“Why was he on that plane?”

“Twice a year he had to go on a two week long business trip all over the country. He was headed for his last stop before he was going to come home.” The pain in his voice was unmistakable and I instantly regretted asking.

“I'm sorry.” I whispered into his chest, and placed a light kiss over the tattoo. I sat there quietly until he returned to playing with my hair and making circles on my back, even then I waited at least five more minutes before I said anything. “Will you show me the others?”

He smiled and flipped around so his back was facing me. I gasped when I saw everything on his back and shoulders. There were definitely more than a few. Tribal swirls covered the majority of his right shoulder leading toward his waist; I would have thought it looked stupid on anyone other than Brandon. It flowed perfectly over his sculpted back. A few lines of words in another language were peeking out from the bed near his ribs on his left side. Hidden between a swallow, a few stars and a Celtic cross were other designs I’d never seen before but thoroughly complimented the rest of the tattoos.

“Brandon, this is amazing.” I breathed.

“You like them?” He started to turn around but I stopped him so I could keep looking. He laughed and grabbed my hand to kiss my palm. When I felt satisfied, I tugged on his shoulder until he faced me again.

“Thank you Harper.” He said softly.

“For what?”

“For letting me talk about him, and knowing how to respond.”

I pulled his face towards mine and looked directly into his eyes, “Whenever you want to talk about him, I'll be here.”

He kissed me quickly before climbing out of bed. I instantly missed his arms around me and frowned. “Don't pout. It's cute as hell, but I want to take you out to breakfa-err...lunch.”

I grumbled and tried to crawl out of his bed. Before I could get my feet on the ground he had my legs wrapped around his waist, and his lips were devouring mine. Our tongues touched, and thankfully he didn't seem to mind my next shiver. I laughed into his mouth when he slammed my back into the wall. His mouth left a trail of heat down my neck, across my collar bone and stopped on my shoulder. I wiggled against him when he didn't continue.

He sucked in air through his teeth and I felt his chest rumble. “Are you fucking kidding me?!” he yelled it loud enough that I flinched and I wouldn’t doubt if he woke up everyone else in the house.

I shushed him, “Brandon! What's wrong?”

For how angry he seemed all of a sudden, I was surprised with the gentleness of his touch on my arm. He was breathing hard, but somehow I didn't think it had anything to do with me being pressed up against the wall anymore. He cursed again under his breath and his eyes finally caught mine when he set me down.

I inhaled sharply when I saw the hate in them. “Brandon?”

Mashing his lips together, he set his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. When I tried to look down at whatever he'd seen, his other hand slipped under my chin. “Don't.” He growled. After a few more seconds he took a deep breath in and looked at my arm again. “Harper.” He said through clenched teeth, “I want you to stay in here, and get ready. I'll be back soon.” He firmly pressed his lips to my forehead and turned to leave.

“Brandon what's wro–” my eyes widened, “Oh. My. God.”

“CHASE!” He roared as he left the room.

I stared in shock until his door slammed shut and he yelled for Chase again, then I grabbed the shirt he'd been wearing last night off the floor and took off after him, pulling the shirt over my head in the process. “Brandon! Brandon, don't!”

“Chase open the damn door!” he yelled as he banged his fist on his door.

There were already a group of barely awake people standing behind me in the living room when Bree opened the door.

“What is your problem?” She hissed at him.

“Where is he Bree?!”

Before she could answer, the back door slid open and Chase sauntered in rubbing his eyes. Had he slept outside? “What's with all the yelling?”

“You son of a bitch!” Brandon boomed as he charged towards the living room.

“Brandon!” I was standing close enough to the door that I stepped in front of Chase, who of course wasn't having that. He gently moved me behind him and I saw his entire frame tense up, ready for whatever was coming at him. “No. Brandon just stop!” I moved back in between them and held one hand out towards Brandon and put another on Chase's chest. I didn't care what Brandon did for a living, or that I had only known him for a day. I knew there was no way he would hurt me. His gentle touch just a minute ago when he was livid was proof.

“Harper, please move.”

“No.” I stood there with my hands still stretched toward both of them for another minute; when I felt confident he wouldn't charge Chase, I moved closer and rested my hands on Brandon's naked stomach. “He's not worth it.” I whispered.

The way he was breathing reminded me of a bull. “You have got to be kidding me! He –”

“I know,” I whispered so only he could hear, “I saw them Brandon. But please, don't do this right now.”

“Will someone tell us what's going on?” I didn't look to see who asked the question, I'm guessing one of the housemates.

I wrapped a hand around Brandon's neck and forced him to look at me. “We'll handle it, but not like this, okay?” I kissed him softly and looked back into his soft eyes. “Let me talk to him, I'll meet you in your room in a minute.”

His eyes flickered between me and Chase before he blew out a hard breath. “Not a chance.” Without waiting for a reply, he scooped me up in his arms and walked us back to his room. I wanted to remind him I was perfectly capable of walking myself, but I kept my mouth shut, “I'm sorry but I'm not leaving you near him without me.” He pressed his lips to mine fiercely and set me on the ground.

“I figured as much.”

“I know I'm probably pissing you off right now, but –” He glanced under the sleeve of his shirt on my body and sighed, “Why did you stop me?”

“I told you, he's not worth it.” I replied, “You guys live together, and if you got in a fight, I'm almost positive it wouldn't end with just you two. I don't want to be the cause of that fight Brandon.” I absolutely hated that I was worried about Chase. He was a big guy too, and I'm sure he wouldn't go down easily this time, but I didn't want him hurt and I had no doubt Brandon could do serious damage to him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply again as he sat on the bed, “You have bruises Harper. Bruises. Why didn't you tell me he was holding you that tight?”

“I hadn't realized he was.” I lied.

Just then there was knock on the door and Chase stuck his head in. Brandon stood up with a huff but I kept a hand to his chest and hoped he got the hint. Thankfully he did, because Lord knows I wouldn't be able to actually stop him.

“Well you just woke everyone in the house, care to clue me in?”

I felt Brandon's chest rumble beneath my fingers, ugh these guys needed to calm down. “Chase,” I began calmly, “how drunk were you last night?”

“Not drunk enough to forget why my jaw hurts.” His eyes wouldn't leave Brandon, I could practically see the ways he was thinking of getting back at him.

“Well you deserved that one, you were being rude.”

He flung his arms out and finally looked at me, “I was just talking to you!”

Brandon brought my body to his and slowly raised the sleeves of the shirt over my shoulders, “This is just talking to her?!”

Chase's gaze dropped to my arms and his face paled as he took in the three distinct bruises. One on my left arm from the beginning of the party. You could actually see the individual fingers on it. And the other two from where his thumbs pressed into my shoulders during our confrontation in his room. He shook his head slightly and tore his eyes from my arms to search my face.

“Oh God, Harper. I di– I.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, “Harper I'm so sorry. I had no idea, I swear I didn't mean to hurt you.”

I had known, even when it happened, that Chase wouldn't physically hurt me on purpose. But there was no way to convince Brandon of that, and it looked like Chase was mentally beating himself up worse than Brandon could have with his fists. Despite Brandon's warning, he stepped up to me and placed his fingers on my left arm, lining them up with the biggest bruise.

“Harper,” Chase cleared his throat twice before continuing, “can I please talk to you alone?”

Brandon bristled behind me but slowly turned me so I was facing him. He kissed my neck, whispering in my ear, “I'll go get us something to eat. If he does anything, call me and I'll come right back okay?”

I nodded and watched as he put on a shirt and searched for his wallet and keys. Before he left he kissed me so passionately, I almost forgot Chase was there. I knew he'd done that on purpose by the smirk on his face. After one last silent warning to Chase, he was gone.

Chase waited ‘til we heard the front door close before saying anything. “Are you okay? God that's a stupid question, of course you're not.”

“No, I am. I'm fine.”

“How can you even say that?”

“Because I am!” Jeez, did these guys think I was that fragile? I mean, I know I'm small, but my dad is a Marine for crying out loud, I did daily drills and work outs with the guys in his unit. When they weren’t doing anything, they were constantly teaching me how to defend myself. “They don't hurt, I didn't even know they were there until Brandon saw them.”

“I just – I never meant to hurt you, I swear.”

The pain in his eyes was too much, he hadn't done this on purpose. Before I could think about what I was doing, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pressed his face into mine. “I know you didn't Chase. It really is okay, you were drunk, and I was being stubborn.”