Page 132 of On the Double

Her eyes flicked up to me and then she unleashed her anger on me. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I gave you two jobs! You were supposed to stay safe and not stick your cock in anyone. You could only manage one of those things? I think between the two, you should have managed to stay safe a hell of a lot easier!”

I shook my head in confusion. “You…would have rather me slept with another woman?”

“It would have been a hell of a lot easier to deal with. Seriously, I can’t believe you suck this much at staying safe. Didn’t they teach you that in the army?”

“I was a Marine,” I said stupidly.

“Then you’d better go back to boot camp because you suck at this whole protecting yourself thing.”

She marched out the door, slamming it hard behind her. I winced at the noise, turning to the others. I didn’t know what to say.

It was Brock who finally spoke. “Does that mean you get to fuck other women?”

33

HARPER

I wokeup with a stiff neck and the urge to kill someone. I’d slept like shit last night, and I really didn’t want to admit it was because Edu had been out of town on a job. After the last fiasco where he got himself stabbed, I really didn’t want to think about what kind of trouble he could get himself into in the future.

For the past two months, he’d managed to stay free of all cuts and bruises, aside from the one I gave him when he came to me with his tough guy attitude and told me this was his life and I had to fucking deal with it.

I responded by slamming my fist into his face, which he then had to ice because apparently, I don’t know how to fight. Go figure.

I hated being back in my house, which was absolutely ridiculous because it was a beautiful house. My brother had even let me have the final say in which house we bought since, as he said, he was a man and his opinion didn’t really matter. All he needed was a place to lay his head at night.

Of course, I obliged him. I would hate for him to stay someplace neither of us liked. So, I chose this cute little house on the edge of town. It was close to OPS, so he didn’t have to drive far to work, and itwas close to Edu, but I didn’t tell him that was one of the reasons I chose it.

“What’s your problem this morning?” Oliver asked, sitting at the counter eating a bowl of Cheerios. When Oreo jumped up and tried to stick his head in the bowl, Oliver shoved him off the counter.

I scowled at him, grabbing my own bowl, wincing when my neck pinched.

“What the fuck?” he shouted, shoving back his chair in his haste to get to me. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. Just a little stiff.”

“Stiff?” he scoffed. “No, stiff is when it’s a little hard to move. You were in pain.”

“I was not.”

“I saw your face,” he snapped. Then he backed up a step. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just—Fuck, I can’t handle seeing you hurt again.”

“I’m not hurt. I just slept funny.”

“Are you sure?”

I wasn’t really. My whole neck was tense and every once in a while, it felt like tiny zaps shot down my back. My hesitation caused him to grab his keys and then my arm.

“Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”

“What? No, I have to work!”

He continued dragging me out the door, not even bothering to let me put on my shoes. “Listen, I understand that you don’t want to call off, but this is important. It’s better we get this checked out.”

The slight drizzle outside left the stairs wet and slick. He was careful as he pulled me down them, only realizing once we got to the car that I was barefoot.

“Where are your shoes?”

“In the house. You didn’t let me put them on,” I said, cocking my head at him.