Being Harrison Bloom’s Girl

Chapter 8

It was the longest drive of Leigh’s life, even if technically it was only a couple of hours. She’d made that drive so many times now, but this time, knowing that it might be the last, was more difficult than she could’ve imagined.

Maybe she was being a bit dramatic. She still had friends, and family, in the city. She just wouldn’t be driving back from Harrison’s condo.

It was strange to think of how that place had become home. It had become their place – where they could be with each other, forget the world outside. She had never felt unwelcome there until late that night.

Which was why Leigh had found herself getting out of bed at four in the morning and leaving, trying to choke back tears, because she hadn’t been able to sleep. She had felt like she was intruding into Harrison’s very private and personal space.

So, she had packed herself, and her bruised and battered heart, and made her way back to campus, which, she tried to tell herself, was home, too. It was home.

But it didn’t feel like it.

Maybe she should’ve called Emily, but there were times, Leigh was coming to discover, when even her oldest and truest friend wouldn’t be enough. So, Leigh made the long and lonely drive back to campus, getting there when it was still dark and the only people outside were joggers and cyclists, and dragged herself back to the place that now had to be home.

It wasn’t home, rebelled her heart, but there was nothing else for it. She had nowhere else.

She couldn’t go to her parents, even if they would stand by her, because she had promised herself when she and Harrison had gotten together that she would never place them in a position where they had to choose between her and Harrison. They loved him, like a son. She would never give them reason to resent him.

Besides, it would be unfair. She had put them through so much already. They’d had to deal with the idea that she and Harrison were together. Then they’d had to deal with all the media attention, so intrusive and unwelcome. They’d stood by her through it all, even when they’d found it unbearable. She knew it.

So, Leigh was, for once, completely alone. The knowledge threatened to crush her.

Leigh decided that she could hide from the world and from reality for a while longer, and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over herself and willing herself to sleep.

But sleep left her, too, forsaking her when she needed it.

All she could think of was that she’d had everything, and now she’d lost everything. There was nothing she could do.

Harrison had looked at her with such coldness, when her body had still been heated from his.

He had looked at her as if he wanted nothing to do with her.

He would get his wish now. After all, it wasn’t like she’d been left with a choice of any sort.

She would have to accept that she had lost him, and move on.

She would, Leigh promised herself, but she couldn’t convince herself.

She couldn’t.

Harrison knew the moment Leigh left.

Of course he knew.

He had always felt like he was attuned to her. He could feel her presence before he saw her, and he could feel her leave.

He clenched his hands into fists and stood at the window of the guest room, without moving a muscle. He focused on not moving, on each muscle staying still, because if he didn’t, he knew that he would find himself pulling open the door and dashing out, reaching for Leigh, holding her there and with him.

Promising him that he would be fine with half-measures and compromises, middle grounds that meant nothing to him. Even if he knew very well that he could never be happy with middle ground, not the kind that Leigh wanted.

Twice, he thought, as he heard the click of the elevator doors, the little beep as it moved down, taking Leigh farther and farther away from him, until she was out of reach. Maybe she had always been out of reach and he had just refused to see it. Maybe he had just overestimated the power of his own will, and assumed that everything would be fine because he would make it fine.

He heard the little beep as the elevator reached the parking lot, and knew that Leigh was walking away, slipping out of his reach.

He didn’t make a move to leave the guest room. It was the only room in the penthouse that didn’t remind him of Leigh. It was impersonal, neatly and functionally designed with elegant touches, meant for people to impose their own tastes and personalities on the space, even if only for a day, or a few hours. Leigh had never had reason to come in there to sleep, or to make any changes there. Why would she have? She had never been a guest.

And now she was gone, and she had taken the warmth with her – for the second time.

He should have known, thought Harrison, not moving a muscle as he stood there, looking out over the city that still sparkled. It never slept, after all, did it?

There would be lives out there – happy ones, sad ones. Most of those people would consider him very lucky.

He could understand. He knew he was a lucky man, though he had made his own luck, too. To think that it had all started from a gaming app – that he had built it all, from people’s desire to compete with each other and be the best.

Leigh had been part of the reason why he had diversified. He had found new challenges, because finding her, finding that joy in her, had made him feel energized again.

Now he had even more than he’d had then.

So, he was a lucky man.

He had been the right person at the right place at the right time, and now he had more than most people could dream of spending in a dozen lifetimes.

He had never felt poorer, not even when he had deliberately chosen not to pursue connections that his name could give him, and he had worked his ass off to get those few first breaks. He had always known that he could have help if he needed it, but he had never asked for it.

Now he was beyond help.

Leigh had left him.

No, he had left Leigh, because she didn’t love him enough to stay with him. To say she would be with him forever.

He had, once upon a time, believing that he could never have Leigh, buried himself in work. It had never made him forget, but it had dulled the pain a bit.

He would have to find that challenge in work again. For the last few weeks, he’d been letting things slide a bit. He knew that. Well, there had been more than enough of that. Things were going to change.

Once Harrison made a decision, he didn’t dither. Walking with precise movements, he went to the bedroom – and, ignoring the bed that Leigh had made so neatly, he got his laptop out and settled down in the little nook where he and Leigh had cuddled over breakfast, or nightcaps, so often.

No, he wouldn’t think of that. That was over.

Now he had to focus.

If there was one thing Harrison had always been able to do with nearly fearsome success, it was channeling everything in him to one goal. Now he had a goal – find a way to forget Leigh and move on with his life.