Chapter 26 Ihad no choice. I kept telling myself that even after I'd knocked on the front door and told the shocked girl on the other side that I needed to speak with Harmony. Something was wrong between all of us. Harmony wasn't the kind to cut ties so abruptly and without an explanation. And the avoidance. That one chapped my ass more than anything else. Harmony might have been quiet in class, but she trusted us. My conversation with Matthew replayed in my head while I waited. He'd stood in the middle of the living room, hands on his hips and glasses askew as he admitted that one of the girls in his theater class had accused Harmony of sleeping with Matthew to get the lead role in the musical. "I tried to talk to her. I thought maybe she just needed more time to process." He'd shrugged in a helpless way that made my blood boil. We were all supposed to be in this together. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Matthew had looked at me with his soulful eyes. Remorse filled them, but I was in no mood to listen to any bullshit. "She was upset. Rightly so. I didn't want to make things worse or awkward. It was just a bad-tempered girl mouthing off." "What if it wasn't?" Stephen had joined the conversation, his voice low and tired. "You have no right to try and manage us, Matthew. We agreed there would be no secrets." "I didn't want you worrying." He'd sounded contrite enough, but I'd stopped being able to listen. Harmony's distance suddenly made sense. No wonder she tried to cut all ties with us outside of the classroom. "She brushed me off." Matthew continued. "And now I'm not sure if she really just needed time or if she's afraid." "Of course she's afraid." I'd exploded up from the couch where I'd been sitting and attempting to maintain my composure. I did a shit job, but I tried. That was when I'd decided to take a huge risk and come to the sorority house. If Harmony refused to talk to me, then I'd figure out another way. I lost track of time as I stood on the small front stoop. The curtains in the front window flicked aside, and a familiar face peeked out. I didn't bother trying to hide. There was no reason after I'd boldly proclaimed my intentions to talk to Harmony and the girl who answered the door darted away. I had refused to go inside the building. Some lines were uncrossable, and I'd be fired before I woke up tomorrow if word got out that I'd entered an all-female sorority house. It didn't matter the reason. The door opened, revealing Harmony in her always casual jeans and shirt. She looked incredible in the wide-necked shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing smooth skin. Her eyes held the same fatigue I'd seen in my own, telling me she was bothered by the situation as much as we were. I opened my mouth. Closed it. Tried again. "Hi." She gave me an exasperated look, closing the door behind her. "You came all the way here to say hi?" "No." I admitted it with a cautious smile, one that I thought the girls watching from the window wouldn't be able to interpret. "But I can't say the things I want to say here." She arched a brow and rubbed her cheek on her bare shoulder, using the motion to look back at the window. "Yeah. Which makes me wonder why you're here at all." The warning was perfectly clear. We were in full view of her entire sorority house. I had one chance to ask her to change locations so we could talk without spying eyes and tattling gossip. "It's important." My tongue twisted, making me feel like a school kid with his first crush. "How important? Because there's enough going on with me right now, and I really don't need any extra drama." She said all the right words, but the way her body shifted, her shoulders leaning toward me almost like an invitation sealed the deal. She was as miserable as the rest of us. I made sure my hands stayed in my pockets or close to my sides. "I can't say it's life or death, but matters of the heart are often even more painful." My voice was too low for anyone but her to hear. "I'd like you to come with me to the penthouse. To talk about what happened." I almost said that we needed to talk about what happened, but that wasn't entirely true. I wanted to talk about it, because once we had all the information, we could come up with a plan that protected us. I wasn't ready to give up Harmony. Might never be ready to give her up. Her eyes fluttered closed. "This is a terrible idea." "But you'll come?" Hope bloomed so bright and fast I barely managed to keep my smile in check. She crossed her arms and put a scowl on her face. "If I have to." Where I'd been quiet, she made her voice loud. The curtains made a whipping motion. Any second now I expected the front door to fly open and someone to demand what I was doing there and why I needed Harmony so late on a Friday afternoon. No reason I could speak out loud. "Right this way." I led the way down the sidewalk and toward the main buildings where I held my classes. Harmony followed slightly behind me, keeping the full width of the sidewalk between us. Our steps matched, but I doubted anyone was watching our feet close enough to notice. It was body language we had to be cautious about. "I'm parked in the side lot. No cameras in that area, so you can ride with me if you want." I didn't dare reach toward her despite every cell in my body craving a single second of contact. It would never be enough. If I touched her now, I'd have her in my arms forever. No sex needed, just the feel of her against me. I loved her enough to let her go if that was what she wanted, but I had to hear it from her own lips, not from some avoidance and lack of communication. We were in too deep for that bullshit. "This way." I pointed toward the left-hand fork in the path. "Do you want to stop anywhere on our way?" "Are Stephen and Matthew going to be there?" Her body turned tense. I nodded. "They don't know where I am, or that you're coming back with me." I finally let myself smile. "They'll be surprised to see you, but it will be good for them." And for me. Just seeing her took the sharp edges of my pain away. Her quietness could be taken for acceptance or resolution. I wasn't sure which, but I took it as a victory and opened the passenger side door for her. She slipped into the seat and snapped her seatbelt into place before knotting her hands in her lap. I stood there like a fool for far too long before finally closing the door and racing around to the other side. Any chance at conversation became stilted as I drove. All the things I wanted to say tumbled over each other, so we rode in silence except for the low hum of Italian music from my favorite playlist. By the time we made it to the penthouse and into the elevator, the entire space was filled with a sparking tension that raced over my skin. Harmony clasped her arms loosely over her stomach, her elbows cupped her palms. "I'm sorry." It slipped out as the elevator doors closed and we rose with a stomach-twisted rush. She kept her head angled away, once more unable to look me in the eye. "Sorry for what?" "That you were forced to hear such vitriol from your classmate. It was callous and unfair." "It was true." The doors opened before I came up with a response. A single mother returns to the city she left seven years ago after breaking up with her ex to seek treatment for her son’s leukemia. Upon learning of her return, the ex immediately searches for the lo...