Stealing Harper (Taking Chances #1.5)(61)

I tried to remember going to bed with Trish . . . I tried to remember going to bed period. I can’t remember anything past—another shooting pain went through my head as I tried to stand—Shit, I can’t even remember my last solid memory of last night!

“Chase—” Trish reached out for me when I stumbled into my desk, and again I smacked her arms away.

“Do. Not. Touch me.” I glared at her, and my breathing became rougher. How could I have done something like this to Princess? “What. The hell. Happened?” When she didn’t respond right away, I yelled, “Why the f*ck were you in my bed?”

“How can you do this to me, Chase? You’re going to pretend like I mean nothing to you just because your sister caught us?”

I turned to see my sister sobbing; Konrad’s nostrils were flaring as he held her tight and continued to shoot daggers my way.

“You bitch!” Breanna cried, and wiped angrily at her eyes as she looked back up at Trish. “Tell him the truth! Tell him!”

My eyes widened, and I turned to Trish while still cradling my head and trying to steady my breathing, so I wouldn’t vomit everywhere. “What, Trish? What’s the truth?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “Your sister’s psychotic. I don’t know what she’s even talking about.”

Before I could say anything about that, Konrad beat me to it, “You f*cking whore! Say another word about her, and I swear to God, I will forget about all my views on hitting a woman. Tell him that Harper was here! That she’s the one that found you two!”

I dropped to my knees and started dry heaving. Oh God. Harper was here. She was the one that found us. Oh my God, what have I done?

“The sooner that little slut found out, the better. She was ruining Chase’s life!”

“Get out!” I yelled between heaves. “Get the f*ck out of my house!”

“Chase—” Trish began again, but I cut her off.

“Get. Out!”

After another minute, the door to my room shut, and the only sound were Bree’s sobs and her repetitive words. “How could you, Chase?”

I couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have done that to Harper.

“Where’s Harper?” I groaned as I shakily got to my feet and began grabbing at my discarded clothes. “Breanna, please, where is Harper?”

“She left with Brandon.”

All the air left my lungs at Konrad’s words, and I tripped trying to get into my shorts. Slowly, I lifted my head ’til I was looking at them. “W-what?”

“She was crying and going to leave, so Brandon took her away from here. And you should be damn thankful for that. I want to beat the shit out of you right now, but Brandon looked like he was ready to kill you.”

“Chase,” Bree cried. “Why? How? How could you do this to her? I thought you loved her.”

I dressed and looked for my phone. As soon as I found it, I tried calling Harper twice, but it went straight to voice mail. “I wouldn’t,” I finally responded. “Bree, I wouldn’t. I love her, and I would never have done anything like this to her.”

“Then why—”

“I don’t know, Breanna! I don’t remember anything after—anything after—damn it! I don’t remember what happened last night!” I don’t even remember f*cking drinking! I tried Harper’s cell again and patted my pockets until I found my keys. “You said Brandon took her? Did he take her to the house?”

Konrad shook his head. “Harper said she couldn’t face your parents. I don’t know where they went.”

“I have to go find her.”

“Chase,” Konrad said roughly, as I reached my door. “Don’t do this to her. Don’t lie to her. If you love her, let her go. Don’t pretend like nothing happened.”

“I wouldn’t do this to her!” With that, I stormed out of my room and house. As soon as I was driving, I tried Harper one last time before calling Brandon.

“I warned you,” he growled in way of greeting.

“Please tell me she’s there.”

“I have her, but she needs this time to herself. She’s not in the car with me.”

“Where are you? I need to talk to her!”

“Like I said”—his voice lowered—“she needs to be by herself. Leave her alone.”

“Brandon—”

“I f*cking warned you!”

A sob broke through, and I pulled off into a nearby parking lot, threw my truck into park, and hunched in on myself. “I don’t know what happened—”

“Bullshit! You told Harper to meet you at the house this morning, then this chick comes walking out? Jesus, Chase! You should’ve seen Harper when she ran to your room and saw you. You just crushed her.”

“Told her to—what? No, I just woke up to Bree yelling!”

“You don’t deserve her. All this time, and you’ve just been playing games. For what, Chase? You make our lives miserable, you get her, then you just throw all that away?”

“No, no! I don’t remember last night at all.”

Brandon remained quiet for a long time. “I told you to cherish her. To cherish them.”

“I do! I—I honestly don’t remember last night at all! Did you see me with her? With Trish?”