The Lawson Boys

3.3

Valerie's P.O.V.

I walked into the kitchen, annoyed that he had come into my house when I wasn't home. He handed me the small white piece of paper and I unfolded it to see his neat hand writing on the first line. I took a deep breath before I began reading it.

Val, I am meeting with my ex James to get things figured out. I'm sorry for everything I have done. If you don't want to marry me I completely understand. It's very confusing that there is two James's so I'm going to call my brother My James and my ex is just James. My James is doing fine, he is stable. For now. They think Jesse will be out of the hospital by next week. I will leave you alone as long as you need me to. I love you Kitty. Carson.

I set the note down and looked at Harper as he pulled the stuff out to make us burgers.

"I need wine. Do you want a beer?"

"Yes please. I will be outside starting to cook these." He opened the glass door and left it open which is fine with me. I do that a lot. My dad had to go to Louisiana for business and my mom went with him for 4 days so that should be fun. I pulled a beer out of the fridge and set it down before grabbing my favorite bottle of wine my mom had hidden and pouring two glasses for myself and Robin.

"Robbie, I have a glass of wine for you!!"

"Alright I'm coming." She ran into the kitchen as I was about to walk into the back yard. "Wait, do you think Harper is single??" She took the glass from my hand.

"Yeah I do. But I also think he's very sensitive. I haven't asked him but I feel like he's had bad experiences with girls so be careful please."

"I'm not asking him out, but I do like him."

"Me too, as a friend." I pulled her outside with me.

Harper looked at us and I realized he didn't have a shirt on. God freaking damn. Wait a second. He has tattoos. He had two ferns on the line of his pelvis on both sides. Leading down below the line of his pants. He had a paragraph of words on his left side, then another small group of numbers on his chest. Well then.

"I did not know you had tattoos." I walked over to him and traced my fingers across the inked skin.

"There is a lot you don't know about me." He smirked.

"What does it say?" I gestured to the tattoo on his side.

"Please don't ask if I'm okay, I might do something stupid like open up to you and I'm really tired of getting close to people and watching them leave me line I'm nothing."

I didn't say anything back. I just looked at him. He had an unknown sadness in his eyes, I didn't ask or talk. I closed the top of the grill and took the spatula out of his large hands and put it down. He looked at me and I hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me and I squeezed him. His tall frame towered over the top of me but in more of a comforting way. I guess we both really needed this hug.

"Thank you." He smiled lightly at me.

"Thank you." He opened the grill back up.

His black hair cascaded down in front of his eyes, covering the bright green orbs almost all the way. He set the spatula down once more and took a sip of his drink before shaking his hair back and forth, sweeping it back a little bit. I don't understand how I didn't see his tattoos. They aren't small. He caught me staring and gave me a blank look.

"You can touch them if you want."

"Thank you!!" I laughed. I traced my fingers across the date on his chest. Moving my hand to his side where I carefully inspected the letters on his tan skin. I looked at the ferns and touched the top of them. He winced and I retracted my fingers immediately.