Page 25 of Stopping Short

“I’ve got you, beautiful. He’s gone.” I hold her for a few more minutes and when I try to pull away, she holds on even tighter. “Can I at least carry you to the couch?”

She doesn’t answer me, but she nods her head. I lift her into the air and she doesn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around my waist. Before I sit, I pull my phone out of my pocket. We need to call Maddox and the sooner we do that the better.

Chapter 17

Harper

I don’t want to let go of him. I want to stay in his arms for the rest of the day, but I know he doesn’t have long before he’ll have to leave.

“I don’t want you to leave,” I whisper.

“Look at me,” he murmurs.

I lean back far enough to meet Jackson’s gaze. His eyes soften and he reaches up to brush away the tears on my cheeks.

“I'm not leaving here without you. You can’t stay here. He’ll keep coming, especially if he thinks you’re here alone.”

“But I have finals…”

“I know. I think we need to call your dad, then we can figure everything else out.”

I nod my head. I know he’s right. I won't be safe here by myself. Evan isn’t acting like himself and I'm a little nervous about what else he might try. If he knows I'm here alone, there’s no telling what he might do.

Jackson pulls up my dad’s contact info and quickly presses the button to video chat with him. My eyes widen, knowing Dad’s going to see me right away… and the tears on my cheeks.

“Hey, Jackson.” Dad smiles until his eyes focus on me. The smile quickly fades and his brows pinch together. “Harp? What’s going on, sweetheart?”

I nibble on my bottom lip and stare up at the ceiling, trying my hardest to blink away the tears.

“Do you want me to tell him?” Jackson asks softly. I nod my head as I lose the battle with my emotions and another drop slips down my cheek.

“Jackson?” Dad growls.

“Hey, don’t be getting angry with me. I'm not the one that made her cry.”

“Then who did?”

“Evan Fodder.”

“Ugh, I can’t stand that kid.” Dad rolls his eyes.

“Daddy!” It’s something between a laugh and a cry. I'm not sure if I'm upset about his disapproval or not. My emotions are everywhere and I can’t control it.

“What? I met him once and I thought he was an immature jerk. What did Evan do?”

Jackson glances at me and takes a deep breath. This won't be easy to listen to him tell Dad about. I'm more than embarrassed by my actions and I know he won't approve.

“Well… you see… they’re kind of engaged, but not really?”

“Yeah, I'm going to need more information than that.” Dad settles back into his chair. I hear a squeak and a moment later, Mason and Pecker slide their chairs into view of the camera. I knew they’d be included in all of this, but I didn’t expect them to listen to the story when Jackson broke the news to Dad.

“You can’t stay there, Harper,” Mason says, shaking his head. “He’ll be back. There’s no doubt about that.”

“But I have finals.”

“I’m sending an email to the school right now. I’m letting them know there was an incident with another student and that your security team doesn’t feel like it’s safe for you to remain there. They can let you take exams online, or they can have you come in separately to take them. You have straight A’s and I don’t think any of your professors would believe even for a second that you’re trying to get out of taking your finals. Honestly, you could probably skip the tests altogether and still get a passing grade.” Peck stares at a computer off to the side as he types quickly on the keyboard.

“I'm not losing my 4.0 grade point average for Evan!”