I was soaking wet by the time I parked my bike in the covered spot in front of my apartment. The rain hadn’t let up all day, and I wondered if Harper had ever gotten that jacket from her mom, which reminded me of what she’d said about being an outsider. I hadn’t said anything about it in the moment because I’d been too busy defending myself over something that wasn’t even true. I didn’t understand why she saw herself as an outsider.
The woman’s great-grandfather, both grandfathers, father, and brother were all club members. She’d practically beenwrapped in an Aces cut when she was born. If there was anyone in the club that was less of an outsider, I didn’t know who the hell they could be.
Stripping off my clothes, I headed straight for the shower to warm up.
I didn’t need to be worrying about Harper when I had other shit to deal with, but I couldn’t seem to stop. I was pissed that Frankie was being an asshole to her. I was pissed that everyone thought they had the right to be talking about us. I was pissed that Harper thought I was the kind of guy to mess around with her if I had feelings for someone else.
I’d thought we were friends. I thought she knew me better than that.
The racing thoughts about Harper had the benefit of keeping me angry enough that I didn’t have to think about Bernice.
As soon as I’d showered and thrown on some sweats, I swiped my phone off the bed and went to make myself some dinner. I called Lou and put the phone on speaker as I pulled shit out of the fridge.
“Hey Bas,” she answered. “You coming over tonight?”
“What’s tonight?”
“I’m walking over to Myla’s for dinner. She’s making chicken pot pies. It’s a new recipe, so it might be shit.” She laughed.
“Nah, I’m stayin’ home tonight,” I replied, opening a can of chili. “Probably just going to make some dinner and crash.”
“Long day?”
“Weird one,” I clarified. “Hey, did you hear anyone talking about Harper the other night?”
“What do you mean?” she asked slowly.
“She said something about how everyone’s been talking about the fact that Noel caught us kissing,” I said bluntly. “I was wondering if you heard any of that.”
“Oh, not really,” Lou mused. I immediately knew she was lying. “I mean, I heard a couple people mention it.”
“Why didn’t you shut it down?”
“You know how people talk, Bas,” she shot back. “I wasn’t adding to it, but it’s not like I could order everyone to stop.”
“That’s what you should’ve done.”
“Why?” She let out a huff of laughter. “It happens to all of us. They talk for a minute, and then it’s over. It’s not like they were calling her a whore or anything like that. They were just surprised at the pairing.”
As soon as the word “whore” came out of her mouth, every muscle in my body tensed with anger, which was probably why I was immediately offended that anyone would be surprised by Harper wanting to spend time with me.
“What, they think Harper’s too good for me or somethin’?” I asked. “The goofy-lookin’ kid going after the beauty queen?”
Lou let out a choked noise. “What?No.”
“Then what the fuck, Lou? Why didn’t you set them fucking straight?”
“About what?” she snapped in exasperation.
“Any of it. All of it.”
“I have no idea what the fuck you were doing outside with Harper,” Lou said. I could imagine the frustrated look on her face. “So, how the heck was I supposed to set anyone straight?”
“So, you just said nothin’.”
“There was nothing for me to say. If you want to hook up with Harper, that’s your business.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
