They Fell Into Bed [Editing]

VIII. A

Harper stood, leaning against the wall that seemed and felt less than sanitary, her arms crossed, her foot tapping impatiently. She watched with her lips pulled down in a frown as Bryson and his brother argued a small distance away. The club was loud enough that she couldn't hear what they were saying, and she was thankful for the noise, because she didn't think she wanted to hear their argument, anyway.
She watched their faces and movements. Greyson kept gesturing her way, and Bryson had his fingers rubbing circles on his temples. She knew they were arguing over her. She wasn't exactly sure why, though.
She watched as Bryson tipped his head back and groaned before spitting out words that had Greyson pausing. He looked Harper's way and their eyes caught; he looked away quickly, but Harper saw the surprise in his eyes. He said one more thing to Bryson, his body tight as if he had to stop himself from lunging at his older brother, before coming toward Harper. She looked away as if she hadn't been watching the entire time, but she knew he wouldn't believe her. He walked past her and indicated with a jerk of his chin that she follow - she did so silently. They walked out to his truck and climbed in; Greyson slammed his door and clutched the steering wheel in his hands; his knuckles white.
Harper watched him for a moment before speaking up quietly, nervous to break the quiet. "What happened back there?" she asked.
He didn't answer at first. He just turned the key in the ignition and started the truck, looking behind him and backing the truck out. As they drove down the strip, Harper thought back to earlier. She had been so in the moment with Bryson, she hadn't even thought about what was happening. She was reluctantly thankful for Greyson showing up when he did - if he hadn't, she probably would have had sex with Bryson. In a bathroom in a club, she thought to herself, and wrinkled her nose. She was glad that didn't happen. If she did sleep with him, she wanted it to be in a comfier, cleaner place. Her eyes widened at where her thoughts had turned.
"I thought you and Bryson hated each other," Greyson finally said.
Harper looked at him, her brows furrowed. "We did, for a while. But then he came over the other night and apologized for how he had acted for so long. And Grey- he protected me from Jason last night. If he hadn't come in when he did, I don't know what would have happened. So no, I don't hate him, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't hate me, either," she finished.
She heard Greyson say something under his breath and asked him to repeat it but he only shook his head, looking out his window and sighing. They continued their drive home in a quiet calm.
As they drove, Greyson thought about what his brother had told him during their argument at the club.
* * *
"Bryson, what the fuck were you doing with her? After she almost just got raped, you want to lock her in a bathroom and take advantage of her while she's drunk?"
"She's not drunk," Bryson argued, his eyes guarded. "And I wasn't taking advantage of her, Grey. You don't know what you're even talking about, so quit acting like you do."
Greyson lifted his arms in exasperation and laughed, but it was humorless. "Then explain it to me Bry, because I don't know what's going on and her brother trusted me to look after her tonight. I'm not going to let her get taken advantage of, even by my brother."
"Will you shut the fuck up and stop saying that I'm taking advantage of my own mate, for fuck's sake," Bryson said and rubbed his temples with his fingers, trying to massage out the headache that was slowly forming in his head.
Greyson didn't say anything, his wild eyes finding Harper, who was leaning against the wall at the other end of the hallway. She looked normal. He didn't know what he expected, or if he even believed his brother, but he didn't think he'd let something like that slip out if he wasn't telling the truth. He didn't even think that Bryson meant to say it out loud.
He looked back at Bryson. "Does she know?"
Bryson shook his head and leaned back against the wall, his hands in his pockets and his face sullen. "Honestly, I have no idea."
Greyson walked off, not bothering to respond, and motioned for Harper to follow behind him. He knew her eyes were questioning him, but he didn't have answers for her. No, he had to let her answer things for herself, if what Bryson had said was true.
* * *
Greyson dropped Harper off at her house. He didn't say much besides offering a polite and quiet goodbye, and he drove off after she closed the door behind her. She stood and watched him leave, still surprised at how he had pulled a complete one-eighty on her and went from a good friend to a complete stranger in seconds. For a while on the drive home she had entertained the idea that he hated her. She walked to her front porch and sat down on the small raised concrete slab, placing her head in her hands and sighing. It was almost midnight now. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep and forget about tonight, but a tiny thought kept nagging at her.
She wanted to know why Greyson and Bryson had been fighting, and what it had to do with her.
But more than that, she had been thinking over the past few days about herself; why she wasn't pregnant. It wasn't like she wanted to be, she just didn't understand what it was that had caused her pregnancy to be nonexistent. Every single sexual encounter leading up to this had left her pregnant - why didn't this one? She needed to know what had happened; what was different.
She thought about the library in the pack house. If she had questions, she'd likely find her answers there. Some of the books were older than all twenty seven amendments.
Harper perked up at the idea of finding the answers she desperately sought. She went into her house and hurriedly changed into something comfier, and moaned in relief when she took her heels off and replaced them with soft tennis shoes. She raced out of the house, barely remembering to lock it behind her, and headed for the pack house.
* * *
Harper was careful to open the door quietly. She knew it was late, and that most of the pack members would be asleep, but she knew there were several night owls who she could run into. She made sure to stay out of the middle of the wide hallways as she made her way to the library in the left wing of the spacious building. A noise stopped her; she settled against the wall in shadow as she waited for whoever was nearby to pass her. Sneaking around wasn't completely necessary, she knew that, but she also knew what people thought of her; how they looked at her. She didn't feel like dealing with their stares and their harsh words tonight. She saw Bryson come out of a room and held her breath, hoping he wouldn't notice her. His head lifted and he looked around the hall; not seeing anything out of the ordinary, but feeling slightly off, he headed down the hall, presumably toward his bedroom to sleep. Harper released her breath and was about to take a step when movement out of the corner of her eye stopped her; she saw Samara turn the corner and notice Bryson. She stopped him and they talked quietly for a moment. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along down the hall and toward the stairs - Harper noticed he didn't protest. She felt her heart drop, and her eyes were slightly cloudy with tears she couldn't explain, but she hurriedly moved on, needing to reach the library.
When she arrived, she started looking through every section on mates and mating that she could. She wanted to search for a book on wolf pregnancies, and if she was lucky she'd find something on fertiles as well. She wasn't having much luck at first. Nothing she found held the information she sought.
Harper noticed a large hardback book on the top shelf, but it was too high to reach, so she grabbed chair and brought it over to stand on. Her fingers skimmed its cover and she managed to get a good grip, pulling it out and cradling it to her chest. She noticed another book lying on its side and picked it up before she even decided that's what she was doing.
Once she held it in her hands, she felt herself slightly drawn to it. She put the other, larger book back, and kept the small leather bound one in her hand. She stepped down and brought the book with her as she made a quiet escape out of the pack house. She walked quickly back to her house and unlocked the door, walking in and closing it behind her. She took off her shoes and moved into the front room where she sat down and opened the book, reading the first few pages.
* * *
First Mate