I begin to panic that I’m about to see both in action as well. “Let’s go, Cooper.”
Troy howls. “You’re fucking kidding me, right? The two of you are together?” He goes to the back of his truck where his buddy Brian hops out. “Check this out, B. The rich kid from the city and the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. It’s like Romeo and Juliet.”
Cooper takes my hand and pulls me close. With his eyes fixed on Troy, he whispers in my ear, “I’ll handle this. Go ahead and get in the car.”
“I don’t want you handling it. I want us to go.” I tug his hand toward the car, but his body doesn’t budge. “Come on, let’s go together. Just walk away.”
Troy props himself against his truck as if this is the most entertaining thing he’s seen in a while. “You gonna listen to your old lady, Haywood?”
“Fuck off, Hogan.” Cooper stands his ground, but he’s not filled with tension. Adrenaline is not coursing through him, judging by his actions. Instead, he’s calm.
He’s eerily calm, like the storm that comes without warning.
I’ve never once been afraid of him, but right now, I’m afraid of the destruction he’ll leave behind.
I move next to him and wrap myself around his middle. It’s how we stand together, so close, all the time that it’s unnatural when we don’t. When his arm—hard muscle and formidable strength—comes around me, I know I’ve reached the Cooper I know.
Looking down at me, he says, “Don’t worry, babe. I can handle him.”
“I don’t want you to.” I try to smile, but it feels like I’m failing. “I want us to get chicken and go home.”
“What’s it going to be, Haywood?” Troy taunts. “You want to tango with me? Or eat chicken with your whore . . .”
I hit Troy with my own glare this time. “Whore? You never got close enough to know, unlike him.” I shrug. “If having sex until we’re sweaty, exhausted, and depleted of orgasms makes me a whore—I’m guilty as charged.” The smile is wiped from Troy’s face. “But again, you wouldn’t know.”
“Maybe cunt fits better.”
Cooper jerks forward. My grip tightens, holding him back, but the storm is brewing, and I know I won’t be able to control it for long. “Cooper?” His eyes connect with mine, and I whisper, “Choose me.”
Without hesitation, he turns us around, and we walk to the car. He opens the door for me and then keeps his eye on Troy as he returns to the driver’s side and gets inside.
Troy doesn’t stop us, though we can hear him yelling as we pull away—name-calling and stupid stuff that we’re insulated from inside the car.
A few blocks down from the gas station, Cooper asks, “So you’re hungry for chicken?”
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I just nod. “I heard the spicy sandwich is good.”
It’s nice to hear him laugh. I’m already feeling lighter after that encounter. Then he asks, “Why me?”
“Why you what?”
“Why did you sleep with me? We’d only known each other for a short time. Why’d you choose me?”
Reaching over, I scrape my nails at the base of his hairline on the back of his neck. As I look at him, his gaze shifting between me and the road, I think back on those first few days when we were stuck together in my apartment. “I . . .” I start but stop, wanting to gather my thoughts. It wasn’t his kindness, though that’s what got him in the door. Nor was it his eyes that extended a mutual trust I needed to be reassured. “I think I knew you were the man I wanted to be with, in all ways, when you told me you had seen me at the party last summer and that you didn’t want any secrets between us. I feel like every failed relationship I’ve had was buried in lies and omissions.”
The smile I expect doesn’t come, but then he says, “Oh, yeah? That’s what did it?”
“Well, it’s one of a thousand other things, but yeah, I’d never had anyone be so open and up front like that before. I was basically feral growing up, left in most ways to fend for myself.” When our eyes meet again, even briefly, I smile. “Trust never came easy, but with you, it did. You might have been saying all that, though, because I gave you Wi-Fi.”
“I told you that because I’d been in love with you since the moment I saw you.” He reaches over and rests his hand on my leg and then smirks. “And because you gave me a Wi-Fi connection and didn’t give it to Lou.”
I scoff and chuckle, rolling my eyes. “You never have anything to worry about.” Noticing we’re not driving toward my place, I ask, “Where are we going?”