My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 60

With Casey and Carter’s powerfully backed father pushing for them, Harper’s brothers were released on parole five days later. We knew they were coming but Harper didn’t. Maybe I would’ve told her if she hadn’t gone back to hiding in her room. She wasn’t even taking in the gifts we left her. The only reason we knew she was alive was because the hot fries and moon pies kept disappearing. Life sucked.

We had a big game in two days and I knew that none of us were in the right headspace for it. We were going to get our assed kicked. The rest of the team was suffering because the three of us were falling apart. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept through the night. We all looked like shit and felt even worse. It was hell having Harper so close but so far away. It was even worse knowing that we were the cause of her suffering. She hadn’t gone to class or work in nearly two weeks. She was barely existing and it was our fault.

We were really holding out hope that her brothers were going to get her back to the land of the living. If they couldn’t help Harper, I wasn’t sure where we were supposed to go from there. I wasn’t sure there’d be anywhere to go.

Dylan had taken Harper’s critiques to heart and had cleaned the entire house until Carter and I were afraid to move around too much for fear of being dusting or scrubbed to death with the rest of the furniture. It was good, though, because we were going to look responsible and clean when Danny, Jay, and Matt showed up. Responsible, clean men could be trusted with their sister.

I paced back and forth in the driveway, too keyed up to wait inside, knowing Harper was just upstairs. Carter came outside and frowned at me but I couldn’t help the pacing. I felt like we were close to losing Harper and if bringing her brothers home didn’t help, nothing would.

“They’ll be here any second.” Carter winced. “Unless Casey pulled over and murdered them. It probably wasn’t a good idea to have her pick them up.”

“Are you worried about them with her?”

Snorting, Carter rolled his eyes. “I know I should be worried about her, picking up three giant men who just spent years in prison, but I’m more worried about them. Casey is a maneater. I’ve watched her make grown men cry. A lot.”

Before either of us could get too worried about it, Casey’s car pulled into the driveway. The car was barely in park and she was already halfway out of the driver’s seat. She slammed the door shut and marched around to the passenger side, where Danny sat with the door open. She leaned down and pointed in his face before saying something under her breath that I didn’t catch. Danny grinned and stepped out of the car, forcing Casey to step back.

“Focus on your college boys, kitten.” Danny smirked at her and then walked up to us. He nodded at me and then met Carter’s questioning gaze. “Whatever strings your daddy pulled to get that woman her license need to be reeled back in. She nearly killed us more times than I can count.”

Casey scowled up at him. “That’s not saying a lot, considering how high you can probably count.”

Jay and Matt joined us and Matt stared down at Casey with a curious look on his face. “You’re sure you’re the same person who helped get us out of jail?”

Stomping her foot, Casey glared at the three men and then swung around to scowl at her brother. “If you three hadn’t fucked up so royally I wouldn’t have had to rush getting these idiots out. I would be in my apartment enjoying a mimosa with my brunch right about now.”

Carter shrugged. “Considering it’s Thursday, maybe it’s a good thing you’re not brunching in your apartment by yourself?”

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Casey smirked. “Who said anything about being all by myself?”

Danny’s smirk slid off his face but he played it off. “Let’s go see our Little Harpoon.”

“I’m going to meet a friend. I’ll swing by later to check on Harper.” Casey purposefully shoved between Jay and Matt. “You remember Lane Prichard, Carter? He’s stopping by campus to catch up today.”

I watched the two of them do their twin telepathy thing and knew whatever came out of Carter’s mouth next would be a pile of bullshit that he made up to play along with Casey. Harper’s brothers didn’t know the twins’ game, though, so I also got to watch as they each grew frustrated.

“Lane? I thought you didn’t hang out with him anymore after that weird sex party thing.” Carter kept a completely straight face. “That kid’s a deviant. Just don’t take anything he gives you and if he tries to take you to another party, don’t do it. I’m not rescuing you from a sex swing in the middle of a ballroom again. There are some things a brother can’t unsee.”

“Thanks, Carter.” Casey gritted her teeth. “That’s definitely the memory I wanted fresh in my mind today.”

Matt swore as he looked back and forth between the siblings. “You’re joking, right?”

I patted his shoulder and nodded towards the house. “Let’s go get your sister out of her room.”

“She’s not actually going to go hang out with a creep, is she?” Jay looked back at Casey. “Shouldn’t you stop her?”

“My sister does what she wants. I learned pretty much right out of the womb that even suggesting to her what she should do gets you more trouble than it’s worth.” Grinning at me, Carter waved goodbye to Casey. “Besides, she carries a stun gun and pepper spray with her at all times. Campus security calls her when shit goes down.”

Danny growled. “Now I know you’re fucking with us.”

“Sure. Tell yourself whatever you need to.”

Dylan came out of the kitchen once we walked inside and glanced upstairs. “Thanks for coming so fast.”

Jay grabbed Dylan’s shoulder and frowned as he stared at him. “Jesus, man, you look even worse than you did last week.”

Danny, while staring at Dylan, shouted up the stairs. “Harper Monroe! Get your ass down here right now!”

Matt rubbed his hands together and smiled. “This will be good. Y’all are about to see just how much Harper loves us until she wants to murder us. Buckle up.”

Harper appeared at the top of the stairs like a ghost, eyes wide and mouth ajar. She screamed and then ran a little over halfway down the stairs before jumping at her brothers. Danny and Matt caught her and she clung to them while openly crying. “How? What? You’re here!”

Jay joined their circle and they hugged for a few minutes while Dylan, Carter, and I started to inch away, feeling like uninvited guests. Then, all hell broke loose.