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She smirks, pushes me away from her and holds her throat, massaging the skin.
“I have my sources…” she teases and then adds. “He hates being lied to, you know… what a shame.”
I lose it. Before I know what I’m doing, my fist connects with her face and a searing pain radiates through my hand.
“Harper! Leave. Now,” I hear Henry say as he places a hand on my shoulder, grounding me back into reality. I look around and I wish I hadn’t. Everyone is watching me with a mixture of pity and horror on their faces.
What have I done?
20
Josh
My phone vibrates again, and I glance over and see that it’s another text from Harper. I spent the night with Will getting shit-faced, even when he told me I would regret it later, and right now, squinting at the morning light through my hotel window is reminding me why I don’t do this anymore.
Harper: Please call me.
I shake my head and throw my phone on the bed as I make my way into the bathroom and turn on the shower. I scald my body, hoping it numbs the pain I’m feeling right now, remembering what happened last night. I was pissed when I saw the photos, I was upset when I found out that Harper was lying to me for weeks but when I saw that email and didn’t know who it was? I was livid.
The second I landed and got a hold of Justin and my lawyer, they had already sent the email off to someone who might be able to figure out where it came from, but they said it could take days or weeks. Depending on how good the person was at hiding their tracks. My hands brace against the shower wall as the hot water cascades over my shaking body. I know I need to talk to Harper, I know I need to hear her out but right now all I want to do is throw something against a wall.
Just as I get out of the shower, I hear my phone go off again and I groan, picking it up and placing it against my ear. “I told you I didn’t want to talk to you!”
There’s silence on the other end before a voice I wasn’t expecting starts speaking.
“Is that any way to talk to your mother, Joshua Miller Anderson?”
Shit.
“Sorry, Mom, that wasn’t meant for you.”
She laughs before she says, “I would hope not. Now who are you so mad at that you would talk to them that way?”
I shake my head, folding the towel around my waist as I flop back down on the bed.
“No one, Mom.” That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told and from the sounds coming from the other end of the line, she knows it.
“Has this anything to do with your girlfriend?”
I sit up, wondering how she knows about any of this.
“You guys are not very careful when you’re out, son.”
My heart starts to race and my hands start to shake thinking that the photos got out.
“I mean, making out outside a movie theater? You couldn’t do that in the comfort of your own home?”
“Mom…” I can’t help the smile that crosses my face picturing my mother seeing these photos.
“What happened? The only reason you could be this grumpy would be trouble in paradise.”
I hate that she’s so observant, even when she’s thousands of miles away. I spent the next few minutes spilling all the details and before long I’m out of breath and mad all over again.
“How can I look her in the eye when I know what she hid from me?” I ask more to myself than to my mother.
“Honey, you need to step out of the anger you’re feeling for one second and see things from her perspective.”
“I know she was trying to protect me.”
