We find the energy to try that a few more times through the night. We take cat naps, only to wake with the same intense need for one another each time.
When day breaks, a heaviness crawls into the room with the light. No words are spoken as we rouse, only to find ourselves deep into the other once again.
"I need to go; someone will come looking for me soon." Harper mumbles.
I release a heavy sigh, hoping to ease the tightness in my chest. "Don't and we'll say we did."
"That's not how it works." She giggles, and her body rubs against me again.
"If you keep doing that, you'll never leave." I hold her closer to my side.
She buries her face in my arm. "Will you come down next week? Like... to my apartment?"
I roll over, lifting her chin so our eyes can meet. "Can I spend the weekend?"
"Yes," she glows. "I'd love it."
I hold my finger up. "One condition."
"Anything." Her eyes are alight.
"Call me every day and night?" Not until she smiles and my breathing returns, that I realize I've been holding my breath.
She leans in, lips perked. "I'll think about it."
"Oh, no. You gotta tell me! You have to say it."
She presses her mouth to mine. "Without hesitation."
"Good." I tweak her nose. "I thought I was gonna have to hold you here and torture you with my sexual deviancy until you agreed."
She tosses her head back, laying her arm over her forehead. "Now that you mention it, I am gonna be kinda busy this week. You might have to pressure me into it."
"You're trying to kill me, aren't you?" I nip at her bottom lip.
"God, if sex with you is like this every time... then, hell yes!" Her mouth crashes into mine, and we roll into another pleasurable time.
An hour later, we're both filled with heartache. She rests her head against my chest, molded to me. I hold her as close as I can, without breaking her.
"I don't want to leave." She grumbles.
"And I don't want you to, but if you don't, Landon's gonna come after you." I rub circles on her back, hoping to soothe her.
Her body tenses, and I ready for the worst. "I was wondering..."
"I assumed."
"When you come next week, we need to clear the air. Make a fresh start, no secrets, and nothing between us." Harper stands motionless, waiting on my response.
I rear back, nudging her chin up. "I agree, I want you to share everything with you."
"Really? How is Mackenzie gonna take this?" Her frown deepens at the mere mention of Mack's name.
I can't hold my laughter back. "She will be fine with it, baby. Trust me, she's okay with us."
"Good." She kisses me sweetly. "I better get going. Come by in an hour, I think it's time we make this thing official. You can help me pack my car and say goodbye the lame way."
"That, I can do." I return her kiss and gaze longingly as she saunters away from me. A flutter in my chest when she turns, blowing me a kiss before slipping behind the trees to her home.
I slump against the wall of the barn, letting the night's events sink in. "I can't wait to tell you how in love with you I am, Harper Blaine."
"Sadly, or not so much for me, that's never going to happen." A shadow from the dark corner of the building crawls out from the mire of shit it's been buried under for far too long.
I push off from the wall, squaring off with this fucker. Obviously, he and Harper are friends, and I'm about to find out exactly how much. "Fuck you. Now, let me show you the way out." I point behind him.
"Alright, but you and I both know you want to find out more, don't you?" He walks toward me, and I ready for the fight of my life.
"You're mistaken, I'm the type to give a fuck about who you were to her." I narrow my eyes, fists at my sides, ready to go.
When he finally steps into the light, the darkness beneath his eyes reveal a deeper evil in him than anyone can imagine. "You will take your little prick and walk away from her, she's mine."
"Huh? What did you say, can you speak up?" I step into him, pushing him back.
He shoves his finger into my chest, and a rage races through me. "Stay the fuck away from her."
"Or? Because it sounds like there's an or but if you want to drop it, I can let you do that." I spit at him, seething.
"Here's the thing..." He turns his head in the direction Harper walked away in, a smile creeps across his face as he slowly looks back at me. "while you're babysitting, I'll be across the hall from her. In class with her. Close enough to her that no one will ever find her once I'm done."
"Are you threatening her?" I growl, spittle hitting him across the face.
His eyes are black, like a hole deep inside him, a void like I've never seen before. A chill runs through my veins, and for the first time in my life, I fear for Harper.
"She's no fool as to who I am, and she has firsthand account of what I'm capable of, but she won't say is that I'll do it. Now, you know too." His lips twitch when something flashes behind his eyes. "Yeah, I've done it before. I can do it again."
"I'll never let you lay a hand on her." I push him backward, praying he'll run back to the hole he came from.
He smirks. "She'll leave with me today, and I'll see you both dead before I let her go."
"You have no fuckin' clue what you're about to bring down on you." I bare my teeth at him.
"I'm going over to her house, they will let me in because I'm the man they want their daughter with, not someone like you. I'm going to propose, and she will accept. She'll never tell them what happened here last night, denying you to everyone. And once we leave, I'll prove to you what I'm capable of and you'll never contact her again." He laughs menacingly.
I rear back, throwing everything I've got at him. My fist hits his jaw, knocking him to the ground. I stand over him, twisting his shirt in my hand as his mouth bleeds.
"If you think I won't kill you over her, you're about to fucking learn." I push his face into the ground. I stand, turning to walk away from him and straight to Harper. But again, he stuns me.
"I’ll drive her head on into traffic, and you'll have no one but yourself to blame." He snarls as he picks himself up off the ground.
"We'll see." I whirl around, hurrying toward my truck. I need to be at their house before he shows up to ruin things with them or her. Oddly enough, it won't start.
Suddenly, it hits me. "Harper." I jump from my truck, running full tilt to her family's home.
I'm sweaty and dirty from hauling ass to her house. I clear the trees to find her in his arms with her family clapping. I stagger over, shock doesn't describe the emotional roller-coaster I'm on right now.
"Oh, Ridge!" Trent, Harper's dad waves to me. "Come on in, Harper was proposed to by her college sweetheart."
I'm unsteady, stumbling from the news he warned me about. "I-I wasn't told she was involved with anyone."
"We're fairly new." The devil himself answers me, and my guts want to revolt.