Drew stood in the kitchen archway, looking at me. “Clevs, come on. The cars are outside.”
I shook my head. “You go, I’ll catch you up. I’m going to stay here for a bit longer.”
His eyebrows shot up, because he knew exactly why I was staying. Cooper and I were going to have a chat. It’s what I needed to do. It’s what Molly deserved.
He winced. “Really? Now? You sure?”
I nodded, silently, trying to ignore the nerves which were racing around so fast in my chest they were making every single one of my organs shake.
“Okay. See you in a bit.”
Freddie came back into the kitchen carrying a sleeping Samson and sat down at the table. If I didn’t already know who his parents were I’d have sworn he’d been made by a pair of sumo wrestlers, because that kid was a chunk. A fucking cute chunk, but a chunk nonetheless. Freddie was getting a workout by just carrying him around. Every time I’d seen him he’d been sleeping, so I hadn’t had a proper look, but the mop of thick black hair on his head reminded me of Molly.
“The others are leaving.”
“I know. I’ll catch them up later.”
She blinked. “Okay.”
She started feeding Samson just as Coop walked back in. He kissed her on the head, watching them with such reverence that I felt like an intruder to their moment and looked away, finding an errant bottle top to play with, distracting me from what I was about to do.
“Clevs? You want a drink?” Cooper opened the fridge, taking out a beer, twisting off the cap and swigging it.
“I’m good with my water, thanks.”
Cooper took a seat beside Freddie, the pair of them staring at me. The kitchen had become very, very quiet, except for the sound of Samson snuffling as he drank.
“So you want to tell us why you’ve stayed here, or do we need to guess?”
“Yeah, okay.” I ran my hands through my hair, forgetting I’d slicked it back, mafia style, with a fuck load of gel that was now crusted to my head. I wiped them with a cloth, then took a seat at the table. “Okay.”
I looked up into expectant eyes, although Freddie’s were already glistening with amusement giving me the distinct feeling she knew what I was about to say.
“It’s about Molly. I wanted to talk to you about Molly.”
Cooper picked up his beer, taking a long draw, then placed it back down. “What about her?”
I rubbed my sweaty palms along the front of my pants. “Um, well, since my accident… No, before my accident… No, look, Molly and I have always been friends. You know that…” I looked up at Cooper, whose eyes were wide open, wondering what the fuck I was trying to say. “Yes of course you know that. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that our friendship has evolved recently into more of a romantic type of a friendship.”
I let out a breath. That could have been worse. I think. Freddie wasn’t even bothering to hide a smirk, while Coop just looked confused.
“You and Molly?”
“Yeah.”
His lips puckered as I waited for him to blink.
“Molly, my sister?”
I nodded.
“You’re dating?”
“No, not exactly.”
He leaned across the table, and even though I was bigger than him, it was still kind of threatening. “So you’re doing what, then?”
Out of habit I moved to scratch my beard, but stopped myself before I started stroking my newly formed moustache, just so he didn’t take it for anything weird and sinister. “We’re not doing anything. I wanted to talk to you first.”
