9. We look like each other’s dates

NINE

WE LOOK LIKE EACH OTHER’S DATES

SHEP

Oomph.

The sound of my fist connecting to the punching bag reverberates throughout my room.

I’m about to go for a few more rounds to end my training and get ready for the date party, when I’m interrupted by a knock on my door.

“Come in!” I call out.

The door opens and Wes takes a few steps into my room. “How’s it going?” He points at the punching bag.

“Good, I’m just trying to work off some stress before tonight.” I start to unwrap my knuckles and walk over to my computer, pausing the music I had playing in the background.

“Something happen?” Wes inquires.

“Nah, it’s all good. What’s up?” I toss the wrap on my desk.

I’ve been boxing now for almost a year. It started when Dad brought me with him to the precinct and some of the new cops were practicing self-defense. One of them mentioned how beneficial boxing had been for their fitness and overall health. It also doesn’t hurt to know how to protect yourself. I’m not one for violence, especially growing up with someone like my dad who always advocated against it. But with boxing, it’s really more about the work out than the fighting to me.

“I caught wind of what went down today, or at least I heard that something happened at the pool with Harlow.”

The burning feeling in my chest is back and I try to not show how affected I am.

“She really can’t catch a break.” I huff out. “Honestly, I’m the one who caused a scene.”

I continue to clean up my room from my workout while filling Wes in on what happened earlier. I do my best to leave out the moment shared between Harlow and I, while still making sure he understands how badly she got screwed over today.

After he makes sure I’m actually okay, he leaves my room so I can get ready for tonight. I walk back over to my laptop and press play on my music. “MAGNETIC” by Wage War starts up again and I get lost in the lyrics.

I think over the moment earlier when I drew Harlow to my chest. I wonder if she noticed how perfectly she fit against me. Probably not.

I continue getting ready for the night with her on my mind. If anyone knew how much I think about her they might be concerned, but I really can’t help it. Weeks of observing her, then having her in my arms today, damn, I want to do that again.

I grab my suit jacket off the back of the chair and call out to my beloved Dahlia girl from my room, “Daddy needs you to come here please so we can get you settled before I head out.” The light jingling of her collar lets me know she’s on her way in so I open up the door to her crate before tossing a treat inside.

“Wes, are you ready? I’m putting Dahlia up now.” My voice rings out into the townhouse while Dahlia is curling up inside her crate. Kneeling to the ground, I pull a blanket up over her, then lean into her crate plopping a kiss on top of her head. “Be good, my girl.” She looks up at me with her sweet pittie eyes before returning my kiss with a sloppy wet one of her own.

As I lock her crate, Wes stands in my door frame. “Damn, we look pretty good.”

I look over in his direction to realize we are dressed almost exactly the same. I roll my eyes while I grab my suit jacket and push past him, shutting my door behind me. I didn’t even want to dress up but, of course, I agreed and now we look like each other’s dates. Honestly, it’s par for the course.

“You ready to see your girl tonight?” Wes uses a sing-songy voice as he trails behind me to the front door.

“I don’t know, are you ready to see yours?” I snap at him but to my surprise he replies with a simple, “Yes, I am actually.”

“Whatever, you’re driving.” I throw my keys at him before walking over to the passenger side of my truck. Maybe I am excited to see Harlow, but there’s no way in hell I’m telling Wes that. “I’m also DJ-ing,” I say before Wes can turn the radio on.

We drive listening to Noah Kahan and my stomach starts to knot up thinking about seeing Harlow again after how today went. Should I even talk to her? I need to think of some sort of game plan. I could just say hi to her in passing and play it cool, but that doesn’t feel natural for me. I genuinely do care about the girl, yet she has made it pretty clear she wants nothing to do with me.

“Hello? Earth to Shep?” Wes raises his voice and I realize we are already at the Chi Kappa house. I get out of my truck and grab my suit jacket, sliding my arms into the sleeves and pulling it on over my all-black outfit. Pulling on the collar of my button down to make sure it’s sitting nicely above my jacket, I turn to look at my reflection in the window of my truck.

Damn, I do look good.

Wes walks ahead of me towards the front of the house and the tight feeling in my chest is back. What if Harlow didn’t even show up to this? All these nerves for literally nothing. A few brothers stop and shake my hand. We exchange minimal conversation while Wes also catches up with some of the friends he has made from attending so many of these functions with me.

I scour the crowd in the house for Harlow’s blonde hair but don’t see her yet. Wes however looks over at me and nods his head in the direction of the outdoor area, mouthing one word that has me nearly knocking over the people around me to get to where he is.

“Harlow.”

I meet him at the edge of the grand french doors that lead from our main dining hall to the back of our house where another bar is set up by the pool. It takes all of two seconds for me to find her and when I do, my heart nearly stops.

Harlow’s beautiful—there’s no doubt about it—but the sight of her right now has me in awe. The heels she’s wearing make her toned legs look like they could go on for miles. Her entire back is exposed in the sparkly little dress she’s wearing. Her long blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail and for a moment I lose myself in the thought of pulling on it to have her fall back into my arms. I wonder what she tastes?—

“Wait, Shep, that’s the brunette I was telling you about.” Wes interrupts my thoughts. I move my hips slightly to try and adjust myself in my pants then look back in the direction of Harlow and the girl next to her.

“Hold on. Like, the girl you’re into? Is with Harlow?” I cock my head taking in the scene before me. The two girls are chatting, sipping wine, while looking around themselves. Harlow suddenly fixates past the pool. I follow her gaze to see Beckett looking at her, then me, then back to her.

Looks like it’s my time to shine.

“Come on, let’s go over there.” I nudge Wes in the direction of the girls. He moves slowly like his brain isn’t connecting with his feet, then snaps out of it and walks with confidence.

As I get closer to Harlow, the same smell that I remember from the first time I saw her at a date party dances in the air around me, sending me back in time.

We were hosting our annual charity event. I was in charge of helping with the door that night and I remember her showing up late. She flew past me, her blonde hair leaving behind a scent of vanilla spice and cherries that I wanted to envelop myself in, and beelined straight for Beckett.

She was wearing this oversized flannel and some black boots. At first it was strange to see, because everyone else was pretty dressed up. But I came to learn—that’s Harlow.

I saw her again later and she had clearly changed at some point after breezing past me. She looked as breathtaking then as she does now. I don’t think she ever left my sight that night until I noticed her slip out early. The second she left, I felt her absence.

It was then that I realized there would never be a moment that Harlow could escape my attention if we were ever in the same place at the same time again.