by M. A. Foster
I nod because my throat is clogged from unshed tears.
Josh leans down and covers my lips with his. It’s a gentle kiss. Sweet. It tastes like hope. Resting his forehead against mine, he whispers, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I breathe.
“I have some things I need to take care of. I won’t be home till late. Do you work tonight?”
“Yes,” I say quietly.
“Will you call me later?”
“Of course.”
After Josh leaves, I burst into tears and spend the next hour lying in bed thinking about how this is my life: my decisions, my lies, my choices, and how many people I’ve hurt—and will get hurt—in the process, including myself.
Mia was right. Who the hell am I?
I’m smarter than this.
I’m stronger than this.
It’s time to brush myself off and move on.
On the way out, I find a note from Josh taped to the front door.
Don’t leave me, Harper. We’ll get through this. I promise.
I love you.
Josh
TONIGHT, MAC’S IS slow, and the last couple of days are catching up with me. Mentally, physically and emotionally.
“Harper.” Amelia waves me over to the hostess stand. “There was a woman in here asking for you,” she whispers. “She said to tell you she’d be waiting for you outside.”
That’s odd. “Did she tell you her name?”
Amelia shakes her head. “No. She just asked if Harper was working tonight.”
“What did she look like?”
“Short blonde hair.” She brings her hands to her shoulders indicating the length of the woman’s hair.
“Okay. Will you let Alex know I’m taking a quick break?”
“Sure.” She nods. “Be careful, Harper. She looked kinda pissed.”
I roll my eyes. Now she tells me. “Thanks.”
Stepping outside, I see a young woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair sitting on one of the benches, staring out at the water.
“Excuse me,” I call out. “Are you looking for me?”
She stands and adjusts her purse over her shoulder. “Are you Harper?”
“Yes,” I say, walking over to her. “And you are?”
“Melinda Casey.”
It takes a moment to register the name before the sinking feeling sets in. Please tell me you’re his sister. I couldn’t be that lucky.
“Josh’s wife,” she adds, holding up her phone to show me a screenshot of a text he’d sent me earlier. “Is this you?”
“Yes,” I breathe, feeling the prick of tears forming in my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
She lets out a soft humorless laugh as she takes a step closer. “Sure you didn’t. You don’t think I’ve heard that excuse before? How old are you?”
“Nineteen,” I lie as I swallow past the lump in my throat. The last thing I need is to have the cops showing up here. “What do you mean before?”
“You think you’re the first?” She sneers. “You think you’re special? You think he loves you because you got an apartment and a car.”
“I didn’t get anything from him. I bought my car with my money,” I argue. “He told me this morning that he wants to marry me and give me a family, so how could I possibly know he was married?”
I don’t want to hurt this woman, but she deserves the truth.
She moves so fast, I don’t have a chance to react before her palm connects with the side of my face, forcing my head to whip to the side. Shit!
“Oh hell no,” two female voices shout from behind me.
“Hey, lady!” I recognize Lexi’s voice. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Before the effect of the slap wears off, a tall, muscular guy, with short dark hair, is standing between me and Josh’s wife. “Ma’am, you need to leave before I have you arrested,” he warns, pointing to a badge on his hip.
“I’m leaving.” She reaches around the guy and points at me. “Stay the hell away from my husband.” Then she storms off.
I stand there shocked and humiliated, waiting for the questions to come flying at me from both Jay and Lexi.
But they don’t.
“Are you okay, Harper?” Jay asks, placing her hand on my back.
“Yep,” I answer through a shaky breath.
“What can we do?” Lexi asks.
“Nothing. I’m fine.” I wave them off.
“Harper, whatever is going on, you can tell us,” Jay continues. “If you don’t want to talk about it, then that’s okay, too, but don’t lie to us. You’re not fine. We’re not judging you. It’s your life and your business, but if you ever want to talk about it, or if you need anything, we’re here for you. No questions asked, and no strings attached.”
“Do you really mean that?” I ask, even though I know she means every word.
“Of course we do,” Lexi says.
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Good, because I’m going to need a place to stay until I can get things figured out.” I realized this morning that I can’t go to Mia’s as long as she’s screwing around with Liam Mackenzie. And what if Josh shows up over there? I truly have no other place to go.
“What about your dad?” Jay asks.
“You said no questions asked,” I snap.
Jay crosses her arms over her chest. “You have to give me something, Harper, or Emerson Mackenzie will be all up in your business.”
“I’d offer to let you stay with me, but I live under the same roof with Satan herself,” Lexi adds, and that makes us all laugh—even the hot guy now standing off to the side, looking a little uncomfortable.
“I’ll be over there.” He walks off toward the front doors of Mac’s.
“This conversation stays between us, and I’m giving you the short version because I have a lot of baggage that I’m not ready to share.” They both nod in understanding. “After my sister died, I met Josh. He’s older, and apparently he’s married, but I didn’t know that. I don’t live with my dad. In fact, I’ve never met him. I live in a loft that Josh pays for. And now I need to move.”
Jay’s eyes nearly bulge out of her head, and Lexi’s mouth is hanging open. They’re shocked but there is no judgment in their expressions.
“Shiiit.” Jay looks over at Lexi before turning back to me. “Yeah, no, that won’t fly with Emerson. What else you got?”
AN HOUR LATER, I’m in the passenger seat of Bass’s Denali, heading to Jay’s. And my car is on the bed of a tow truck, heading to the BMW dealership to have my tires replaced after Josh’s crazy bitch of a wife slashed all four.
Jay wanted to come help pack up my stuff, but Bass nixed that idea and sent her home. Apparently the hot guy from earlier, whose name is Levi, is some sort of bodyguard or something. Jay told me she would explain everything tonight. Her life seems about as mysterious as mine, so I’m actually looking forward to it.
“Anything you need to tell me before we get to the house?” Bass asks gruffly.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“This Josh.” He gives me a sideways glance. “He gonna be a problem?”
I shake my head. “No. Josh isn’t aggressive or anything. Just a womanizer, apparently,” I whisper the last part before turning to look out the passenger window.
“It sucks you got caught up in that. You’re young. He should’ve known better.”
I agree. He had the perfect opportunity to come clean with his own truth last night. At least I know my gut instinct was right.
“Yeah.” I sigh. “He should’ve. But it’s over now, and I just want to move on.”
“I hear ya.” Bass slows down outside a guard shack, giving the guard a fist bump before continuing through the tall iron gates of Jay’s neighborhood.
A moment later, he pauses in front of the gates at the front of Jay’s driveway and waits for them to swing open before he steers up the long driveway leading to her massive modern estate home.
&n
bsp; “This is where my princess lives,” he announces jokingly as he pulls into one of the empty parking bays inside the garage on the side of the house.
I snort a laugh.
The door inside the garage swings open and Jay comes bouncing out. “Need help?”
“I got this, Princess,” Bass tells her. “You take Harper in and show her around.”
I look over at him. “Are you sure? I can help.”
He chuckles. “I’m sure.” He waves us off. “Go on. I got this.”
“Come on,” Jay says excitedly, tugging on my hand. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”
Everyone?
Jay leads me inside through the garage door into what looks like a mini foyer. “I’ll give you the quick tour tonight since it’s getting late.” She points to a door on her left. “Gym.” She points to a door on the far right. “Laundry room and a spare bathroom around the corner.” Then she points to the set of double doors directly in front of us. “Elevator.” She gestures to the two separate hallways on each side of the elevator doors. “Both hallways lead to the kitchen. But this way is faster.” Tugging my hand again, she leads me down the hallway on the left side and into her massive kitchen.
Jay gestures to the two men sitting at the island eating. “This is Troy, and you already know Levi.” She smiles and both stand to shake my hand. “Guys, this is Harper.”
Her housekeeper comes into the kitchen at that moment.
“Grace, you remember Harper.” Grace nods with a smile. “She’s gonna be staying with us for a little while.”
“Welcome, Miss Harper.”
“Thank you,” I reply.
“The kitchen is Grace’s domain. If you want something, just let her know.” She moves over to the refrigerator and opens the door. “And if you like fruit, there’s always fresh fruit in here. Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“Come on.” She gestures for me to follow. “Let me show you to your room.”
“Do those guys live here, too?” I ask as Jay leads the way up a wide, sweeping staircase to the second floor. Her house is huge and a bit overwhelming, but at the same time, it’s cozy.
“Not permanently. They work in shifts. Levi is actually Evan’s cousin.”
“Evan Martinez from school? Lexi’s Evan?”
“Yeah. Evan’s dad owns the security company that employs them.”
Jay stops outside a door on the right and pushes it open. “This is your room.” She sweeps her arm toward the room, gesturing for me to go first.
A small gasp escapes me as I step inside the bedroom. It looks like something plucked right out of a magazine. The walls are painted a pale gray with white trim. A crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the center of the room. A king-size bed covered in white and gray linens is centered against the wall and flanked by two mirrored nightstands with mini chandeliers fixed to the wall. The tufted headboard is made with gray satin fabric, and a bench in a muted shade of gray sits at the foot of the bed. A small seating area is arranged on the far side of the room in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“It’s kind of plain,” Jay says, and I look at her like she’s crazy. It’s perfect. “You can decorate it however you want,” Jay continues. “If you want to use your own bedding, you can switch it out.”
I breathe out a disgusted laugh. “Uh… no. He can burn the bedding and the entire bed for all I care.”
Jay gives me a sympathetic look. “You wanna talk about it?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.” I look around the room. “Your house is beautiful, Jay. This place is like a fortress.”
“It was either a fortress or a bubble,” a female voice says, and I look over to see Emerson leaning in the doorway, smiling. “If her father had his way, she’d be living in a bubble,” she adds jokingly, before pushing off the frame and moving into the room. “How are you, Harper?”
“I’m good.”
She nods. “Levi filled me on what happened tonight at Mac’s. No one will bother you here.”
Jay scoffs and rolls her eyes. “He’s such a tattletale.”
Emerson pins Jay with a look. “It’s his job, Jayla.”
“Not for much longer,” she mutters under her breath.
“Excuse me?” Emerson counters.
“When I’m eighteen, I’m not being followed by a bunch of tattletales.”
Emerson pins her with a look. “We’ll see about that.”
“Um,” I interject, “May I ask… is there a reason for the bodyguards?”
Emerson looks to Jay. “I thought you filled her in?”
She shakes her head. “Not yet. She just got here.”
Emerson pinches her lips together and exhales harshly through her nose, clearly annoyed with her daughter.
Jay rolls her eyes again. “I’m Jayla Mackenzie King,” she begins. “My dad is Marcus King.”
I gasp and cough at the same time, choking on my own saliva.
“The Marcus King, of Royal Mayhem?” I ask incredulously, and she nods. “You’re Jaybird?”
Jay offers a sad smile as her eyes glass over with unshed tears.
“I’m sorry.” I bring my hand up to cover my mouth.
She shakes her head. “No. It’s okay.” She sniffs. “I’m just not used to other people calling me that.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Harper. It’s really okay.”
“Harper, I would appreciate it if you would keep this information to yourself,” Emerson says. “Only a few people know, and we’d like to keep it that way, at least until she graduates.”
“What about your Project Mayhem class?” I ask.
“They don’t know anything. I’m just another student,” Jay says.
“I appreciate you letting me stay here. And your secret is safe with me. Just as I hope my secret is safe with you.”
“Of course.” Jay moves toward me and pulls me into a hug.
“You can stay here as long as you like,” Emerson says.
Bass and the other guys, Troy and Levi, bring my stuff up to my room while Emerson and Jay help me unpack.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I pick it up to see it’s Josh calling. Holding up my phone, I point to the bathroom. “I’m gonna take this.”
“Hello?” I answer as I step inside the bathroom and close the door.
“I didn’t expect you to answer.” He sighs into the phone.
“I wasn’t planning on it, but since this is the last time I’ll ever speak to you….”
“So that’s it, huh? You’re done?”
“Done?” I bark out a maniacal laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I hiss. “You certainly have balls asking me that after your wife showed up at my work, slapped me in the face, and trashed my car.”
“Wait, what did you say?”
“You heard me, Josh. I spent the entire day feeling guilty for lying to you but you lied, too. So, yes. I am so done. Do not call me. Do not show up at my work. Leave me alone or I will file a restraining order against you. You got it?”
“Harper—”
“Bye, Josh.” I stab the End button and tap my phone against my chin.
A second later there’s a knock on the door. “Harper,” Emerson calls from the other side. “Are you okay?”
Opening the door, I find Emerson standing there holding the journal, and I feel myself go pale. Oh crap!
“This looks personal,” she says, passing the book to me. Did she read it? It’s hard to tell by her neutral expression. “I wasn’t sure where you’d want me to put it.”
“Thanks.” I move over to the nightstand and slip it inside the drawer.
Jay props her hands on her hips and scans the room with a determined look on her face. “I think we got most of it put away.”
I smile. She’s so funny. Even when she’s not trying to be.
“No worries.” I wave them off. “I can deal with the rest later.” I stretch my arms over my head and
let out a yawn.
“It’s late,” Emerson announces. “You two need to get to bed. We can finish up tomorrow.”
I thank them both again, then head straight for the shower. I’ve never felt so dirty in my life.
I WAKE BEFORE my alarm, in an unfamiliar bed, but I slept better than I have in years. It only takes a second for the events of last night to come back to me. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was living with a married man.
How did this happen?
It’s your own fault, Harper.
Don’t I know it.
Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I shoot Mia a quick text so she doesn’t worry. I moved out of the loft last night. I’m staying with Jay. It’s a long story but I promise to fill you in later. Xoxo
A few seconds later, Mia replies with WTH?
Getting ready for school. I’ll call you as soon as I can.
You better.
I will. TTYL
K.
Tossing the covers back, I slide out of bed and head to the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, I’m dressed as I quickly work my hair into a fishtail braid and slip on my shoes. Music drifts from little white speakers in the ceiling, and I smile when Macy Gray’s voice floats through the room.
“I forgot to mention our morning dance parties,” Jay says from the doorway with a grin on her face. She’s dressed in the required school uniform, Tory Burch loafers on her feet and a matching Tory Burch backpack over her shoulder. “It’s sort of a tradition my dad started with my mom before I was born. We rotate each day on who gets to pick the song. I’ll make sure to add you to the rotation.” She winks, making me smile. The song switches to Usher’s “Yeah” and Jay’s smile widens. “Come on. This is Grace’s jam, and trust me, you don’t want to miss her gettin’ down in the middle of the kitchen.” She laughs and walks off.
