8. Harper

8

HARPER

"Heard you caused a riot at work today," Oliver said as soon as I walked through the door.

I hated being the talk of the town, but the riot wasn't even my fault. "Technically, it was a customer that started it. I just happened to be there."

"You always happen to be there," he laughed. "There's a picket line outside the grocery store."

"What are they picketing?"

"The run on toilet paper. I heard the mayor is holding a press conference later."

Groaning, I dropped my head into my hands. I really hoped he was joking.

"They're even covering it on the local news."

My head snapped up as he turned up the volume on the TV. The camera panned over the grocery store and the line of customers outside, holding up signs and chanting in the background. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could guess it wasn't good.

"—where earlier today, there was a run on toilet paper. Reports indicate that a cashier in the store was discussing the avocado wars in Mexico and somehow, the topic turned to a run on the bank, which was then compared to toilet paper. We're still trying to piece together how this sleepy town suddenly ran out of the essential commodity, but the owner is not happy and said the employee that started this all will be dealt with swiftly. Back to you in the studio."

I stared at the TV for what felt like an hour. I couldn't believe it. Who would even report such a thing? "I'm going to lose my job," I whispered.

"Oh, relax," my brother chuckled. "It'll all blow over in no time."

"Easy for you to say. You know my boss hates me."

"Because you daydream more than any person on earth."

"I can't help it! My mind wanders and?—"

"And what?"

I snapped my lips shut, not having a response for him.

"Maybe you should consider a career that doesn't involve customer service."

"Such as?"

He thought long and hard about it before coming up with an answer. "How about going into business for yourself?"

Oh, this was good. "Doing what?"

"Well, you already have a leg up in the bathroom industry. You could start a cleaning service."

"You're so funny." I stuck out my tongue at him, feeling seriously depressed. How did this become my life?

"It's not like you love the job anyway. Something else will come along and you can quit."

"We live in the smallest town known to man. I really doubt that's true."

"Well, maybe you'll find a rich husband and you won't have to work anymore."

I didn't like the idea of that either. I wanted to do something important with my life, but getting there was becoming more difficult by the day. I was what my brother called flighty. I thought I knew what I wanted, and then I changed my mind, sure I would think of something better. It drove him nuts, but he'd learned to live with it. My parents, on the other hand, had never understood me. They thought for sure I would go out into the world and find my dream job. And when that hadn't happened, they never gave up hope, telling me it would still happen for me.

I was left wondering when.

"At least Gram hasn't heard of this yet."

I cringed at the thought. My grandparents were already supremely judgmental of my life. If they suspected for even a moment that I was the cashier causing all the trouble in town, I would get a lecture from both of them.

"Luckily, they live far enough away that they might never hear about this."

"Have you heard from Gram lately?" Oliver asked.

"No," I sighed. "But whenever I screw up, Gram seems to just know and show up. It's like she has a sixth sense about these things."

"Remember that summer we spent with them and we were supposed to be planting flowers," he chuckled.

"And I knocked over the cart of flowers and then you ran them over with the lawn mower?" I said, still shuddering at the anger in Gram's voice. "Yes, I recall it vividly.

"You took the blame for me."

"Well, you had already gotten in trouble for breaking Gram's favorite vase," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I still don't understand how they believed that you knocked over the flowers and ran them over all by yourself."

I shook my head, still humiliated by how that played out. "I'm a terrible liar. But I just kept thinking the whole time that I wasn't going to tell them the truth no matter what." I rested my head back against the chair with a deep sigh. "What am I going to do with my life?"

I wasn't really asking him. He didn't know any more than I did. But like the good brother he was, he answered anyway.

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

I rolled my head to the side to look at him. "When in my life have I ever had it figured out?"

He shrugged. "I was just being kind. You'll probably screw it up like everything else, but that doesn't mean I don't love you."

"You're the only one."

"And the only one you need," he pointed out .

"Don't you want more than this?" I asked, looking around the house. I was tired of living in our parents' house. It was like constantly trying to live up to a ghost. Everywhere I looked, they were there. And while that should be comforting, instead, it felt like they could see every failure I had. And they were judging me for it. I could feel it when I closed my eyes at night.

"I have a good job. I like it here."

"But…don't you want something of your own? We haven't even changed anything around here."

It was the wrong thing to say. While I wanted nothing more than to escape this house that was a shrine to our parents, my brother was comforted by their constant presence.

"Why would we change anything?"

"Because it's not ours."

"It's a reminder of what they gave for us."

"They were in a car accident," I reminded him. "They hardly gave anything for us."

"We were in that car too. We could have died right alongside them," he said angrily.

Every once in a while, I would bring up something about my parents and Oliver would get really upset. It was pointless to talk to him about them when he still held them on a pedestal. Yes, they were great parents, but they were gone, and we were still very much here.

"But we didn't. We should be living our lives for us," I argued.

He shoved to his feet angrily, glaring down at me. "I'm living for me and for them. They would want to know I'm doing everything I can to make something of myself."

The barb hit right where he intended, and I saw the immediate regret in his eyes before he stormed off. Pain lanced through my chest at his words. I tried not to let them get to me, but he was right in a way. I was letting our parents down.

"This is my life," I whispered to myself, ignoring the tears that filled my eyes. "I will not let my dead parents rule my life."

I pushed to my feet and headed to my room for a shower. I might not be doing much to make my parents proud, but I wouldn't sit around feeling bad for myself tonight. I was going out to have a good time.

When I stepped through the doors, my confidence immediately vanished. Luna was meeting me here, but she was notoriously late, so here I stood by myself, wearing a sparkly silver dress that made me feel awesome when I put it on, but now had me second-guessing myself as I looked around the bar. I was way over-dressed, and based on the looks I was getting, the men here thought I was looking for a fun night.

Which I wouldn't mind, but I hadn't come here with the intention of doing anything other than drinking a mango margarita and letting loose.

Putting one heel in front of the other, I walked over to the bar and flagged down the bartender, but he was busy talking to someone else. Flirting, more like. I opened my mouth to call out, but lost my nerve as he physically turned away from me to talk to the femme fatale just a few stools down.

"You're going to have to do something to get his attention," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I turned, my eyes wide as I stared at my hero. But when he saw who I was, the sexy smirk on his face immediately dropped and he backed up a step.

"Uh…sorry. I didn't realize…"

"That it was me?" I finished for him. "Well, I can't blame you. I'm not wearing my customary red vest. But this is better, don't you think?"

He clearly didn't want to take too close a look, but couldn't help it, letting his eyes trail over my curves that this dress just happened to accentuate very well. Maybe wearing it wasn't such a bad idea.

"Yeah," he croaked out, taking another step back just as Fox walked up behind him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"It's grocery girl! "

The nickname left something to be desired, but I appreciated that he recognized me and was happy to see me. "Harper."

"Harper. That's an awesome name. Strong and a little crazy. I like it."

"I can't take credit for it. I didn't name myself."

He laughed as if what I said was completely hilarious, but my attention was solely on Edu, whose eyes were firmly planted on my chest. I shifted ever-so-slightly, thrusting my breasts forward.

His eyes shot up to mine and he knew he'd been caught.

"What was that?" I asked.

If anything, he seemed angry I was calling him out on his blatant staring. "I should get back to my table."

"Hey, you should join us," Fox said excitedly.

"Oh, I still need my drink." As much as I was infatuated with the sexy man standing in front of me, I had no desire to get his glares for the rest of the night.

"I gotcha." He whistled loudly at the bartender, waving him over. I hated how quickly the bartender walked over at Fox's command. "The lady needs a drink."

"Of course. What can I get you?"

He shot me a charming smile, but I could tell he was irritated he was pulled away from the woman he was talking to.

"Mango Margarita."

"Coming up."

Before I could slip away, Fox was pulling me by the arm over to a round table where several other men sat. Edu took his seat, not bothering to make room for me, but that was okay. I clearly freaked him out with my obsessive observations and daydreams.

"You know Edu. He hates eighties music, by the way. And then there's Lock. Careful around him."

"Why? Is he dangerous?" I whispered.

"We're all dangerous, but that's not why you have to be careful. There are two things you have to know about Lock. One, he is a fearless leader, always thinking ten steps ahead. And two…he will plan out the seating arrangements if you let him. "

Lock tossed a crumpled up napkin at Fox, hitting him in the face. "I have other qualities."

"Yes, like that amazing hair. You don't see that just anywhere. And then we have Brock. He's the other Lock. Pretty and always carrying a comb. He probably has more hair products than you do."

"Um…"

"And finally, we have Scottie Dog."

"That's not really his name, is it?"

The man grinned at me, popping some nuts in his mouth. "Just Scottie."

"He's also known as the vomit comet and has some pretty dangerous tactical vomit, if you get too close."

The smile on Scottie's face instantly disappeared. "I'm also an excellent pilot."

"Well, that too," Fox chuckled. "And you know me."

"Yes, the man who eats avocados in the check out lane."

"They were delicious," he said, unapologetically.

My eyes shifted again to Edu, who was doing his best to ignore me.

"Your margarita," the waitress said, holding it out to me.

I took it from her, unsure of what to do now. Was I supposed to sit down or go back to the bar? I took a sip and glanced around for Luna, but she was nowhere to be seen. This was not how I planned on this night going.

Finally, as if Edu had no other choice, he dragged a chair over beside him. "You can sit here."

"Actually, I'm meeting a friend."

But Fox was already shoving me over to the seat, pushing me into it. I plopped down, all too aware of how close my leg was to Edu's. He noticed too, based on how his hand flinched away from my skin as if I burned him. I smiled internally, knowing I was getting to him.

It seemed everyone else at the table was also aware of how uncomfortable I was making Edu.

"So, how is it you know our good friend?" Scottie asked.

"Oh, I don't know him. He seems to always show up in my grocery line. "

"I don't show up in your line. It's just the only one available. Probably because you're daydreaming all the time."

"Only about you," I said, patting his hand as I grinned.

He pulled back, his eyes narrowing at me.

"You daydream about this guy?" Brock asked with a frown. "What about?"

Since he was already super uncomfortable and was doing his best to make me feel the same, I decided to mess around with him. "Well, one time, I had this amazing dream where I was pole dancing for him. That was pretty amazing."

"What were you wearing?" Brock asked, leaning forward.

"You're fucking taken," Edu growled.

Brock instantly pulled back. "Strictly for the purposes of the daydream," he clarified. "If you were wearing a nun's habit, I would think that was weird."

"I was not wearing a nun's habit. I had on these super cute panties that barely covered anything and the string up my ass—" I yelped as Edu yanked me out of my seat and pulled me over to what I could only guess was the dance floor.

He pulled me flush against his body, gripping my hip hard as his other hand skimmed up my back, settling just around my neck. "What the fuck are you playing at?"

"Playing?" I asked, cocking my head at him. "Who says I'm playing?"

"Are you trying to mess with me?"

"Actually, I'm not a very good liar. What you see is what you get."

"Try," he gritted out, but his body said something completely different as he pulled me impossibly closer. I felt his length hardening against me, though it was clear by the look on his face that he wished he could control his reaction to me.

Feeling like my throat had dried up, I licked my lips and stared up into his brown eyes. "What would you like me to say?" It came out scratchy and low instead of the sultry tone I was shooting for.

His fingers bit into my hip for just a moment before he released me, stepping away from me. "I think your friend is here. "

I tore my gaze from his, looking at Luna waving at me from the doorway. As I turned back to Edu, he was already gone.

Well, that was slightly disappointing, but what did I really expect? For a moment, it seemed like he wanted to kiss me. I could feel how much I affected him, but for some reason, he just wasn't interested in taking it further. I waved to Luna and snatched a table that had recently been vacated. Hoisting myself up onto the high stool, I realized I'd left my drink at the other table, but I wasn't about to go over there now.

"You look amazing," Luna gushed. "Who was that man you were dancing with?"

"We weren't dancing," I blushed. "He's the man I was telling you about from the store."

Her eyes widened comically. "That was him? Girl, he's hot!"

"I know!" I giggled.

"He was really into you."

I rolled my eyes at that. "I scared him off."

"Girl, from where I stood, he wasn't scared. He was about to devour you."

I couldn't help but laugh, then buried my face in my hands. "I made such an ass of myself in the grocery store. I'm surprised he even let me near him."

"Well, based on the look he's giving you right now, he either wants to strangle you or take you home and have his way with you."

I peeked over my shoulder, even though it was the last thing I should be doing. She was right. His smoldering gaze was directed at me. There was only one thing to do from here.