“Harper, baby, are you okay?” She was on the ground, sitting up with her arms wrapped around her knees and shaking like a leaf. She buried her face in her arms, but I knew she was crying because I could see the tears running down her bare legs. As I got closer to her, Titan’s warning bark turned into a deep growl. I stopped moving forward and put my arm out to stop Duke, who was two steps behind me.
“Harper, I need you to call off Titan. He won’t let anyone get near you, not even me.”
Titan’s body instantly relaxed and the barking ceased when she murmured, “Calmati.”
I was at her side immediately, pulling her into my arms. I ran my hands over her hair and down the sides of her face. “Are you okay, baby?”
She nodded and sniffled. “Yeah, I think so. Is Titan okay?”
My sweet girl was worried about the dog. “He’s fine. He doesn’t know it, but he’s getting a big juicy steak for dinner tonight.”
She smiled, but it was weak. That coupled with her tears was it for me. I slowly rose to my full height and faced Duke. “We came here tonight to tell you that we are in a relationship. Out of respect for you, we wanted to do that in person and break the news gently. She was worried about how you would react. She said she didn’t want to mess up our friendship. We were hoping to sit down and talk about it like mature adults. After what just happened, fuck all that. She’s my Old Lady. Deal with it. We’re going home.”
I scooped Harper into my arms and placed her in the passenger seat. Titan pushed his way around me and climbed in the front floorboard to sit between Harper’s feet. I stalked around the car and glanced at my sister. “Love you, Reesie Piecie,” I said before slamming the door and peeling out of their driveway.
When we arrived at my condo, I carried her straight to my bedroom and placed her in the center of my bed. Cupping the sides of her face, I gently kissed her lips. “Do you want to talk about what happened back there?”
“No, but we probably should.”
“Does it have anything to do with your past?”
Her head shot up. “What do you know about that?”
I held my hands up in a placating manner. “I don’t know anything other than something happened to you when you were younger that somehow altered your responses to certain situations. At least that’s what I’m getting based on what I was told and what I’ve seen for myself.”
She slumped in defeat. “I should’ve told you before now, but I hate talking about it.”
Holding her hands in mine, I softly said, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. All that matters to me is that you’re okay.”
“I don’t want you to treat me differently once you know.” Her cheeks flushed, and she turned her face away from me.
It took only a second for it to register in my brain. I swallowed thickly and managed to ask, “Are you referring to how I treat you in the bedroom?”
She kept her eyes pointed away from me when she nodded just one time. I sucked in a sharp breath. The sudden pain in my chest was excruciating. Had she been…? I couldn’t even think that word in regards to her. I was rough in bed, rougher than most. And I was a big man. Much larger and stronger than her tiny frame. And she’d been through something so traumatic at such a tender age. I couldn’t breathe. All I could feel was pain...and shame.
Her voice managed to break through the barrage of emotions slamming into me, but not enough to completely pull me back to the present. “I wasn’t raped, Chase.”
She rose to her knees and grabbed my face with both hands. She placed her nose against mine and repeated herself, “I wasn’t raped.”
Those words only relieved part of the horror churning inside of me. “Have I ever hurt you?” I asked as one tear rolled down my cheek.
“No, baby. Never,” she whispered against my lips. “I swear it.”
Sweet relief washed through me. I slid my arms underneath her and gazed into her eyes. “I love you, Harper Jackson.”
She gave me a genuine smile. “I love you, too, Chase Walker.”
“Did you mean what you said at Duke’s?”
My brows furrowed in confusion. I wasn’t one to say anything unless I meant it, but I had no idea what she was referring to. “I said a lot at Duke’s. Can you narrow it down for me?”
“About me being you’re Old Lady. I understand if—”
“I didn’t say it out of anger. I fucking meant it,” I said and pressed my lips to hers.
“Okay,” she said without breaking our kiss. When her lips left mine, she sighed. “I guess we should get back on track.”
“In a minute,” I said as I tightened my hold around her and buried my face in her neck. We had a serious discussion to get through, but I wanted to hold her close and savor her for a few more minutes. I didn’t know what she was going to tell me, but I knew it wouldn’t change the way I saw her or the way I felt about her. I loved her, and she loved me; we could get through anything.