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I bit my lip, desperately trying to hold my emotion in check. “I know,” I said, barely above a whisper. We said our goodbyes, and I hung up the phone.
Cooper didn’t ask questions. He didn’t need to. My face clearly showed the exhaustion and betrayal I felt from dealing with the Marcus situation.
Still, I assured him Tess was fine.
“I gathered that,” he said simply.
“A reporter tracked down her number trying to get my side of the story,” I added.
His jaw tensed before he answered, “I gathered something along those lines too.”
It was coming back to me now, how Cooper could be a man of few words in stressful situations and how much that used to drive me crazy when we were younger. Apparently, it still drives me crazy.
After a long, tense moment, he said, “It sounds like they’re getting more aggressive—now that they’re going after my sister.”
I nodded. “I hate that they’re dragging her into this.”
“I know, and I’m not blaming you for that. But this reiterates my point, Haley. First the guy who was taking pictures and now this, you need to be more cautious. Is Marcus stirring shit up?”
I didn’t want to answer that, but he deserved the truth, especially since it involved Tess now. “According to Tess, he’s given multiple interviews crying wolf. I’m not surprised—it’s always election season as far as he’s concerned.”
“To hell with his election season. He doesn’t have the right to destroy you just because he’s pissed,” he fumed.
I shook my head. “I don’t care about what Marcus does.”
He cut in. “Really? Because it seems like an excellent time to care. This guy needs to be put in his place. He’s playing with fire here.”
I sighed. “Look, I get that you’re being protective, and it’s sweet, but I don’t think it’s necessary to get this upset. He’s a pain in the ass, but ultimately harmless.”
Cooper shook his head at me. “Yeah, just like that creep who flew all the way to the island to take pictures of you is harmless.”
“Cooper, it’s not like he actually hurt me.”
“Only because I threatened certain dismemberment if he came near you again. I mean, shit, what is it going to take to make you take this more seriously?”
I barked out a laugh. “This is my life, and I assure you I take it very seriously, but I am sick of people telling me how I need to live it. I’m not going to live in fear over what others are saying about me when I know it’s lies—they don’t matter.”
He let out a long sigh, looking defeated but knowing Cooper I’m right to be suspicious when he gave in that quickly. That wasn’t the man I remembered. “Well, if you’re going to be thinking about whatever it Tess wants you to think about, then let me pile on and add you need to reconsider security around here.”
“Good God, you Barclays are relentless,” I mumbled.
“Yes we are,” he grinned, leaning over and kissing me on the head. “But you love us anyway,” he added, stiffening slightly when he realized what he said.
There was an awkward silence, then Cooper straightened and turned away. “I’ll just, uh, clean up these dishes...” he trailed off as he grabbed our dishes and headed into the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I said, letting him off the hook. I knew his slipping in the ‘L’ word was purely accidental, but his reaction was not and a curious mixture of warmth and worry tightened in my chest.
We cleaned up in silence as I tried not to overthink everything that had taken place in the last twenty-four hours. I needed some time to think—alone.
“Listen, I’m going to get dressed and head to the General Store since Mahina promised she would hook us up with supplies for the festival. I want to have everything ready to go for the kids.”
Cooper nodded, seeming to understand I needed some time, and not just to gather art supplies. “Right, that’s okay, I have a session with a client in an hour so... I’ll see you later?” he asked hopefully.
I smiled at him, leaning in close to give him a long, slow kiss. “Yeah... it’s a date.”
Cooper
The waves sure as hell had their work cut out for them today. While they usually calmed and centered me, after everything that went down with Haley and the way my head was swirling, I needed to take some of my angst out on the water.
