Page 91 of Seeing Harper

“You said I’m acting like I’m mated! Is that the problem? Am I mated?” Harper asked, still sitting up on the float, but now with her legs dangling off the sides in the water.

“Harper, if you’re mated and don’t know it, we have bigger issues to consider than a business associate that thought he could take advantage of you.”

“No, I mean, Clay… we did do the deed, but not the bite or any kind of blood exchange. That I’m aware of. But I felt something. I know I did. Could that be why I got so defensive — I mean, other than Joel being a misogynistic prick?”

Summer sat up on her float and put her legs in the water, kicked her feet below the surface to steer her float across the pool and closer to Harper’s, while drinking her pina colada through her straw like it was the air she breathed. When she got closer, she turned her float a little more so that she was looking Harper directly in the eye, or at least directly at her sunglasses. “Are you saying that it’s possible that you not only had the S.E.X., but that he mated you?”

“Is it possible?” Harper asked.

“Did he bite you? Mark you?”

“No, I made it a point to tell him not to.”

“Did you bite him?”

“No.”

“So, no blood exchange, no mating.”

Harper thought about it. “You know, we got a little wild and I might have possibly scraped up the backs of his arms while we were, you know.”

Summer sat there on her float, imagining what Harper was describing.

“Did you hear me?” Harper asked.

“Yes. I’m trying to decide between needing more info on the deed itself and how Clay performed, or ewww, I do not want to imagine my best friend and one of our best friends doing the deed.”

Harper shook her head. “It was amazing. He was amazing.”

Summer looked at Harper and nodded. “I knew he would be. I mean, the way he’s put together. The slinky smooth way that he moves effortlessly every time he moves. And those intense eyes when he stares at you. Damn. I bet he was good.”

“Summer!” Harper snapped.

“What? You brought it up!”

“Not for you to fantasize about him.”

“Anyway, did you bleed at all?”

Harper canted her head and stared at her.

“Oh, yeah, okay. You did. Of course, you did. That happens the first time. But otherwise, did you bleed other than that?”

“Not really. I mean, I noticed a little bit of pinkish stain in my bra the next day. I know he didn’t bite me, but maybe he sucked or nibbled too hard and it made a break in the skin.”

“Girrrrrlllllll….” Summer said, lying back on her float again.

“What?”

“You’re mated.”

“Nooooo!” Harper whispered.

“Yes,” Summer said confidently.

“That, along with the outrage you should feel about the way, crap wad — is that what your mother called that guy — treated you… that would send anybody into a rage.”

Harper nodded as her mind was off distracted again.