Better off without him

Chapter 4 - Xavier

As soon as we got home we unloaded everything to the kitchen and Harper immediately got to work packing everything away. I faintly heard her mumble something about getting dinner started so I took that as my cue to leave her be and headed for the shower.

Twenty minutes later I was showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and an old college sweatshirt and made my way to the living room to watch some rugby. As soon as I opened my bedroom door, the aromas that filled the house immediately made my senses go into overdrive. As much as I hated having this Harper girl as a house mate, I absolutely loved her cooking. She put Gordon Ramsey and Nigella Lawson to shame. She literally cooked everything - she baked her own bread, made her own butter and mayonnaise. I mean, who the hell does that? Every night she'd be in the kitchen baking so the house was always filled with the best smells known to mankind. Mum and dad said she'd bake croissants and different types of breads and leave them on the kitchen counter and dad would come over and pick them up for him and mum.

I made my way to the living room, switched on the tv and powered up my Mac book to get some work done while watching the game. An intense smell of herbs and steak filled my nostrils and my stomach started to growl viciously and it put me off of getting my work done. I switched off my mac book and tried to concentrate on the game between the Highlanders and Crusaders but it wasn't working. I was famished. I made my way to the kitchen and the sight before me made me freeze.

The bench had two different loafs of bread cooling down on a heating rack. Garlic bread was spread out in a glass dish. Six big juicy steaks were in a roasting dish, which looked like it came straight out of the oven. And Harper stood there mashing some potatoes. I don't think she noticed me at all, so I made my way further into the kitchen and saw that she had three different types of sauces, vegetables and a bottle of beer and wine set out on the dining table.What really shocked me wasn't the amount of food she had prepared in a short amount of time, because believe it or not this was a normal occurrence in the month that she's been here. What shocked me was the look on Harpers face. She looked like she was in her zone. How she's able to cook so much and look so unperturbed was kind of admirable. As soon as thought popped into my mind I snapped out of my daze and was disgusted at myself for admiring the little gold digger. Man, what the hell is wrong with me?

Harper looked up startled to see me standing there and I saw a blush rise up from her neck to her cheeks. She stopped what she was doing momentarily and looked shocked to see me in the kitchen. I started to feel a little awkward so I just walked to the counter and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket. Out of the corner of my eye I could feel her watching me, probably waiting for me to say something but I kept my mouth shut. I proceeded to make my way out of the kitchen cause I just felt so strange, and Harper called out that dinner would be ready in two minutes. I nodded my head in her direction and made my way back into the kitchen and took my seat at the breakfast counter opposite the bench where all that goodness lay and waited for Harper to get my plate ready.

Exactly two minutes later, Harper set a plate with two steaks drizzled in what looked like red wine jus, some mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted vegetables and what I knew was homemade garlic bread. It looked like I was siting at a five star restaurant with how well she plated everything. Harper placed a bottle of Corona with some cutlery and a napkin in front of me and sauntered off. I swear I could feel her every movement as she went about the kitchen and I focused heavily on the restaurant quality meal in front of me. A minute later I heard Harper leave the kitchen and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I felt fucking weird and I didn't know what the hell had me so in tune with her every movement. Once I felt like I could breathe again I dug into my meal.

My plate was spotless and my eyes felt droopy. While I ate all I was thinking about where Harper was eating because she never ate in the kitchen or dining room. She never even ate in the living room. I looked over and saw that there were still four more pieces of steak and everything else sat steaming on the bench and dining table. I realised that I never really paid any attention to Harper. I never saw her around the house, the only way I'd know she was even home is because she spent most of her time in the kitchen. I'd her pots and pans rambling and the different smells that filled the house is what notified me of her presence and not much else. She'd stand at the entrance of the living room and tell me that dinner was ready and I wouldn't even see her till the next day when she's walking across the street to catch her bus to transport her to work. Other than that, you wouldn't even think there was someone else living here.

That bothered me. I don't know why it bothered me but it did. We never interacted and when we did I was always putting her down, excluding her from get togethers or just plain old ignoring her. It wasn't until I walked in and she was still getting dinner ready that I realised that this may have been the first time that we'd ever been in the same room together in the house and she's been here for almost five weeks. For some reason I felt bad about my treatment of her but then I started to feel all weary again. I had to be careful of her because she looked like the type of girl who was out to befriend you and hen run off with your money. I learned my lesson once before and I'd never let what happened to Aaron happen to me. I tampered down the strange feeling I was having about Harper and reminded myself that I was looking out for my family. All this hate that I felt towards Harper was because I know that she's after my family's good will and money and I swear to god that I'll stop her before that happens.

With that thought in mind, I stood up and made my way to my bedroom and fell into a dreamless sleep.