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“Thanks,” Coop murmurs without looking up.
Great. We’re back to one-word answers. “You know, I was joking earlier about you not being here when Aiden comes Saturday night, but it might actually be a good idea for you to let me deal with him first.”
Cooper’s face softens when he steps in front of me and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, then wraps that same hand around my neck in a possessive move I know and love. “He was that bad in Kroydon Hills?”
I think back to that day.
To the fear and the pain.
To the silent deals I made with whatever god there was for me to beg.
Then I remember what it felt like to tell our family I was in love with this man and the horrible way my brother responded, and a chill runs down my spine. “Yeah, it was pretty awful and unlike Nattie, Aiden and I haven’t spoken since.”
“You and Nattie have talked it through though? I’ve texted her, but we haven’t talked since the hospital.”
“Oh, Cooper.” I tip my head back to look at him. “You’ve got to talk to her. She’s so worried about you.”
“Tell me about it.” His words are demanding as they dance across my skin. “Tell me what happened that day.”
“You don’t want to hear this, Coop.” I trace my finger along the bruise under his eye that’s almost completely faded away. “It was hell. We were all in hell.” My thumb trails down his cheek, then over his bottom lip as the muscles in his throat tighten.
“No one knew about us, and at first, I couldn’t have cared less. We were all a mess, so no one noticed I was catatonic except Chloe and Belles.” I fight back the tears that well in my eyes as I’m drawn back to the worst day of my life.
“Then we got the call, and we found out you were alive, and I...” The words get caught in my throat as I try to choke down the emotions. “We all...” No words can adequately explain the pain I experienced after that.
I swallow down the anguish and force myself to keep going. “I needed Coach to let me go with him to Germany, so I had to tell them all. And honestly, by then, I’d have screamed it from the Empire State Building if it meant I got to see you.” I picture my brother’s reaction and cringe as the first tear falls. “Nattie and Aiden...”
Cooper takes pity on me and pulls me into his arms as I sob against his chest. “We thought you were dead, and then you weren’t. I couldn’t let Coach go to you alone. I needed to be there. I had to. For me, and I thought for you too. So I told them the truth.” I curl my arms around his shoulders, holding him tight to me, feeling his heart beat against mine. “I told them I loved you and that I was going.”
“How did they take it?” His words are soft. Concerned.
“I honestly thought Nattie was going to take a swing at me. But I ended up being the only one to hit anyone.” I’d never done that before in my life.
Cooper pulls me back and frames my face. “Who’d you hit, baby?”
My entire body relaxes at his words.
When he’s not actively trying to hate me, the love I know he still has for me slips out.
I wish I could physically wrap the words around me. “I slapped Aiden.”
He doesn’t speak. He just stares at me, then shifts his eyes to look out the window.
I feel like I’m losing him. Like we were making progress and it’s slipping through my fingers. “We can fix this right now, Cooper. We can fix it all. Everything I broke can be fixed in a single breath.” My lips brush gently over his before he backs away and rips his ringing phone from his pocket.
“Shit,” he mutters, then looks from the phone to me. “I can’t do this right now, Carys.”
“What changed, Coop? What happened?” I’m desperate to know what I can do to fix it.
He looks at me with anguished eyes. “Everything,” he tells me before heading outside and slamming the door shut behind him.
The thud of the heavy door echoes just as Elodie’s cries carry down the stairs.
I feel you, sister. You and I are both going to have ourselves a good cry.
Twintuitionisreal and alive between Nattie and me.
I’m reminded of this as I slam the back door closed behind me, then check to make sure the damn glass didn’t shatter in the process. My sister has always had the worst timing imaginable. It isn’t even worth ignoring her call because she’d just keep calling until I answered or turned my damn phone off. And the latter isn’t an option.
