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It makes zero sense, but I want her to like me.
I have a feeling that’s never going to happen.
She stands up and continues to hold my gaze, never wavering. “Well then, Mr. Davies, prove me wrong.”
This woman, I swear to God...
I clench my jaw so tightly I swear I can feel a back tooth cracking. “It’s Cooper,” I growl. Turning on my heel, I leave before she can say another condescending word.
Fuck this.
three
Mad Woman
Sloane
“So, what did he smell like? I can’t believe he came here on my day off.” Fiona has been bugging me for details on my meeting with Cooper Davies for the last fifteen minutes as we go over the registrations of this session’s mentees.
“What did he smell like? Are you serious?” I shake my head. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this animated, and it’s throwing me off.
“Well, yeah,” she shrugs. “I imagine he smells like a combination of sex and muscles and just like a man, you know? Maybe throw in an exotic rainforest or a snow-capped mountain for good measure. Ooh, sandalwood. He’s got to have sandalwood in there somewhere.”
I cast a dubious glare at her. She’s seriously lost it. “And, what exactly do muscles smell like?”
She clenches her fists and shuts her eyes tightly with an exaggerated shiver. “I don’t know. But I bet it’s what he smells like.”
I can’t help but laugh at her. “Can we get back to the task at hand, please? I want to make sure every kid has a spot in their preferred class.”
“Ever since word got out Cooper is mentoring one of the guitar sessions, registration has sky-rocketed. I think we’re up to like twenty-five kids overall now. That’s got to be a record or something.”
Nodding in agreement, I have to confess, “That’s true. I just hope the ones in his class aren’t disappointed when he vanishes after a few lessons.”
Fiona tilts her head at me, a questioning look in her eyes. “Why are you so sure he’s going to bail on the kids?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Because that’s what guys like him do. Get what they want, get bored, and get gone. It’s a tale as old as rock ‘n roll itself. It’s not like he’s reinventing the wheel here. We need to make sure we’re prepared for when those wheels fall off. We can only control what we can control.”
She shakes her head disdainfully. “Who hurt you? And I mean besides your family. They don’t count for this.”
My eyes snap up to hers, trying to read whether she’s serious with that question. I can’t tell, but I still cringe a little. “You know perfectly well who hurt me.”
“I know, I know. But Trevor was a long time ago, and you’ve dated plenty of guys since him. You can’t assume that all musicians are assholes out to hurt you. It’s no way to live your life. Faith in people isn’t always a bad thing.”
“You make it sound as if being prepared for the worst is a bad thing. It’s not. It’s being practical.” I scoop up another mentee registration from the pile on my desk and start reading. Fiona knows full well what my family did to make me so protective. And what my ex-boyfriend Trevor did to reinforce it. She’s one of the few that does. “And this isn’t about me at all. It’s about protecting the kids who depend on us.”
“Sloane, the kids who come here are pretty used to getting the short end of the stick. I’m sure they’d be able to adapt if anything happened.” She says it as if it’s some well-known fact or piece of trivia.
“And that’s precisely why I don’t want to disappoint them. I hate the thought of some egotistical nightmare coming in here and promising these kids the world, pretending to be their friend and to care, only to ghost them the next day. It makes me sick.”
“Sloane?”
“For him to stand right there and tell me to my face he intends to stay for the whole session is laughable. I mean, come on.”
“Sloane.”
“What do I look like? Do I look stupid? Do I have the word ‘gullible’ written on my forehead or something? Tell me.”
“Sloane!” Fiona’s voice finally pulls me out of my tunnel vision, and I see I’ve been pacing the floor during my rant. I didn’t realize I’d stood up, let alone started walking around.
