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He turned his back on me and ran both hands into his hair, clutching at his head in frustration. After a few deep breaths, he dropped his arms and turned back to me.
“You’re going to LA and taking the job.”
“No I’m not,” I said without thinking. I wasn’t all that great with taking orders.
His eyes narrowed. “Yes. You are.”
Oh. Ohh. Bossy Isaac again. Well, look at that, my dick was hard, as if I needed that bullshit on top of everything else.
“I don’t walk out on people who depend on me,” I told him.
“You’d better not be including me in that statement, because I don’t depend on you and never have. I don’t need shit from you, in fact.” Nine was angry as hell, and it made me feel untethered and wild. It wasn’t until that moment I realized what an anchor he’d been in my life recently.
“But—”
He held up a hand. “No. I don’t want you here anyway. I’ve thought it through, and I’ve figured out a plan. We’ve already filmed a shit ton of tutorials in a short amount of time. I was moving as fast as I could in hopes of getting done sooner so you could get back to Jacks.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off again.
“Hush. Just listen. You’re going to take the job. I’m going to keep working and posting videos at a steady pace. We are going to pretend—”
I opened my mouth, but he shook his head.
“We’re going to pretend you’re still here. We’re going to keep the Stallion contract because we’re going to fulfill it. And you’re going to take the film role. And then you’re going to tell them you need a week off for a bone marrow transplant. And they’re going to give it to you because—hope to god—they’re decent people.”
Two could play at this stubborn asshole role. “I don’t want the part.”
Nine’s eyes rolled. “Yes you do. Don’t insult me like that. I may be naive, but I’m not stupid, Cooper. Besides, you need the money. There’s a chance they could pay you faster than Stallion, and then you can help Jacks and your mom.”
How dare he tell me what I needed. I caught myself putting my hands on my hips the way my mom always did when she meant business. “I’m not taking the job.”
His eyes bored into mine. “Then I walk. And neither of us gets what we want. It’s your choice.”
The stubborn fool would shoot himself in the foot to make me whole. “You can’t mean that.”
His silence echoed through the trees.
“Isaac,” I said in a softer voice.
He looked away. “It’s for the best, Cooper. You said it yourself. There is no happy ever after here. We’re from different worlds. You belong in LA, and I belong in the woods. Go follow your dream and then come back here long enough to close up the project at the end of the summer, okay? Don’t fight me on this. You won’t win, and I’m not strong enough to keep… to keep…”
There was a pleading sound in his voice, and I realized he’d meant everything he’d ever said to me about love. But maybe he didn’t know I’d meant it too.
I walked closer to him, and he looked at me like I was a venomous snake. My hands came up to calm him down. “Just let me hug you.”
He looked unsure, like it was some kind of trick.
“Isaac. I’ll go. I’ll take the job. Just… let me pretend for one more night that we’re okay.”
He let out a breath, his shoulders sinking down in relief. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
I closed the distance between us and held on to him like my life depended on it. He smelled like honey and woodsmoke, sawdust and sweat. I drank it down like sweet wine and let it fill every corner of my soul.
He leaned down and kissed me so softly, his beard tickled my lips. “It’s still a workday,” he murmured against my mouth. “And we need to take a bunch of good-night video clips and footage of you in different outfits in case I need some stuff to splice in.”
He was right, but I wanted some more kisses first. “In a minute,” I said before running my tongue along his bottom lip. We kissed slowly for a long time before it was time to either get back to work or find a horizontal surface and some lube.
“Work,” he said with a gasp, pulling away and reading my mind at the same time. “Work. But first you make the call.”
He clasped my face and leaned down to press a firm kiss to my forehead. “Make the call,” he said again in a softer voice.
I nodded and stood there alone in the woods while he walked away from me.
