Free Step Scandal - Part 3 by Rossi St. James Page B

the drywall.
    I pulled my fist back, my knuckles scraped and bleeding, but the pain was nothing compared to gut-wrenching ache that took hold of me the second I saw her drive away.

THREE – HARPER
     
    I needed to get my nails done. I needed to worry about me. I needed to forget Xavier Fox ever existed or that we even attempted to create a phony relationship. This was all a bad dream. We never kissed. We never had sex. We never gave to real shits about each other.
    I knew it was a lie, but I refused to believe any different. It was easier that way. I wiped the tears one by one as they fell, uncontrollable and never-ending, and pulled into a nail salon on Rodeo Drive. I dabbed my face dry and sucked in a blast of arctic air as it blew from my vents.
    Slapping a smile on my face, I headed inside to get my nails done. I picked a happy pink color and took a seat in a chair, listening to the chatter of the Vietnamese manicurists as they spoke their beautiful language. None of it made a lick of sense to me, but it was pretty and it was distracting, and that was what I needed right then.
    An hour later, I was admiring my nails as I headed out to the street. Only a flood of men with cameras flashing in my face bombarded me the second I turned the corner toward my car.
    “Harper! Harper!” they yelled at me. “Where’s Xavier? What do your parents think? Are you two sleeping together?”
    Question after question. It was all too much to take. I slipped my sunglasses over my eyes and begged myself to remain strong. Don’t cry on camera. Don’t add fuel to the fire. I only had myself to blame for all of that, and I knew that, but it didn’t stop the pain.
    “Guys, guys, back off!” a man’s voice said from behind me. My shoulders fell the instant I recognized it. Hayden. I spun around as Hayden slipped his arms around my shoulders. I whispered, “What are you doing?”
    “Go with it,” he whispered back before turning toward the men. “Harper Bliss and I are officially back together.”
    We stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and as I began to study his face to gauge his intentions, he pressed his mouth against mine.
    Hayden’s kiss was nothing shy of contrived. It felt foreign and almost unnatural. My lips belonged to Xavier, still, after everything we’d been through. Hayden’s kiss only served to solidify that fact.
    I pulled myself away from him, plastering on my best media-fake smile.
    “So there you have it,” Hayden beamed proudly, not letting me go. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make sure my girlfriend gets to her care safely.”
    He escorted me to my Mercedes, his hand resting on the small of my back as we walked.
    “Why did you do that?” I fumed. Those pictures were going to be all over the internet the next day, and I could only imagine what Xavier might think. Xavier and I may have been over, but the last thing I wanted was for him to think he sent me straight into the arms of an ex-boyfriend like a desperate, pathetic young woman.
    “I was helping you,” Hayden scoffed. “You should be thanking me.”
    “How did you know I was here?”
    He shrugged. “Pure coincidence I suppose. I happened to be getting my hair cut at Toni and Guy up the street. Saw you being swarmed. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. Jesus.”
    His face softened, forcing me to accept that maybe, for once, he was telling the truth. I swallowed my pride before saying, “Thanks. Sorry I freaked out at you. It’s been a rough morning.”
    “Trouble in paradise?” he asked, immediately reverting to the asshole I knew well.
    I yanked my door shut and started my car, rolling down the window a few inches. “Bye, Hayden.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FOUR – HAYDEN
     
    I logged into my Facebook account that afternoon. It’d been weeks since I’d checked it, but I needed something to keep my mind off anything but real life. Facebook always made me zone out, and sometimes I could spend hours clicking and