Almost Never

by Amy Lamont

  The grin faded as he realized he'd managed to stay out of fights for his entire life up until a few weeks ago. And twice now he's been driven to using his fists. Because of Harper. Shit, maybe he should have gone with his first instinct and left her alone.

  But the image of her throwing herself into his arms and smiling happily up at him replayed. Having that was worth any amount of trouble being in a relationship with her might bring.

  At that, he was consumed with the that he needed to get to her and somehow make this right. He'd grovel if he had to.

  "Professor Costa, do you need me for anything else?"

  A small smile played over the professor's mouth. "No, you can go, Mr. Cooper."

  "Thanks." Declan dashed over to two of the pledges and tasked them with overseeing the rest of the evening and the clean up.

  Hell, not like they needed his supervision. Without him, the night would have gone a lot more smoothly. They'd even managed to clean up his mess behind him. He had more important things to do.

  He sped out to the parking lot, hoping beyond hope that Harper would be there. Maybe she didn't leave. Maybe she just ran out to get away from the drama.

  A quick glance around the lot told another story, though. Her car was most definitely gone. He ran to his truck and headed towards her apartment, cursing himself as he went. He'd let her yell at him. She could even hit him if it would make her feel better.

  He didn't care what she did, but whatever it was, he knew one thing--he wasn't leaving until he'd convinced her to stay with him.

  Harper slammed the apartment door behind her and flicked away the remnants of tears from her cheeks. She threw her coat over the hook in the entryway and headed into the living room, coming to an abrupt stop when she caught sight of Jamie and her friend, Beth, watching a movie there. Just what she needed, an audience. She bit back a sigh.

  Jamie turned and started to wave, but sat up completely after one look at Harper. She picked up the remote and paused the movie, causing Beth to whip her head around to stare at Harper, too.

  Shit, she should have taken the time to wipe her face off before she came upstairs. She bit her lip, wanting nothing more than to escape into her room and not have to face down a Jamie interrogation.

  Jamie stared at her a long moment before raising an eyebrow. "So, what now?"

  Harper took half a step backwards, shocked at the sarcasm dripping from Jamie's words. Not that Jamie didn't have her snarky moments, but seriously? Harper walks in crying and Jamie gets a nasty attitude? And in front of someone Harper barely knew, no less. Yeah, no way Harper was putting up with that crap.

  "What?" she bit out.

  "Let me guess," Jamie said, "you and Declan are fighting. Again." She rolled her eyes at Beth and Harper lost it.

  "Oh no, James," Harper said with every ounce of snarkiness she could dredge up, "let me guess. Instead of offering a shoulder to cry on, you're going to take this opportunity to enlighten me about every one of Declan's bad qualities and say I told you so. Again."

  Jamie's eyes widened. "Excuse me if I don't like seeing my FRIEND crying over a guy every five minutes. But you're right. Why bother giving you advice if you're going to keep on going and making bad decisions anyway?"

  Harper opened her mouth, but before she could get a single word out, someone knocked on the front door.

  "Gee, wonder who that could be?" Jamie sneered toward the front door.

  Harper's heart jumped into her throat. She didn't want to talk to Declan. She didn't want to see him. She wanted to go to her room and hide under the covers for the foreseeable future.

  She looked at Jamie's scowling face. No help to be had there. It's not like after the exchange they'd just had that she could ask Jamie to answer the door for her and make up some excuse to send Declan on his way.

  Another knock. Shit.

  Jamie raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to let your boyfriend in, Harper? Or were you going to ask me to help you deal with him? Again."

  Shit, damn, fuck. Harper felt like throwing something at her best friend. Preferably something hard and sharp.

  She settled for a nasty look in her direction before she headed to the door to deal with Declan. She paused right before she threw the door open wide, and instead took a second to put the chain on the door.

  I will not cave and let him in. I will not cave and let him in. She took a deep breath and opened the door only as wide as the chain would allow--enough to see Declan slouched in her doorway, arms braced on either side of the door. He'd rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up, leaving his forearms bare. With his arm only inches from her face, Harper's eyes lingered on the prominent veins.

  Geez, even his forearms were lickable. Is there anything about this guy that isn't perfect?

  That thought brought her to a screeching halt as the events of the evening came back to her. The arm she'd just admired was probably the same one he'd used to drive a punch into Drew and drop him directly on Professor Costa's table. That thought was enough to bring her to her senses.

  "What do you want, Declan?"

  "To see you. To apologize. Please let me in?

  " His voice trailed into a plea as he stared down at her, his eyes begging her to listen to him.

  God, why did she want nothing more than to throw the door open and let him in? She was an idiot, that's why. He'd practically put an end to all her plans to get Professor Costa to reconsider her for the mentorship program. And unlike him, she didn't have a wealthy family waiting in the wings to bail her out. She only had herself. But here he was with his broody, smoldering gaze trained on her and she had to fight to keep her knees from buckling. She straightened her spine. She wasn't going to be that girl.

  "Fine. You apologized. Anything else?" she asked flatly.

  "Harper, please. Can't we talk about thi? I know, believe me I know I messed up. But I couldn't stand there and let Drew talk about you..." He bit his words off with a curse.

  "Do you think you're telling me anything I don't know, Declan? I don't have to be psychic to know that Drew was spouting off about me." She was practically yelling at this point.

  A door down the hall opened and a voice called out. "Everyone okay down there?"

  Harper squeezed her eyes shut. Just what she needed right now--Mrs. Beidermeir couching her nosiness in questions about her welfare.

  She opened her eyes and with a hard glare at Declan, shut the door long enough to unlatch the chain and open it again. She stuck her head into the hallway. "Fine, Mrs. Beidermeir. Sorry we disturbed you."

  Mrs. Beidermeir waved and then stood in her doorway for several long moments. No doubt trying to find an excuse to linger and find out what was going on down here.

  "Oh for heaven's sake," Harper said under her breath. "Declan, why don't you go? I don't think we have anything left to talk about."

  "You're wrong. I get you're angry.”

  "Oh, you do? Thanks so much for trying to see things from my perspective. That just makes everything so much better." Harper clenched her teeth to keep from shouting. Whispered sarcasm didn't have the same impact.

  "Please just hear me out. You have to at least let me tell you Professor Costa doesn't hold you responsible for any of this. I know I ruined your night, but I promise, I didn't ruin your chances with him."

  How could he know that? "Did you stop in the middle of your fistfight to make sure of that?"

  "There wasn't a fistfight, Harper," Declan said wearily. "There was one punch and Drew landing on the table. What you saw was all there was too see except the cleanup."

  She narrowed her eyes, unsure whether to believe him or not. When she walked into the dining room earlier, Declan looked fit to be tied. And like he was ready to go another ten rounds with Drew.

  He held up his hands. "I swear. That was the end of it."

  Maybe some of the teachers or other brothers present had managed to put a stop to things before they got worse? She wasn't willing to forgive him based on the idea
he didn't do more damage. As far as she was concerned the damage was done the moment Declan pulled back his fist. But curiosity got the better of her. "What made you stop?"

  "You did."

  She snorted and leaned against the doorframe. "Seriously? I had nothing to do with that fight. Or the ending of it."

  He nodded. "You're right. You aren't responsible for the fight starting. That's all on me and Drew. But you are responsible for ending it. I saw the look on your face when you walked into the room and I was standing over Drew." He raked a hand through his hair. "And all I could see was the look on your face not five minutes before when we were in the kitchen. I don't think I'd ever seen you so happy. When Drew walked in and your walls came up, I hated it. You were all closed off again. You stopped me from hitting him. But when you walked away and he started running his mouth....I just couldn't take it. I didn't think. I just acted."

  "But I had just warned you not to let him get to you." She couldn't help but argue with him. Her heart melted just a little at hearing his anger had been on her behalf. But seriously? She’d just told him not to let Drew get to him.

  "I know. I'm sorry. I really am. If I could take it back I would. I don't know what happened. Twice now I've punched that guy. Twice." Declan paced a small square of carpet in the hallway. "I've gone my whole life without ever once getting into a fistfight. And now twice in a matter of weeks, I had no control over myself."

  "You've never been in a fight before?" She couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice. Everything about Declan screamed bad boy from his clothes to his rockstar father to the gaggle of blondes he'd had hanging off his arm every time she'd spotted him on campus the last few years.

  "Are you kidding me? I've told you what my father's like, Harper. He wants me to be prove to the world he's not some piece of trailer park trash. If I'd gotten into a fight as a kid and it broke in the press...hell, even if it hadn't and the kid I hit turned out to belong to one of his fans, he'd have knocked me into the next week."