Harper was acting weird. It's like everywhere I went, she'd follow and look like she was going to ask me something, and then psyche herself out of it. If she so much as asks me for money I swear I'll have her out on her ass, because that'll prove my assumptions right. It was also getting annoying because every five minutes she'd ask if I wanted a snack or a drink - so I knew that whatever she was trying to ask me was a huge deal.
Most days you wouldn't even notice that she was home but today she was everywhere. I went to the kitchen and two seconds later she'd ask me if I needed her to make me something. I went out to the garage to workout and there she was again asking if I needed a sweat towel or some water and before I could answer she'd be off and return with the items less than a minute later. When I was heading to the shower she was right behind me asking if I wanted something to snack on after, I said yes of course and by the time I was dressed and making my way to the living room to catch the game she had steak sandwiches and fries ready for me. Hell there was even a beer sitting next to a glass full of ice.
As soon as it was halftime, Harper swooped right in and cleaned up the mess, stood in front of me and hesitated like she had something on her mind, shook her head and exited. She was back ten minutes later with the same determined look on her face, thought better of it then she was out the door. When the game game finished I swear Harper had come in and out of the room like she was on a mission only to chicken out and exit the room a hundred times. I decided I'd had enough of her odd behaviour and ask her what was up.
"Spit it out before you drive yourself crazy?" I said to Harper when she came just into the living room door for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Her mouth open and closed three or four times before I muttered, "what's going on in that head of yours?" I said in frustration.
She finally conceded after a few seconds.
"You see, I have this friend of mine who's flying to Auckland tomorrow morning to spend a few days with me and he's asked if he could stay here with us. I was wondering if that was ok with you?" She answered very quickly, looking anywhere but at my face.
"I'm not going to let you bring some fuck buddy of yours into my house!" I boomed, angry that she would even ask of such a thing. I didn't even bring any of my conquests here because I was afraid that mum and dad would see them, and also because I preferred to go to their place so I could leave and not have to put up with the hassle of trying to kick them out of the house.
I watched her fists clench and unclench. Harper looked angry for a moment before she replied.
"He's not my 'buddy' he's more like a brother to me, and I'm asking can he please stay here? You'll actually like him because in a way you know him, but you can't tell any of your friends that he's staying here because he wants to relax and not be badgered by anyone," she said helplessly.
"Ok, now I'm confused. Why would I tell my friends about this 'brother' of yours in the first place?"
"Umm, you see, he's uh actually kind of famous and wants to lay low while he has the time to do so. Usually when he comes over we hide out because otherwise people would hound him for his autograph and what not and he just wants to be out of the limelight for a short amount of time," Harper said inconspicuously.
Now I was really intrigued as to just who, she was trying to bring into my home like it was some hotel or something.
"Who's this guy anyways? Are you sure he's as 'famous' as you think he is? Do I know him?" I replied in a teasing manner.
"You kind of do...know him, I mean. Macy told me once that he's your favourite fighter."
"Are you telling me that "Alexander "The Brawler" Johnassen is your so called 'brother' and that he wants to stay at my house," I said in my snarkiest tone.
There's no way in hell that Alexander was this girls brother. From what I know about his personal life is that he's an only child and leads a really private life. There was no mention whatsoever about any siblings and he only ever made appearances with his parents. You only really saw him when he was out promoting his fights and last I heard; he was at some training camp in Los Angeles.
"I'm serious, Lex really is coming in tomorrow morning and wants to stay with me. He can't stay at a hotel because it takes one fan to see where he's staying and before you know it, we'll have paparazzi and crazed UFC fans outside vying for his attention. I've seen it so many times and it ain't pretty. You have to believe me," she pleaded again.
"Why should I believe you when all you've ever done is lie?" I spat, angry that she'd lie about something like this. Was she trying to make a fool out of me. She looked stunned but most of all defeated.
"Okay, I know you don't believe me, you probably never will, but I have never lied to you about anything," she said.
"You lied about your company," I interjected. You lied to my family to get them to like you, I said in my head.
"I never lied, I just never told you because if I did you never would have listened. Every time I try to talk to you, you walk away or just flat out ignore me. But believe me I'm not lying about this," she said with a quiver in her voice like she was going to break down any second.
I looked at her struggling to keep her tears at bay and for some reason, I don't think I'd be able to handle it if she cried. Seeing those tears in her eyes the other day and knowing that I caused them made me feel, remorseful. So I decided to appease her request.
"Ok, your 'friend' or 'brother' can stay here but you better make sure that he doesn't fuck the place up and that the both of you stay out of my way - got it," I said looking at Harper sternly while she stood there looking like she couldn't believe what I've just said.
A smile broke across her face and she nodded enthusiastically and said so many 'thank you s' before she hightailed it out of there.
Alexander Johnassen's, her brother; yeah right.
I took a seat back on the leather sofa and flipped channels before I settled on the movie , The Avengers. I was actually looking forward to who Harper was going to bring over tomorrow. God how naive could this girl be. Maybe she just met this guy on the internet and he's cat fishing her or something. Oh, that must be it. I laughed to myself before getting comfortable and enjoyed the rest of my night.
******
I woke up to the sound of voices coming from what I assumed was the kitchen. I turned over and looked at the alarm clock on my night stand and saw that it read 12:25pm. It was no surprise that I woke up this late considering I didn't go to bed till 3 in the morning. I stayed up watching movies and reading proposals for work before I decided to call it a night.
I walked into my ensuite, brushed my teeth, showered, shaved and dressed for the day.
By the time I was ready it sounded like there were more voices coming from the kitchen.
I swear if Harper invited more than one guest to stay over, she'd have another thing coming.
I stomped to the kitchen with every intention of scolding Harper for bringing home more than one guest but the words died on my lips the moment I stepped through the threshold.
Standing in my kitchen scarfing back one of Harper's famous ham and cheese croissants in hand and what looked to be a hot chocolate in the other hand was none other than Alexander Johnassen himself. Standing next to him and laughing at something he said was my sister Macy and her fiancé Brian who had a hand wrapped lovingly around her. Harper stood with her back to everyone cooking something at the stove.
All attention was on me a while later when Alexander's eyes flickered towards me. I couldn't fucking believe it. I had Alexander fucking Johnassen in my house, in my kitchen, eating my food. Holy shit! He's been in my house for who knows how long and I'd slept in. How the hell did he get here? What the hell was he doing here?
Something must have shown on my face because in the next instant, Macy came towards me and gave me a tiny peck on my cheek and said, "About time you joined the living bro."
I couldn't even reply because I was still getting over the shock to see that Alexander fucking Johnassen was standing a mere two feet from me.
He held out his hand and said something that I didn't quite catch.
"Huh," I mumbled stupidly.
"Hey man, I'm Alex?" He said again with his hand still outstretched.
I moved forward and shook his hand introducing myself.
"I'm Xavier," I finally managed to get out.
"Yeah I've heard so much about you from Harp. Thanks for taking care of her. I worry about her a lot and it's good to know that she finally has someone to looking after her," he said.
I looked to where Harper stood stiffly, choosing not to comment and carried on with whatever she was cooking.
Man, if Alexander found out about how I've been treating Harper he'd beat me to a pulp. Heck, I'd be lucky to survive a beating from him. I hope to God she hasn't told him about me, and judging by the way he's been acting all friendly towards me, I doubt that she has. I breathed in a sigh of relief.
I stood and chatted with Alexander and Brian while Macy scampered over to help Harper make something for lunch.
I learned that Alexander went to university with Harper, Macy and Brian and that they were all really close. What pissed me off, was that Macy and Brian knew I was a huge fan of Alexander's and never told me once that they were good friends and that they never arranged for me to meet him a lot sooner.
Nothing could really beat the shock of how much he seemed to adore Harper. He always walked over to check how she was, he played with her hair and annoyed her like what I used to do to Macy when we were younger and he was genuinely grateful that I was 'looking after' her.
For the second time that week, I was ashamed of myself and my treatment of Harper. Here I am treating her like shit and she's spun some story about how nice I am to let her stay here while her house is being renovated, how it's nice of me to drive her to work and how I always help her around the house.
It seemed like the more Alexander praised me for these good deeds, the more quiet Harper grew because we both knew that everything she'd told him was a lie, to save my ass.
As we sat at the kitchen table eating the amazing meal that Harper prepared I actually felt like an outsider as everyone reminisced about their days at university. A few times I thought Macy was upset but noticed that the tears in her eyes were that of laughter. Alexander himself looked to be enjoying himself and I swear I'd never seen someone eat so much.
He was a tank of a man. He stood over six feet tall like me, and I was quite muscular myself, but Alexander's muscles had muscles. He had a military still buzz cut, light brown eyes, a scar above his right eyebrow and a nose that has broken several times. He definitely encapsulated his nickname "The Brawler". But as I observed his calm and relaxed manner as he chatted with my sister, Brian and Harper, I could see that he really needed this break and I was glad that he'd chosen to stay at my house.
It was going to be hard to keep him from my boys who like me are fans, because I knew once I told them, they'd be over here in a heartbeat, and Harper was adamant that no one find out that Alexander was here.
"Thank you Mace and B, for picking me up from the airport and coming to visit me. I can't wait to hang out with you guys more while I'm here. I've really missed all of your company. But I'm actually kind of exhausted after a 14 hour flight, will it be rude if i asked if I could be excused," Alexander asked.
I was so shocked by how polite he was because on television he was so quiet and when he spoke, it was about different ways that he was going to defeat his opponent.
"No worries Alex. You know I love whenever you come over. You go right ahead and have a rest and I'll see you later on for dinner. Brian and I need to head out anyways because we have a lot of errands to run," Macy said getting up and giving Alexander a big hug before making her way out.
Brian walked up to Alexander and clapped him on the back before he walked over to Harper and kissed her on the cheek and left.
Alexander turned to me and said, "Thanks for letting me stay here again. Guess I'll see you at dinner."
He turned to Harper and pulled her to his side as they made their way out of the kitchen and towards Harper's bedroom.
I still couldn't believe Alexander "The Brawler" Johnassen was stying at my house.
What shocked me even more was that Harper was his sister. I need to ask Macy more about that, because how the hell did I not know about this. What else is Harper hiding from me?