Harper's Rules 1 & 2

Chapter 48: Harper

Oh shit.

Ethan's word 'firecracker' froze my feet wherever they stepped. I turned my chin over my shoulder and narrowed my eyes at him, but he only called out with a smug voice, "That's what he calls you, right?"

"He doesn't call me anything," I tossed back at him.

"Come here and tell me that to my face," Ethan challenged me with a smirk that flared my stubbornness like a match tossed into a gasoline can. With a few loudly stomped steps, my hands swung in fists at my sides and I marched back over until my nose stood an inch from his.

"There is nothing between me and Jake."

Ethan's lips parted, where his tongue flicked out and moistened them. With his hands on his hips, one of his eyebrows raised at me. "Trying to convince me, or yourself?"

"I don't care about convincing anyone." A scoff left my lips, more at myself of how I entertained this asshole's empty accusations.

The impassive look he shot me showed I definitely hadn't changed his opinion. In a flat, almost bored voice, his hands clenched his hips tighter. "So why was he at your dorm room, picking you up at your dorm room Thursday night, complete with flowers?"

My eyes closed for one extra second.

Fuck, Kieran told him.

Ethan's ridiculous smirk, so deep it popped a dimple into the bottom of each of his cheeks, was the first thing I saw when my eyes flipped open. Within quick movement, one of his hands lifted and he held my chin between his callous thumb and fisted fingers.

"Lie all you want but you're not convincing anyone." His brown eyes glinted as they stared into mine. "I came to check if you'd reconsider my suggestion to fuck him over but after what Meade here said, you really are a cold, heartless bitch, Harper."

He did not just... he did.

"Been called worse by better men..." Both my hands lifted to Ethan's broad shoulders, where I braced down and swung my right knee up in between his legs. Unfortunately, Ethan anticipated the move and blocked me with his other hand.

"Nice try but I meant it as a compliment." His thumb pinched my chin hard while his eyes roamed over what felt like every inch of my face. Tiny prickles raised up the back of my neck under the weight of his gaze, but I wasn't sure what he searched for. "Takes a special girl to win, then crush a guy's heart."

"If you have a problem with Jake, write it on a piece of paper and shove it up your ass." I snapped my head back out of his grasp and glared my best eye daggers at him when his hand squeezed my chin tighter. "And if you touch me again, I will personally -"

"You're beautiful and fuck, I want to shut that mouth up," he murmured quietly as his thumb traced the outline of my lower lip. His eyes flickered with annoyance as his jaw clenched. "I see why he likes you. I might almost feel sorry for him when you break his heart."

"Haven't you seen his track record," I spat out sarcastically. "Joke's on you, Jake doesn't have a heart."

"I'm well aware of his... track record." Ethan's jaw tightened while one of his hands reached into his pocket. "And jokes on you, you've already broken it."

"What -" I started when Ethan thrust a phone into my hands, then hit play on the video.

A very grainy, blurry view of what I recognized right away as one of Jake's house's brown, ratty sofas came into view. By the brown wall panel surroundings, it didn't look like the current house Jake lived in. My eyes closed momentarily when the large, muscular version of Jake came into a blurry view.