Daddy's Girl - Wake Up Call

I really have one quick thing to say before I let y'all dive into the new story. I really had an interesting time with Steven in this particular section of his saga. Ever since his creation I've seen him as a good guy but not like the 'nice guy' or the 'prince' or whatever. He's just a regular guy that happens to be Authentically good. Or at the very least, my definition of what good is. That being said, it was interesting seeing how he handled certain things that go on in this chapter and honestly I was rather proud of the end result of his thought processes. Steven is quickly becoming one of my favorite boys because of his genuineness and honesty. 

Alright, that's my whole spiel. Stick around for more notes at the end of the story.

***

Nothing better than a good meaty cold cut. Salami, turkey, ham. I hummed deep in my throat as I stared at the beautiful sub in my hands before I tore off a huge bite and began to chew it thoughtfully. Mm-mm. Yes, ma'am.

"Are you gonna eat that sandwich or make love to it?" Harper asked with an amused giggle.

I cast a sideways glance at Harper as I took another deliberate bite out of my sandwich and chewed it while I stared at her.

"I'm gonna do whatever I want to this sandwich," I growled once I swallowed the oversized bite.

Harper rolled her eyes and sighed. "You're such a dork, Steven."

I wiped the sauce from my bottom lip and smiled softly at Harper, who was picking at her own sandwich in a dainty manner.

"Yeah," I murmured wistfully. "I really am."

Lunch with Harper had become a routine in the last month or since she had started working at my accounting firm. It really only began within the past two weeks though, when we started spending more time talking and learning about each other. Instead of what we had been doing, which was fucking like rabbits at any and every opportunity.

Beyond my initial attraction and ease of comfort that made me want to spend time with her, I learned that Harper and I had quite a bit in common, which only fueled my desire to be around her that much more. We were both morning people, we both liked to do critical thinking puzzle games to relax and--to my utter surprise given Harper's tendency for the extravagant--we were both relentlessly frugal.

"Mm," Harper hummed and set her sandwich down before grabbing the small pocket sized paperback that had been laying on my dashboard while we ate. "Where were we?"

I looked up thoughtfully as I recalled the last part of the puzzle we had completed before we stopped to eat.

"Fourteen down. Another word for showy, flashy," I muttered before looking over at Harper. "Right?"

"Ostentatious," Harper agreed with a tap to the puzzle where she had filled the word out.

Usually Harper was the new one to fill out the puzzles while I drove. It was only partially because my hands were occupied, however. I would never admit it to anyone, least of all her, but I liked to look at her neat, loopy handwriting when we were apart.

"Yeah," I said and nodded. "So what do we have left?"

"We've got twenty six down. A very hot and dry climate. Or," she drawled the word out as her finger traced across the puzzle. "Three across. Acid found in vinegar."

"Acetic," I replied without much thought as I picked my sandwich back up.

"What?" Harper asked.

I flicked my eyes over to her blue gray ones. "Acetic acid," I said again and shrugged. "It's the only other ingredient in vinegar besides water."

Harper's brows raised as she shook her head before she looked down at the puzzle with a sigh.

"I had no idea that any person could have such a vast knowledge of random shit until I met you," Harper murmured while her pen scratched across the cheap paper quickly.

"Then you'll be happy to know that I also have the answer to twenty six down," I remarked with a big, smug grin aimed at Harper.

Harper shot me a narrow eyed look from the side. "Torrid," she seethed and began to write it in before she had even finished saying the word. "You're not gonna take all the glory, mister know-it-all."

"I could if you weren't here," I mused and wrapped up the remains of my sandwich to save for later.

Harper scoffed so loudly that I was nearly insulted by the sound. "You think you'd be having any fun without me?" she asked.

I looked over at her and searched her eyes for several seconds before I answered softly, "No."

"You know I'm curious now," Harper said as she tapped her chin with the end of the pen. "What did you do on your lunch hour before I showed up and brought all the fun?"

"Well..."

What did I do? Eat shitty gas station food and then doom scroll until my eyes got tired. Either that or read the news until my soul got tired. I looked over Harper's curious face with a frown. I can't say all that depressing shit though.

"I mean, I don't know," I said and shrugged. "I ate lunch."

"Wow," Harper drawled in mock amazement. "That must have been a real party. You and your all American sub having a good time for thirty to forty five minutes."

I laughed and shook my head. "Yeah. Maybe. So what?"

"If that's what you're into then that's cool. It's just, you know, fucking boring," Harper said with an unapologetic smile.

"What can I say?" I asked as I slipped my hands behind my head. "I'm a boring old man."

Harper rolled her eyes. "Steven, you're only thirty five. Shut the fuck up."

For the second time in less than a minute Harper had made me burst out laughing. She was good at that though. No one even came close to making me authentically laugh as much as Harper did.

"Alright, fair," I sighed and sat up before resting my arms on my legs so my hands could hang limply between my thighs.

"What?" Harper asked with a tone of amusement dancing in her voice.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

"Steven, I swear to God," Harper said before tagging on an exasperated sigh at the end of her sentence.

"Okay, okay. Jesus," I muttered under my breath. "I mean, you're right. I am thirty five. But some days, oh boy," I let out a cynical bark of laughter before huffing a breath of air out, "some days I feel so much older than that."

Harper looked at me with soft eyes for several seconds and then she moved her sandwich and puzzle book up to the dashboard before turning her body to face mine.

"I get that," Harper said in a gentle voice as she slipped her hand onto my thigh with a quick, warm squeeze. "But I can assure you that you're not as old as you feel."

"Oh?" I grunted with a curious brow cocked.

"Mm-hm," Harper hummed and squeezed my thigh again before her hand slipped down to run along the precise place where she knew my cock was resting. "There's no way you could fuck me the way you do if you were really an old man. I don't care how much viagra and herbal supplements you take. No old, fragile hips could take the pounding you give my pussy."

A smirk rose up to my lips at this unexpected bit of praise. "That's probably true," I said before flicking my eyes up to hers knowingly. "But your rodeos definitely wear me out sometimes."

Harper flashed her teeth in a brilliant smile. "My rodeos would wear anyone out. You can ride the bull for a surprisingly long time though, Steven, my dear."

"Well, you always make the ride worth it," I husked and leaned in closer to her, hoping that I could get a kiss with the light dick rub I was receiving.

"I usually don't," Harper murmured as she mirrored my movement and brought us that much closer together. "But I have a bit of a soft spot for you."

I let out a breathy chuckle and pushed her hair back over her ear before moving in to touch my forehead to hers. "Are you saying you go easy on me?"

Harper shook her head and giggled. "I never go easy. You should know that," her eyes met mine in the extremely intimate space we shared, "daddy."

My grin broadened at the greenlight Harper gave me by saying the name she had called me since that first night. It was the undeniable proof that Harper was willing and wanting to play.

"Mm," I hummed, deep in my throat, and ran my fingertips down Harper's jaw before cupping her cheek in my hand. "I do. I know you like it rough and fast and wild. That's the only way my baby girl can cum."

"Uh-huh," Harper uttered breathlessly while she stretched her neck out to try and reach my lips.

I kept them just out of her reach as I turned my head to look at the clock on the dash. "We've got about twenty minutes before lunch hour is over," I whispered before deliberately meeting her close proximity stare again. "Think you can ride me rough enough to cum before then?"

Harper smiled wide at my issued challenge before she grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me in for a quick, sloppy kiss.

"Only one way to find out, cowboy."

***

Hanging out with Harper did a lot of good for my life. I was happier overall--which led to more pleasant conversations--I felt and acted more confident--which seemed to garner an unexpected amount of newfound respect from my peers--and due to both of these, I was starting to enjoy being more social.

So, when Gerald asked me if I wanted to go out for drinks with him and Ned on Saturday, I was actually happy to accept the offer instead of trying to find some reason to turn the guy down. It wasn't really my typical priority to have a night out with the guys--generally I preferred to unwind from my week alone--but after spending so much time with Harper I thought it might be a nice reprieve to do something social with other people for once.

We met in the parking lot of my bar--at my suggestion given the excellent price to quality drink ratio--before I led the way towards the front doors while the guys discussed work troubles.

"Aw, man. You think that's bad?" Ned asked with a humorless bark of laughter. "I lost the Rorsche account today. By the time Sanders was done reaming my ass out I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to sit for a week."

"Bent you over the table and really took it outta you, huh?" Gerald asked, his voice a mix of sympathy and amusement.

Ned rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "You have no idea, man."

"Trust me, I do," Gerald assured the younger man before motioning his chin toward me. "Steve-O and I had plenty of days where we took Sanders' beating from our fuck ups."

"God, yeah," I said with a fond chuckle for the old days. "We even had a ranking system for how bad it was." I nudged Gerald's ribs with an elbow before I opened the door for the guys. "Remember pineapple, no lube?"

A visible shudder passed through Gerald as he pushed Ned through the open door before passing through himself.

"I try not to," Gerald muttered as he walked by me.

I laughed all the way to an empty booth near the bar before I finally cleared my throat, suppressed the last of my amusement and slid into the side facing the bar. Gerald took the inside of the bench across from me before Ned slid in beside him--all while staring at me curiously.

"What?" I asked with a raise of my brows.

Ned hummed and then asked, "How long have you worked for the firm?"

"Oh," I said in surprise. "Well, uh..."

I graduated with my bachelors at twenty...two? Yeah. Twenty two. And then the firm offered me a position a year later so...

"Fuck, like thirteen years," I breathed in surprise.

The sudden realization that over a decade of my life had been dedicated to helping a mid size accounting firm turn a profit was a bit jarring, to say the least.

Ned whistled appreciatively. "Wow," he said in a voice that sounded conflicted between sympathetic and awed.

"Yeah," Gerald interjected with a nod of his head. "Steven started about a year or two before I did. He was the one that trained me actually."

"Hence all the ass reamings from Sanders," I said gruffly and slapped my hands against the table top before shifting my long legs back out of the booth so I could stand up. "I need a drink after all of these reminders of how old I am. Any requests?"

"Uh..." Ned uttered, his eyes shifting between me and Gerald.

"Just grab a pitcher of beer," Gerald suggested with a look at Ned and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, that," Ned agreed with a snap of his fingers and a point at me.

I nodded slowly, both in understanding of their order and that Ned and Gerald weren't as easy or pleasing to spend time with as Harper was.

The night is still young, you old pessimist. I reminded myself as I trudged up to the bar. They could still prove to be fun. I know Gerald used to be fun before he got married and settled down. I frowned. Before the bad dad jokes.

I kept up a steady drumming of my fingers along the edge of the bar as I waited for the bartender to come back with the pitcher of beer for Gerald and Ned along with a whiskey on ice for me. When he did, I gave him an appreciative nod and told him to start a tab before I slid a ten onto the counter and turned to head back to the boys.

"Dude, how do you know?" Ned asked Gerald in exasperation while I slid the tray of drinks onto the table.

"I don't, technically," Gerald said with a blase shrug. "I'm just saying that a girl can smile at you or even laugh at your jokes and not have a crush on you."

Ned rolled his eyes and waved Gerald off. "Whatever man," he scoffed.

And this is why I don't come to the bar looking for trouble. I thought with a tired sigh as I slid back into my seat and took my glass of whiskey from the tray. Unless trouble comes looking for me, of course. A smile unfurled on my face as I lifted my drink to my lips and took a sip, all while images of mine and Harper's first night danced through my mind. It's hard to say no to it when that happens.

"What do you think, Steve?" Ned asked with a slap to the table and a hand thrown out at me as if he were asking for a lifeline.

"What do I think about what?" I asked before taking another long draw from my whiskey.

"You know, what we were just talking about," Ned said in an exasperated voice that told me that he thought I was being difficult on purpose. "What do you think about girls?"

"Mm, girls," I muttered with one last sip of my drink before I set it down and folded my hands on the table. "I think they're pretty and they smell nice, and when you're really lucky they fit right in your hands like they were made to go there."

Admittedly I was trying to get Ned's goat a bit with my response but even in my facetious attempt to be humorous, I couldn't keep the thought of Harper out of my mouth.

I mused over the last time we had done things in my car while my words trailed off. How Harper had sat on my lap after we had both cum and wrapped her arms around my neck. The way we fit together when I slipped my own arms around her lower back, my softening cock twitching inside of her still, felt as if we had been made like that. As one person who had unfortunately been split into two.

It was unclear, even to myself, how deep my devotion ran for Harper at this point, all I knew was that it was far too strong for the casual thing we had. We hung out and we hooked up, mostly at work.

There was nothing else beyond that really. No seeing each other outside of the safe confines of our work place or my car, no texting or calling each other--even for the intent of a hookup purpose--and no emotions whatsoever. What we had was really no more than friends with benefits. Except, really, it wasn't even that. We were merely work friends with benefits, a level that was even more detached than the normal friends who had sex situation.

"Steven," Gerald said in a loud voice.

I looked up in surprise to see that Gerald's face was colored with irritation and impatience. Obviously he'd been trying to get my attention for a bit while I dove into the depths of my thoughts carelessly.

"Hm?" I hummed with a raise of my brows as I looked up at Gerald to show that I was paying attention now. "What?"

"If you had been listening you would know that Ned's prospects are absolutely dismal so the two of us were inquiring about yours," Gerald informed me in a way that was much too eloquent.

"Huh?" I asked and dropped one brow so the other remained lifted in an inquisitive manner.

Gerald took a long drink from his glass of beer, wiped the foam mustache that had been left behind away and then smiled at me. "Who you hooking up with lately?"

My brows immediately furrowed and the neutral expression I had been wearing sunk into a frown. "Oh," I said flatly.

Well...shit. What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?

"Told you before, Gerald. I fly solo," I said coolly after my initial pause.

"There's no way," Ned grunted.

I looked at this twenty something year old kid with an even expression while I tried to unravel how it was possible for him to call my bluff so easily.

"Why do you say that?" I shot back smoothly.

There was no shake or panic in my voice so there was no way that Ned could have possibly known that I was bullshitting him, and yet he did know.

"You've been way too happy lately to not be getting laid," Ned scoffed and rolled his eyes.

My brows furrowed again at this comment. Am I not allowed to be happy without people finding it suspicious? Do they really see me as such a melancholy asshole?

"That's a good point," Gerald mused and rubbed his freshly shaven chin. "Normally Steve-o is the resident grumpy Gus but lately he's been a lot more chipper."

"That's what I'm saying!" Ned exclaimed and threw his hands up dramatically. "I heard this dude," he jabbed a finger at me, "whistle the other day. Whistle! Like who the fuck is he anymore?"

"Mm," Gerald hummed thoughtfully before he turned his contemplative stare over to me and narrowed his eyes. "It's weird cause nothing's really changed lately. Except..."

Internally I started panicking at the trailed off sentence that Gerald spoke, especially with the way he was staring at me so intensely. Outside, however, there was no change. My brows were still furrowed, my face was still blank and my hands were still neatly folded in front of my drink.

"Except?" I prompted Gerald in an amused voice--something that took a great amount of effort to pull off in a way that sounded natural.

"Well," Gerald drawled and cocked his head to get a better look at me. "Your recent happiness does correlate with a certain pretty, young secretary coming to work for the firm."

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. I chanted inside my head nervously. Fuck! How could he possibly know that it was her?

"What? Harper?" I scoffed as I morphed my expression into one of casual disregard.

"You do spend a lot of time together," Ned said with a curious hum and a pointed stare directed at me.

I could feel the combined weight between Ned and Gerald’s stares weighing me down but I did a pretty good job keeping my nonchalant front up.

"Well, yeah. We’re friends. We like to hang out," I said easily before reaching for my glass of whiskey so my nervous hands could have something to play with.

"Yeah, hang out," Ned scoffed before he looked at Gerald and made the jack off motion with one hand. "I bet."

"Heh, right?" Gerald barked out a loud laugh and held his fist up to pound, which Ned did.

My entire face went from neutral to pissed in less than a second.Who the fuck do these guys think they are? It’s none of their fucking business who I am or am not seeing. Like fuck, can’t a guy just keep his life to himself?

"Hey, Ned?" I barked, pulling the young man’s attention back to me at once. "When was the last time you got your dick sucked?"

"Well, uh..." he muttered before turning an ugly shade of red.

"Yeah, that’s what I thought," I snapped. "Shut your damn mouth."

Gerald began laughing even harder than he had before. "Burns all around tonight!"

"Gerald?" I breathed out in a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, buddy?" he asked.

I picked up my glass of whiskey as I flicked my eyes over to Gerald with a dangerous glare. "You can shut the fuck up too," I growled before downing the contents of my glass.

"Sheesh," Gerald muttered, his voice moody suddenly. "Looks like grumpy Gus is back."

"Yeah," Ned agreed under his breath.

"Yeah," I repeated in a tired voice before I shook the glass in front of my eyes to see the last few drops splashing against the bottom. "Grumpy Gus is gonna go get another drink. Maybe he’ll be in a better mood when he gets back." I shrugged and stood up. "Depends on the conversation at hand, I suppose."

"Does this mean we can't talk about girls anymore?" Ned muttered to Gerald.

Gerald shook his head in the negative. "No, we can talk about girls. We just need to stop trying to figure out who Steven's been boning."

"Bingo," I said sarcastically and walked away from the table before making my way up to the bar.

Thankfully it was relatively slow for a Saturday night. It made it very easy to flag the bartender down and ask for a refill on my whiskey. I slipped into one of the stools while I waited for the bartender to bring my drink--and maybe another two or three more--before I could even fathom having a good night.

After watching the bartender--who looked barely old enough to drink himself--flirt with a girl for several minutes instead of making my very simple whiskey on ice, I sighed and spun around in my seat so I could people watch. It was then that the great ironic entity that caused the world to turn decided to work his magic for me because the moment I turned in my seat, Harper came strolling in.

Seeing her strut into the bar like she owned the place, turning heads with every step she took, brought me back to the first time I had seen her. How I had recognized how pretty she was--right alongside every other woman loving human being in the place--before I looked away respectfully.

This time I had no intention of looking away in respect though. I wanted her to see every disrespectful idea that I had in mind for her body when she finally saw me on her way to the bar. And if Gerald and Ned happened to see then fuck them. They could mind their own business about my business.

My eyes crawled up and down Harper's body slowly, appreciating every single inch of her, before I flicked my eyes up to her pretty face. The little black number that wrapped around her body like a second skin was definitely appealing--I was particularly fond of the slit that went halfway up her thigh--but it didn't hold a candle to that face that I was growing so attached to.

Her deep blue gray eyes--which were painted with a smoky eyeshadow and a dark liner tonight--were so entrancing they were hypnotic. Her lips, whether curved in a smirk or pulled in a frown, were pretty and pink and deliciously kissable. The soft line of her jaw. Her cute button nose that I loved to kiss. The way her chin jutted out defiantly. I loved all of it.

God she looks good tonight. Good enough to eat even...

I grinned while a little blush crept into my cheeks at the recent memory of Harper bent over the console in the front seat of my car, her whole top half pushed into the backseat while I buried my face in her ass and ate her until she came.

Maybe she'd be up for recreating that first fuck we had. I might even go off script and eat her pussy instead of making her blow me. I wasn't sure if this would be more of a treat for me or for Harper but if we were both enjoying ourselves it didn't really matter who was winning.

I was halfway out of my seat--the drink I ordered forgotten behind me--and Harper was almost in a place where she would have been able to easily spot me when something completely unexpected and entirely unwanted happened.

An older gentleman, clean cut in a suit that was just as nice as mine, came up to Harper, put his hand on her waist and kissed her cheek. This might not have bothered me so much at first. After all, this man could have been a father or an uncle or something. Then he turned his face so he could whisper in her ear while the innocent hand on Harper's back slid down to give her backside a not so innocent squeeze.

Seeing this stranger touching Harper in such a way made my stomach drop so fast that a rush of nausea rolled over me and I had to hold back the sudden urge to vomit. Despite these intense feelings, however, I couldn't look away. Not from Harper's sly, pleased smile--something I had always felt was just for me--or the way that he grabbed her ass hungirly before kissing along her neck.

We're all interchangeable to her. It could be him tonight. It could be me tomorrow. It could be any other random guy in this bar on any other night of the week.

This realization hit me with such force that I could feel a fresh load of hot bile rising up in my throat, something I had to fight back with a grimace as I continued to watch the horrible, nauseating show in front of me.

When Harper turned to the man, giving me a better view of his huge paw gripping her ass, and reached up to touch his chest before she slid her hand down to play with the outline of his cock, that was when I knew I was done.

I got up from my seat so quickly that there was a muttered curse of confusion from the bar goer that was a few stools down from me. I paid him no mind as I rushed toward the back exit, the one that would allow me to avoid my workmates and Harper both.

The cold air that hit me in the face when I burst out of the bar was both sobering and welcome. It fit the melancholy that was lingering in my chest--and keeping the nausea in my gut company. I took a few steps down the alley before I threw a hand up against the brick wall to help support myself.

It all seemed so silly and completely obvious but I guess I never truly realized it until this very moment when it hit me.

I don't actually mean anything to her...

***

"And I have all these amazing plans already taking shape. I'm talking minotaurs and eldritch riddles and some crazy spooky shit living in the deep depths of the sea." Gerald rubbed his hands in excitement before grinning at me broadly. "So?"

I raised my brows. "So?"

"So what do you think? You wanna join the campaign?" Gerald said, nearly vibrating with energy now. "It'll be just like the old days, dude. Josie is gonna be visiting her parents with the kids for like a whole month. You know, so we can drink beer and cuss and make sex jokes without any worries."

I sat back in my chair and watched Gerald dance back and forth between anxious feet for several moments before I let out a sigh of defeat.

"Alright," I said with an overt tone of exhaustion coloring my voice.

Gerald seemed to pay no mind to how tired I was while he fist pumped in victory. "Hell yeah, man!" Gerald said enthusiastically. "Me, you, Tom and Ned. This should be a hell of a campaign."

"Yeah," I agreed weakly. "I can't wait."

"Cool, cool," Gerald said and rocked back and forth on his feet for a few moments before he cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, I was pretty excited to come in here and tell you about the campaign obviously so I never got the chance to ask about what happened the other night."

I shrugged. "I started feeling sick so I just called it a night."

To be fair, I had violently thrown up once I was out in the alley so at least there was some truth to my lie.

Gerald pouted his lip out at this answer. "You could have said something to me or Ned," he said before crossing his arms over his chest. "I was worried sick about you, dude."

"I don't know what to tell you. I felt like shit so I went home," I sighed in exasperation before hunching over my desk and resting my hands on the keyboard so I could make myself look busy.

"And you couldn't have sent me a text when you got there?" Gerald asked before humming in his throat and raising his eyebrows in expectation. The whole look irritated me even more than the nth degree he was setting me with.

"Look, Dad," I spat sarcastically and flicked a dangerous glare up to Gerald's face. "I don't need to report to you or anyone else. I'm sorry I was such an inconvenience to yours and Ned's night out but it didn't really seem like I was doing much beyond being the butt end of your guy's jokes so I don't know what the bug fucking deal is."

Gerald's parental expression melted away before a light blush of shame crept up to take its place. "We weren't trying to-"

"Yeah," I interrupted Gerald with a heavy sigh as I looked at him more evenly. "I get it. But I've got a lot of work and I still feel like shit so maybe we can just talk about all of this," I made a vague motion of my hand between us, "some other time."

"Okay, well," Gerald said before breathing out a sigh and nodding to himself. "I hope you feel better."

"Yeah," I muttered and looked down at the keyboard again. "Me too."

I stared at my PC screen, trying to make sense of the meaningless blur that was my work, until I heard my office door open and close. Once I knew I was alone again in the room, I dropped my hands from the keyboard and let my whole body slump forward with a sigh.

It was stupid and pathetic, hell, I was stupid and pathetic, but I just couldn't get over how horrible last night had made me feel. All night I had weighed out the meaning of everything in my head and hurt but I only ended up feeling worse the longer I dissected myself and the level of affection I had for Harper.

I was well aware that we had never established anything official or committed to each other or even said a word about what the fuck our physical relationship even was. I knew that Harper wasn't mine and that I had no right to be jealous or upset about what she did with her life. I even knew that catching feelings for someone as flirty and flighty as Harper was something I should have known would be bad from the start.

Despite all of these things, however, I did want her to be exclusively mine and I was jealous because I had caught feelings.

Fuck my fucking life running. I groaned inside my head before burying my face in my hands.

I let myself wallow in that position for no more than a few seconds before I was growling in my throat and pushing my chair back from the desk. I got to my feet with a rough kick back to my chair, which sent it clattering back against the wall.

"Whatever," I muttered under my breath, not even giving a fuck for a second if I broke the chair or possibly disturbed the people on the other side of the wall.

All of the energy inside of me--good, bad, anxious, jealous and every other in between--had my muscles so wound up that I had to start pacing in front of my desk in an attempt to ease the restlessness coursing through my body that was slowly turning my sanity inside out.

I couldn't understand why it was getting to me so much. Relationships had never meant anything to me. Sex was just an occasional past time. Pretty girls were for looking at from afar, not for pining after hopelessly.

I'm such a fucking loser. I threw my head back and huffed out a heavy breath from my nose while my hands balled into fists at my side. Can't figure out what I'm doing anywhere in life. Can't fucking do a single goddamn-

A loud series of knocks cut off the angry ranting in my head abruptly. I turned to look at the door with a sharp glare while I ground my teeth together.

Fucking Gerald...

"I told you I'm busy," I barked at the door in a low, threatening voice. "If you bother me again I swear to God I'll make you regret it."

The door opened in a single smooth motion before the most unlikely visitor, Harper, poked her head inside.

"Am I gonna regret it if I bother you again?" Harper asked in a light and playful tone that told me she wasn't upset about a thing.

Of course she isn't. I scoffed in my head. Why should she feel bad? She's just living her life for her without giving a fuck about anyone else that she might be hurting along the way.

Harper invited herself in and shut the door quietly before she turned back to me with a wide, inviting grin. "Or is it more like, you know, I'm gonna regret it?"

Great. Just what I need. Flirty Harper.

"That threat was specifically for Gerald," I said gruffly as I stomped over to my office chair before pulling it back to my desk and flopping down.

"Shame," Harper sighed wistfully before she flitted over to my desk and leaned against it nonchalantly.

I hummed so deep in my throat that it sounded like a growl but I didn't entertain Harper with any more of a response than that.

Harper tapped her trimmed nails on my desk for a few moments before she cleared her throat.

"Anyways," she drawled and then turned around so she could put her hands on my desk and lean over toward me, giving me a great view of her cute, perky rack. "How'd your weekend go?"

I looked up from my PC screen to stare at Harper with narrowed eyes. I had to wonder if she had seen me at the bar on Saturday. And if so, was this her way of rubbing it in my face even more?

Then I came to my senses that this was a completely ridiculous train of thought. Harper was too distracted to have seen me at the bar. Besides, she looked as if she authentically wanted to know how my horrible weekend had gone.

"It was fine, I guess," I muttered and shrugged as I forced my eyes to tear away from the blue gray depths that I so badly wanted to dive into. "Felt kinda crappy so I didn't do much."

Harper reached over to touch my shoulder with a gentle caress while she looked at me with a sympathetic stare.

"Aw," Harper cooed. "You shoulda let me know. I would've brought you some chicken noodle soup."

"You can make chicken noodle soup?" I asked, unable to keep my eyes away from Harper's any more than I could stop the small smile that wanted to rise to my lips from her concern.

"Of course not," Harper scoffed and waved a hand of dismissal at me. "But there's always takeout, babe."

Hearing that term of endearment slip from Harper's lips made my smile drop in an instant. I'm not her babe. If I was then she wouldn't have gone and fucked some other guy. She wouldn't need to because she would have me.

These bitter, petty thoughts sickened me as much as the memory of seeing Harper with someone else had. I hated feeling like this. It wasn't who I was and it wasn't who I wanted to be.

"Yeah, that's fair," I murmured before dropping my eyes back to my hands, resting on top of my keyboard. "How was your weekend?"

There wasn't any part of me that wanted to hear how Harper's weekend went because I already knew. More than that, I was afraid that this was going to be an open invitation for Harper to completely go off about the hookups she'd had over the weekend and I wasn't sure if I could handle that.

I had to ask her though because I did still care about her. And as long as I cared about her, I would put forth the effort to show that I cared. Even when it completely ate me up inside.

"Oh it was great!" Harper said enthusiastically.

Here we go...

"Me and the girls hit the mall and picked up some new additions for the wardrobe." Harper's smile faltered for a moment while her eyes flashed with irritation. "There was this one bitch who tried to start shit but me and Zira put her in her place real quick."

Maybe not?

"Oh," I said and raised both my brows. "That sounds a lot more...eventful than what I did."

Harper slid some my things around so she could hop up on the edge of my desk and perch there. "I have the tendency to find trouble," she threw a sly grin--the same one she had given him--over her shoulder, "but you already knew that."

My lips tightened into a hard line while I huffed out an irate breath from my nose. "I do."

"Yeah, so, that was the majority of it. I was supposed to meet someone on Saturday night but things didn't, uh...line up right." Harper shrugged. "So I spent the rest of the night with Greg and Charlie before retail therapy with the girls on Sunday."

I knew it shouldn't matter that there were more guys on top of the one that I had seen--who apparently hadn't lined up well with Harper, whatever the hell that meant--but hearing them by name seemed to trigger something in me that wanted to roar in defiance at their existence.

"Greg?" I asked curiously, trying my hardest to keep my voice even and not accusing. "Charlie?"

"Yeah," Harper replied with an easy nod. "My koi fish."

Wait...what?

"F-Fish?" I stuttered in surprise.

"Mm-hm," she said. "It's actually Gregory and Charlton but that's a mouthful so, you know, Greg and Charlie."

"Oh," I muttered.

She didn't mention him. Not at all. Not even in a subtle way.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind I wanted to smack myself upside the back of my own head for being so stupid.

Of course she didn't say anything. She's not just gonna stroll in and say, 'hey, guy I'm fucking, do you wanna hear all the ways this other guy fucked me?' Yeah. Maybe not the most tactful...

"Those are some interesting names for, uh, fish," I murmured before I flicked my eyes up to hers and searched them intensely. "Are you sure there wasn't anything else you did this weekend?"

I had no idea what compelled me to ask the question. It was as if there was some masochistic piece of me that craved the pain that Harper could inflict by confirming that I didn't mean a thing to her.

"Not really," Harper said with a thoughtful pull to her brows as she mulled it over for a moment before she nodded in confirmation to her words.

Really? You didn't see a man in the same bar you met me in? Some silver fox that could have been me in twenty years? He squeezed your ass and you grabbed his dick, remember?

"Huh," I said under my breath and looked away from her again.

I was uncertain on how I was supposed to proceed with Harper from here. Obviously I cared about her and I wanted to continue seeing her--along with all the other things we did. At the same time, however, I wasn't one to share my toys. I couldn't be with Harper, even casually, if I knew she was getting what I could give her anywhere else.

It wasn't even some macho pride thing either. I literally could not handle the thought without feeling the worst agony tearing my gut apart. I cared about Harper but I couldn't put myself through misery for her.

"Actually," Harper purred in a low voice that my dick was trained to react to.

I glanced up at Harper against my will and saw the deviousness twinkling in her blue gray eyes. That look wasn't ever good. And right now, even as upset as I was, I wasn't sure if I could resist it. I definitely needed to though.

"I did learn something new this weekend," she said in a playful voice. "You wanna see?"

"Um, sure," I muttered. It wasn't even a conscious response, just another automatic thing that Harper had trained me to respond to.

Harper smiled widely before she got on her knees and crawled underneath my desk. Automatically--or rather, instinctually--I pushed my chair back from my desk enough to accommodate Harper, all while I watched her with wide eyes and bated breath.

"Hold still," Harper breathed as she leaned her face toward the front of my jeans, where my cock was twitching relentlessly on the other side.

My eyes only widened further as I watched Harper use her tongue to pull the zipper of my jeans upright before she took it in her teeth and pulled it down with one, smooth motion. Then, just to put the cherry on top, she looked up at me and winked with the zipper still stuck between her teeth.

Jesus christ...

My lips parted slightly and I couldn't help the shaky breath that rolled out of me at the sight of what Harper had just done. I embraced the stiffness in my dick, reveling in the way that it began to grow in my boxer briefs at the mere picture of Harper with my zipper in her mouth.

Just as quickly as my body forgot the reasons why I didn't want to get involved with Harper again, my brain seemed to kick in and remember. Processing what she had said about learning this particular trick over the weekend was what made it finally click for me.

I wonder where she could have possibly picked such a thing up. I thought in a cold, cynical tone.

"I don't know," I said, low and gruff. "I'm not really in the mood."

"Really?" Harper asked with a curious brow cocked before she poked the noticeable bulge that had been growing in my underwear. "'Cause it sure as hell feels like you're in the mood."

My brows pulled together tightly before I scooted back in my chair to put some distance between me and Harper. "Yeah, well, maybe that doesn't mean anything."

Harper stared at me for a long moment before she scurried out from under my desk to look down at me with her hands on her hips.

"What? I'm not good enough to take care of your dick anymore? Is that it?" Harper snapped.

"No," I said too quickly before I growled and backtracked. "That's not what I mean. I just...i don't know." I looked away from her while I felt the embarrassed blush in my cheeks as I mumbled. "I don't really wanna fuck."

Even without looking at her I could hear Harper drawing in a shaky breath before she whispered, "You don't wanna fuck or you don't wanna fuck me?"

It was so much harder than it should have been to look at Harper at that moment but somehow, I accomplished it.

"Both," I muttered while I stared into her eyes as deeply as I could in an attempt to memorize every swirl and fleck in those beautiful irises.

Harper nodded in understanding with a sour expression on her face that looked as if she had smelt something awful.

"Okay," Harper said after a few moments of nodding. "Okay," she said again, sharper this time, before she turned on her heel and stomped out of my office with a slam of the door.

I watched her leave with a shaky breath that left me feeling empty inside. It was hard for me to believe that I had been so forward with saying it. Not that I couldn't be forward, because of course I could, but with Harper it was so hard to think of hurting her feelings--even if I knew it was the best for me.

"Okay," I muttered into the empty room and nodded in understanding.

Harper was gone. It was likely she wasn't going to come back either. She could do whatever, and whoever, she desired and I didn't have to worry about it anymore.

That should have been a comfort to my fragile heart, an assurance that it could heal from the hurt it had suffered through since seeing Harper on Saturday night, but the thought was nowhere near comforting.

Not having Harper in my life in any capacity, sexually, platonically or--as I had been thinking of more and more lately--romantically, hurt me so deeply that I felt as if I couldn't breathe. It was as if something had cut me open and started tearing things out of me without any regard whatsoever.

I wallowed in the hurt for several minutes, learning the waves of harsh pain and tight agony until I was familiar with them. Then I slipped my hands from my keyboard to rest my palms against the cool wood of my desk before I drew in a deep breath that I let out in a trembling sigh.

"Okay."

***

It's been a ton of fun doing these scraps and I still have a bunch of ideas left for Steven and Harper so I really hope everyone is having as much fun with this couple as I've been having. And if not, well, you're gonna have to learn to love them or ignore them until I get my next big project out because these two have been the only thing that's been on my mind lately. 

On the topic of a new work, however, I have a few betas looking at the first half of something new that I'll be releasing quite soon. I've already got the second half of the book half done so I promise it won't be a super long wait after I release the first part. At least I'm gonna try and make sure it's not. Alright, everyone. That's all from me for now. 

Until next time, be good to yourself, stay safe and happy reading!