mother. She was my mother after all. She might not think I was good enough, but I still loved her. But tonight I had plans.
And I wasn’t about to ditch Shane in favor of a night of being told repeatedly that I wasn’t pretty. Why should I have that fact rubbed in my face when I already knew it, when I could be having dinner with a deliciously sinful rock star?
I glanced down at my watch, a gift from my stepdad the day I had graduated from college. He had been the only one from my family to be there to cheer me on with my friends as I accepted my diploma.
It was already five of seven. Shane would be coming to pick me up soon. “I have plans,” I told Dallas.
Dallas raised a brow. I didn’t normally make plans without one of my other roommates being involved in them. “Where ya goin’?” Her southern accent always made my heart smile.
“I’m having Chinese with Shane,” I told her just as the phone rang.
Lana shot up on the couch, nearly toppling over her drug of choice for the night. “Shane?”
I bit my lip as I turned to look at her. “Yeah… Is that a problem?”
She was frowning, almost lost in her own thoughts as she glanced up at me. After a long pause she shook her head. “No. Have fun.”
Dallas had already answered the phone and told Shane to come up. As she put the phone back down, she turned to face me with a wicked look in her eyes.
“There is some kind of justice in all of this.” She grinned. “Bitchy and Bitchier are going to shit bricks when they show up and I tell them you went out with one of the hottest rockers in the fucking world!”
I returned her grin, but knew I was going to get an earful when my mother called me later. Picking up my keys, I made sure that my Mace was secure on the key ring before dropping it into my purse. “Enjoy that conversation for me.”
“Oh, baby, I plan on it.” She reached for my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Dallas wasn’t into regular physical contact, mostly because her mother was even worse than my own, so I knew that she was still worried about me. “Enjoy yourself tonight. Seriously, Harp. One of the sexiest men in the world is taking you out tonight.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “He’s just a friend, Dallas. He’s fun company.”
“Baby, Shane Stevenson doesn’t have girls for friends. Am I right, Lana?”
Lana gave an unhappy sigh. “Yup!”
I laughed. “So what is Lana?” It came out sounding like a joke, but I really wanted to know. Lana and Shane made a striking couple. Sure she was in love with the guy’s brother, but it wouldn’t be the first time a girl used the brother as a substitute.
“I’m family,” Lana informed me with a small smile. “Jesse would kill him if he touched me.”
I frowned. “What’s the difference in him not touching you compared to Drake?
Lana shrugged. “About two thousand girls.”
Well, she told me! I knew Shane was a player… Wait was that the right word for a rock star? A player? Rolling my eyes at myself I grinned. “Well, he’s my friend. We got to know each other a little better over breakfast. Trust me, girls. All he could possibly want with me is friendship.”
Dallas clenched her jaw and Lana shot me a glare. “Harper…” Lana began but the doorbell cut off her scolding.
I crossed the living room and opened the door, relieved that I had a reason not to hear my friend rant about how beautiful she thought I was. I was sure she needed glasses worse than I did. “Hey!” I greeted him.
He stood there for a moment just staring at me. I felt the heat of his gaze as it traveled down my body, over my barely there chest and wide hips. He spent a little more time on my legs before making the trip back up to my face. I grinned at him as he blinked and took a step closer.
“Hi.” His voice was slightly throaty and he paused to clear it. “Are you ready?”
“Of course.” I glanced over my shoulder at Lana and Dallas. “See you later. Bye, Linc!” I called.
“Hey, Lana.” Shane waved before taking my hand and tugging me out the door.
“Hi!” I heard Lana say as the door shut behind us.
I raised a brow as he pulled me down the corridor toward the elevator. “Are we running late?”
He shook his head, causing shaggy dark hair to fall into his face. “Nope. Just wanted to get you out of there before Lana made you change your mind.”
When we were inside the elevator and the doors slid shut, he leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh, as if relieved.
Chapter 4
I have never had a girl make me dumb before. I mean, seriously, words have never—not ever!—failed me when it comes to the opposite sex. But one look at the unspoiled beauty of Harper and I was left with vocals that didn’t remember how to work for a moment.
When I had taken her all in, I realized that I was probably standing there looking like a fool with my mouth hanging open and drool running down my chin. Of course she had to smile at me and I lost a few more seconds of brain power. Dammit!
Finally I got it together and pulled her out before Lana started busting my balls over her friend.
Typically when I was in New York I didn’t have time to see the sights. When the band had gigs here we didn’t have time to go out and explore. I only knew a few good places to eat, and none of those places served Chinese. Thankfully Harper knew of a great place, otherwise I was going to have to do what I always did—call Emmie and ask her.
Normally that wasn’t a problem for me.
This time, for some reason, I didn’t want to rely on Em for help. I was a grown man. I should be able to do at least a few things on my own. Of course that hadn’t been a problem when I had called Emmie earlier that day…
“When we were sixteen Dallas and I ran off for an entire weekend,” Harper was saying with an almost impish grin on her face. “It was such a stupid thing to do, but it was so much fun. The first thing we did was stop here and buy enough food to last us all weekend, then we went downtown and got a hotel room for three days. We pigged out on Chinese and vending machine candy until our stomachs ached.”
“What happened when your parents found out?”
She shrugged. “My mother hadn’t even noticed I was gone. But my stepdad was furious. I wasn’t allowed to see Dallas for a month.” The look she gave me said that it had been a bad punishment in her book.
“Was it worth it?”
“Hell yeah!” She laughed and it was so infectiously contagious that I couldn’t stop from laughing back. “A whole weekend away from my mother? It was paradise.”
I wondered about her relationship with her mom, but something in her expression every time she mentioned the woman told me it wasn’t the best. “You don’t get along with her?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She grimaced, her brow furrowing and her lips pursing in the cutest way. “I get along with her. She just doesn’t get along with me.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It’s complicated.” She pushed an errant strand of silky caramel hair back from her face as she picked up her orange chicken with a chopstick. “I love my mother. When I was a little girl I was sure that she loved me too. But as I grew up, and I didn’t look anything like her, she…” She broke off when her cell phone vibrated on the table beside of her eggroll. Instead of answering it, she sent it straight to voicemail. “Speak of the devil,” she muttered half under her breath.
For nearly a full minute Harper sat staring down at the phone. The look in her eyes tugged at something deep inside of me, and all I wanted to do was comfort her. Just as I was reaching for her hand her head snapped up and she gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her beautiful eyes. “What were we talking about?”
Realizing that talking about her mother was making her hurt, I shrugged. “You were going to tell me how
