Saving Us (The Billionaire Brothers of NY Duology #1)

13. Harper

CHAPTER 13

Harper

“ O h my God, I’m so drunk!” Victoria and I were at brunch at one of my favorite spots in the West Village, Bobo. We were two hours in on bottomless mimosas and feeling no pain at all. These Sunday afternoons always did us good after a long Saturday night. And we were celebrating a rare occasion: we both had the same night off. That never happened.

“I’m pretty wasted myself,” Victoria said as she drained the flute in her hand. “But we deserve this. It’s not often that it’s us drinking the drinks.”

It was almost four in the afternoon. We always got a late start on Sundays and thankfully these brunches ran almost all day here in the city.

“I still can’t believe the night you had last night.” Vic filled up our glasses with the last of our current pitcher. “Should we get another?”

“I don’t think so, my stomach is about to revolt from the juice.”

I wasn’t sure I could even finish the glass she poured. But I chose to put it to my lips to avoid talking about last night. Vic had been trying to get the details out of me all day, but I’d been resisting.

But she’s been relentless.

“Pete told me the guy that left the huge tip is into you, Harp, so what’s going on? The entire locker room was talking about how he fought someone ‘in your honor.’”

She literally finger-quoted her words.

“It’s no big deal.” But I knew I was going to have to tell her it was Gage. She would figure it out eventually.

She only knew about the kiss, not anything else we did the second visit he paid me.

Our server saved my ass and showed up at the table.

“Can I get you ladies anything else?” she asked.

“Just the bill, thanks,” I told her.

Reaching for my bag, I pulled my card out and put it on the table.

“My treat,” I said.

Victoria sat back in her chair, ready to protest, her hands coming up from her lap to grab her bag.

“Nope, I mean it. Let me put that monster tip I made to good use.”

She shook her head, and I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

Victoria and I both had plans for our futures. It was the only reason we worked at The Velvet Rope . The money we made there was helping us achieve our dreams. She knew about my plan to open up my own shop. But Victoria, who was still going to school part-time at NYU, was majoring in marketing. Her dream was to, one day, work for one of the big social media giants. She needed the money because she was paying her way through school, and that wasn’t cheap.

Shaking my finger at her, I took the bill and walked it up to the podium, making sure she couldn’t help pay. When I returned to the table, she had some bills scattered about.

“I’m leaving the tip.”

I didn’t argue.

“Careful when you get up, I was a bit unsteady on my feet.” I started giggling as I watched her stand from her chair, balancing on two wobbly, drunk feet.

“We’re not done yet, Harp,” she said. Grabbing me by the arm, she pulled me along and we walked out the door onto 10 th Street. “Let’s go to a sports bar. Aren’t the Yankees playing a doubleheader today? We can catch the second game, if not the end of the first.”

As we were walking, arm in arm, I got the sudden urge to tell my bestie my dirty little secret.

Damn champagne.

“So, remember romance novel kiss guy from last week? The one from the shop?”

I felt her nod against my head since she was leaning her entire body into mine. It seemed like we were trying to hold one another up as we walked.

“Well, there’s more to our story, something else happened between us, and, well, he’s the guy that got into the fight and left the big tip last night.”

Victoria stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed me by my upper arms. Her deadly stare spoke volumes. I could see the headline now: Girl murders best friend for withholding sexy details for days .

“What the fuck, Harper?” she screamed. “You’re just telling me this now? Why didn’t you say something last night? And it’s what…Sunday! When did this something else happen?”

Shrugging out of her hold, I hooked our arms together and continued our stroll.

“Well, he came back to the shop on Friday. But don’t hate me. You know I’ve been working a ton, and you had school. We didn’t even talk until we saw each other at the club. And there was no time to tell you then.”

She remained quiet for a few moments, our steps falling in line. But then she turned her face my way with imploring eyes.

“I’m waiting…you don’t think you get to stop there, do you?”

“Um, well, we kinda hooked up in the shop.”

Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was smiling. The fact that she wasn’t yelling or screaming something at me told me she had a big, fat grin on her face. I risked a look up at her and sure enough, teeth and all.

“Now it all makes sense,” she said. “Everyone in the locker room was talking about how fucking hot he was, so you scored, sister.” She barely took a breath between questions and comments. “Oh, and don’t think you’re done yet, Harp. I need dirty details, like the nitty gritty.”

She stopped us from walking and started making her way to the curb, pulling me down and across the street. Noticing a small playground ahead, I knew we were stopping.

She wanted the whole story.

“Sit.” She pointed at the bench with a stern finger but a warm smile. “Now, talk.”

I knew to listen when she got bossy, so I sat on the bench we found.

“Well, I told you about the kiss already,” I said. “And how he left.”

She nodded but waited for me to go on.

“Yeah,” I said. “Um, but then I called his office.” Knowing my cheeks were red, my hands covered my face as it dropped to my lap. “Oh my God, saying it out loud makes it sound so desperate.”

“No, it doesn’t, you took charge,” Vic said. “What happened? Christ, this is better than my books.”

“Well, I arranged for a meeting and he came back to the shop.”

Slapping her leg, she hooted so loud the people around us stopped and stared. But then she got serious.

“Oh my God, Harp, that’s freakin’ amazing! You arranged it like we talked about? I didn’t think you’d go through with it!” she screamed.

I did. I arranged our hook up. The nightly convos with Vic convincing me to do it finally worked. It was subconscious on some level, but not entirely since I wore my best bra and panty set that day.

“Look at that smile on your face, you’re acting like you’d like to see him again.”

I nodded and hoped I could leave the story there.

“No, no, no you don’t. You don’t get to skip over the best part. Tell me about the chemistry and what happened next, that’s the best part, Harp. Sex is sex, it’s all that other stuff that makes me swoon.” As she spoke, her hands were wrapped together over her heart.

“Jesus, Vic, it happened so quick. I don’t know, he walked toward me, leaned against the table, looked down at me.”

Clamping my mouth shut, I suddenly got embarrassed. These things never happen to me. It has never happened before that I’ve randomly hooked up with a guy out of nowhere. I think that was why it bothered me so much at the club when he was acting as if we barely knew each other.

“Um, then, he, uh, put his hand on my cheek.”

My cheeks were red from telling the story, and I really wanted to stop.

“That’s actually so sweet, Harper.” She reached out and took my hand in hers. “And then what happened?”

There were so many moments from our time that I wanted to keep to myself. Some good, and some not so good. I didn’t want to tell her that he left without asking for my number. Or that he apparently went home with someone else from the club last night. Pushing those facts from my brain, I focused on the romantic details. And even though I was convinced we’d never see each other again, it was still special to me. Though I wasn’t ready to share it all with her.

“Well, he’s very talented with his fingers, let’s put it that way,” I told her.

She liked that little tidbit. But I knew the inquisition was far from over.

“Well, how big is he?”

And there we go, that was the Vic I knew and loved.

“Well, the closest I got to his, you know…”

“Dick,” she provided.

“Yes, his dick, was seeing it in his boxer briefs. From that sight, it looked scary big, to be honest.”

Her eyes went wide, the question about to pop out of her mouth.

“Nope, we didn’t have sex. Believe it or not, Fiona interrupted us.”

The bellow that emitted from her mouth made the pigeons near us take flight. Moms with their children at the playground looked our way to make sure we were both okay.

“You have got to be kidding me. Fiona barged in on the two of you? What did she see? His face between your thighs? His hands down your pants? How far did it go before she cockblocked you?”

“Christ, Vic, quiet down.”

Victoria was trying to talk softly, but the alcohol we consumed had her voice octaves louder than it should’ve been. She looked around, giggling while doing so. Leaning in, trying to find my ear, her loud talk-whisper almost hurt.

“I’m sorry,” she said, then pulled away, giggling some more. “But inquiring minds have to know. Spill.”

Victoria knew that I hadn’t been with anyone in quite a while. My last relationship was with a guy named Chris, who came into the shop a lot. He eventually asked me out, and we were together for a couple months.

That was almost six months ago.

And casual hook ups were not my thing.

Not until the other day. With Gage.

She knew as well as I did that this was a big deal for me. But she was also drunk, and so was I.

I put my hands up around my mouth, ready to tell the biggest secret of my life to my twenty-six-year-old best friend in the middle of a NYC playground. “Well, he may have been going down on me when we heard the key in the back door.”

“Yes!” she screamed. “On the fucking flower table?”

Grabbing her arm, I hauled her off the bench and pulled her along the sidewalk, far away from little ears.

“Yes,” I told her, and she squealed with delight as we started walking.

Except, our steps weren’t very steady, and she almost veered off the sidewalk right into an oncoming car.

“Vic!” I yelled and pulled her back.

We both started laughing hysterically, so much so I needed to cross my legs.

“Fuck, I should have peed before we left,” I said. “I don’t know if I’ll make it to the bar. Where are we going, anyway?”

She pulled me along, the pace quickening, as we darted between people giving us dirty looks.

“Let’s go to Sullivan’s, they have a ton of screens, so we shouldn’t have trouble seeing the game there. And maybe you’ll decide to tell me some more of your dirty secrets.”

The bar was crowded. I don’t know why that surprised me. First, it was Sullivan’s, a popular bar even when there wasn’t a big game to watch. Second, it was one of the first warm days in New York, and Sullivan’s also had a great patio with a second outdoor bar. People were hanging out the front open windows while sitting at their pub tables with more people crowded around the L-shaped bar along the side. And the patio was the most crowded of all, with people clamoring for a chance to snag a bistro set or a spot on one of the couches.

We had walked our way through the entire space, deciding where to set up shop. Both of us decided inside would be our best chance at seeing the game. There weren’t as many TVs out back. Making our way back to the inside bar, Vic started pushing through the crowd to get the attention of the bartender.

“Hey, it’s Theo working, he’ll take care of us.”

Theo had done some bartending at our club on occasion when we were short-staffed. I let Victoria work on getting our drinks while I searched out the possibility of two seats. But the prospects were grim. Thank God I had comfortable shoes on, at least.

“Here.”

Vic handed me a cold bottle, tapping it, before we both went for the first sip.

“That tastes amazing. Ice cold beer after that walk, mmm, nothing better,” she said, taking another long chug. “No seats?”

Shaking my head, I continued looking around, taking in my surroundings. It had been a while since I’d been in a bar as a patron. It felt good to be here and not have to be the one serving the drinks. I wasn’t going to stress about finding a seat, but instead enjoy my time with my bestie.

“Looks like we’ll have to watch the game from here,” I told Victoria. We were standing behind the seated patrons at the bar, so we had a decent view of the wide-screen televisions.

“It also looks like we have some admirers,” she cooed in my ear. “Two o’clock, sitting at the bar, which is perfect. Maybe they’ll give us their seats.”

My eyes scanned the other end of the bar for who could possibly be the guys she spoke of.

And then our eyes connected.

The hints of caramel in his brown eyes stood out, even from across the room.

My body broke out into a sweat while at the same time a shiver went down my spine.

“Shit, Harp, you’ve got some game lately. Look at you making eyes with the hottie over there.”

Victoria had to nudge me to break the trance-like contest between us.

“That’s him,” I said. But it was so quiet I wasn’t sure she heard me.

“What?” she asked.

Looking his way again, he still stared at me but was talking to his blonde-haired buddy at the same time. A slight smile touched his lips, I believe due to something his friend said, but he never took his eyes off of me.

“That’s Gage, the guy from the shop.”