If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) (5 page)

H&W security, owned by Jack Winston and Drew, was a
billion dollar software empire. They had earned every dime the hard way —
through working long, tireless hours and their own brains and ingenuity.

When Drew had left Harper Falls, the day after high school
graduation, he hadn’t taken a dime of the Harper fortune. He’d been blessed
with a good, sharp mind. It earned him a scholarship and he worked to pay for
what that didn’t provide. Unlike her brother, he earned his own way. Just another
reason it was becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain her hate. She
wanted to. It would have made things infinitely easier. But when she looked at
him, she no longer felt the red-hot jolt that used to seethe through her veins.
The heat was still there, but it had less and less to do with anger.

“In case you’ve forgotten, our friends are nesting. Two
by two, and all that crap. As the last single guy, I now handle late night
calls.”

When Drew had first returned to Harper Falls, Tyler had already
been back for over six months. Awkward hadn’t even started to cover their first
few meetings. Tyler had been silently belligerent, Drew quiet, almost stoic.
But lately that had started to change, at least on his part.

A few months ago, Jack was stabbed by a drunken ex-employee.
They all rushed to the hospital and circumstances had left Tyler and Drew alone
for the first time in over ten years. She saw it as the perfect chance to
address the elephant in the room. They weren’t in love, but they were still
attracted. She suggested they have a marathon shagging session and get it out
of their systems, then move on.

Drew hadn’t taken her up on what she thought a perfectly
logical idea. Instead, he got angry — angrier than she had ever seen him. And
he had stayed that way. Maybe that was part of the reason Tyler was losing her
mad. Let him carry it around for a while. Ten years had been long enough for
her.

“Then hand it off to one of your employees. There seems
to be an unending supply of them. Hell, you could have sent Boyd.”

“Again, romance is in the air.”

Drew ran a hand through his dark, expertly cut hair,
scrubbing at the scalp underneath. Tyler recognized it as a sign of
frustration. When he was younger, mussed hair was always an indication that
Drew was nearing the end of his rope. Apparently, that hadn’t changed.

Tyler realized this was a fruitless exchange. She was tired
and just wanted to get Drew and her brother out as quickly as possible.

“You know what? Never mind. Thank you for coming to
check out the alarm, even though it didn’t turn out to be anything
serious.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Drew looked M.J. up
and down, his low opinion obvious.

“Yeah? Well, fuck you, Harper.” M.J. turned to
Tyler, a sneer on his lips. “You taking up with this over-privileged
asshole again? You never did have the sense God gave a gnat.”

“Watch your mouth.” Drew practically growled the
words, his body coiled for a fight.

No
, Tyler thought. The last thing she needed was Drew
beating the pulp out of her brother. The blood would be murder to remove from
the concrete floor. Then there was trying to explain to her mother how she’d
let
poor M.J.
end up in the hospital. Not tonight, thank you very much.

“As I was saying. Thank you, but as you can see, it’s
just my brother. You can leave secure in the knowledge you did your duty and
I’m fine.”

“I’m not comfortable leaving you alone with him.”

Tyler wasn’t afraid of M.J. Even on his best days he was
unpredictable. He rarely attacked face-to-face — too much chance of physical damage.
He liked to sneak up on his foes. Better yet, get his younger brother to fight
his battles for him. Kyle had a sweeter disposition, but he was too easily
swayed by M.J. Left alone, he might have been a good man; he certainly had the
potential. Unfortunately, M.J. was determined to have his brother end up as far
in the gutter as he was.

“He’s my brother.”

“Ty—”

“Don’t call me that.” No one had ever called her
Ty — only Drew.

Drew’s dark eyes clouded over briefly before he closed them,
taking a deep breath. When they opened again, all emotion was gone. The brown
was neither warm nor cold. Only flat — neutral. For some reason, that hurt more
than any sharp words or angry looks.

“My advice, not that you’ll take it. Get rid of him as
soon as possible, lock your doors. And for the love of Christ, up the volume on
your damn alarm.”

He turned and left. Not slamming out; instead, closing the
door with a gentle click. The sound made little bumps rise on Tyler’s arms.
Sometimes loud was just better.

“Over-bred jerk. That’s what happens when you’re born
to money. You think you have the right to boss the world.”

M.J. picked up a delicate crystal figurine that had been a
gift to Tyler from Dani on her last birthday. The Phoenix rising from the ashes.
It had always been one of Tyler’s favorite images. Rebirth, the ability to
start over and overcome mistakes, adversity.

She knew her brother well enough to know he wasn’t admiring
the skilled craftsmanship. He was calculating how much it would bring at his
favorite pawnshop. Tyler reached over and carefully removed it from his hands,
his chipped, dirt-caked fingernails scraping along the edges as he reluctantly
let go.

“You aren’t welcome here, M.J. Especially when you’re
in that condition.”

Tyler could practically see the wheels turning in her
brother’s brain.
How to
play this?
Intimidating? Contrite?
Sniveling? He’d tried them all before and none had worked. He knew she had no
soft spot for a man who had bullied her when she was too little to fight back,
insulted her when she could no longer be pushed around. There were no more weak
spots he could exploit.

Therefore, he stole from her when he could. As far as M.J.
was concerned, it was the only thing she was good for. She looked down at him,
treated him worse than the dirt beneath her feet. In his twisted mind, she owed
him whatever he could take. She was a lousy sister, lifting a few valuables now
and then was payback. The least that he deserved.

“You should be careful, Tyler.” There was an
unattractive whine to his voice. “You and your friends are starting to
piss off some of the residents of Harper Falls.”

“Is that so?”

This wasn’t a new conversation. M.J. loved to jab at her and
he saw Rose and Dani as his best option for getting a reaction. There was a
time when it would have worked — no longer. She had nothing to defend. Not that
her friends were perfect, thank God. What her brother could never — would never
— understand was that her bond with the other two women was so strong nothing
could begin to chip away at it. She had no need to justify them to M.J. or
anyone else. They had earned everything they had, everything they were. That
was a concept he would never understand.

“It’s late, M.J. I’m tired and you stink. Go home,
wherever that is these days, and take a shower.”

She walked over to the door and opened it again. She waited
silently for him to leave.

“Dad was right.”

“Dad was never right, M.J. About anything.”

That stopped him for a moment. If there was one person in
the world who M.J. had admired, it had been their father. He saw him as the
pinnacle of manhood. He had come and gone as he pleased. Treated his wife as an
annoying necessity, and turned a blind eye to every nasty deed his oldest son
perpetrated. Few had grieved the day Martin Harper’s speeding car had missed
the curve on a rain-slicked road in Colorado. But M.J. had.

“You’re useless.” He hissed the words. “You
were never anything but a blight to our father and you’re nothing but the same
to me.”

She waited until he was out the door before responding. She
should have let it go. Nothing she said would change a damn thing. Still, every
now and then it just had to be said.

“I’m going to tell you something, M.J. You,
undoubtedly, will take it as a compliment. Believe me, it isn’t. You are your
father’s son. Mean to the bone and so self-centered, a dog could pee on a car
tire three counties over and you’d take it as a personal insult.”

“Huh?”

“Go away, M.J. And don’t come back. If you steal from
me again, I’ll press charges. Mom won’t be able to talk me out of it next
time.”

“Bitch.” M.J. spat as she closed the door.

Tyler smiled at her brother’s parting words.

“Damn, right,” she said to the empty room.
“And proud of it.”

DREW SAT IN his car and waited.

He wasn’t going anywhere until M.J. had gotten his sorry ass
out of Tyler’s place and was well on his way back to whatever hole he had
crawled out of. If he had to, he would sit there all night.

Absently, he ran his hand over the steering wheel of his
car. It was his weakness, that and a certain leggy, gray-eyed hellion. But
unlike Tyler, cars didn’t talk back. And unlike cars, Tyler couldn’t be bought.
Not that he would want her that way. If and when they were together, it would
be free and clear of anything but giving in to the overwhelming desire that
seemed to fill up a room whenever they were in it.

Drew thought about turning on the heat. The October days
were still warm, but the nights grew chilly fast. His classic Mustang wasn’t
made for stakeouts. Back in the day, when he and Jack scrambled for money,
living on boxed mac and cheese, they would stand around for hours, sometimes in
the pouring rain — even the occasional snowstorm. They became experts at stand
and wait.

He could count on two fingers the number of times either
they or their clients had ever been in danger. One had involved an irate
ex-girlfriend and a hockey player. Drew had come away with a nasty scratch on
his neck caused by the ex’s three-inch fingernails. The ex
had spent the
night in jail. And the hockey player had been so impressed by her tenacity,
he’d married her. They still sent Drew a Christmas card every year. Five years
hitched, two kids and another on the way. Go figure.

The other time had made them. When Jack had saved an
up-and-coming actress from a crazed stalker, H&W became the go-to bodyguard
service in California. They were a media sensation. They could pick and choose
their clients, and charge exorbitant rates. The athletes and movie stars didn’t
even blink at their fees. In the meantime, Drew and Jack were able to move out
of the craphole they had been sharing and each had bought their own place.

It said a lot about how fast circumstances could change.
Drew Harper was born to wealth and privilege. If you could buy it, he could
have it. When he left all that behind, he wondered how he would cope.

Not only had he survived — he thrived.

And now, years later, he was in the position to buy anything
his heart desired. And like then, he only wanted one thing, the one thing that would
never be for sale. Tyler Jones.

He sat up a little straighter as the door to the converted
warehouse opened. M.J. shuffled out, turning to say something, or to listen.
Drew wasn’t certain which. The exchange only lasted a few moments. Tyler shut
the door, and according to the app on his phone, engaged all the built-in
security. Smart lady.

Drew watched to see what M.J. was going to do. He’d always
been a mean sucker, and now by the looks of him, he was a drug-addicted one. A
dangerous combination, no matter what Tyler thought.

An old, beat-up tan Nova pulled up and M.J. crawled inside.
The street light illuminated the driver’s side well enough for Drew to get a
good look. Kyle Jones. The other brother. If he remembered right, Kyle took his
cues from M.J.

He waited a minute after the car pulled away from the curb
then followed. He was going to make sure they were down for the night and
didn’t decide to circle back in an hour or so.

Harper Falls, for all its affluence, had a section of town
that was a bit rundown. He hated the word, but Drew supposed it could be called
trashy. The rents were low and the inhabitants more on their way down than
scrambling to get out. That was where he expected M.J. and Kyle to go. Instead,
they turned down a neat little street lined with pretty trees and
well-maintained yards.

Jasmine Avenue. Well, now. It seemed the Jones boys still
ran home to Mommy. Why the woman put up with them was a mystery for the ages,
one Drew would never be able to solve.

It was a safe bet that they were in for the night. Drew
could have gone home, spent the night in his big, comfortable bed — and not
slept a wink. The driver’s seat of his car suited him much better. Putting his
head back, he watched as the last light in the Jones house went out. And he let
his mind drift back to when Tyler lived there. When they were feeling their way
towards love.

ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER

DREW TRIED TO concentrate on what Miranda Lloyd was saying.
Something about a boat and her parents. She seemed to think her bright pink
lipstick and pushed-up cleavage were all that was needed to keep his attention.
A week ago, she would have been right.

Now, after a brief meeting with a tall, lanky brunette,
nothing Miranda had to say held the least bit of interest for him. It didn’t
help any that Tyler Jones and her friends were sitting a mere two tables away.
How was he supposed to think of anything else? She had been on his mind
constantly.

Not that he hadn’t noticed her before. Tyler was the kind of
girl that generated second looks. He admitted part of her appeal was that she
was so unlike the girls he had known all of his life. Harper Falls was not a
big town, but it had very distinct economic and social factions. He and Tyler
Jones did not reside in the same ones.

Drew was a Harper. He never understood why a last name
should raise him above anyone else. His mother seemed to think the answer was
obvious. His family founded Harper Falls. Built it from the ground up. Russell
Harper had been a great man, so Regina Harper said. A visionary.