Stealing Harper(95)

The same guy she’d been taking shots with when I left yelled from the kitchen, “I can help with that!”

I shook my head and started to answer when Bree spoke again. “No, no, no. I told you guys, she’s off limits!”

“Come on Bree, what’s your deal?”

She leaned forward and fake whispered, “Cause she’s pure. Completely. Pure.”

My jaw dropped and I grabbed her wrist as she went to tap my lips with her finger. “Breanna!”

Putting her hand back to her own lips she held one finger in front of her mouth. “Shh! Harper don’t tell them!”

A little late for that. I was completely mortified. I wanted to be angry at her, but she could barely stay standing, I doubt she would remember any of this tomorrow. Looking up, I saw four guys standing there staring at me with wide eyes before busting up laughing. I needed someone to kill me. Now. No, first I needed to get out of here. Then someone needed to kill me.

One of the guys I hadn’t met was wiping tears from his eyes, “Oh my God! Princess, is she serious?”

Glad to see they all adopted my favorite nickname. Was there something about me that just screamed Give me a nickname? I couldn’t even respond, my throat had closed up and I thought I would actually cry for the first time in years. Unhooking my arm from Breanna, I made a beeline for the front door, intent on trying to find my way back to campus. I stopped when I realized Chase was blocking the hall that led to the entryway, he was the only one in the room not laughing. Instead, his lips were mashed together and he was shooting daggers at his sister.

“Please. Move.”

He moved, but it was to grab my shoulders and steer me back toward the living room. What was he doing? I dug my heels into the carpet trying to scramble back in the other direction.

“Don’t touch me!” I hissed.

“Just trust me,” he growled in my ear, walking me past everyone still laughing at Bree’s slip.

When we hit a hallway I hadn’t been down tonight, one of the guys from the kitchen yelled, “Looks like Chase is gonna take care of that problem for you Princess!” That brought on a new round of hysterics.

Chase paused for a second, cussed under his breath and started forward with me again. When we got to the end of the hall he stopped in front of a door, and pulled out a key to unlock it before towing me in. When the light flipped on, I blinked until I realized we were in a bedroom, I gasped and tried even harder to get out of his grasp. If I could just turn a little, I could have him on the floor in a few seconds. But his grip was firm, I couldn’t budge at all.

“No! Get off me!”

“Not until you stop trying to hit me!”

I stopped but stayed tense as he waited for almost a minute before releasing my arms. Once he did I turned on him and backed away.

“Calm down Princess.” He sighed sounding uninterested, “I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“I really wish you would stop calling me that,” I said through gritted teeth.

He rolled his eyes and went to a drawer, after throwing a pair of basketball shorts at me he walked back to the door. “Put those on, I’ll be back.”

“Why?”

“Did you want to sleep in that skirt?” He bit his bottom lip, his eyes glued to my legs. “I swear I won’t mind it, I figured you’d be uncomfortable though.”

“Breanna said I would be in a room with her tonight, and if that’s not happening I’d rather just go back to the dorm.”

“I can assure you she’ll be sleeping in the bathroom. I’ll give you a minute to change, I’ll be right back.”

“I am not sleeping with you in here.”

“Look, you’re seriously hot, that alone is going to have them chasing after you. But top that off with the few words you’ve even said that shows me just how snarky and sweet as hell you are, that is one hell of a tempting combination. Trust me when I say they’re going to want to change what they just found out about you. So if you don’t mind, I’d rather make sure that doesn’t happen.”

He slammed the door shut and not more than three seconds later I could hear him yelling at the guys in the kitchen and telling Breanna to fend for herself tonight. I was standing there in his basketball shorts and Bree’s spaghetti strap when he walked back in and locked the door.

“That was rude, she’s your sister. She should be in here too.”

He looked at me incredulously, “Are you serious? You’re gonna defend her after she just spilled that?”

I shrugged my shoulders and put the skirt on a chair, keeping my back to him so he couldn’t see my cheeks flaming again. “She’s drunk. I’m sure she didn’t realize it.”