Stealing Harper (15 page)

“B
RANDON, WAIT UP!”

He hesitated for a second before continuing to close the door to his Jeep. Both hands scrubbed down his face before falling to the steering wheel.

“We need to talk.”

We still hadn’t spoken to each other since the morning Harper fainted. All the guys in the house knew she was pregnant and that we were together, but Drew had been joking about Harper’s “Buddha belly,” and next thing I know, Harper’s hyperventilating. I’d freaked out, trying to figure out what brought it on all of a sudden, and when I looked up I saw Brandon walking away from all of us. I don’t know what her reason to Brandon was when they broke up, and I didn’t know if all of our joking about it was the way he found out. But I owed it to him to talk to him about it.

“I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to say to you.” He kept his eyes trained straight ahead of him, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“Harper’s pregnant.”

He snorted. “Know that. And I know the baby is yours.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did; I should have come to you first.”

“Not really necessary since I’ve known. She told me the day she found out.”

I blinked quickly. “So you knew all that time, and you never said anything to me?”

“Wasn’t my place to tell you, Chase, it’s your baby. Harper needed to be the one to tell you.”

“No, not that.” I shook my head and took a deep breath, “I—I hated that you had her. I hated that I’d pushed her away in the beginning and told you she was available. And I just acted like a dick to you because of it. I started fights with you just because I wanted a chance to hit you. And you knew . . . for what? Two months? And you never did anything?”

“Three months.”

“What?”

He turned to look at me, his eyes glassy. “I knew for three months. As soon as I came back from Arizona, I knew. You couldn’t go more than a day without trying to start shit, and I come back and you won’t even say a word to me and look like you’re dead . . . and she couldn’t stop looking at that ring you gave her. I didn’t know she was pregnant yet, but I knew I’d already lost her.”

My gut churned with guilt. “And you did nothing?”

“What, Chase? What could I have done to make things different than how they were? She was in love with you, too. You’d already slept with her. She was already pregnant! I couldn’t fucking change anything. I couldn’t change the way she felt for you! So what’s the point of beating the shit out of you when it would change
nothing
?”

I watched as the tears rolled down his face, and, for the first time since all of this started, I felt sick. All I’d wanted was her, and I never considered how that would hurt my brother. All I cared about was how I felt like I was dying without her. “I’m sorry.”

“You were like a brother to me.” Before I could respond, he turned to glare at me again. “But I’m sure you can understand why I’m saying we’re done.”

Trying to swallow past the lump in my throat, I nodded and took a step back when he turned his Jeep on.

“Chase.” He cleared his throat and shook his head once. “That girl means everything to me. Which means her baby does, too. I will never do to you what you did to Harper and me. But know this. If you do not take care of them, and cherish them . . . I will not hesitate again to beat the living shit out of you. You get me?”

“I got you. I love them, I’ll always take care of them.”

With a hard nod, he threw his Jeep into drive and took off.

Chapter Twelve

“Y
OU GOT EVERYTHING
ready for today?” Brad asked as he jumped up onto the counter and brought Sarah between his legs.

“Pretty sure.” I took the last bite of my apple and threw the core into the trash. “Called the dealership, called the B&B . . . everything should be good to go.”

“Harper’s gonna love today, Chase.” Sarah said with a wide smile on her face. “So sweet of you to do all this for her. But she’s going to think you’re gonna propose with how the day is set up!”

I grinned. “I already know when I’m going to propose, and it’s not today.”

“When?” Her eyes brightened, and she bounced up on her toes a few times.

“You’ll see.” I shrugged and caught the bottle of water she threw at me. “I’m not telling anyone, it’s a surprise.”

“Whatever. So you’re going to find out if it’s a boy or a girl today?”

“Guess so, she’s due October 4, so she’s sixteen weeks today, and her doctor said we should be able to . . . but I already know—” I broke off, and the massive grin I’d been sporting fell as Brandon walked into the kitchen.

“It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on,” he said without looking at anyone as he grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and two bottles of water. “You don’t have to stop talking because of me.”

Brad’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two of us, and Sarah was covering her mouth while she slowly shook her head, her eyes full of pity as she watched Brandon.

After he’d grabbed a couple of protein bars and put everything in his bag, he finally looked back at us, his gaze resting on me. “Or maybe you do.” Without another word, he left the kitchen, and Brad hung his head.

I pushed away from the counter and followed after him. “Brother—”

“I thought we’d already decided we weren’t that, either.”

Grabbing his shoulder, I stopped him before he could reach the door. “Look, I’m sorry! I’m sorry I did this to you.”

He turned to look at me, his brow raised high. “You’re sorry. So, what . . . we go back to being cool again?”

“I don’t know, man. But we can’t do this.”

“And why can’t we? You couldn’t stand to let me have
one
normal day with her. Have I done anything to you since she and I broke up?” He paused, but I didn’t respond. “No. I haven’t. You dealt with it by being an ass, so let me deal with this my way. And my way doesn’t include acting like you didn’t steal my girl from me.”

“I didn’t steal Harper!”

He opened the door and took a step outside, his shaking hand gripping the outer knob. When he looked back at me, his eyes were flat and lifeless. “You stole my entire world.”

“Chase”—I turned to see Brad leaning against the wall—“you need to give him space. He’s right, you were the biggest dick to him while he was dating her. Now that you have her, you can’t act like the two of you can just go back to being the way you were. He needs time to get over what you guys did to him. You know he told Derek he planned to marry her?”

“No”—my eyes narrowed—“what’s your point, Brad?”

“His best friend and the girl he wanted to marry, stabbed him in the back. He has every right to try to ruin this for you, or at the very least to beat you into next week. And he’s stepped back . . . so let him step back. What you’re doing is just twisting the knife.”

I nodded and sighed heavily. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. Well, you’re about to find out if your son is actually going to be a son. And you planned a weekend I know Sarah is seriously jealous of.” I snorted, and he clapped my shoulder. “So cheer the fuck up. Because if Harper sees there’s something wrong, she’s going to want to know what it is. And you can’t tell her about this shit; she hates herself enough as it is.”

“I know.” No need to remind me that the woman carrying my child still loved someone else.

It didn’t take much for my mood to change again. Seeing Harper and being able to pull her into my arms always made everything right again. And knowing I was about to see our baby for the first time had everything else just slipping away. I met her doctor and talked with her about everything I’d missed so far and what to be expecting, and about took off running for the ultrasound room when it was time for that part of the appointment. Princess had just laughed and gripped my hand to keep me by her side, and I’d continued to cling to her when the doctor turned off the lights, and the ultrasound started.

And all I could think was
holy shit.

The air had left my body in a rush when our baby appeared on the screen and a lump formed in my throat. My mouth opened, but nothing came out, and when the heartbeat filled the room, it took everything in me to not break down right there.
This baby is
ours.
I turned to look at Harper and saw her eyes glistening through the dark in the room as we listened to our baby’s racing heart.

“I can’t even believe how perfect a position your baby is in right now! That is unreal.” The doctor laughed. “Now, did you
want
to find out the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”

“I already know.” My princess glanced back at the screen and smiled softly when I squeezed her hand and laughed.

“I told you, baby,” I whispered. “I told you it would be a boy.”

We both looked at Dr. Lowdry. “It is a boy, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he is definitely a boy.” She laughed again, and I watched as our baby boy moved around on the screen.

I looked back over at my beautiful girl and kissed her softly, keeping my lips brushing against hers as I told her, “I love you and our son so much, Harper.”

When I pulled back, I saw that her eyes were glistening, and a few tears had fallen down her face. Using my thumbs, I brushed the trail of wetness off her cheeks and was rewarded with a heart-stopping smile.

After the doctor handed us the ultrasound pictures, I continued to stare at our son as Harper and I left the building. I’d known for months that I was in love with the girl walking next to me, and I’d known that I would give anything to make her mine, forever. But I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with her all over again, or to have this instant love for our baby.

When we got to my truck, I grabbed around her waist and hauled her back to me, my mouth crashing down on hers. Harper laughed softly, and her arms went around my neck as I walked her slowly backwards ’til she was against my truck. Our kiss was slow and heated as I tried to show her how happy she was making me.

I broke the kiss on a huff and looked into her smiling gray eyes, “That was . . . that was absolutely amazing!” I laughed and kissed her hard once more.

Her hands found their way into my hair as she pulled back. “Having you there made it so special, all I could think about the last two times was how I wished you were there to experience it with me.” Harper’s eyes filled with pain when she whispered, “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.”

“No
sorrys
today. I love you, and we’re having a son.”
Holy shit, we’re really having a son.
I smiled and pushed some hair away from her face. “Today is only allowed to be an
I love you
day.” When she nodded, I opened the door and helped her into the truck before running around to the driver’s side and getting in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as my Princess looked over the pictures with a wide smile. I only hoped the rest of today kept her smiling just as big.

We stopped for Mexican food, but thank God Harper was too distracted by the appointment to notice I could barely touch my lunch. My palms were sweating, and I was praying that the rest of the day wasn’t too much too soon for her. I hadn’t been lying to Sarah and Brad. I already had an idea in mind for a proposal to the only girl in the world that would ever matter; and it wasn’t going to happen that day. But everything I had planned for that day could definitely scare her just as bad as a proposal this soon would.

I was so stressed, I couldn’t even hold Harper’s hand as I drove us to the Ford dealership I’d had her dream car sent to. So I kept the music up loud enough that there wouldn’t be much room for talking and kept my right hand on the steering wheel, so I wouldn’t go to grab her hand. There was no way she could miss my shaking if I did.

As soon as I pulled in, Harper’s head stopped moving in time with the music, and she instantly stopped singing, “Uh . . . ?”

I had to clear my throat before I could talk to her as I turned to grin at her. “So I’ve been thinking, you’re going to need your own car soon, and I happen to know that you want a blacked-out Expedition.”

“Chase . . .”

“I
may
have had one brought to this dealership.”

“No you didn’t.” Her already wide eyes got even bigger, and her jaw dropped as she looked around at all the cars.

“I said I may have. Never said I did.”

She backhanded my arm before opening her door and hopping out of the truck. I blew out one last shaky breath as I rounded the front of my truck and pulled her into my arms. She was chewing on her bottom lip and looking around me before finally meeting my eyes. “Are you being serious?”

I smiled and pressed my lips to her neck. “I am. But we can look around and see if there’s something else you want.”

“Babe! I can’t buy a car.”

Shit, here goes nothing.
“Maybe not, but
we
can.”

“You want to split it?”

A short, hard laugh escaped my lips at her adorably confused expression. “Not exactly. Okay, you can tell me if this is moving too fast, but since I plan on marrying you soon, I wanted to put you on my bank account so you have access to my money.”

“Chase”—her face had fallen, and I felt like I was holding my breath—“I don’t need you to do that, and I don’t need you to buy me a car.”

“I know, Princess, but I want you to have access to it. I make decent money at the shop, but Bree and I were also left a lot when Dad’s parents died. So I have more than enough in savings to take care of the three of us and to buy you a car. It’s not a big deal.”

“I know you want to, and to be honest, it kind of excites me that you want to share all that with me. But I’m saying . . . I
really
don’t need you to. If we’re going to share your bank account, then we should share mine, too.”

“Harper, that isn’t necessary.” Exhaling in relief, I pulled her into my arms again and thought I’d heard her wrong when she told me how much she had saved up.
Uh . . . come again?
It wasn’t as much as I still had for us, but I’d inherited the money I had in savings. Almost all bills, except for the house, came from what I made from the shop, so I rarely pulled any money out of savings.
She’d made
that
from working on base?
“Are you serious? Just from working on the base?” When she confirmed with one stiff nod, I whistled low. “Well damn, babe. That’s great, and if you want to add it to our accounts, that’s fine. But I’d rather not touch that money; we can save it for emergencies, and just let me take care of you.”

I’d been expecting some sort of argument, or at least hesitancy. But she just shrugged with an, “Okay,” and kissed me softly as she melted into my arms.

“You ready to look for a car?”

“Nope! No need to look. I already know I want the Expedition!”

She jumped out of my arms and grabbed my hand as she started walking off in the direction of the cars in the lot. I laughed and pulled her toward the showroom instead. Harper test-drove the completely blacked-out SUV and fell in love with it, just as I was hoping she would. We went through the process of buying it, and I swear the guy helping us scoffed when I said we would pay for the car right then.
Ass.
Once we were done with his stubborn ass, we drove separately to the bank and started the much-shorter process of adding Harper to my accounts and putting her savings into what was now
our
savings account. She was smiling brightly and bouncing along, and I wondered why I’d ever been worried about the day.

My family already knew what I had planned for it, but you could see the relief in Mom’s and Dad’s eyes as Harper excitedly showed them her new car and told them all about joining our bank accounts. When we were sitting at the table for dinner, we told everyone we were having a boy, and Mom had immediately ran to the kitchen to get the baby-name book, and we started through it right then. We must have highlighted three dozen different names before shutting the book for the night, and I watched as Harper lovingly ran her hands over her small stomach and talked to our “Gummy Bear,” as she’d come to call him. God, I was so in love with her.

After dinner, I packed my bag and threw it in my truck before giving Brian a call at the shop.

“Hey, man! Shit, took you long enough to call, Riss is freaking out texting me every ten minutes wanting to know how everything went.”

I snorted a laugh. “Tell her to calm her ass down. Everything went great, we’re—” inhaling deeply, I shook my head at the ridiculous smile I had on my face—“we’re having a boy.”

“Yeah?” He laughed loudly and shouted the news to whoever was in the shop before coming back. “Hate to break it to ya, Chase. But I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided you’re seriously confused and just
think
that this is your baby.”

My heart stopped, and my smile quickly fell. “The fu—”

“I mean,” he cut me off with a snort, “everyone knows it’s my baby. You’re just in denial.”

As soon as his words registered, I laughed out loud. “Seriously, I was about to go kick someone’s ass.”

“Just sayin’, I even told Riss. That baby is mine.”

“All right, I’ll let Princess know, too.”

“Damn straight you will! As long as we’re all on the same page, we’ll be good.”

“You’re such a dumb-ass.” I laughed again. “Tell Marissa that the rest of the day went well. Harper’s really happy, and we’re about to leave for the last part of tonight, er, this weekend.”

“You lucky bastard. All right, have fun but make sure my baby mama doesn’t overdo it.”

I shook my head. “See you Monday.”