If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) by Mary J. Williams Read Free Book Online Page A

all those books had
been written by relatives or people paid to paint a favorable picture.
    From the time he could recognize letters as words, those
books were required reading. At first, he took them as gospel. Why wouldn’t he?
His mother would quote passages as though they were scripture. His father never
disputed a single fact. Until he was eight, he thought Russell Harper walked on
water. He attended a private school named after the man. His family and friends
would never speak a word that didn’t adhere to the well-trodden myth. Keeping
the darker side of the Harper legacy tucked away was easy when he was little,
before the rest of the world, and the internet, intervened.
    Drew wouldn’t say he had any startling, eye-opening
revelation. It was much more gradual than that. He came to the realization that
Russell Harper was not a God walking amongst us; he was just a man. To be
honest, as the heir to the empire, it was a relief. No one could live up to the
image his mother promoted. His great-grandfather had been a brilliant but
flawed human being.
    It was the beginning of his own personal awakening. The
start of him moving away from a Harper-centric universe to where he could see
the possibilities outside of the small, sheltered box of Harper Falls. It was
also the beginning of a rift with his mother that had grown wider with each
passing year.
    Drew shook off the creeping thoughts before the melancholia
he was becoming increasingly familiar with settled over him. At ten, he saw his
future as a single, rigid path. There was no left or right, only straight
ahead. Harper all the way.
    Now at sixteen, he knew he had choices. When he thought of
getting out, seeing new things, meeting new people, any depression over his
future would lift. Discovering he had the ability to be his own man was like a
fresh breeze after a summer rain.
    He took another glance at Tyler Jones. That was what she
was. A refreshing breath of air. Nothing stagnant or cloying about her. If he
had been intrigued before, their meeting on the bridge had amped his interest a
hundred times over. Her face — made up of fascinating angles. Her lips, full
and tempting. Then there were those eyes. They were a wild, exciting mixture of
colors. Stormy and flashing like silver lightning. Then they changed to the
palest violet imaginable. She told a story with those eyes, drawing him in.
    “Drew.”
    “Hmm?”
    “What is wrong with you lately?”
    Miranda was used to being the center of attention. Boys fell
over themselves to impress her. She had to admit that part of Drew Harper’s
appeal, besides the obvious good looks and money, was his aloofness. No piece
of ripe fruit falling at her feet, he provided her with a challenge. Letting
him slip through her fingers was not going to happen. It wouldn’t be good for
her ego or her reputation.
    “Let’s get out of here and go back to my place. My
parents are out of town until Friday. We’ll be alone.” She purred the
word. It was a sound she had often practiced. As far as she was concerned, she
had perfected the tone and intent. She’d had boys melting since she was
thirteen. With Drew, she might as well had been coming on to a brick wall.
    “Drew!”
    “What, Miranda?”
    His voice had been harsher than he’d intended but, Christ,
the girl could get on his nerves. He regretted it even more when he saw he’d attracted
the attention of several other customers. Including Tyler Jones and her
friends. Their eyes met for only a second, but he felt that same jolt. He would
have sworn she felt it too. Until she turned and whispered something to her
companions that had them all laughing uproariously.
    Drew felt his stomach clench. Maybe she wasn’t as different
as he’d thought. Laughing at him, whatever the reason, was not cool. Then, just
as he was about to give her a huge push off her pedestal, she turned her head
towards him, ever so slightly, and winked. No one