Unexpected Rush (Play-By-Play #11) (38 page)

“It’s about Harmony.”

“What about her?”

The words hung, and he didn’t exactly know how to say them. “I’ve been seeing her.”

Drake frowned. “What do you mean, you’ve been seeing her?”

“She and I . . . We’ve been seeing each other for a while now.”

Drake laid his beer on the patio table. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m in love with your sister, buddy.”

“I don’t understand. You’re sleeping with Harmony?”

He’d blown right past the part where he’d admitted he was in love with her. And the tone of Drake’s voice spelled trouble. Barrett stood. “It’s not like that, man.”

“Then you tell me what it is like. You tell me you’ve been seeing her. How long?”

“A couple of months.”

He saw the anger tighten Drake’s features. “A couple of months? And you didn’t tell me about it? Why not?”

Drake’s voice was getting louder, and Barrett knew his best friend well enough to read the escalation in it. “Because of the way you’re acting pissed off about it right now.”

“I’m pissed off about it because you didn’t have the decency to tell me you wanted to date my sister when it first started. I thought we respected each other. What did you do? Start screwing her and decide if it didn’t work out, no harm no foul? I didn’t need to know?”

Shit. He reached out for his friend. “Drake. It’s not like that.”

Drake slapped his hand away. “Fuck you. It’s exactly like that. I can’t believe you. I thought we were friends.”

Barrett mentally counted to ten. His friendship with Drake was important, and he didn’t want to get into a fight with him, but Drake wasn’t seeing things clearly.

“This is between Harmony and me. It always was. We wanted to keep it between us at the beginning. I’m sorry that hurts you. That’s not what I intended.”

“No, I know exactly what you intended. You intended to screw her, then screw over our friendship by not telling me you were seeing my sister. Hell, you didn’t even ask me what I thought about it. What the hell, man?”

Barrett threaded his fingers through his hair. “It really was between Harmony and me. I’m telling you now.”

“You’re telling me too late.”

Now Barrett was angry, and he knew it was the wrong thing, but goddammit, he didn’t need to ask Drake’s permission to date Harmony.

He stood. “Look. I know you’re pissed, and you have a right to be because I should have talked to you about Harmony when things first started up between us. But I didn’t need to ask your permission to see her.”

He started to approach, and Drake shoved him.

And that was enough. Barrett shoved back.

He was trying so damn hard to keep his cool. “Come on, man. We don’t need to get into this.”

Drake had a fistful of his shirt in his hands. “Fuck you, Barrett. You know what? I trusted you, and I don’t trust a lot of people. Damn you for violating that.”

“You can fucking let go of me now.”

The door flew open and everyone spilled out, from his teammates to Mama Diane to the last person he wanted out here—Harmony.

“Drake,” Harmony said. “What the hell is wrong with you? Let him go.”

Drake sent a scathing look to Harmony. “Stay out of this.”

Their teammates got in the middle of them and pulled them apart.

“It’s okay,” Barrett said to them. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

“Leave me the hell alone,” Drake said to the other guys.

But Harmony didn’t leave him alone. She shoved at Drake’s chest. “Are you out of your mind?”

“What is wrong with you, Drake?” Mama Diane asked. “Barrett is your best friend.”

“Is he? Ask him what he did to Harmony.”

Mama looked over at Barrett, then to Harmony. “What is he talking about?”

“Could we please not do this in front of . . . everyone?” Harmony asked.

“All of you, go inside,” Mama Diane said, shooing them with her hands. “This is family business.”

After she cleared the patio, she stood between Barrett and Drake. “Now, talk.”

“He’s screwing Harmony,” Drake said.

Harmony rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that, Mama.”

“It’s exactly like that,” Drake said. “And it’s been going on for months.”

“I told you that’s not how it is, Drake.” God, this had been such a bad idea. He should have gone to Drake’s house to have this discussion. They might have gotten into a brawl, but at least Harmony wouldn’t be embarrassed. “What happened between Harmony and me shouldn’t have been your business in the first place. I didn’t need your permission to do anything with her.”

Drake lunged for him, but Harmony stood between them. “This is ridiculous. It’s not the Dark Ages. I do not need you to come between me and any man.”

“He’s not the right one for you,” Drake said.

“Drake,” Mama Diane said, her voice low and warning. “Mind your words.”

“Really,” Barrett said, deciding he’d had just about enough. “And what makes you think that?”

“Because any man who would screw his best friend’s little sister has no honor. And she’s just as bad as you.”

And just about became more than enough. He moved around Harmony and went for Drake, pushing him against the wall and pinning him with sheer force of will and strength. “Do not ever fucking talk about Harmony that way again.”

Drake threw a punch, connecting with Barrett’s shoulder. He felt the shock of pain, and retaliated with a punch of his own to Drake’s head. Drake shoved him hard and he fell, and suddenly Drake was on top of him.

He didn’t hear anyone else. It was only him and Drake rolling around on the ground together, shoving each other but not getting any more punches in, since they both had death grips on each other.

He finally heard Mama Diane yelling, and suddenly their teammates were on them, pulling them apart.

The first thing he saw when he was pulled up off the ground was Harmony, tears streaming down her face. Her friend Alyssa had her arms wrapped around her.

Barrett pulled free of his teammates, but it wasn’t Drake he wanted to go to. It was Harmony.

“Harmony,” he said, but she took a step back.

Drake went toward her as well. “Hey, baby sis. Don’t cry. This asshole isn’t worth it.”

She held up both hands and shook her head.

“Stop. I’m sick to death of both of you.” She looked at Drake. “If you weren’t so obsessively overprotective, Barrett and I wouldn’t have had to hide our relationship this entire time and none of this would be happening.”

Then she turned her attention on Barrett. “And if you weren’t so afraid of ending your friendship with Drake, you might have actually had the balls to face him and tell him we were seeing each other.

“I don’t even want to look at either of you right now.”

She turned and went inside. Barrett saw her grab her purse, then she and Alyssa left.

Mama Diane turned to Drake. “For God’s sake, Drake. What is wrong with you? Your sister is a grown woman more than capable of running her own life. You need to let it go. It’s time to let
her
go. I’m ashamed of your behavior toward your sister and your best friend.”

Then she turned to Barrett. “Harmony’s right, you know. This is not the way someone who claims to care about my daughter should act. I know you love my son. No one has been a better friend to him than you have. But this.”

Mama Diane shook her head. “You handled this whole situation poorly, Barrett. I’d like you to leave now, while I have a few more words with Drake.”

He’d never once been asked to leave Mama Diane’s house. He felt like someone had shot a hole in his heart.

For more reasons than one.

With a short nod, he walked inside, then out the front door, feeling like he’d just lost an entire family of people he loved.

And the woman he loved right along with them.

Barrett went home, but he didn’t feel settled. He needed to talk to Harmony.

He called her, but she didn’t answer. He texted her, but she didn’t answer his texts, either.

No way was he going to leave town tomorrow without seeing her, so he got in his SUV and drove over to her town house. When he knocked at the door, Alyssa answered.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you right now, Barrett.”

He inhaled, then let it out. “I just need five minutes.”

Alyssa opened her mouth as if she had a very definite opinion about him needing five minutes, but then she just shrugged. “I’ll ask her.”

She shut the door in his face.

He waited, pacing the small front porch until the door opened again. This time, it was Harmony.

“What?”

Wow, she was really mad. He deserved it.

“I’m sorry. Can I come in?”

“No.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “Harmony, I don’t want to do this on the porch. Please.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

She opened the door and he stepped in. Alyssa stood just behind Harmony, arms folded like a warrior bodyguard.

“Alyssa,” Barrett said. “Can we have a minute, please?”

Alyssa looked over at Harmony, who gave her friend a short nod.

“I’ll be upstairs. You holler if you need me.”

Alyssa gave him a look that told him not to upset her best friend, then went upstairs.

“Can we sit down?” Barrett asked.

“I’d rather stand. Plus, you’re not staying long.”

Okay, so it was going to be like that.

“I’m sorry. I picked the wrong time and place to talk to Drake.”

“You think? You knew he wasn’t going to react well, and to do it in front of my mother?”

“I know. I need to have a conversation with your mother—to apologize to her.”

“No, I’ll have a conversation with my mother. I think you’ve done enough.”

“Fine. Then I’ll talk to Drake.”

“Right. Because that went so well the first time.”

He threw up his hands. “What do you want me to do, Harmony?”

“I don’t want you to do anything. No, what I want you to do is turn back the clock, man up and tell my brother we were together when we were first together, like you should have.”

“You know that wasn’t the right time.”

“Why wasn’t it the right time? Because you just wanted to fuck me then, and if it didn’t work out, then your friendship with Drake
wouldn’t have been tested? What about me, Barrett? What about my feelings? You’ve been hiding me away like some ugly secret for months now, and I’ve gone along with it because I thought you and I might have something worth working toward. But you know what? I’m done with that. And I’m done with you.”

Cold dread settled in the pit of his stomach. “You don’t mean that. And I told you before I never thought you were an ugly secret. We agreed—”

“
We
never agreed. I reluctantly settled because that was the way you wanted it. But no more. If you’d cared about me, if you’d respected me, none of this would have happened. I’m done.”

He reached out for her. “Harmony, there are things I need to tell you.”

She held out her hand. “I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say. Please leave.”

He heard the finality in her voice. The tremble and the hurt. He hated to have been the one to put that pain there. And by the words she said, it sounded a lot like “this is over.”

He wanted to say the words, to convince her he loved her, but she looked so hurt, her arms wrapped protectively around herself, that he knew anything he said right now would roll right over her.

She wouldn’t believe him. She wouldn’t hear him.

In a lot of ways, she was just as stubborn as her brother, especially when her back was up.

Now wasn’t the time for a declaration of love. First he had to fix the damage he’d caused.

He turned and walked out the door, feeling like the absolute asshole that he was.

He had to find a way to make this right.