AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All right, all right,” I hear Cooper mutter from the other side of the door. There’s a thump followed by a muffled crash, then the sound of locks turning. Cooper pulls the door open wide, hanging onto the doorframe with one arm.
“Hey Ross,” he says. He doesn’t smile.
“You’re drunk.” Really, really drunk.
“Yep. You?”
I shake my head. “Cooper, we need to talk,” I say.
“I don’t think that’s a real good idea,” he drawls. I’ve never seen him like this, not even back in college.
“Are you going to let me in?” I ask. His head swings around, looking over his shoulder slowly before he looks back at me. It takes him a minute to focus on my face and when he does, he gets sad.
“I don’t think so, Bailey girl.”
That’s what Drew calls me.
“You didn’t answer my calls,” I say. I don’t know what to do with him like this. I wish Drew were here. Maybe I should have waited, brought him with me.
“Turned my phone off,” he says. “Too much… you know.” He nods at me, waving a hand between us.
“You couldn’t have called to let me know? We need to talk about this,” I say.
“Nothing left to talk about,” he says, frowning. “It’s done.”
“What do you mean, done?” I say. I’m starting to get mad. “We are not done.”
“It’s out,” he says, not appearing to hear me. The doorframe is the only thing keeping him on his feet right now. “We’re out. Nothing we can do about it.”
“There’s plenty we can do about it,” I say, stepping forward. “But we need to talk—”
“I don’t think so,” he says, shaking his head. His expression drops, looking so sad I want to cry for him. He looks at the floor. “I’m sorry, Ross. Shouldn’t have done it. Didn’t want it to end this way.”
“Cooper, you’re scaring me,” I say, stepping into his space, trying to force him to look at me. “What are you talking about?”
“It was fun, right?” he asks, trying to smile and failing miserably. “We had fun. But it’s over.”
All I can do is stare at him. Cooper’s been cagey about this—about his feelings—from the start but today… today he’s denied his involvement with us to all and sundry online. He refused to acknowledge our relationship publicly. He’s completely shut me out all afternoon, and now—
Now he’s telling me goodbye?
Maybe for once in my life it’s time to believe someone when they tell me who they are, what they want.
Cooper can’t make it any clearer: he thinks it’s over. He said so. So why am I still here, begging for scraps of whatever he might have left to give?
That’s not who I am anymore.
“Fine.” I meet his eyes one last time. “You know what, Cooper? Fine. You want out, all you had to do was say so.” I turn and head back down the way I came.
29
Drew
“Drew.”
I tilt my head in Kenna’s direction across the office but don’t turn to look at her, too busy reviewing the production schedules in front of me.
“Drew,” Kenna insists.
