AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Entering the house he and Remy are renting, it’s about what you’d expect from two bachelors who are also traveling musicians. Not a lot of furniture or decoration, but a lot of empty space. And a lot of mess.
Cooper must take notice of the disarray because he starts to hurriedly clean up, grabbing old pizza boxes and beer bottles and disposing of them somewhere in the kitchen. I pick up some fast food bags from the coffee table and get them instantly ripped out of my hands.
“What are you doing?” he asks, confusion marring his features.
“I…was going to help…”
“Don’t. Sit. I got this.” He nudges me with an elbow, and I fall back onto the couch. “Stay right there. I’ll get you a drink. What do you want?”
He doesn’t wait for my answer but heads into the kitchen with more trash.
“Do you have wine?” I call out to him. After the last couple of hours, I could use something to unwind a little. I’m still not sure what’s going on between me and Cooper, so I’m a bit on edge.
“Ahhhh…no. Anything else?”
“Whiskey?”
This time, his head peeks around the doorway, and his grin is wide and infectious.
“Good call, but…nope. No whiskey.”
This is going to take forever if we keep at this.
“How about you tell me what you do have?”
He disappears and then, after a minute, yells, “We probably should have stopped somewhere on the way. We have…beer. Beer and…water.” He’s silent for a second. “Want a beer?”
I can’t help but chuckle. At least, I know none of this was planned beforehand.
“Beer would be great.”
I can hear the sigh of relief from where I’m sitting, and as he comes back into the room and hands me a bottle, it’s the first time I get a good look at him in his own home. The house suits him somehow. Disheveled and unorganized, but still cozy and welcoming. I never thought I’d think about Cooper Davies like that before now. Especially given our recent tumultuous history. But then, I never thought I’d be in his living room, either.
He sits beside me on the couch, resting his hand on my knee.
“You doing okay?” He asks, genuine concern in his bright eyes.
I do my best to ignore the dark bruise already well-formed on his left cheekbone, but it’s so hard. He looks like he’s been through the wringer, and from what I heard during everyone’s statements to the police, he was the superior fighter. I can only imagine what the other guy looks like.
“Yeah, I just don’t like seeing you like this.” I trace a fingertip along the edge of the bruise, careful not to put any pressure on it.
He takes my hand and twists it, again kissing the back.
God damn it.
“I’ll be fine. I want to make sure you’re okay.” He starts to laugh softly to himself. “Not the show I wanted you to see tonight.”
“It was certainly a show.”
“Yeah, but I wanted your input about the new songs.”
“I liked what I did hear. And I can listen to your songs anytime.”
“But live is where we shine. Recordings are poor substitutes.”
“Interesting. Most bands rely on the digital stuff now, even during live performances.”
He scoffs. “Not us. That will never be us.” He shakes his head. “Jake would rather jump head first out of a tall tree than use a backing track during a live set. Actually, all of us would.”
