Was it?
“This is Jack.”
His friend dipped his head while Miles’s gaze shifted to Harper. He waited for Cody to introduce him, but when he didn’t, he introduced himself. “I’m Miles. An old friend of Cody’s.”
As if sensing the tension, Harper only offered a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Harper. I work at the bar.”
Miles’s brows shot up. “Really? That’s great.” He shifted his attention back to Cody. “You were looking for help, right?”
“Right.” Cody put a hand on the small of Harper’s back, not missing the way Miles’s gaze followed the move. “We’d better get going.”
“Okay. I’ll see you around,” Miles said, watching as they walked away.
It wasn’t until they gained some distance down the path that Harper spoke. “That’s Vanessa’s partner, isn’t it?”
The woman was either a mind reader or just really perceptive. “Yeah, and my best friend once upon a time. It’s stupid, buthisbetrayal actually hurt more than hers.” Maybe because he’d suspected Vanessa wasn’t a great person, and he’d been about to end things between them anyway. But Miles…Miles had always seemed like a genuine friend.
Harper’s expression softened. “It’s never stupid to expect more from the people we love and feel hurt when they break our trust.”
She sounded like she spoke from experience. “I think you’re right.”
Their eyes held for another beat before her phone rang from her pocket. It had done that a few times today. Someone was trying hard to get in touch with her, but she didn’t seem interested in answering.
She canceled the call, but immediately it started ringing again.
She cursed under her breath before looking up at him. “Do you mind if I take this? Otherwise, they’ll just keep calling.”
“Go for it.”
Harper stepped away from Cody,moving off the path and into the thick trees. She didn’t go too far, but she also didn’t want Cody to hear what she had to say.
When she felt she was a safe distance, she finally answered the call. “What do you want, Ross?”
“Ah, my pretentious baby sister finally answers.”
Her jaw clenched. “Guess mynotanswering wasn’t hint enough. Or hell, my leaving town wasn’t hint enough.Leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with youorMom.”
“Does that mean you don’t want to know what my news is?”
“No, I don’t! I don’t want anything to do with either of you. You’ve done enough. You stole my money. My sanity. You’re toxic. I just want you to stay the hell away from me.”
He laughed, but the sound was twisted and ugly. “Okay. Well then, this is going to bring me even more joy than I thought it would. Dad’s out.”
Her muscles locked, a deep chill sweeping over her skin and through her veins. “What do you mean, Dad’s out? He has another two years of his sentence to serve.”
“A combination of good behavior and overcrowding. It’s why Mom emptied your shared account, so she could redo some things around the house. Get her hair done and buy some new outfits.”
Her breathing became jagged and uneven. “It wasn’t asharedaccount. It was my money, and she stole it from me.”
“Whatever. Her name was on the account, so she took what she had access to.”
The anger turned her vision red, so many words and emotions seeping to the surface, threatening to break free, but she locked them away. “Well, you’ve told me, now leave me alone.” She hung up before her brother could respond.
Out. Her father was out.
Her mother and brother were nothing compared to him. He’d been arrested when she was fifteen, but even before that, she’d known to stay the hell away from him. He didn’t just abuse alcohol, he took drugs—the heavy stuff. And when he did, he was violent.
With the huge quantity of drugs that had been found in his possession the night of his arrest, combined with the assault charges, he’d received a ten-year prison sentence.
