Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Harper

“Easton.” I nudge his bare shoulder, silently marveling at the muscle I

feel there. He's firm -hard all over. If I had more time, I'd spend it

exploring his naked body with my mouth. My tongue. My hands and

my fingers.

But we don't have the time. My parents should be home from work any

minute while we're still in my bed.

Naked.

"Wha?" he asks, his voice muffled against the pillow.

Within minutes of us having sex, he collapsed next to me and fell

asleep. Like...who does that?

Easton, I guess. Any other time I would've found it adorable, but I

wanted to talk more about Blake and what Easton and my brother

discovered in his car. I wanted to stare at those photos some more and

really look at them. I also wanted to ask him about that look he and

Ryan shared earlier, when they didn't say anything.

What's their plan? And how can I convince him he can't just go beat

Blake up over this?

They're friends. They need to work it out.

There's also that tiny, niggling feeling in the back of my mind that tells

me Blake didn't do this at all.

Aisha did.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to convince Easton that she’s evil enough to

come for me. Why does he always protect her? Or write her off? It's so

annoying.

Why won't he believe me?

Shoving my worry aside, I focus on waking Easton up and getting him

out of my bed.

“My parents are going to be home soon,” I whisper, then let myself

speak louder. “You should go.”

He sits up, running a hand through his hair, his biceps bulging,

completely distracting me. “Kicking me out?”

The lazy grin on his face is a heart stopper. But I refuse to be swayed by

it.

Dipping over the side of the bed, I reach for his shirt and toss it at him,

smacking him in the face. “Yep.”

His smile fades, the shirt falling in his lap. “Damn. Ruthless, babe.”

I smile sweetly at him before I lean in and drop a kiss on his lips. “Not in

the mood to get caught naked in bed with my boyfriend, babe.”

“True, true.” He nods, pulling his T-shirt on before he reaches for the

rest of his clothes.

He gets dressed in a hurry, as do I, until we're both fully clothed and I'm

raking my fingers through my messy hair while he checks his phone, a

frown on his face.

"What's wrong?”

He glances up, smiling faintly. “Ah, nothing.”

Uh huh. I don't believe him. He's keeping secrets from me, and I don't

like it.

At all.

We head out of my room and down the stairs, and I notice how quiet

the house is. Where's Ryan and Sadie? Did they actually leave?

Sadie must hate me. I just ditched her for Easton, after complaining to

her that Easton ditched me for Ryan.

Sometimes, I'm a shit friend. I'll call her later and apologize. I need to

get my head out of my ass and be a better friend to her. She's been so

good to me, always rushing to my defense.

But she’s also keeping her own secrets...

Pausing at the front door, Easton turns toward me, his expression soft,

his hair still sex rumpled. He's absolutely adorable and he's watching

me with dopey eyes, like he's high

or something.

Not on drugs. More like he's high on me.

“We need to do that more often.” He kisses me, his lips soft. Lingering.

“I like making you beg.”

My cheeks go hot and I press my fingers against his lips. “Shush. We

can't talk about that now.”

“Your parents aren't home yet.” I drop my fingers and he delivers

another scorching kiss. “Stop worrying.”

“Easton, you should go.” I clear my throat and reach around him, hip

checking him so I can open the door without him in the way. “We'll talk

later?”

He frowns, looking me up and down, as if he doesn't know what to do

with me. “Sure. I'll text you after dinner.”

“Sounds good.” I don't like the confused way he's staring at me so I

give him another kiss to soften my sudden harshness. “Bye.”

“Hey.” He grabs my shoulders, his expression serious as he studies me.

“You do realize Blake did that to your garage door, right? It wasn't

Aisha.”

Inod, my smile serene. “You're right. I know you are.”

The relief on his face is obvious. “Right. Yeah. Okay, babe. See you

later.”

“See you tomorrow.” I open the door wider, watching as he heads for

his car, noticing that Ryan's car is here...

But Sadie’s is gone.

I'm pretty sure they're together. The house is way too quiet.

Once Easton is gone, I go back up to my room, passing by Ryan's

partially open bedroom door. I push it open wider to find the room

empty, just as I suspected.

Hmm. My best friend is definitely hooking up with my brother, yet

they're both not talking.

At all.

So frustrating.

I curl up in bed, pulling the covers over me and contemplate everything

that's happened today, yet coming back to the same thing every time.

The confrontation with Aisha. How mean she was, how utterly vile. That

girl doesn't know when to quit, and I'm proud of the way I stood up to

her, even though I couldn't stop shaking.

She never backed down either. That's why it's so easy to imagine her

getting off on writing the word whore on our garage door. Trying to

scare me and infuriate my brother.

That bitch deserves to suffer for what she’s put me through. What she’s

put all of us through

Blake though? I just don't see it. Nope, I can't. He's one of Ryan's

absolute best friends Why would he target me?

It makes no sense.

Maybe he had the spray paint for another reason. People use black

spray paint all the time, right? Just because they have some in the car

doesn't make them a vandalizer or whatever.

I need to get to the bottom of this-and I don't want to do it with Easton

either. He's not listening to me. He's positive it's Blake. Ryan feels the

same way. They're both so freaking frustrating. The more I think about

it...

The madder I become.