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“Go on your tour, Jack. This’ll all be over by the time you get back.”I hope.
Jack considers my words for a minute. “You know she only has my hoodie because when we got to the hospital, she was cold, right?”
I laugh silently. “Yeah. I figured. Why? You gonna give me advice on Carys now?”
“Nah. Just a friendly reminder that, that girl upstairs is incredible. She broke down and told me what was going on when she flew back here last week. She loves you, not that I have any fucking idea why.” He smiles like the creepy clown fromIt. “My sister’s shattered right now because she can’t fix what’s broken. Don’t do that to Carys.” He grabs his beer and heads downstairs to the studio, leaving me behind to wonder if the pretty-boy rockstar isn’t as dumb as I thought he was.
I considered leavingJack’s hoodie on for a hot minute, just to rile Cooper up, before deciding there are better, more mature ways of doing that. But I do need to break Coop’s resolve and get him to talk to me somehow. The man has the self-control of a saint, but whether he wants to admit it or not, he has a possessive streak a mile wide.
Lucky for him, I happen to like it. Because the enraged look in his eyes when I came down in Jack’s sweatshirt would have been as hot as the nine circles of hell if he was willing to admit a fire is still burning between us. I know it’s there. I can taste it.
I just need to fan those flames higher and remind him.
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
I slide a pair of gray booty shorts up my legs and a soft blue flannel I stole from Cooper’s room last year over my tank. A little plumping of the boobs—because let’s face it, without a bra pushing them up, they’re not too much to look at—and a quick flip of my hair, and I march out of my room and down the stairs to find Coop standing alone in the kitchen.
He’s leaning against the counter. Dark jeans hang from his lean hips, and his bare feet are crossed at the ankles. The muscles in his chest are stretching his white tee to the limits as his thumbs fly across the screen of his phone.
He looks absolutely exhausted.
And if I’m honest with myself, he looks like he’s absolutelymine.
He looks up quickly as I enter the room, and I catch a smile before he manages to mask it. “Nice shirt.”
“It was better when it smelled like you.” I stand across from him and mirror his stance, deciding bold is the way to go. We’ve never been about games, and I’m not about to start now. “Are the guys downstairs?”
“Yeah. They went down with the redhead I scared shitless.” He shrugs, like she should have been prepared for a gun to be waved in her face, and finishes whatever text he was sending without looking back up.
I toe his bare foot with mine. “Any word from Rook?”
“Yeah. No answers yet though. We need to stay put for now.” He shoves his phone in his back pocket and straightens.
“Cooper...” I push off the island and place a foot between his, trying to crowd him the way he likes to crowd me, and bring my body close enough to feel the heat coming off him. I push just a little further and lift my hand to his chest but get stopped by Theo before I can make contact.
“Come on, guys. We’re ready to start.” He grabs a few bottles of water from the fridge and hurries back to the basement studio, leaving us behind.
I tug on Cooper’s hand, and electricity races to life between us. “Come on,” I tease. “They’re about to start.”
“You go. I’m staying up here. I have a few calls to make.”
I spin on him and glare. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
Cooper drops his head back and stares at the ceiling for a beat before bringing his eyes to me. “Nothing about us was ever easy, was it?” His tone is lethal. It’s unforgiving and sounds nothing like Cooper, but I stand my ground.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Coop. You and me...” I take a chance and place my hands on his chest as I step into him. Just a breath separates us as Cooper stands rigid. “Loving you was the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It was everything else that got in the way because I let it. But I’m not going to make that mistake twice.”
My fingers flex against his chest, sizzling from the close contact. But I force myself to take a step back. Then another. “I’m going downstairs.”
I turn away from him and take a few steps before stopping and tilting my head. “If that sounded familiar, it’s because you said it to me once, and I never forgot it. And I’d bet my life neither did you.”
With that, I skip down the steps to the studio in the basement, giving Cooper some time to think about what I just said. Hoping this man can forgive me because I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself if he doesn’t.
When I get down there, the guys have already set up, and Jack’s tuning his favorite guitar. “No Lucas tonight?”
Theo rips his Nirvana tee off, then spins his drumstick through his fingers and laughs. “Nope. Stone’s hooking us up with a new bassist. We’re meeting him tomorrow. Lucas didn’t want to drop out of school halfway through the semester.”
“You ready, Brooklynn?” Jack looks at the petite redhead with a concerned look in his eyes.
