Harper's phone buzzed in her hands and she fumbled it a few times. I narrowed my eyes when she just stared at it. At the name 'Eddie' flashed up, I tapped her screen with her own finger. She blinked at the movement and averted her eyes.

"Hi Eddie," she murmured quietly as her eyes glossed over and voice turned husky. "I - oh... Oh, fuck... Fuck... Oh?"

That's a lot of oh's.

Harper's voice shifted on each one, from weighted guilt to sadness and surprise.

"Umm, yeah if you are," she continued quietly and frowned up at me. "Are you? ...You sure? ... You're really fucking sure, Eddie."

She frowned harder. "No... yes. Fuck, Eddie... I'm sorry... doesn't make it - Oh. Yeah." Her tears tipped over the rims of her eyes, clumped her lashes, and rolled over the cheeks. Red irritation crept into her eye corners and turned her irises aquamarine. "Yeah... 'Bye."

Since this wasn't my exchange, I gripped my hands onto the edge of my deck chair and squeezed my knees together. No matter how much I wanted to wipe Harper's tears away, they weren't for me. At least, not until she said goodbye, but she turned right when my hand reached for her cheek.

"Sorry," she whispered and stared out at the last lines of pink streaked through the navy blue night sky. The ocean water had turned black, broken up only by subtle white wave caps. "We'll have to finish talking later. I'm not very good company right now, Jake."

My jaw tightened, along with my fists. "What did he say?"

Harper swept her fingers over her forehead and sat silently for a few moments. Her eyes narrowed and she mumbled, "He broke up with me."

Fuck yes! I mean... Fake sympathy face, Jake.

I don't have one.

I fought back the corners of my mouth but they twitched and tugged up. My heart pounded so hard that the inside of my ears vibrated.

"And stop looking at me with that smug as fuck grin," she added dryly.

"Sorry. Want me to walk you back to your room?" I asked and stood up because the waiter now returned with a large, black tray in his hands.

"Actually..." she mumbled as her eyes dulled. "Can you walk me to the beach? I haven't seen it yet."

"Of course, hang on." I gestured for her to stay put and intercepted the waiter. "Sorry, she's not feeling so well. Can you have this boxed up or something?"

His eyes drifted over to Harper, who sniffled quietly, then narrowed his eyes at me. "We can send it to Miss Reynold's room. If you need anything else, then please let me know."

"Thanks." I nodded and walked back to Harper's chair, where she blinked a few times at my outstretched hand.

Her cold fingers trembled as they locked within mine. So, once I gently pulled her up to stand, I removed my shirt and wrapped it around her shoulders. Even with the rainbow colors and how the sleeves fell to her elbows, she looked better in it than I did.

She drew her eyebrows together at my bare, exposed chest, so I clenched my abs tighter and smirked at her... all while my nipples tingled in the cold air. Her puffy eyes sparkled by the time they lifted to mine. "I don't know whether to ask if you're experiencing shrinkage or have been hitting up extra gym sessions."

My skin warmed the longer her eyes roamed over me. She was right, I'd gone back into training and conditioning mode the past few months. I'd also gone back to my USC counselors, not for anger management but for options on how to more effectively communicate.

I was equally frustrated and disappointed when the answer they directed me towards was patience and empathy.

"You have no idea." Residual stress from our unresolved shit combined with celibacy frustrations had pushed me harder in the gym. I knew how I looked, so I smirked at Harper and led her out of the pool area. Near the exit gate, I grabbed two white towels and hooked them over my free hand.

Our hotel didn't have beachfront access, but we walked along a path I'd found earlier, silently, until Wailea Beach's cool, wet sand pressed under our feet. The cold breeze licked against my bare torso and raised a few goosebumps on my chest and arms, but I gripped Harper's hand tightly as we silently made our way towards the water's edge.

We walked as far as Harper's feet took us, about twenty feet from the water's edge. Rhythmic waves swelled, crested with a hiss, and crashed onto the rocky shore ahead of us. Dark shadows from the half-moon offered more definition than the actual moonlight. The only other sound between us was the wind in my ears, which whistled stronger on the exposed beach and tugged a few strands of Harper's hair out of her bun.

I fought the urge that I swept her hair off her cheeks and instead clenched my left hand into a tight fist. The cold sand depressed under my right knee as I knelt down and spread out the towels, next to each other with the short sides pointed at the ocean.

Harper and I sat silently, side by side with her on my left, close enough that I heard her breathing pattern but far enough we didn't touch. She just sat silently and stared ahead, which I did too until she sniffled quietly.

"Harper..." I whispered quietly at an unfamiliar sight, one I'd seen less than the number of fingers on one hand.

Glossy like mirrors, Harper's eyes shone with tears. They beaded up quickly, then tipped over her cheeks. She made no movements that swept them away and they glistened trails over her paler skin until they dripped off the edge of her jaw.

"I'm an awful person," she choked out in a strained voice, weak and unfamiliar coming from her lips. Her eyes closed and pushed out faster tears. "As much as I want to blame it on my mom, fuck even you, it's my own damn fault."

My spine froze at her candid admission, which I hadn't expected from her.

"What?" I chuckled quietly and repositioned myself so she sat between my legs.

Near my chin, the fine hairs on the back of her neck raised with goosebumps. I lifted my right hand and gently stroked the pads of my fingers up and down the sides of her neck. Her shoulders trembled once, then relaxed.

Our position, my legs splayed wide around her and knees bent so our feet touched, was nearly identical to how we'd sat after we bailed on our senior prom.

When I admitted the same damn thing about me.

"You're not," I echoed the exact same words she'd told me. "You just make shitty decisions when you're emotional."

Not that I deserved to be the punching bag for all of Harper's unstable emotions, but I had appreciated how she'd finally started to express them. As someone who'd kept them locked away for so long, serious, deep-rooted emotions, I should've given her more slack for how poorly she dealt with them.

Hindsight, I guess I should've encouraged her to try counseling too.

Harper's head turned towards me at the reminder, a dark shadow cast from her nose over her cheek. Once her eyes met mine, they narrowed slightly and her lips twitched. "You've been holding onto that one for a long time, haven't you?"

"Maybe it sunk in," I teased her and rubbed my palms over her shoulders, then down her upper arms.

"I dunno." She leaned back and flicked my forehead. "Your head is pretty thick. And before you turn that dirty, I mean the one above your shoulders."

With a sharp exhale out my nose, I leaned forwards and pressed my cheek against the side of her head. "And you're still stubborn as fuck, I assume."

"As much as I hate to admit it." She smiled wryly. "You're right."

Her back expanded with a deep breath and pressed against my chest. "I was awful to Eddie. He... knew. He already knew the entire time we dated and that's why he didn't come here with me, because it was easier for him to not see it in person."

While the sadness that soaked her voice churned some sympathy in me, internally my ego high-fived itself and hope bloomed in my chest.

Dial it back Jake, go with the fake sympathy.

My heart thumped harder at the 'it' I hoped for, but Harper's back hitched unevenly. I wrapped my arms around her chest as she quietly cried, one tear at a time. Her hands clung onto my forearms, her spine trembled, and back bounced against mine with soft sobs. The longer she cried, selfishly, the more I internally celebrated that her relationship was over.

"I didn't deserve him," she whispered over and over.

While I had my own curiosity that burned inside me, for Harper's sake, I asked, "What did he say?"

"He... thanked me for the time we had." She sniffled quietly. "But he knew I hadn't entirely opened myself up. He... asked me to move in with him when I arrived here, but he knew I'd say no."

I frowned at the back of her head.

Then why ask?

"He wanted to push me... to admit I still had feelings for you," she whispered and closed her eyes.

My heart soared at those words and I clenched my mouth so tight that my molars grinded together.

Don't say it, Jake. Not yet.

My body reacted first, from the twitch that flinched my fingers that I held her, my cold, almost numb lips rolled inward because they wanted to be pressed up against hers, and my cock, yeah it stood up for its own agenda and pressed right into her lower back.

While every cell in my body urged me that I vomited all of my reciprocated feelings out on her with the assurance that he wasn't the right guy for her because fuck, I was, then took Harper back to my room and proved it, now wasn't the appropriate time. So I just held her until her tears dried up, she sniffled, wiped her nose on the sleeves of my shirt, and slumped back against me.

"Do you think..." I pressed my lips gently against the top of her head. "We could talk?"

"Ughhhh..." she groaned quietly but leaned forwards and wiped her damp cheeks with her fingers. "Always with the talking. What?"

"I meant clear the air between us," I clarified and offered what I hoped looked like an encouraging smile. "There isn't anything you thought about after all the shit that happened?"

"Did you find out completely what happened?" She repositioned herself so she sat next to me, which instantly cooled my bare chest. Goosebumps broke out on my skin and I shivered. "Like who did what."

"Burke was behind most of it, who twisted Drake because of his feelings for Emily," I admitted with an eye roll and dug the tips of my sandals into the sand past the edge of my towel. "Drake gave him the house wifi, which he used to access your phone and mine, took the pictures off one of them, or both I don't know."

"So it'd look like I leaked them." She scowled when I nodded.

"We voted Drake out of the house, kind of. He ended up leaving on his own. Brittany was Sarah's roommate freshman year, so I'm not surprised she was involved wherever she could be."

"Guess I should give Silicon Sally more credit." Harper snorted quietly, then shook her head. "But I still don't see a connection with Emily or Sophia."

"Oh..." I rubbed one hand behind my neck because that missing piece I hadn't found out until much later myself, from Zach actually. "Uhh, yeah. Emily was a highschool friend of Sarah's, like me and Meade. Sarah didn't tell her much about what happened, other than bringing me onto Emily's radar, then when Sophia started dating Zach junior year..."

"She just came along for your dick," Harper murmured quietly.

"Which I never gave her." I leaned forwards and looked into the corner of her eye. "Promise."

I doubt she cared but Sophia also kicked out her roommate during the fallout. While I wanted to feel sorry for Emily since she'd also left USC, I really didn't.

"Right." She scoffed quietly. "So, was Friendzone just -"

"Just another way to fuck me over, ruin one of my friendships." My chest heaved with a loud sigh that pushed a few strands of Harper's hair over her ear, so I tucked them back. "But honestly, I broke that trust sooner than Brit."

Harper tipped her chin down, which elongated the back of her neck, and sat silently. My lips twitched as I fought the urge that I ran them over her neck and instead leaned forwards until my head tucked over her shoulder.

"But Burke was right," I mumbled into the cold, hard shell of her ear. "The only one who ever could hurt me was... you, Harper."

"Huh," she hummed quietly and lifted her head slightly. She kept her gaze forward as her eyes glazed over slightly. "I... didn't like being a pawn in Ethan's stupid shit revenge game."

"I get that now," I replied honestly because that explanation, walking away from stupid drama, would've been acceptable if she'd given me that reason for ending things with me.

Instead of the bullshit, 'you're too close, you haven't done enough' contradiction.

My chest heaved with a slow, loud sigh. "No one should be dragged down in someone else's shit, but that's... part of being with someone, I guess."

"We both have a lot of baggage," she murmured quietly. "But you answered my question so... thanks. Your turn, I guess."

With zero hesitation, I started with, "When did you start dating Eddie?"

"We only dated for like three months, so..." She paused and loosened her grip on my arms. "I mean, he called me a few times, just to talk. But our first real date was at the end of February."

My chest lightened at the realization she wasn't interested in him when I'd first seen them together at Feast, when I assumed she'd replaced me. "So why did -"

"Eddie and I slept together on my way driving down to UCLA," she rushed out quickly and dropped her hands into her lap. "It was... supposed to be a one-time thing. I was on a celibacy break, your fucking billboards weren't helping, I wasn't in a good headspace - you know what? I don't have to defend myself."

"I didn't ask you to defend yourself." I laughed quietly because she threw her hands up and pouted slightly. Although I appreciated her honesty, the truth stung a bit now that I knew he'd probably tracked her down for the same damn reasons I originally had.

Yet, if Eddie hadn't put up much of a protest then that suggested one of two options. Either their arrangement was sex-only and ended as soon as one of them said the words or he was a much, much better guy than I was.

I kinda don't want the answer to that ambiguity.

"That day, I went over to your house, to confront you about the picture shit." Harper frowned. "Drake said you were out at the hospital. So I went for a drive and Eddie pulled me over. He wanted to talk... asked me out and..."

My breath froze in my lungs as she paused, then exhaled loudly. "I told him no. That I wasn't in a good place and I was seeing someone."

Her words lodged a lump of guilt in the back of my throat. It squeezed in tight and my next question came out a strangled whisper, "So, why did you smack me, then tell me you hate me?"

"Because that's my fucked up way of saying how I really feel," she mumbled and looked away. "It... bothered me when I saw your picture with Wyatt, it felt too... I don't know, intrusive. Part of it was the way Ethan shoved it in my face and I'm sorry I reacted like that. Why did you talk to Sarah?"

My mind needed longer to process what she first said than the two seconds she offered before she diverted the conversation.

"To apologize," I offered the simple truth. "For how I treated her."

Honestly, I was only sorry for how I'd been an asshole afterwards. I still stood by the opinion that she'd come onto me at a party, she'd led me to believe she'd wanted it too, and even when I paused and asked for her consent, she'd given it.

Harper scoffed quietly. "Don't get me wrong, your asshole brushoff treatment was wrong but one thing that completely pissed me off, still pisses me off, was that Sarah was seen as innocent the entire time."

"Probably her reaction." My shoulders lifted slightly as one of the most painful conversations I'd had with Kieran resurfaced from memory. "Meade told me afterwards that she overdosed on painkillers because of how guilty she felt betraying him. The hospital staff confirmed that's what she'd told them, at least. I thought at the time it was a cry for my attention because I rejected her, but I don't think that's why she did it."

"But still..." Harper paused like she absorbed the information. "Whatever her reasons, it takes two to fuck. If she went after you for a bet from Bambi, who played you just to break up your friendship with Meade, then the screwing part is just as much Sarah's fault."

"It does take two to fuck," I teased and smirked at her, although internally I appreciated that she saw my side on the fucked up situation. "Are you offering now that you're single?"

"Ugh, fuck no." She frowned but it dissolved right away into her own smirk. "If anything, I assumed you renewed your weekly membership at the STD clinic."

You have no idea, firecracker.

I leaned back slightly because I'd waited for this reaction since I'd seen her again, "Would you believe me if I say I haven't been with anyone since you?"

Harper's spine straightened and she sat upright like she'd been electrocuted. Her head turned back slowly, Exorcist-style almost, with her eyes pulled so wide that her irises were outlined in white. Her jaw dropped, right before loud, hearty laughs rolled out.

"You!? Not... What's it been, six months?" She laughed harder. "Did your balls fall off?"

"Felt like it at first," I admitted with my own laugh, which released more tension from inside me than I realized I held onto. "But no, sleeping around got me in trouble to begin with. So I... took a break. Don't look at me like that."

Her eyebrows scrunched so tightly together and lips pressed into a firm line, it was adorable. "I want to believe you. But it's, well... you."

"Figured you'd say that," I grumbled but my half-smile stayed. "I'll show you clean test results if that helps."

My eyes scanned over her appearance, head to toe. Even in the moonlight, I saw that her skin was still slightly blotchy, her eyes red, and her nose swollen. Goosebumps dotted her skin, covering her forearms and legs in tiny shadows.

Since her shoulders looked more relaxed and breathing slowed, she seemed like she'd calmed down, I stood up and reached out my hand. "Come on popsicle, let's get you back."

She slipped her cold hand into mine and smiled slightly when I tugged her up to standing. We stood for a moment, just searched each other's eyes without any words shared between us. My heart thumped harder and I fought the urge that I initiated any further physical contact because I promised myself that I wouldn't have fallen straight back into bad habits.

Like kiss the fuck out her. Don't do it, Jake.

Still, by the time we stood outside her hotel room door, I squeezed my arms tightly around her and settled for my lips pressed onto her forehead. "You'll be okay, Harper."

"Yeah," she choked out playfully, but rested her forehead against the side of my neck.

My eyes slid lazily closed as her hands snaked around my waist. Chills ran up my spine when her cold palms pressed into the bare skin on my lower back, but I just hugged her tighter. Even with her cold skin, she felt warm and soft pressed against me, a weird smell of the ocean brine and salt with a faint hint of vanilla I'd always associated my little spoon with.

"I mean it." I leaned down and tucked my chin over her shoulder. "You're not awful. Not in my mind."

"Thanks..." she mumbled into my chest. Uncertainty filled her eyes by the time she pulled her head back. "See you tomorrow? Or later today, I guess by now."

My right hand lifted and I tapped the tip of her nose. "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried. And not just because we're stuck on an island until I walk my sister down the aisle."

This might have been a bad idea.

No, it was definitely a bad idea.

Harper texted me the next morning, with a new number, so I asked for a picture for proof and she sent me a middle finger. She then asked if I wanted to meet her at the adult-only pool to discuss a few activities to try before Logan and Ellie's wedding in two days.

I jumped at the chance, which I equally appreciated and regretted when Harper strolled towards me wearing only a black string bikini and sandals. From where I stood in the pool water, which I was extremely grateful for because my cock greeted her before I had, I swam over and pushed my pelvis against the cement pool edge.

That ended up being a worse idea, because Harper bent over slightly, dropped her towel, and flashed me a view of her ass, rounded in all the right spots.

Fuck, this is already painful.

"Are you..." She flopped down, which jiggled her barely-covered breasts and elicited a groan from me, then patted the empty chair next to her. "Coming or staying?"

Yep, just got worse.

"Coming," I groaned quietly and adjusted myself under the water, which earned me raised eyebrows as Harper slid her black sunglasses an inch down the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, if this is distracting..." She swept her other arm down her body, leaned slightly back under her umbrella, and smirked at me. "Good."

Two can play this.

I dunked my head under quickly, then rose up and palmed my hands onto the side of the pool. Streams of water tickled down my neck, chest, and shoulders, even puddled on either side of my hands but I pushed myself up and rotated my hips. With a slight turn, I plopped my butt onto the warm cement. With my best mental efforts, I willed down my hard-on, faced towards the pool, and showed Harper my back.

"Still dump truck-sized," she called from behind me as I dragged my hands down my hair and squeezed the short ends in between my fingers.

I shot her a wink, then stood up and loosened my board shorts. "Stop checking me out."

Her eyes dropped right to the spot that my hands partially blocked and her smirk widened. "Parasailing."

"Huh?" I grunted out slightly as I sat down next to her.

She flashed me her phone screen, which showed an overly happy couple tugged in the air behind a boat. "I want to try parasailing. Not sure Dad would want to go too but I can ask."

"Sure." My shoulders lifted. "Anything else?"

"Mmm-hmm..." She flipped through her phone like a slideshow. "Zipline, snorkeling, and Ellie wants to do the Maui Ocean Center."

"Fuck, that sounds like Ellie," I grumbled because my sister's idea of a vacation involved every activity that resulted in feeling like I needed a vacation from our vacation.

She threw me a knowing smile. "So get your relaxation in now, while you still can."

"Sounds good." I slacked my shoulders back against the reclined seat and rolled my head towards her, only to find her eyes had dropped down to my 'yeah, still not going down' situation in my shorts. With a slight cough, I lifted my knees for some more fabric slack. "Is there anything Logan wants to do?"

"Stare at Ellie in a bikini," she teased and lifted her eyes up to mine. "They get in later today, around two pm, but we'll have time to do either the zipline or snorkeling before they get here. So... which one?"

"Surprise me." My lips curled up at the corners.

"Surprise, hmm?" Her lips curled up as her fingers flipped over her phone. "Fine, I want to eat here... just so I can hear you pronounce its name."

She turned the screen towards me, which was blackened out by the sun. I cupped my hand over it for shade, then blinked over and over at the name of a Polynesian restaurant at the nearby Waldorf Astoria hotel. The seafood menu looked fine but the name had the most number of letter-u's I'd ever seen:

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

Harper's giggles hit my ears and got louder the more I unsuccessfully mouthed out each syllable, then lifted my eyes over her screen. "Anywhere else, firecracker."

I should've picked snorkeling with the damn turtles and fish.

Harper's banshee-like scream preceded the terror that ripped through my heart on my descent after her. Wind whipped into my body, tugged the edges of my shorts and sleeves horizontal, and slapped over my exposed skin on my forearms, cheeks, and shins. Bound by black elastic, my crotch, both the lines where my legs joined my hips and my groin, was squeezed tighter than my fist on my horniest spank bank withdrawal.

Lush greenery blurred all around me, on either side and underneath, as my hands clung onto the zipline like my life depended on it.

After the initial drop that gripped my heart, I relaxed into the freeing sensation of flying through the air. Not enough that I loosened my grip, or took on whatever X-shaped pose Harper used with her arms and legs flailed out, but a smile pulled across my mouth at the sight I followed.

Glad one of us is having fun.

"Wooo!!!" Her voice echoed faintly through the wind that whistled in my ears. "Let go, Jake!"

"Not a chance," I muttered and clenched my mouth closed because, unlike the freebird ahead of me, I remember the guide's recommendation to keep my mouth shut because of bugs.

I watched as Harper came to a halt on the first intermediate platform. Her red helmet bobbed a few times at the guide who rotated her harness on the line for a slight turn. She was gone, screaming and cheering by the time my feet slammed into, then wobbled onto the platform.

"You good?" The guy, at least eight inches shorter and fifty pounds lighter than me, steadied me with one hand on my chest. Concern flashed through his dark brown eyes.

"Yeah." I panted and shook my head at Harper, who now went backwards with her head dipped down so her body was parallel to the zipline.

"You wanna go head first?" The guide rotated me around. "She asked to."

Of course she did.

My feet planted firm on the spot and I shook my head. "Nope, nope I'm good."

"No pressure." He flashed me a smile then redirected me over the edge. Once Harper got halfway down the second of five runs, he patted me on the back. "Enjoy the view."

I held back my 'I will' cocky response and went through the same gut-clenching initial reaction, then relaxed sooner on each run. By the last one, I'd gotten only brave enough that I released my hands, which tipped my torso slightly back and I flew in ass-first.

"Woah!" The guy at the end stumbled a few steps as I slammed hard into him, which released a grunt from both of us. "Easy on the landing, big guy."

"Sorry," I rasped out and steadied my weak-kneed legs.

"Ass first, Jake? I'm surprised he's still standing." Harper stood off to the side, still strapped into her harness but she'd removed her helmet and balanced it against one hip. Her hair hung down in a few random strands, loosened from the braid she'd started with, but her eyes beamed brightly up at me.

My hair probably looked a lot less put together than Harper's, by the way she broke out into laughter when I removed my helmet. Her shoulders, exposed by the black tank top she wore, bounced, and I internally groaned when her breasts also slightly bounced.

"Here..." She reached up, threaded her fingers through my hair, and combed it flatter.

Her skin was covered with a faint sheen of perspiration, which was impressive because I'd soaked through my T-shirt both at the armpits, neckline, and lower back, but she only faintly smelled of sweat. When her breasts pushed into my chest, my breath hitched at her close proximity. My eyes slid closed for a moment as her nails lightly raked over my scalp, which was just as sweaty as the rest of me.

"That's better," she murmured quietly and patted the top of my head. "If I have to be seen with you in public, at least try not to look like you stuck your finger in an electric outlet... and in your case, trying to put the three-pronged plug into a two-prong outlet."

My eyes opened right when her hands stopped and her eyes pulled wider, like she realized how close we were. We could've been completely alone or surrounded, I wasn't sure because all I saw was her raised up on her tiptoes. All I felt was her fingers slid down the back of my neck and her lips pressed a soft kiss into my cheek.

"Much better," I mumbled back and shot her a cocky smirk.