I didn’t question where we were going, and I couldn’t say I was surprised when Harry pulled his black jeep up to his apartment. “Is this cool?” he asked, and I nodded, wiping away the tears that hadn’t stopped falling since we left the sorority house.

We took the stairs, and I wasn’t sure if it was the tears or the alcohol, but everything seemed blurry, like looking at the world through a dirty lens. When we got inside, I kicked off my heels, making myself comfortable, and hung my coat and purse on the hook. Then I ran my fingers through my hair and reevaluated my entire day. “I was such a bitch to Brit,” I admitted. “I’ve never treated her like that before. And it was her birthday. She really didn’t deserve that.”

“Why don’t you text her? I’m sure she’s wondering where you are. You were drinking, so at least she knows you’re somewhere safe.”

“Good idea.”

Harry was a good, sweet guy. He didn’t just care about me, he cared about my friends. Just like David would have. My bottom lip started to tremble. I managed to text Brit an apology and told her I was probably crashing at Harry’s and not to wait up.

I was surprised by what she had texted back.

No need to apologize. Just don’t do anything you’ll regret.

Seriously? What the heck was that supposed to mean? Not wanting to get into a texting war, I turned the phone to silent and shoved it into my purse, hoping I’d forget about it. Don’t do anything you’ll regret. Please. I had discovered my boyfriend of the past three years was living with a woman who doesn’t believe in wearing pants, and Brit thought I’d do something I’d regret? She had no clue. I’d like to see how she’d react if Prince Erik was living with a supermodel in London and “forgot” to mention it to her. My veins were twitching with emotion. Heartache, anger, and just this overwhelming sense of loss. I glanced over at Harry, who was looking at me thoughtfully.

“Beer or coffee?” he asked.

“Got anything stronger than beer?” I joked.

Harry licked his bottom lip. “I might. But maybe we should start with a beer.”

Not having any idea what he meant, I nodded and went over to the couch where I collapsed in the corner and tried not to burst into tears again. Harry must have been in the kitchen for a while because I fell asleep.

He gently nudged my arm and said, “Hey, you. I bet you didn’t eat. Are you hungry?”

I blinked a few times and looked at the coffee table. There was a French bread pizza and a plate of nachos with the works. “You just made this?”

“Uh huh. Nothing fancy.” He opened a beer and handed it to me.

I sat up and took it. The food actually smelled really good. He cut a hunk of the pizza and scooped a handful of cheesy nachos on to a plate, then added a scoop of guacamole and sour cream. I took the plate and tucked my feet underneath my calves. Dipping my cheesy chip into the guac, I took a bite. Holy crap! That was insanely good!

“Did you make the guac, too?”

Harry shrugged and took a sip of his beer. “Yeah, it’s not hard.”

“Easy for you to say. I don’t know how to make guac. This is a freaking avocado masterpiece.”

“I’ll teach you.”

I licked the excess green goodness off my thumb. “Really? Neat.”

“How about we up the ante?”

“I’m listening.” I loaded another chip with this creamy delight.

“I’ll give you one cooking lesson in exchange for one piano lesson.”

I gave him a sideways look. “You want to learn how to play?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Um, yeah. Sure.”

He eyed me skeptically. “What’s wrong?”

“My clients are just a lot shorter than you, that’s all. I apologize in advance if I talk to you like you’re five.”

“There are worse things.” He smiled, and I reached over and took a bite out of the French bread pizza. Holy crap was that good. I think my taste buds just had an orgasm.

Harry scooped up some guac and popped a chip into his mouth before he turned the conversation to the real reason why I was here. “I’m so sorry about what happened this afternoon, Kris. If it makes you feel any better, David sounded really upset.”

Did that make me feel better or worse? I wasn’t sure.

“Yeah, well, did he tell you who he’s been shacking up with?”

“He fucking cheated on you?” Harry’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his skull. I glanced down at his fingers that were gripping the neck of his beer that he was totally white knuckling at the moment.

“No,” I vehemently shook my head. “At least, I don’t think so. I just saw his roommate was this supermodel rock star who happened to be half naked in their apartment.”

“Danny,” Harry said, and I cringed over the name.

“You knew about her?” Suddenly, I felt betrayed all over again.

“No, not until he called this afternoon. He told me you found out his roommate was a girl, and you flipped out and dumped him.”

“Well, that certainly makes me sound shallow and untrusting.” I shook out my hair in frustration, then slumped my shoulders. “I didn’t dump him…” Behind his glasses, Harry’s eye’s widened. “I mean I know I said we were over, but that was just my anger talking. I didn’t mean it. Not really.” I sighed as the truth hit home. “It’s a long story.”

“Well, I happen to like long stories.”

I raised my gaze to meet Harry’s crystal blue eyes. They were filled with concern. It was Harry who held me when I was missing David. It was Harry who checked in after my audition. It was Harry who had rescued me from that Valentine hell hole and now it was Harry who made sure I was eating right. He was the Archer who cared right now.

So I did. I told Harry how hurt I was that Brit was more a part of David’s life in the past few months than I had been. I told him about my failed audition and how David hadn’t even called until the next day. And then I told him about the blonde in the red panties, draped across the man I loved more than anything in the world. “Why wouldn’t he have told me about her?”

“He probably didn’t want to add any more stress to your relationship.”

“But to keep it from me?”

“Well, would you have been okay with him living with an attractive woman?”

“Not really. But I would have accepted it easier had I known from day one.”

“You probably would have, but that doesn’t mean it would have stung any less. I know my cousin, the last thing he would ever want is to hurt you. I’m not taking sides, just trying to reason out his actions.”

“I just feel like I’m the last person he thinks about these days. I know he's finally turning his dreams into reality, but I was the one who stood by him through it all. It was me. Not Danny. Not even Brit. Me.” I sighed. “He didn’t even introduce me to her. He had an opportunity and he didn’t.”

Harry tipped his head to the side. “If it’s any consolation… my cousin is such a dick.”

“Well, we can agree to that much.”

“I’m serious. I mean…” Harry’s mouth twitched. He looked like he had something else he wanted to add.

“What is it?”

He took a breath. “If I had a girl like you, I’d never let her go. I’m sorry. If he could get a record deal in London, he could get one here. He never should have left you.”

I had seen David’s rejection letters. I could have easily argued that this probably was his only shot. Still, my heart fluttered a bit. I was both flattered by Harry’s words and equally torn apart by them. I just wished these words of devotion were coming from a different Archer boy. So, like a stupid girl, I started crying again. Crying like my face was a goddam thunderstorm with all the hiccup sobbing I could not control. I’m sure my mascara was streaked across my cheeks, and my eyes were going to be uber swollen in the morning, but I just couldn’t stop.

Harry took the plate of food out of my shaking hand and set it on the table. Then he pulled me against his chest, where I slobbered all over his shirt like an infant. “I’m sorry my cousin did this to you,” he said as he stroked my hair.

I didn’t answer, just continued to sob. He held me tighter, and I tried to control my breathing from hysterics to a more calming, less embarrassing cry. “It hurts,” I finally managed to say. “It hurts so freaking bad.”

“I know,” Harry said, stroking my hair. “Trust me, I know.”

When every drop of salt water had finally evacuated my tear ducts, I pulled back, afraid to meet his gaze. I must have looked so pathetic. It was humiliating. I glanced over at the clock on the Blu-ray player. It was after midnight. I was exhausted, but my eyes hurt so much from crying, even closing them was painful.

“Do you think I could…?” I felt stupid asking. But I figured after practically blowing my nose on his shirt, there wasn’t much farther I could fall. “Have another one of those sleeping pills? I just want to crash and forget this day ever happened.” 

“No problem.” Harry disappeared into his room and when he returned, he handed me two blue pills. “Hold on, I’ll get you some water.”

“No need.” I took the pills and washed them down with what was left of my beer. Figured I might as well live a little reckless tonight. Beer was mostly water anyway, I reasoned.

“A girl after my own heart,” Harry said with a crooked grin.

I ignored him and started picking up plates to help him clean up our midnight fiesta.

“I got this. You go sleep. If you need me, you know where I’ll be.”

I nodded and stood up on my tippy toes to kiss him on his cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked, his cheeks just the slightest flush of pink. I reasoned it was from the beer and not my affection.

“For being my knight in shining armor this week. I’m pretty head strong, always trying to do everything by myself. I didn’t know how badly I needed one until now.” 

Harry smiled. “Goodnight, Kris. If you need anything, come get me.”

I nodded and wandered into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I was even scarier looking than I had imagined, and I had to wash my face twice to get all the streaky mascara off my cheeks. 

Walking into David’s room, my heart dropped. As soon as I saw his bed and remembered the last time he had playfully tossed me onto the mattress before making love to me, I knew I couldn’t stay in there. It would be like dragging out my misery, rolling around in what I could never have again. I stormed out and slammed the door. Harry was carrying all the plates into the kitchen and jumped.

“Sorry, I just… I can’t sleep in there. Would it be awful if I took the couch? I don’t want to make you drive me back to the sorority house, it’s late enough as it is.” Although I knew the party was still going strong, and that was undoubtedly the real reason why I was avoiding my house.

“I’ll take the couch. You take my bed,” Harry said.

“I’m not going to kick you out of your bed.”

“Too late, I already called the couch, so you might as well take the bed.” His words were almost playful and that made this even more confusing.

“Why don’t you take David’s bed?”

“That would be weird.”

“Why would that be weird?”

“You guys have…” He shook his head. “It would just be weird.”

I didn’t buy it. “But you slept there a few nights ago.”

  “That was different. You hugged me. I wasn’t going to leave you, and I more of sat up and napped than laid down and dreamt.”

  “Harry, I’m so sorry, I'm completely turning your whole world upside down. How do I fix this?”

  “Simple. You stop arguing and get in my bed.”

  I glanced at him, that unsettling nervous flutter back in my stomach.

  He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. Look, it’s late, you go to bed, I’ll crash here. It’s really fine, I promise.”

  I nodded and went into his room, closing the door behind me. The drowsiness began to envelop me. Tired, I didn’t change into pajamas, nor did I take off my jeans and sleep in a shirt like I normally did. Instead, I laid down against Harry’s pillow, inhaled his cologne, and let the sleeping pills take hold of me. Tiny footsteps pressed along the mattress, and I knew Beast had come to sleep with me. I assumed he regularly slept with Harry.

  “What a lucky kitty,” I slurred as the pills carried me away.