Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JACKSON STRUGGLES TO KEEP up with Katy when she drags him to the dance floor. The four of us have spent the last hour wandering through the festival, or what’s left. Most everyone left after the rodeo, and while there are still a good number of people here, it’s significantly less than earlier. It makes it easier to enjoy the festivities without fighting to get around like a school of fish swimming upstream. Charlie’s hand brushes against mine before she intertwines our fingers. The movement draws my attention to our hands and then back up to meet her eyes. “Do you want to join them?”
“I don’t…dance.”
“Oh, c’mon. You don’t know unless you try!” She tries to pull me toward the dance floor, but I maintain my stance.
“Charlie—”
“Just one, that’s all I ask,” she pleads, looking up at me from underneath her lashes. “And if you hate it, we never have to do it again.”
The idea still sounds terrible, but slowly, she pries my feet from their place as she lures me onto the makeshift dance floor in front of the stage. A new song starts, and we find our place in the crowd near Katy and Jackson. Charlie steps up to me, draping her arms around my neck and interlocking her fingers to rest them there. Her nails ghost across my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. Instinctively, my hands land on her waist, and her brow raises, curious.
We sway left to right, as most people do in the crowd, keeping it simple and easy. Being this close to her makes every one of my nerves stand at attention. I can’t decide if it’s a good kind of attention or one that makes me want to go home and put at least a few walls between us.
“See? Not so bad,” she says as my gaze sweeps over the crowd.
I offer her a tight smile when I look back down at her. The longer we’re in this position, the more the feel of her body against mine doesn’t feel…right. Is that the word? No. Foreign? She feels foreign to me like we’re two pieces of a puzzle being forced together because we don’t match.
“Thanks, by the way.”
“For what?” I ask.
“Helping me start riding again.” Charlie shrugs, chewing on her bottom lip. “I was so nervous after what happened with my accident, I was sure I’d never do it again. And then here you come and—”
“You’re welcome.”
“No, really, Zay. Thank you. Your help was a big part of why I could go out there tonight. If it hadn’t been for you—”
“Well, it wasn’t me out there. That was all you.”
Charlie scoffs. “I didn’t even make my personal best.”
“You still won. You’ll get there. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Charlie.”
“What did Danny want earlier, by the way? I wanted to ask, but you seemed pretty shaken up.” Charlie looks up at me with big eyes, probably hoping I’ll share some of my secrets with her.
“It was nothing.” I lift my shoulders in a small shrug.
“Didn’t seem like nothing,” she says, but I don’t answer. It’s none of her business what Sloan and I talked about earlier. Charlie almost stops moving, but I don’t let her. “You’re really not going to tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell.” It’s not a complete lie. There is nothing to tell. We are no closer to finding the truth than before.
“Well look who it is,” a voice says from behind us. There’s a hint of danger woven delicately through the words, and my blood runs cold. The world around us stops. I should’ve known this would happen, I’m a little surprised it didn’t happen sooner.
Charlie’s entire being goes rigid before she turns around to face him. “What are you doing here, Coop?”
“I should’ve known you’d be with this city boy.” Cooper scoffs. He licks his lips, looking me up and down—a predator stalking its prey—probably salivating at the thought of finally getting his hands on me. “I don’t get it, Char. What’s your deal with him?” Cooper takes Charlie by the hand, trying to pull her forward.
“Stop it, Coop!” Charlie promptly removes her hand from his and takes two large steps back. “You need to leave. Nobody wants you here.”
Cooper rolls his eyes, adjusting his backward baseball cap. “It’s a party for the whole town! Am I not allowed to join?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
Katy and Jackson break through the crowd and join the showdown, but Jackson keeps his arm in front of Katy so she can’t step forward. His block doesn’t stop her from throwing out an insult to Charlie’s ex-boyfriend. “Why don’t you go back to the hole you crawled out of, Coop?”
“Aw, Katy, don’t be like that. I know you missed me, too.” Cooper touches where his heart should be, offering the blonde what I think is meant to be a sincere smile, but it looks pretty antagonizing if you ask me.
“In your dreams, Hayes. C’mon, Char, let’s go.” Katy grabs Charlie’s arm and gives Jackson and me a look that tells us to follow. Cooper steps in front of her, blocking our path to leave, and the discussion is starting to gain the attention of onlookers in the crowd.
Great, this is great.
“What are you doing with him?” Cooper hisses at Charlie, motioning toward me.
Charlie crosses her arms. “Not that it’s any of your business, but we were just dancing.”
“No one dances with my girl,” Cooper says, taking a step toward her, and I do the same. His eyes meet mine before a smile spreads on his lips and his tongue swipes across his teeth. Shit, this is about to get ugly.
“I am not your girl, Coop.” Charlie stabs a finger into his chest. “Get a fucking life.”
Cooper grabs Charlie’s arm when she tries to push past him, but I take hold of her at the same time and pull her to stand behind me. “Dude, you need to back off,” I say.
“And what are you gonna do about it?” Cooper laughs, and I feel like I’m talking to one of those high school bullies who’s finally being stood up to. God, is that what this is? I can’t be the first person who has stood up to this asshole.
“She wants to be left alone. I don’t know how many times she needs to tell you.” I watch his fists clench and unclench at his sides before he rolls his neck. Shit, I am not in the mood for a fight, but it looks like I’m about to get one. “Maybe you were dropped one too many times as a baby, but when a girl tells you to leave them alone, that means leave them alone.”
“Oh, looks who’s playing hero again ,” Dakota says, stepping through the crowd and catching my attention. Did he say again?
“You don’t want to get in the middle of this, city boy,” Cooper adds.
Why does he keep calling me that?
“Back off. There’s no reason to start something when everyone is here to have a good time,” I say.
“I don’t know.” Cooper shrugs, glancing toward his counterpart. “What do you think, Koda? I think this place could use a pick-me-up.”
“Cooper, no,” Charlie pleads.
“Oh, definitely,” Dakota says. A sick smile tugs his lips upward. He and Cooper start to move closer, but their encroachment isn’t enough for me to back down.
What you might call stupid…I call innate stubbornness.
“Xavier, no. Do not let them bait you into this,” Charlie says, clutching my arm. She uses her other arm to try and push Cooper away. “Cooper, stop it!”
“You sure you wanna do this, city boy?” Cooper asks, stepping into me, his chest pressed up against mine. His breath is rotten enough to make me want to take a step back, but if I back down now, I don’t think it will end well for me. Not that it’s going to end well anyway. “I promise you, she ain’t worth it.”
I don’t know why it bothers me, but that last blow toward Charlie makes me want to punch him square in the face.
From the corner of my eye, Jackson moves closer at the same rate Dakota does, much to Katy’s dismay. Hey, at least it won’t be two on one. Both girls look at the scene with horror, and now we have even more onlookers. Shit, there’s no way Joseph won’t find out about this now.
Cooper starts to say something else, but a deep voice cuts through the tense air: Chief Sloan. “Alright boys, break it up!” The Bezer chief of police cuts through the crowd at the same time Cooper’s handler, Old Man Red, does. “Cooper get the fuck out of here. We don’t need any trouble tonight. Go on!”
Cooper is about to argue when his handler gives him the same look he had outside Sullivan’s a few days ago, and it shuts Cooper up immediately. With a huff and an eye roll, Cooper stalks off into the crowd, Dakota not far behind.
“You got him?” Sloan asks Red.
“Sure. They won’t be causin’ any more trouble tonight.” Red glances my way, eyes narrowing slightly, before he tips his cowboy hat toward the group of us and disappears in the same direction his boys went. When I met his stare, I got the same feeling I did outside Sullivan’s. There’s something familiar and dangerous in his eyes. Something that tells me maybe there is more to Cooper, Dakota, and Red than meets the eye.
“Get them home,” Sloan says to me, meaning Charlie and Katy.
Charlie tries to argue—she doesn’t want to leave yet—but I give her a look to shut up. Katy isn’t as upset about the news, clinging to Jackson, who wastes no time leading her through the crowd. I plant a hand on Charlie’s lower back and guide her. The night is over, and so is this date.