When Its Least Expected (3 page)

“Whatever! You’re
definitely
not my Prince Charming,” she huffed, holding her chin

high, her eyes turned bright and feisty. “You’re more like some sort of buffoon who
– who needs a haircut!” She gestured towards Mason’s head. Not her best comeback he
was sure, but maybe, just maybe, he was getting to
her
, like she was getting to
him
!

“Besides, who calls a girl they don’t even know
little beast
anyways, huh? That’s

horribly rude and … and … degrading!” she stuttered, clawing at Mason’s arm.

Of course she wouldn’t know that the words “little beast” were the most complimenting

words he’d ever said to someone, especially a girl.

“I'm sorry, little beast. What should I call you then?” Mason questioned snidely,

regretfully handing over the keys she so badly seemed to want. She snatched them from
his hand with an angry grunt.

“Ha! There’s no way I’ll tell you my name, buddy. Jerks like you don’t deserve that

privilege.” She bit down on her bottom lip. Mason’s heart went haywire at the movement.
Hell, it had to have been the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

Damn her … gnawing on lips was supposed to be his job!

The abrupt thought had him taking a step backwards. He heaved a sigh as his gut

clenched. Shit. What was he thinking? He had to get away from this girl fast, otherwise
he’d be taking matters into his own hands, or mouth was more like it. No girl had
ever affected him like this before.

The scary part was he wasn’t sure if he completely disliked it.

She gave him one last irritated glare before turning to stomp away. She muttered some

pissy words under her breath as she did, but it didn’t matter. Nothing did, except
for the fact that he knew he would have to see her again.

Holy shit … what the hell am I thinking?

“It’s Harley,” her friend whispered, breaking him from his silent berating, smiling
over

her shoulder as she winked. He had barely noticed her until that moment. “And I’m
guessing you got to my friend over there. She
never
backs down from an argument.” Mason glanced over the top of the girl’s head to see
Harley again. He couldn’t get enough.

He snarled when his eyes found her. Dammit! She wasn’t alone! In fact she was currently

in the arms of some oversized dude in a letterman jacket. She gave the freak an award
winning smile. Mason’s gut knotted. Jealousy was not even in his vocabulary, but seeing
her in that dude’s arms made his pulse race with exactly that.

Get it together…
she’s just a girl…

This little beast, now officially known now as Harley, turned her gaze towards his.
Their

eyes molded together, her brown ones, his blue ones. He bit the inside of his cheek
as her open stare morphed from anger into curiosity. She was beyond gorgeous.

But then she did something, something casual that still managed to steel the rhythmic

beat from his heart … she winked at him. “Shit,” Mason muttered, rubbing a hand through
his long, sandy blond hair. Apparently he had just found something to keep himself
occupied for his remaining four months in Nebraska.

It was Monday, the most dreaded day of the week. After hitting the snooze button for
the

sixth time on her phone, Harley moaned and tucked it under her pillow. Apparently
it was time to get up.

She kicked off the covers and stretched her arms above her head as she yawned. It
was

yet another dream filled night, full of sky blue eyes, and one snarky little surfer
boy smile. The dreams had been bombarding her sleep since Friday night, and it was
kind of pissing her off.

Harley vowed to stay away from the boys this year, especially the snarky ones who
oozed

with that a–typical, bad boy persona like he had. Yet,
he
was almost unavoidable. A mystery she so shouldn’t want to solve, but strangely felt
the urge to do just that. It didn’t matter. She’d never see him again anyways.

“Are you up yet, Harley Ann?” Her mother hollered from the kitchen.

Harley grumbled under her breath as she stood. She was up, sure, but she definitely

wasn’t awake. Harley hated Mondays, even more than she hated death. She slipped on
her

favorite worn out jeans and white tank top, just as the scent of blueberry pancakes
invaded her nose. And just like that, all of her irritation fled with the promise
of what was waiting for her in the kitchen.

“Wow, Mom, you never make these during the week! What’s the special occasion?” she

asked, lifting the dark locks of her hair from the back of her tank, just as she entered
the kitchen.

She hoisted herself onto a chair and fingered the rim of her juice glass, peering
greedily towards the stove. She licked her lips. Blueberry pancakes had to have been
better than sex. Well … not that she’d knew what sex was like … but still, nothing
could possibly beat the warm goodness of syrup dripping down her throat, right?

Her mother looked up from her skillet. A potent smile appeared on her lips. Harley
stifled

an eye roll as she downed her orange yumminess. She slammed the cup on the table and
wiped

the remaining residue around her mouth with her bare arm.

That look on her mother’s face went from sweet, to drama queen in less than a minute.

Her eyes darkened, her lips curled down into a frown. Crap. Something was wrong. “No
reason, sweetie, just decided to do something nice for you to start your Monday off
right.” She patted the top of Harley’s head, her evasiveness was irritating. Harley’s
defensive walls went up.

Somebody had to have died. Her mom always softened her with food before bad news came.

“Crap, Mom,” Harley groaned, tucking her chin into her chest. “Who died?” She

snatched a piece of bacon off a nearby plate, downing it in one bite. She had to fill
her stomach soon otherwise her nerves wouldn’t take too kindly to a full meal.

Her mother stared over her glasses. A wrinkle of disapproval settled between her brows

as she laid pancakes on the table. Then she turned around and headed back towards
the sink. Not a single word had left her mouth.
That
was good at least because it meant that everyone was apparently still alive and kicking.

Harley relaxed, letting her shoulders drop as she scowled at her mother’s backside.
There

was honestly no point in questioning the lady anyways. When she wanted to talk, she’d
talk.

Leaning back a little in her chair, Harley stared down the hall, checking for signs
of

David. But as usual, he was nowhere in sight. Go Figure… Now that David was homeschooled,

he pretty much woke and slept whenever he wanted. It was annoyingly unhealthy behavior
as far as Harley was concerned, but her parents let it slide. They were obviously
still in denial of their son’s current emotional state of crap-tastic-ness.

“Eat up, Har. There’s plenty more where that came from.” Her mother turned back

around and sat down in the seat next to her, her own plate filled to the brim. But
unlike Harley, the woman didn’t touch a thing.

Harley slowed her bites, studying the movements of her mother’s hands. She had stirred

the syrup around, then poked at the bacon, and finally flipped the scrambled eggs
like they were bouncy balls. The woman sighed, over and over again, until she practically
robbed the entire room of oxygen.

Harley let her fork clatter down onto her plate. She cleared her throat, her eyes
practically drilled holes into her mother’s forehead until she finally peered up at
her. This was getting ridiculous. Their stare held for a long moment, and Harley leaned
forward, steepling her fingers under her chin with her eyes wide and questioning.
But her mouth stayed shut.

“Harley, I need to discuss something with you ...”

Crappity crap. Here it comes…

Harley held her breath and fought another eye roll, letting a fake smile win out over
her

lips. “Sure, Mom, what’s up?” she bobbed her knee up and down; the table’s legs shook
from her nervous habit.

“Well, your dad and I have been talking a lot lately, and we think that maybe it’s
time for you to start getting more serious about your college applications. You haven’t
entirely missed out on the deadlines yet.” Harley coughed, placing a hand over her
mouth. Her now full stomach was, like she had figured, at war with the anxiety that
had been building.

No, not the college thing! Anything but that!

“I know it’s been a rough couple of years, Har, but you’ve got to start thinking about

your
future now, rather than putting it on hold for your brother.” Harley blinked; disbelief
took over her emotions as she stared back at her mother.

Damn. The woman was blunt.

“I know, Mom.” And yeah, she actually did. The problem was that Harley didn’t think

her heart could deal with the whole
going away to college thing
, especially if she had to go without David.

Harley and her brother did everything together. Walking, talking, riding bikes, starting

kindergarten, every milestone you could think of. Being without her brother, this
major step in life was not a fathomable option.

But apparently her mother had other ideas.

“Okay, fine, Mom. Next weekend, we’ll sit down and fill out a few applications.”

God, what was she saying? Why was she agreeing to this?

Her mother squealed her obvious approval, clapping her hands as she jabbered away,

“Yay! I’m so glad you finally feel the same way, Har! I promise you, this is for the
best!”

Harley nodded and sighed, but her heart wasn’t feeling it. But it didn’t matter how
she

felt, did it. She’d do pretty much anything to make her parents happy, especially
since it was
her
fault their lives were so screwed up to begin with.

Her ears took in the familiar squeaking of her brother’s wheels, and she sat back,

glancing down at the time on her cell. Crap. Seven thirty. She had to go!

She stood, took her plate to the sink, and somehow, her feet led her towards the front

door. That conversation had rocked her world, and not in a good, happy way either.

“Love you, Mom. Love you, David,” she waved over her shoulder, sighing as David

grunted his response.

He was definitely not a morning person.

She grabbed her wristlet and messenger bag from the nearby end table, and headed out

towards her car. As soon as she got settled, seat buckled, radio blasted to drown
out her thoughts, her cell phone chimed from her pocket. She dug it out, immediately
regretting her decisions when some seriously high pitched squealing assaulted her
ears.

She groaned at the voice. Abigail and her dramatics...

“What the hell, Abs? Did you just win the lottery or something?” She put the device
on

hands free. A small smile graced her lips anyways as her best friend continued on
with her

excited outburst.

“You will
never
believe this, Harley … The hottie guy? From Friday night? He’s my new neighbor! I
totally just saw him and his sister on the way to their car, so I decided to say hey!

Anywho … the sister, who’s actually pretty cool by the way, told me that they were
going to be attending Hillsdale High. Can you believe it? Eeeek!”

Harley’s jaw dropped, as her best friend’s words blurred together. No … no freaking

way! This
boy
was supposed to have disappeared from her life, not reappear like a nightmare.

“Lovely…” Harley whispered under her breath, trying to shake the anxiety blossoming
in

her chest. A sick day should have been in order at that point …

She clenched the steering wheel, cracking her neck from side to side, attempting to
relive

the tension that was building. That brown-blond head of hotness was so infuriating
and so damn cocky that there was no way in all hell that she’d be able to deal with
him on a day-in day-out basis.

“Come on now, Har. I know you’ve been
dying
to see him again. I saw the way you

looked at him, and I
definitely
saw the way he looked at you!” No way was Harley going to admit that. She pursed
her lips. The girl would be planning their wedding and naming their first born if
Harley had given her even an inkling of an idea about how hot she thought he was.
It was better to play the
dumb and could care less
card rather than the
yes that boy was delicious
card.

“Is that why you called, or do you have a better reason for disturbing my sanity this

morning?” Abigail may have been Harley’s best friend, but she also knew how to push
her

buttons. And in that moment, every single irritated button she had in body had been
pushed.

“Nope, I figured that was a good enough reason. Anywho,” Abigail cleared her throat
as

she went on. “How’s that big brother of yours doing? I was hoping to see him this
weekend, you know. It’s been over two weeks, and I’m kind of in David withdrawal here.”

Harley sighed; the girl definitely wasn’t kidding. “Ehh, he’s alright I guess. I didn’t
see him much this weekend either due to the fact that he was hauled up in his room
both days,
yet
again
.” Frustration lined her voice as Harley unloaded her feelings. “I’ve given up on
him, Abs.

He’s kind of a lost cause. Some days I’m lucky if he even leaves his room at all.”

“Don’t give up on him, Har. You know he needs you.” Abigail blew out a breath that

echoed over the phone’s speaker. She was obviously just as frustrated, but at least
she stayed positive.

The question of the day, or the year at that, was how could she convince David to
get on

with his life, when Harley couldn’t even get on with her own?