Stealing Harper (22 page)

When I finished a couple hours later, I put everything in my purse and called out goodbyes to the too-awake baristas. As soon as I pushed open the door and walked out into the muggy night air, my phone went off and the words on the screen caused me to stumble and a chill to shoot through my body.

Blake: You look beautiful tonight.

Instead of bolting for my car like any sane person, I looked around until I found him. Well, running to my car wouldn’t have helped much; he was parked right next to it and leaning against the driver door of his shiny little Lexus.

How did he know I was here? If he didn’t know I was here, what is he doing here at two in the morning? Oh my word, he’s been following me! No, that’s ridiculous; come on Rachel get a grip. He is not following you, frick I really need to stop thinking the world and everyone in it revolves around me. He just happened to be here and saw your car. That’s all. Right? Right.

I took a few steps closer to the cars and took a deep breath as I dropped my phone back into my purse, trying to calm myself down. “Hi, Blake.”

“I was starting to think you would never leave, I’ve been out here for hours.”

Oh God, he had been waiting for me! Those words were creepy enough, but paired with the sexy, innocent smile they seemed even worse. I meant for my voice to sound strong and annoyed but it was barely a whisper, “Why are you following me?”

“Following you? I’m not following you. Candice told me you were waiting for me to pick you up from the study group. Jesus, Rachel, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost; are you all right?”

“Candice said what? No, I was definitely not waiting for you; I drove myself here. That should be obvious, since you’re parked next to my Jeep.” I didn’t know what was going on, but I wanted to get out of there and away from him. Now.

“Yeah, but your car isn’t starting. Which is why I’m here.” He said every word slowly like I was a child or something. “Don’t you remember Rachel? You called her almost three hours ago, but she was busy so you told her to call me. Are you feeling okay? Come on, get in the car I’ll get you back to your room.”

“I am
not
getting in your car, I’ll drive myself back!” With that I took the last few steps to my car, got in, locked the door and put the key in the ignition. I turned it but nothing happened. There wasn’t even a click. What happened to my car? I knew I hadn’t called Candice. And even then, if I’d wanted Blake to pick me up I would have called him myself. Someone tapped on the window and even though I knew who it was, I still jumped.

“Come on, Rach, this is dumb. Just get in the car I’ll take you back. I’ll get your car towed in a couple hours.”

There was no point in trying to call someone else. It was two in the morning, everyone was asleep, and I definitely couldn’t walk back at this hour. I let out a big sigh and opened the door.

“That’s my girl, come on let’s go.” He helped me into his car then got in beside me, this time he didn’t put his hand on my thigh.

The short drive to the dorm seemed to take forever, and besides asking me a few times if I was feeling all right; there was no conversation. Blake seemed genuinely concerned about me. Had I called Candice? Did I just forget about everything while I was writing to my parents? Is that why I went in to write to them in the first place? Maybe all the studying mixed with my caffeine high that was turning into a major crash had my mind all jumbled. I must have just forgotten. It would have been easy to grab my phone and check the recent call history, but something inside me tightened and I knew it would be the wrong thing to do. We finally reached the dorm, and just like this morning, Blake parked in the lot. Aces.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” He asked for the fifth time since we got in the car, “You freaked when you saw me.”

“I’m fine, really, don’t worry about me. I probably just forgot and lost track of time in there.” I tried to make my smile convincing, I didn’t want him to walk me to my room. I got out of the car, ducked my head back in to thank him and saw he was getting out too. Crap. Well, at least this would give me time to tell him I needed some space.

“You don’t really think I’m going let you walk up there by yourself, do you?”

“Of course not,” I muttered, “I was just trying to be polite. It’s late and you’ve already been waiting on me for hours . . . apparently.”

He just laughed as he walked toward me, put his arm around my waist and led me to my room. When we got there he reached out to open the door for me; at least the good bye would be short. But my happiness was short lived; he walked me into the empty room and then turned to shut and lock the door behind us.

“Where’s Candice?” I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking. How weird that just Thursday I’d spent hours alone with him in this room and had felt comfortable and enjoyed my time with him. But now, being in here with him felt . . . wrong.

“She didn’t tell you when you talked? All she told me was she was busy.” He said a little too innocently.

I turned to face the room again to see if her laptop or cell were around, if they weren’t I was going to call her immediately. Before I could find—or hopefully
not
find– everything, Blake came up behind me and began kissing the back of my neck.

“Uh, Blake? Can you not do that right now? I need to find out where Candice is.”

Instead of stopping, he turned me around, pushed me up against my wardrobe, and resumed his place on my neck. I tried pushing him back, but it was useless. The guy was a rock and he wasn’t budging.

“She’ll be back when she’s ready to come back.” He breathed between kisses and little bites.

Well I wasn’t about to wait for that to happen, I wanted him out of my room now, “Okay, I’m really ti—”

He quickly moved up to my lips, shutting me up, and his kisses became rough and possessive. Just as they’d been this morning, only these weren’t lasting three seconds. We were close enough to the door that he reached out to flip off the lights and caught me around my waist again before I could take advantage of the break in his strong hold. He started backing me up toward the bed, and I pushed as hard as I could against the hand holding my head in place. His only response was to push against me harder. My bed was high enough that it hit at the small of my back and helped me stay standing when he tried to push me down. When I didn’t immediately fall onto the bed, he pulled my head back to look at me, giving me the break I needed.

“You need to leave. Now!” my arms had been caught between us, but with the new space I put them against his chest and tried to push him back farther. Instead of moving away, he got a smile that turned my body to ice, and my arms to jello. This is what I’d imagine a crazy person looks like.

“You don’t mean that,” he growled as he pulled my face back to his.

Did he really think I was just playing hard to get? I wanted him off me! He let go of my waist and began searching for the bottom of my shirt, but even though my waist was free I still couldn’t move; I was caught between him and the bed. When he found it he didn’t waste time traveling up to grab my chest. I could feel him getting excited and it made me want to throw up. His lips moved back to my neck.

“Please. Stop.” I hated how small my voice sounded.

“This would be over sooner if you’d just lie down and shut up.”

Grabbing both sides of my waist he lifted me onto the bed, pushed me down and climbed on top of me. I tried to tell him to stop again, but nothing was coming out except for my rapid breathing. My body was shaking violently and I was dangerously close to hyperventilating. He bit my bottom lip causing me to gasp enough that he could slide his tongue into my mouth. Blake’s knees were pinning my legs to the bed and I bucked my hips and pushed against his shoulders, but he still didn’t move. He gathered both my wrists in one hand and pinned them above my head. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, I tried to move my head to the side so I could scream for help but he moved with me as he thrust his tongue in my mouth over and over again. I froze for all of five seconds before biting down on his tongue as hard as I could. He flew back with a pained cry and I tasted blood in my mouth. I was going to throw up. Before I could scream, his free hand slammed down on my throat and his face was directly above mine again. He growled as his blue eyes turned to ice and he just stared at me as I gasped for air.

“You’re going to regret doing that, sweetheart.” He vowed and my vision blurred from my tears, the outer edges were turning black as I struggled to stay conscious.

Blake’s breathing deepened and the look that crossed his painfully handsome face terrified me. My mouth opened and shut, but I couldn’t pull in any air and I couldn’t make a sound. My arms gave up their fight seconds before my bucking hips did the same, and soon I could hardly focus on Blake at all. I prayed that someone would come and save me as the hand that had been holding my hands down on the mattress slid down and cupped me through my thin yoga pants.

I felt his hot breath on my ear, “I’ll make sure you never want to fight me again, Rachel.”

The hand that was cupping me went up and slid under my pants and underwear. I tried to roll away but it was taking everything in me to stay awake. Tears spilled over and fell down my cheeks. Just as my mind started shutting down, the hand clasped around my throat was gone and I began gasping for air.

Waves of dizziness washed over me, and the blackness slowly faded away. I heard the distinct sound of his zipper over my gasps and sobs and my head shook slowly back and forth. I felt like I was underwater and couldn’t find my way to the surface. His hand closed around my throat again and I frantically tried to pull in air and claw at his hand, but it was useless. My arms lost function quickly and the edges of my vision were going black again, and I begged the darkness to come quicker. I didn’t want to be conscious through what he was doing. I didn’t want to remember this. The sweet numbness began claiming me, and at that moment, the most beautiful sound in the world came from outside the door.

Candice’s voice.

Blake was off the bed and putting himself back in his shorts in seconds while I wildly tried to take in as much oxygen as possible. He roughly pulled my pants up just as the key could be heard in the lock and took the few steps toward the door to flip the light on before coming back to my side. When the door opened, Blake was standing at the side of my bed looking down at me, the light brush over my throat and solid glare was clearly a warning. But I was still on the verge of fainting, now from trying too roughly to inhale.

Candice said goodbye to whomever she’d been talking to as she shut the door. “Oh, hey, cuz! I didn’t mean to—” Blake turned to look at her and Candice’s eyes went wide when she saw me, “Oh my God, Rachel, are you okay?!”

She rushed over to me, but Blake touched her arm and pulled her slightly away. “She was attacked by a couple guys outside Starbucks tonight. She called me about half an hour ago, she’s in shock but she’ll be okay.”

“What?!” Candice screamed and tears instantly filled her eyes.

What? No. No, no, no.
My head shook back in forth as I choked on a sob and my breathing got even faster and heavier. I tried to tell her that was wrong. That he was lying, but all that came out was ragged sounds of my breathing.

I could see Candice and Blake’s mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear anything else. Everything tilted to the side and the blackness came back full force. I reached out for Candice but missed her arm as the dark claimed me.

T
AKING
C
HANCES

1

M
Y FACE WAS
stretched in a wide grin as I looked around my bedroom one last time. I was doing it, finally going to live my life however I saw fit to live it. I’d grown up with only my dad, and I loved him, but he didn’t know how to be a parent. The only part he seemed to get was the word “no.” I promise I’m not just being a whiny teenager, that really was about the extent of our conversations. He is always around me, rarely talking to me and always silently expecting me to be perfect. Not that I could blame the way he is, he has been in the Marine Corps since he graduated high school, and apparently he’s really good at what he does. The guys that came through his units respected him, and he always exuded pride for them. He’d kept me home-schooled which resulted in me going to work with him every day and doing my work in his office. I learned early on that if I didn’t understand something, it was just better not to ask. He’d look up at me from under his lashes with a raised eyebrow, sigh, and then go back to whatever he was working on. I was expected to finish by the time he started drills in the morning so I could go out there with him, but he still never said a word. The only interaction I really ever had was with his Marines. If anyone were to ask, I would let them know in a heartbeat I was raised by a bunch of immature jarheads that I adored, not by my father.

And now, after eighteen years of struggling to achieve a perfection that couldn’t be reached in my father’s eyes, I was finally going to let loose, have the college experience—whatever that was—and hopefully find out who I am in the process. I could have easily gone to a college here, but to say that my dad was strict would be the biggest understatement of my life, and I wanted to experience things I knew I wouldn’t be able to if I stayed here.

“Are you sure you want to do this Harper? There are plenty of excellent schools in North Carolina.”

I kept my eyes trained on his. “I’m one hundred percent certain Sir, this is what I need to do.” Did I mention I’m only allowed to call him “Sir”?

“Well,” he looked past me at my window, “it will be different around here.” He turned and walked out of the room.

And that’s as good as it was going to get, to be honest, it was one of the longest conversations we had in a few months. Four sentences. It was surprising that he could talk to his guys all day long, but we start talking and he’s out of the room within minutes.

My phone chimed and I smiled again, my “brothers” weren’t thrilled I was leaving for California. I’d been getting calls, texts and messages on Facebook since last night begging me not to go. Now that I was older and closer in age with most of them, the guys no longer tried to raise me; they saw me as their sister or friend and taught me everything I needed to know when it came to other guys like them. It always made me laugh that most of them preferred to spend time with me rather than heading off base during their liberty, but I think they liked that I wasn’t one of those girls that tried too hard to get their attention. Not that they didn’t like that kind of attention, but apparently I was a nice break from the rest of the women they dealt with.

J. Carter:
DON’T LEAVE ME! I’m going to go insane without you here to keep me company.

Me:
I’m sure you’ll be fine Carter. Prokowski and Sanders seem to be taking it a little harder than most too . . . you can comfort each other ;) Or you can always take up one of the base skank’s offers. They’re sure to keep you better company than me.

J. Carter:
I think I got herpes just thinking about them.

Me:
Ha! Ew. I gotta go, Sir’s done loading up my bags in the car.

J. Carter:
I’ll miss you something fierce Harper. Have fun, don’t forget about me.

Me:
Never.

Jason Carter was twenty and had been in Sir’s unit for about a year, he and I had become close quickly. He was my best friend and if I was on base when they had liberty, he was always one of the guys that opted to spend time with me rather than hunt down women with some of his other friends. I had always been sad whenever one of the guys transferred to another base, unit, or finished their time in the Marine Corps. But I’m pretty sure Carter would have been one that would kill me to see go, so I wasn’t surprised that this was the sixth time he’s asked me not to leave within the last hour. He couldn’t have said it better, I would miss him something fierce too. I glanced around the house I’d grown up in one last time before meeting Sir in the car. That house was definitely something I wouldn’t miss.

Almost twelve hours, two cars and two planes later and I was standing in my dorm room at San Diego State University. My new roommate hadn’t checked in yet, but from the e-mails we’d sent back and forth over the last few weeks, she lived close and would be moving in a few days from now. I picked my side of the room and hurried to settle in before taking a shower and falling onto my bed. Glancing at my phone I noted it was almost two in the morning and groaned, if I was back home I’d already be on base with Sir. It had been a long day of traveling and unpacking and it took all the rest of my energy just to curl up in my comforter and fall asleep.

“H
ARPER?
H
AAAAARPERRRRRR!
W
AKE
up!”

My eyelids opened just enough to see a smiling face directly in front of me. I shot upright and brought my arms up, my entire body already tense.

“Whoa, whoa! It’s me, Breanna!”

“Do you have a death wish? Don’t do that!” She’d better be happy I had still thought I was dreaming, growing up with my dad meant always being on the defensive when waking up.

She giggled and sat on the edge of my bed, “Sorry, I’ve been trying to wake you up for the last five minutes.”

Weird, I was usually a really light sleeper. “I thought you weren’t coming ’til Sunday?”

“Well technically I’m not, all my stuff is still at home . . .” She gestured to the still bare other half of the room, “but my brother and his buddies are throwing a huge party tonight and I figured I’d see if you wanted to go.”

The closest I’d ever come to a party was the stories I heard from the guys on base. I tried not to show my excitement and shrugged indifference. “Sure, when is it?”

“It doesn’t start until nine or so, so we still have a few hours. Want to grab dinner?”

“Dinner? What time is it?!” I grabbed my phone and didn’t even look at the time, all I could see was the twenty missed calls from Sir. “Crap, I need to call Si—um, my dad back. But after that I’ll get ready and we can head out.”

Breanna didn’t move from my bed so I decided to just let her stay there, I’m sure after she heard him yelling she’d leave. I caught the time just before I hit the send button and gasped. I’d slept for almost 16 hours, he was gonna kill me. As assumed, he answered on the first ring starting off in a disapproving lecture about not letting him know I’d made it to California and that I was okay, not answering my phone, and how bad of an idea it was to let me come here. I murmured apologies at all the appropriate times, and tried to ignore Breanna’s laughing at the conversation. We may not ever talk, but when he was pissed, it wasn’t something to take lightly.

“Oh my God, time to cut the apron strings, don’t you think?”

I blew out a sigh of relief that the conversation was over, “Yeah, well, I’m all he has left.”

“Where’s your mom?”

“She died.”

Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry! I had no idea!”

“Don’t worry about it,” I waved her apology off, “I never knew her.”

She simply nodded.

“I know my dad though, this is just the first time I’ve ever been away from him, and I think he’s worried. Now that he knows I’m alive, I probably won’t hear from him again for a while.”

Breanna still wasn’t talking. This happened every time I told someone I didn’t have a mom. Instead of trying to tell her not to worry about it again, I got up and got dressed for the party. Thankfully, my thick auburn hair was already naturally straight so I was ready in no time. Grabbing my purse, I turned to see Breanna’s horrified expression.

“Wh-what?”

“Is that what you’re going in?”

Shrugging, I looked down to my long jean shorts and black and gold infantry shirt. “Yes?”

“Oh no.” She was now looking in my wardrobe, checking all my clothes. “Okay you and I are both a size two, how tall are you?”

“Five feet two.” Yes, I know. I’m incredibly short.

“Just barely shorter than me . . . hmm. Okay come on, we’re going to my place to get you changed.”

“Is there something wrong with this?”

She raised one perfectly shaped blond eyebrow at me, her blue eyes narrowed, “Let’s just say I’m going to throw out your entire wardrobe and take you shopping tomorrow, because we obviously don’t have time tonight. I’m guessing we have to get some make-up while we’re at it?”

I nodded. To be honest, I’d never felt like I’d needed make-up. Not saying that I think I’m really attractive or anything, just never saw the need. I’d been blessed with a smooth complexion and had wide gray eyes hidden behind long dark lashes. I always thought anything else would have been too much. Plus, I’m sure Sir would’ve had a fit if I’d ever bought any.

We grabbed some sandwiches from a deli and before I knew it, I already had my make-up completely done and Breanna was holding different outfits up to my body. She settled on a faded, torn denim mini skirt that looked like it would barely cover my butt, and a black spaghetti strap.

“Okay put these on, and no peeking yet!”

“Is there something else to go over this undershirt?”

“Undershirt? No, that is the shirt!” She looked at me like I was crazy before walking into the bathroom.

Thankfully, the spaghetti strap was pretty long allowing me to pull the skirt down enough so I didn’t think my butt was showing, but I’m pretty sure I’d never been this exposed outside of my bathroom in my life. If she was a couple inches taller, how on earth did she even wear this thing?

“Ooo. MUCH better!”

“Are you sure? I feel like I’m naked.” I was still trying to tug the skirt down.

“Hah! No, you look hot, I promise.” She spun me around until I was facing a mirror.

“Oh, crap.” Sir would kill me, but I had to admit I think I liked it. Just as I thought, the skirt barely covered a thing, and it was impossible not to have cleavage in this shirt. I guess I had a nice chest, but when almost every top you own is from the Post Exchanges on base, there isn’t ever an opportunity to see anything. I turned to look at my backside and smiled a little bit before facing forward again. “Oh my God, look at my eyes!”

“I know, don’t you love them?”

“You’re a genius Breanna.” I looked at my smoky lids, and even thicker eyelashes making my eyes look like dark thunderstorm clouds.

“Well it’s pretty easy when the model has your face and body. Mind if I steal your lips and eyes for the night?”

I laughed but was still mesmerized by my new reflection. “I can honestly say I’ve never worn anything like this, and this is my first time ever having make-up on.”

“Are you serious?” She looked appalled.

“My dad is a career Marine. I’ve never even
touched
make-up. Hell, I haven’t even been to a mall.” I giggled when her face dropped to one of horror.

“I guess this means you won’t be opposed to me taking you shopping tomorrow then?”

“If you can make me look this good for a simple party, I’d let you pick out all my outfits.”

She squealed and clapped, turning to grab her clutch. “Yay! Okay, let’s go snag a couple guys.”

I stopped walking, eyes wide. I don’t know how to talk to a normal guy, let alone snag one. “Uh, I’m not exactly great with the opposite sex. Like, I’ve never had a boyfriend or anything.”

“Whoa, what?!”

“What part of Marine for a father didn’t you understand? I don’t think I’ve ever even talked to a guy that wasn’t a Marine.”

“Okay, timeout. Are you being serious? Have you ever been kissed?” She gasped when my lips pressed into a hard line. “Oh honey, I promise to fix at least that by the end of tonight.”

My cheeks flamed as I quickly followed her out to her shiny graduation present of a car.

“HEY
BREE!
”

“Hi Drew.” Breanna hugged an already intoxicated looking guy that opened the door. “Drew this is my new roomie Harper, Harper this is Drew.”

“Nice to meet you,” I mumbled. Before I knew what was happening I was being lifted up in a bear hug. I gasped but refrained the urge to kick him.

“Always a pleasure to have fresh meat here,” he said with a wink before putting me down.

“Easy tiger, she’s off limits to you!” She mock glared and poked him in the chest.

“Aww, come on Bree, don’t be a cock block.”

Raising an eyebrow I almost smiled at him. He wasn’t even attractive and was holding a blow up doll.

“Nu-uh, no one that lives in this house is allowed to touch her. I know how you all are. So play nice, kay?”

Drew grumbled and walked away to refill his plastic cup. Breanna leaned in to speak in my ear, “I’m not gonna lie and tell you they aren’t all like that, practically every guy that lives in this house is just as bad as him, and most of the guys that will be here tonight are too. I’ll tell you who’s safe and who isn’t.”

I smiled at her, “Thanks Bree, I’ll owe you.” Not that I needed her to tell me to stay away from guys like him. Sir let me around the Marines not only because they were like the brothers I never had, but he knew I would never end up falling for someone who would talk like that in front of a girl.

She scrunched her brows together and teased me, “Duh. Want a drink?”

Agreeing, I walked with her to a group hovered around one of the kegs. After getting a beer and forcing half the cup down to get the bad taste over with as fast as possible, I followed her out to the back yard to meet more people. I don’t remember most of their names, but I got picked up and carried around more times than I cared to count, and was gawked at by every guy I met. Bree assured me it was because I looked good, but I was already wishing I’d worn a sweatshirt and jeans and cursing my tiny frame. Breanna seemed so at ease with the way guys were touching her and raking their eyes over us, and I didn’t understand how she could do it. I no longer felt beautiful, I felt exactly like what Drew called me. Meat. I was halfway through my second beer of the night when I was pulled onto the dance floor by Bree and a few others.