don’t get it. I feel like he’s playing games with Harper, and I don’t like it. I don’t want her to get hurt. If he’s not interested, he needs to tell her and let her move on. I thought things might happen between them, but since the party, things are different with them.”She sighs.

“What happened at the party?” I ask curiously, not really knowing what she’s talking about.

That party got nuts. Jax threw it. After that week, the boys and I needed to blow off some steam, and many people were drinking heavily that night. But I didn’t know something happened between Asher and Harper.

I know Asher disappeared for over two hours. When I finally caught up with him, he was furious and drank himself into an absolute stupor, getting high as a kite. Jax and I had to get him home, and he didn’t talk to us for days. When he finally did, he pretended nothing happened. It’s always bothered me, but I know Asher won’t say anything to us unless he wants to. Pressuring him makes it worse.

“I don’t know. She started telling me this morning, but then you came out.”

“Maybe they slept together, or she caught him fucking with someone else?” I say, shrugging. “Sounds like Asher.”

She narrows her eyes at me, clearly pissed off. My little hellcat.

“That may sound like Asher,” she spits his name. “Sounds like all of you, really, but Harper isn’t like that. She doesn’t just fuck for fun.”

“Why are you pissed with me? And what the hell do you mean, all of us?” I ask, and she laughs bitterly.

“Yeah, because you weren’t all over Chloe that night? You have a new girl every other day, Chase. You always have, but that bitch, she’s the only one that keeps popping up.”

I smirk at her. “Aww, is my little princess jealous?” It warms my heart to know she is—I can’t help but tease her. She just glares at me in response. If she was mine, I would fuck that attitude right out of her or have fun trying.

“I’m not your anything, Chase! Remember? We’re just friends.”

I lean closer to the table, slowly running my hand up her thigh, my fingers teasing her as they drift further upward deliberately.

“But you want to be? Mine?” I watch her breath get heavy, the swell of her breasts in that barely-there sundress that shows off her petite, little frame. Her face flushes, and I know right then she does. “You want me to slide those fingers up higher, Brookie, repeat last night, don’t you? Are you soaked for me, Princess?”

Suddenly, food appears on the table. I fucking hate this man. I pull back, mildly pissed at this shit-for-brains server who can’t read a situation. She sits awkwardly, tossing a smile at him before he leaves.

She takes a sip of her milkshake. Those sweet little lips sealing around the straw, and I can’t help but watch them. What I wouldn’t give for that straw to be my cock right now. The only difference—those sweet little lips would be stretched as she gagged on my thick shaft.

She shoots me another one of her adorable glares, and I chuckle. “I don’t want to be your anything, Chase. Anyone that fucks Slutface Chloe is definitely not good enough for me.”

That’s twice she’s mentioned Chloe now.

Interesting.

“Why do you hate Chloe so much?” I ask her, genuinely curious.

She laughs fiercely. “You’re joking, right? That bitch made my life hell when she was with you. You would think I was trying to steal you away from her, the way she was with me. Several times, she barged into me on purpose and made a point of telling me how you were balls deep into her the night before. How she screamed for you. It was disgusting.” She gets really quiet, and for a second, I pause.

I know that girls always talk about sleeping with me; they think if they announce I’ve fucked them, I’m suddenly theirs, and I know she hears it, but it’s never bothered her before. She usually laughs about it knowing I don’t date, I just fuck.

“There’s more,” I state, narrowing my eyes at her, and she nods.

“She always put me down, telling me I was nothing, no one. How the only reason you and Nate hung around with me was that I was a charity case,” she says quietly, looking down at her plate.

I watch tears well in her eyes, and I’m angry. I mean, pure rage is filling my entire body right now, and I’m trying so hard not to tip this table over and hunt that bitch down for tellingmy everythingshe was nothing.

---