Stealing Harper (Taking Chances #1.5)(20)

“Don’t act like you don’t know. You tried to warn me; you knew he would do this.” Her phone rang, and after ignoring the call, she shoved it back in her pocket.

“Princess, I promise you I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’ll kill him for hurting you. Please tell me what happened.” I let go of her arms, only to wrap one around her, bringing her closer to me, and with the other I tilted her chin up so I could look into her heartbroken gray eyes. Oh my God, Harper, what did he do to you?

A short cry escaped her, and her body relaxed into me as she cried softly against my chest.

“You’re okay, Princess, I’ve got you. Tell me what happened, and I swear I’ll do everything I can to make this better for you.” I ran my now-free hand up and down her back and tightened my hold on her when her phone rang again.

“Can you take me to the dorms, please?”

“You sure you want to go there?”

She nodded against my chest, and I knew Brian was right. I was in love with her. I wanted her in my arms forever, I wanted to take care of her when she was sick, hold her when she was upset, and kiss her senseless during the happy times. I took a deep breath and reluctantly let her go. It was not the time to push her into anything. She was upset over another guy, and I didn’t want to be the rebound.

“ ’Kay, get in the truck, Princess.” I helped her into the passenger seat and saw her body go rigid when her phone rang again as I got into the driver’s seat. “Is that him calling again?”

“Yep.”

“Are you going to answer it this time?”

“Nope.”

I scooted across the seat, cupped her face in my hands, and wiped away the last of her tears. “Tell me what happened.”

Before she could say anything her phone rang again, and she answered it this time. “What, Brandon?”

Oh hell. I was glad not to be on the receiving end of that. No more cute fierce looks; she looked like she could kill someone. I went back to my side and started driving toward the dorms.

“Seriously? You’re really going to play that game with me?—I left.” She started silently crying again and shook her head quickly. “Please stop calling me, Brandon.”—“Why don’t you ask Amanda? I’m sure she’d be more than happy to show you why I left.” Not two seconds later, she ended the call and held the power button until she could turn her phone off.

Amanda? Who the hell is Amanda? I stayed silent for a few minutes before reaching over and grabbing her hand. Thank God she didn’t remove hers. “Who’s Amanda?”

“Apparently she’s some girl he’s sleeping with. Bree and I saw her on Monday with him and a group of guys.”

Uh, I’d have known if Brandon were cheating on Harper. Even with avoiding the house. “Why do you think he’s cheating on you?”

“I was getting back in my suit and his phone kept going off! I wasn’t going to look, but I swear it went off like fifty times—okay not really fifty, but a few. It just seemed like a lot—whatever! So, anyway, I just leaned over to see who they were from, and there was a picture of this chick’s shaved vaj!” My eyebrows shot up, but I didn’t interrupt her. “So I opened his texts, and there was another picture of her boobs and her face, and she was saying things like, ‘I can’t wait ’til tomorrow’ and ‘I can’t wait to feel your lips all over me again’ I feel so stupid.”

“You shouldn’t.” Oh my God, what am I doing? This is the perfect opportunity to get her away from Brandon, but if she was this upset over the possibility of his cheating, I knew I wouldn’t be able to be more than what I already was for her. She needed to get over Brandon on her own another way, then come to me; but not from something she thought was happening. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think you’re wrong, Harper.”

“Excuse me? I know what I saw, Chase!”

I pulled up outside her dorm and put the truck in park before turning to look at her, “I’m not saying that, but he wouldn’t do that to you. That’s not the kind of guy he is, but even if he were, he would have told one of us. We tend to brag about girls we’re with. And as much as I hate him for it, all he does is talk about you.”

“Do you realize how all over the place you are? A week ago, you were telling me not to go on a date with him, and now you’re defending him?”

Yeah, I realized it; and yeah, I was driving myself just as crazy as I was driving her. “I’m not doing it for his benefit, trust me. I don’t want you with him, that hasn’t changed; I just hate seeing you hurt like this.”

She looked at me curiously for a few moments before removing her hand and reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for the ride, Chase.”

“Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to stay with you?”

“I’ll be fine, I’m tougher than you think. Go to work; I’ll see you around.”

I watched her walk inside before putting my car in drive again; once I pulled into the shop’s parking lot, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Brandon.

“What?”

God, he sounded rough, “Just thought you’d like to know where Harper is.”

“What’d you do to her?”