Sunday, June 15, 2025 | 12:02 a.m.
Harlow:
Did you really tell your bartender to cut me off after two drinks?
Me:
Yes
Harlow:
Why?
Me:
Because none of us are there with you while you’re drinking
You can have your space but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep you safe.
Harlow:
I am safe. It takes more than two drinks to get me drunk, Chris. I just want a buzz
Me:
Then come home. I’ll make you one.
Having no expectations when it came to Harlow seemed to be the safest bet. I could have walked down the beach and met her at the bar. Gave into her and let her get drunk off her ass because she was in her feelings. But I wouldn’t be shit if I did that. She could have one or the other: her space or as many drinks as she wanted.
She was upset. That didn’t mean we would stop protecting her. Not me anyway.
Rico went upstairs an hour ago after waiting for two hours for her to walk back through the door. The only reason he’d conceded was because she was still sharing her location and he could see that she’d just pulled up at my bar.
When the back door opened fifteen minutes after we stopped texting, I looked up from the sudoku game on my phone and caught the back of her as she headed right for the fridge.
I sat at the kitchen island, watching her pile the leftovers from earlier in her small arms.
When she turned around to put them on the counter, she smiled softly.
“Hey, Christian.”
“Worked up an appetite?” I inclined my head to the containers.
“Something like that,” she mumbled, pulling a rib out of the first one and eating it cold.
“You walked for four hours. Your feet not hurting?”
Harlow devoured that cold ass rib while squinting at me. “Why? You wanna rub my feet or something?”
Or something.
This attitude was cute. It kinda turned me on. Even though I knew I wasn’t the one she was mad at.
“I would if you asked me to.”
Her haughty facade slipped, and she looked down at the spread on the countertop.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have been short with you. You don’t deserve that.” She placed a burger patty, some corn and green beans on the plate then put it in the microwave.
