“I think he’s sweet on you,” Cole says and sits up a little straighter, an intimidation pose that would put fear into any man. Griff downs his beer, stands, and tips his hat to me as he exits.
I take a long pull from the bottle, and set it on the counter harder than necessary. “What the fuck is that guy’s problem?” Just then Rider and Kane come walking in, and we wave them over. For the next hour, we shoot the shit, and the place begins to fill up with suits and tech guys, getting off work.
I grab my phone to check the time and that’s when I notice a dozen calls and texts from Jeremy.
Worry rakes through me, scraping along my skin. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Rider asks.
“Don’t know. Jeremy’s been calling.” I jump up worried that something happened to Harper or Gavin. “I have to call him.”
I step away from the table and find a quiet corner. The second Jeremy answers, my stomach falls to the floor.
“Where are you? I’ve been trying to call for an hour.”
“At Nelly’s with the guys.” I lift my head when a bunch of rowdy businessmen come in. I hold the phone tighter against my ear, and put my hand over the other. “What’s up?”
“I’m at your place. Meet me here.”
“Are Harper and Gavin okay?”
A pause and then. “Yeah, just get here, okay?”
“On my way.” I end the call and hurry back to the table.
“What the hell, Liam?” Cole asks, his eyes narrowed with worry.
I rake a shaky hand through my hair. “Jeremy wants to see me.” I glance at Cole, take in the stiffness in his body. “You want me to drop you—”
“No, I’ll get a ride with one of the guys.” He jerks his thumb toward Rider. “You’d better go see what he wants and keep me posted.”
I nod, but then the bartender turns up the TV in the corner, and my gaze flies to it when I hear my name. “Mother fucker,” I curse, and glance at the pictures of me right here in Nelly’s with that girl that tried to climb me wrapped around my waist. “How the fuck—”
“Oh Christ,” Cole says, and I grip the back of the chair and squeeze hard enough to break it.
“I guess we know what Jeremy wants,” Kane says, as adrenaline floods my body. Has Harper seen this? Does she think I was out whoring with other women? Fuck, man, I need to talk to her and I need to talk to her now. “I gotta go.”
Chairs scrape the floor as the guys stand, like they’re ready to flee with me, but I’m out of there in seconds flat, and phone Harper from the truck. When it continues to ring and ring, I toss it aside, desperate to get to her. I start the car and grip the steering wheel hard enough to turn my knuckles white. I pull into traffic and drive like a goddamn madman as I hurry home, praying Harper is there.
I swallow to calm myself down. The fans are going to eat this up, and a woman wrapped around me wouldn’t have been a big deal until Harper. I guess the media jumped on it, because I haven’t been giving them anything to work with lately, and while I love my fans, I have to be who I really am. Being with Harper taught me that, and maybe I should only be caring for those who care about me. Let’s face it, I give the fans what they want, but they don’t know me, or care about me as a person.
But Harper is smart. She’s not going to jump to the wrong conclusions, right? I mean, we’re not officially together or anything, but she must know I’d never fuck around on her. I’m not like Gavin’s father, or that douchebag ex of hers. What the hell was his name? Devon? I guess it doesn’t matter. I just have to hope she believes enough in me to know I’d never do anything to hurt her, just like I know she’d never do anything to hurt me.
I finally make it home, and practically leap from the truck when I find Jeremy standing on my steps, the front door cracked open.
“Where’s Harper?”
“Gone,” he says and folds his arms across his barrel chest.
“Gone where?” I’m about to push past him and search the house for her things when he stops me. “I need to find her.”
“She saw the photo of you with that girl, Liam. She was heading out, she looked kind of panicked, like she needed to get out of here, when I showed up. She had a big duffle bag in her hand, like she was fleeing. She stopped long enough to ask if I saw the pictures. I told her I did. She asked if I thought they were true, that you were with that girl.”
“What did you tell her?”
“What do you think I told her, Liam? I wasn’t going to lie about your reputation.” He smirks.
“Nothing fucking happened, and now thanks to you, she thinks something did.”
He gives me a look that suggests I might be dense. “I wouldn’t be too worried about her, Liam. She was using you all this time. Don’t worry, though, I told her you were using her, too.” He smirks. “I let her know being photographed with a single mom dog walker was all about your image.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?” I fist my hands, and if I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to straighten this out with Harper, I’d knock his fucking teeth out, but when it comes right down to it, he was going off my reputation—the Liam I presented to the world, not the Liam I really am. But Jesus, Jeremy was the one who set up the pictures of the two of us. She
