“Knew you would,” he grinned smugly.
“So very glad to be predictable,” I snapped.
“That’s how he’s going to get you,” Cooper told me as he dropped his voice. “You stick to the same routine, you never change things up, and even when you think you’re being spontaneous, you’re easy to predict.”
“Am I indeed?”
“Yeah,” he snorted. “Course you are. You get a few ruffles in your feathers, you go to the police. The police pick up on the fact you and your boss used to fuck, and point the finger at him. You know you’ve led them wrong, you call and tell him. But he pisses you off, so you don’t tell him it all. Then the police do, so you scramble for help. When he offers, you say no. Then you get another scare, so he’s the one you call. Not the police.” Cooper looked down at me. “How do you know that’s not what he wanted? To avoid the police, to go to the personyouthink that you would never ask?”
I slowed walking and looked up at him. He met my look and didn’t blink. “Is it you?”
Cooper barked out a laugh. “Fuck me, you arrogant bitch, why the fuck would it be me?”
“You hate me,” I told him plainly.
“So? You think that makes me want to jerk off over your bedding? You think thoughts ofyouget me hard? Get a fucking grip.” Cooper shook his head and resumed walking.
“You hit that girl,” I blurted out. “In the library that night, you hurt her.”
Cooper looked me up and down and shook his head. “You’re as blind now as you were then, only seeing whatyouwant tosee,” he said with scorn. “I have no idea what Onyx sees in you.” With a disgusted shake of his head, he walked back to the office and left me on the sidewalk.
He still didn’t answer my accusation, and I was fed up with his attitude. Hurrying after him, I jumped into the elevator with him and fixed him with a glare.
“Did you hit her, yes or no?”
“No.”
“Why was she on the floor?”
“Who the fuck cares?” Cooper flicked a glance at me and returned to looking at the doors.
“I do,” I told him. “I care. I cared then and I care now.”
“Bullshit, you didn’t care. You never followed her. You passed her by the very next day and didn’t fucking look her way. You’re no fucking angel, so stop pretending I’m the only dick in here,” he scoffed as he exited and made his way to Onyx’s office. “Don’t follow me, vampire,” he snarled as he entered Onyx’s office and closed the door firmly behind him.
Onyx looked up as he entered, and he looked between me standing outside his office and Cooper prowling to the nearest seat. He turned his attention to Cooper, and I knew I had been dismissed by both of them.
Fucking Devils. Entitled pricks in college, entitled shitheads in adult life. But as I walked away from his office to mine, I couldn’t stop hearing Cooper’s words. He was right. I had never pursued it. Did that make me worse than them — or even worse, the same?
