Chapter Twenty-Two

Harper

“For God’s sake, Irene, have you no decency at all? You haven’t degraded him enough, you have to lie to him too?”

Irene scrambled to her feet, hastily stealing a furry throw from the pretentious, circular bed to cover herself. The entire room made me dizzy in its surreal, straight out of grainy porn film kitsch. “This is my place of business, Laurie. You’ve no right to be here… you’re trespassing!” she shouted, her face a bee-stung, mottled red. No longer attractive, she just looked pathetic. Thwarted.

And sad.

“Calm down, both of you,” Reed said, attempting to impart some macho control to an out-of-control situation. I burned with humiliation on his behalf, and I wanted to throw something at Irene. How dare this back-stabbing harridan make a fool out of the only man I’d ever wanted? He didn’t deserve any more blows to his ego or his self-respect. Life had dealt him enough already. Not to mention she’d had her veiny hand on him. On my man. For the first time in my life, I wanted to strike another human being.

“A business engaged in extortion and fraud,” I shot back, moving further into the room as Reed scooped his shirt and jacket from the floor. “Need I remind you, Irene, that I am the sole owner of a Fortune 500, and with that comes an entire legal team, on staff? You can threaten me all you want, but if I go down, it’s a petty misdemeanor. If you go down, it’s the electric chair.”

“I beg your pardon,” Irene replied with haughty indignation.

“Harper, let me handle this. Just turn around, and wait for me outside,” Reed said, tugging on his jacket.

In spite of my high dudgeon, it didn’t escape my notice that he was going to fuck a termagant to save his daughter. Because I’d forced him to feel like he had to. Because I hadn’t come clean when I had the chance. Seems like we were both guilty of wrong choices guided by pride.

Oh, Reed. What have we done? Is it too late for us?

I turned to him, fury and pity both boiling a disjointed brew in my guts. “No. Come with me now, Reed. You don’t need to say another word to this scheming, evil creature, or spend another second in this room. You don’t know what she’s done.”

“I know what she’s done,” Reed said. “It doesn’t involve you, Harper. It’s between me and her.”

I tore the copy of my online bank statement from my pocket and handed it to him. “It sure as hell does involve me,” I said. “You’ve been played, Reed. Irene didn’t pay for Jess’s treatment. I did. She’s lied to you and manipulated you from the beginning. Haven’t you, Irene? Tell him the truth for once. I know you’ve been harboring a stalker-like crush on him ever since his rookie year. It wasn’t hard to figure out. Season ticket holder. Patron. Benefactor. You know that beautiful ring you got as a team gift for winning the Conn Smythe? The Caribou didn’t pay for that, Reed.”

“Get out, both of you,” Irene hissed in cat-like scorn. Rage literally shook her frail body as her house of cards came tumbling down.

Reed glanced at the form, shaking his head in disbelief. A scowl of pure anger grew on his handsome face. He leveled Irene with a poisonous glare. “You… soulless…” He left his sentence unfinished. Even I couldn’t think of a fitting name for her. I reached out and caught his arm. “Did you have your girl approach me in the bar that night? Did you?”

The look on Irene’s face said it all. She’d started the wheels in motion from the very beginning and then the dominos had all come tumbling down.

“Don’t,” I said. “She’s not worth it. Please, let’s leave now.” He shrugged me off, angrier than I’d ever seen him, and stalked out the door. I spared Irene a last withering glance before removing myself from her tainted presence. “I think you’ve just received his resignation. If he owes you anything else, send me the bill.”

“Reed!” I called after him as he exited the suite. I followed in his path, a rush of freedom passing over me as I flung wide the door to Irene Sutton Formals and let it fall shut behind us for good. I caught up with him at the elevator, my hair flying out behind me like a platinum blonde kite-tail. “Reed, it’s okay. It’s over. You don’t ever have to come here again. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

He rounded on me, his hazel-green eyes that I adored flashing dark fire. He deserved to be spitting tacks. But not at me.

“How did you know I was here?” he said, his voice sounding strained. “What the fuck is this all about? I don’t need your help. I don’t need anyone’s help. Even Milo’s. But especially not yours. Leave me with what’s left of my balls intact. I don’t ever want to see you again, Harper. In fact, I wish I’d never seen you at all.”

I shrank away from his outburst, taken aback at the vehemence behind it. I never intended to make him angry. I only wanted to help him. To stop him from making a terrible mistake, being suckered by a horrid woman who would stoop so low as to use a man’s love for his child against him to assuage her decade long urges involving unrequited love.

The elevator doors swished open, revealing Rochester’s darkened sky through the curved glass windows. Reed stepped quickly inside, and I had no choice but to follow. His rigid body turned away from me, and I almost doubled over. I felt like I might throw up.

Or die.

I fumbled for something to say, but the words wouldn’t form. I gazed out at the stars above, and the city lights below as the cab began to descend. I’d totally underestimated his reaction, and undone all my good intentions in trying to show him how much I cared for him, and for his precious little girl. I felt hollow inside. Soulless. We’d shared wonderful, earth-shattering moments in his bed, had something special within our grasp, only to have it ruined by my damned insecurities. And as usual, trying to patch up that gaping hole by throwing money at it.

I glanced back at Reed, noticing his stance in front of the control panel, his back to the glass, and knew what I had to say.

“Don’t you know why I left your apartment, without even saying goodbye? I thought you didn’t really want me. That I was a pity fuck for money. I heard you say it.” Reed shrugged his beefy, broad shoulders but remained silent. “That hurt me. It gutted me really, if the truth be told. And one of us has to make themselves vulnerable and come clean. I also know your words were lies. Milo told me so.”

He stiffened at my revelation but still didn’t say anything. I stared at his stiff spine and chiseled jawline, aching to stroke my fingers down the hard plane. Soften it. Soften him.

“He came to my office, told me how he’d found out I took care of the bill, and that Irene took the credit for it. I’m sorry if I wounded your pride, I know you’d do anything for your daughter. Even date someone like me,” I said, tears pooling in my eyes.

I blinked a few times to keep them at bay. My attempt at honesty didn’t also include falling into a puddle of pain and regret at his feet. His continued silence gutted my soul. Desperate, I crossed over to where he stood and pressed the emergency stop. I was afraid I might never see him again if we got to street level. At least here he had to listen to me, give me a chance to explain myself.

The car slowed and shuddered to a halt. Reed braced his hands against the wall. “Don’t… fucking do that,” he gasped.

“What?” I asked, puzzled.

“Get this fucking thing on the ground,” he said, stabbing at the panel, anxiety practically radiating from him.

“Are you afraid of heights?” I asked, suddenly sensing the problem.

“Nope. Just of falling from heights,” he muttered.

He exhaled a relieved breath as the cab began to move again. Instinctively, I slid my arms around his muscled torso, feeling the warmth of his fit, hard body, marveling at how I could possibly have not known this detail about him.

“I’m here. I’ll take care of you,” I said, echoing his words that had ushered me through such a pivotal event in my life. If he’d let me, I would protect him too. From fear, from pain, from uncertainty, from loneliness.

“Like you took care of my hospital tab? What else do you plan to take care of, my responsibilities as a father?”

I sighed and hugged him tighter. I was tired of arguing, speculating, worrying, trying to do the right thing, and having it backfire in my face when it came to this man.

“Oh, Reed, will you just shut up and let somebody love you? You make it hard to love you, did you know that?” I said as our glass cage reached ground level with a soft bump.

Dammit, I’d just run out of time. The only commodity with a level playing field. My heart constricted when the doors opened, and he pulled me forcibly outside. Would he be the one to do a runner this time, leaving me dazed and confused?

Instead, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and spun me into his strong arms, squeezing so tight my lungs expelled a startled breath.

“That’s the same fucking thing that Robin said to me,” he said, his voice choked. “Right before she left. I know I played a part in it, Harper. Every person on the outside looking in thinks that poor Reed Matheson got fucked over by his evil ex. Well, Robin isn’t responsible for one hundred percent of the blame. She may be a shit mother now, but I was a shit husband when we were together. I’ve had my insides ripped out and stomped on so many times I think I’ve stopped expecting to be treated any other way. And I’ve had every fucking bit of it coming.”

I clung to him, a glob of pain stuck in my chest at his words. I’d wanted to give him all the love and kindness in my being, every minute I’d ever known him, and never had the chance until now. I wasn’t going to waste it, whether he accepted it or not.

“Reed Matheson, I’ve loved you all my life, and I’m not about to stop now. I couldn’t if I tried. We’ve been friends, and we’ve been lovers, and if I have to choose between those two, I’ll pick friend if I must. But I’d rather be both. I won’t lose you again. I want to be part of your life, of Jessica’s life. If the only way I can do that is with my checkbook, I’ll gladly do it. But please don’t resent me for it. It was done out of love. Please accept it. Accept love. Love’s a gift that doesn’t have to be reciprocated.”

I laid my head against his chest, heard and felt the steady beat of his heart, and let it resonate through me until I felt so connected to him I felt like a part of a whole. He didn’t need to answer me, but I desperately wanted him to. Say all the things I’d longed to hear.

“I do,” he said with an exasperated sigh. I was sure the past few hours had been teeming with emotions for him. None of them good. “If you will. I know you think I only saw your alter ego, that I was blinded by her hot body and that the real Harper was somehow unworthy of love.”

I opened my mouth, but he shook his head, lifting a finger to my lips so he could finish.

“Real beauty is more than skin deep. It fills every part of you, and it shows. Through your kindness, your intelligence, your compassion. You’re beautiful, Harper, inside and out. I think I always knew that I loved you. There’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about you. Regretted you. But too much time had passed, and I never found the courage to come clean. It just took Laurie to give me a kick in the ass in order to realize it.”

His fingers curled under my chin and tipped my face upward to meet his. “I love you, Harper Payne. But right now, I’m a man of few means and with a very sick daughter. Not a very attractive prospect for a wealthy entrepreneur. I’ve never deserved you. I don’t deserve you now.”

I smiled, overjoyed that my first best friend and the love of my life had finally met. And they made a great couple. “I’m not worried. I have a knack for maximizing ROI.”

“Good to know I’m worth your investment,” he said with a gentle smile. “But right now, I’m freezing. Give you a lift home?”

“Sure.” I stepped closer, ran a hand down his jaw. “But I hope you brought your toothbrush.”

He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. “Madam, are you propositioning me? I don’t do that kind of work anymore, in case you didn’t know.”