Chapter 23
ALLY
“Well, there she is,” Cooper says as he walks around the side of his house, his voice breaking through the silence of the night, and I freeze.
I don’t see him, but I can hear him walking this way, and it isn’t until he’s coming around the corner that I finally catch a glimpse.
His royal-blue suit looks like he couldn’t have thrown it on fast enough.
His shaggy hair is tossed to the side, showing a purplish shiner that I know is my fault.
It’s hard to remember why I need to leave when he’s looking at me like this. I know I’m doomed unless I get up and go now.
Wilson was mad at me for ending things, so he took it out on Cooper. That’s not okay. It’s not fair to Cooper or his family, who went to the game to see him play and ended up having to watch him fight because my ex-boyfriend doesn’t know how to move on.
Deep down, I know they’re probably fine. He grew up playing hockey, so I’m sure they’re used to it.
But I still feel awful. Which is why I was hoping to be gone before he made it back home, but of course I had to sit down and get all emotional first.
Technically we were supposed to be meeting at the bar to hang out with everyone tonight. Cooper rarely gets to go out since one of us is always with Lucas. I figured after the game he would go straight there.
So why is he here?
And shouldn’t the game still be going on?
What the fuck is happening?
“Why are you here?” I ask, confusion filling me as I do my best to subtly wipe the tears from my eyes before he notices them as he makes his way over to the area I’m sitting in.
Thankfully, I never turned on any lights, and I’ve just been sitting out here in the dark, so he can’t see my bloodshot eyes.
I’m just so mad, and when I’m mad, I cry. It makes me feel weak, but sometimes I think if I don’t cry, I might actually end up in jail. The emotions have to come out somehow.
“Hello, to you too,” Cooper says as he tries to sit down across from me, but his closeness…it’s too much. Standing up, I walk towards the pool, needing a moment to myself before I have to face him. Before I have to walk away for good.
“Why aren’t you still at your game?”
“Coach sent me to concussion protocol and then home,” Cooper says with a shrug.
“A concussion?! Are you okay?” I practically sob out. “I can’t believe Lucas had to watch that.”
“First off,” Cooper’s voice gets closer as he walks my way.
“I don’t have a concussion. I’m fine,” he says softly.
The words roll off his tongue in a way that should comfort me, but it falls flat.
“Second, Lucas, and my parents for that matter, have seen me in far worse hockey fights than that. No offense, but Wilson punches like a pussy, so if he gave me a concussion, I would have had bigger issues to deal with. Mainly a huge hit to my ego.”
I feel the weight on my shoulders lessen just a smidge, enough that I feel like I’m standing a little taller. A little less broken than before. A little stronger as I’m about to hurt my own feelings when I tell him the other night was a mistake.
Taking a deep breath, I turn to face him, but when I spin around, he’s close enough that I have to restrain myself from reaching for him.
“What’s going on, Ally? Why’d you leave?” Cooper asks as he takes another step towards me, and without even realizing it, I mirror him, taking a step back.
“It’s too much, Cooper. I can’t. I can’t do this!” I scream, tears filling my eyes as I step past him and move towards the back door, needing my purse to leave.
“You can’t do what?” he says, following right behind me.
“This!” I shout. Spinning back to face him, I lose it as I gesture between us.
Tears are falling and I feel like the walls I’ve put up to hold all my broken pieces together and in place are crumbling.
“I hurt people. I break things. It’s what I do.
Ask my sister, my uncle, any of my exes, and now you.
You got hurt because of me, and it’s going to keep happening because people like me don’t deserve good things!
People like me deserve people like Wilson, because then good people don’t get hurt. ”
“What are you talking about? No one is getting hurt.”
“You did! He hurt you! Just like he said he would. He won’t leave me alone, and now he won’t leave you alone all because of me. I’m cursed,” I say as I try to move towards the door.
“Stop it, Ally,” Cooper warns, moving as he goes to grab me, but I don’t stop, hearing him hot on my heels.
I’m almost back inside when he grabs my hand, spins me around, and looks me dead in the eyes.
“Why are you fighting me? You’ve been fighting this since the other night, and I just don’t understand,” Cooper says, frustration filling his words as he stares down at me, his sad eyes haunting.
I want to walk away because the truth of it is, I don’t know how to explain how broken I am. I don’t know how to explain that, between my emotional insecurities and my physical insecurities, I ruin every relationship I attempt, so why would he even want to try with me.
“Talk to me, Ally. Say something,” he pleads.
But I’m not ready to talk about the reason I am the way I am.
How the guy who took my virginity was also the guy who changed my perception of sex forever.
Being called a slut and the entire school hearing about your sex life is pretty fucking embarrassing.
I’ve never forgotten the look in his eyes when he told me I was just a whore, willing to drop to my knees for any man all because I enjoyed giving him a blowjob.
“I can’t!” I scream, emotion squeezing my chest and making it hard to breathe as my brain and heart fight each other until I’m dizzy. My mind swirls with all the things I’m fighting for, and I’m just…exhausted.
On one hand, I want to give in to this man and stop fighting this. On the other hand, I don’t think my heart can handle being let down yet again.
"I-I, no, I can’t.”
“Stop lying to yourself, Ally,” Cooper pushes, and I feel myself breaking.
“Just let me go, Coop,” I say quietly, dropping my head. My attempt at being assertive falls flat.
Instead of stepping back, he takes a step closer to me, invading my space. He grabs my chin with one hand and forces me to look at him.
"No,” Cooper says, his eyes narrowing as he watches me. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll give you ten seconds to make your choice. You want to stop thinking? To stop worrying and just feel? Then let me help you.”
My body freezes at the change in his tone. Frustration no longer taints in his voice. Now he seems…determined.
“I—what?”
“Ally, I’m fucking done letting you run.
You don’t even realize how worth chasing you really are, but I do.
I see it, and every single day I notice it more and more.
So go ahead, make me work to prove it to you.
Because when I catch you? I’m not stopping until you’re shaking and breathless and dripping with need. ”
“Cooper,” I plead, but his name slips from my lips like a prayer. My body reacts to his words before my brain can process.
He looks down, his eyes darkening as he watches me, one hand working to undo the button on his suit jacket before effortlessly rolling his sleeve up, repeating the process on his other arm until all I can see are his sexy, muscular forearms covered in tattoos.
This man is a walking, talking, wet dream.
I feel the tension thicken in the room as he leans back against the table on the porch. His eyes focus intently on me before glancing down at his watch.
“Times up. What’s it gonna be, Ally Cat?” he asks devilishly, and I freeze.
“W-What?”
“One.”
Oh fuck.
“Two,” he says, and I realize how much he is absolutely not fucking around. He is dead serious.
The second he starts to say three, I switch into gear. I turn and run, kicking my flip flops off as I make it through the grass and head straight for the trees at the back of his property.
This might be the reason why women die in horror movies, but for some reason, I feel like I have a better chance of getting away in there.
Do I even want to get away?
I don’t know, so I just keep running. The feeling of grass between my toes grounds me, but I can hear the sound of his footsteps behind me. They are slow, calculated as he comes towards me—but then they disappear.
I spin around once I’ve made it farther into his yard, but he’s nowhere.
Shit.
My eyes scan the space, landing on the edge of the green belt that runs along the back of his property.
With my luck? He’s already slipped in there, silent and smug, and I’m walking straight into his trap.
Fuck it. I guess either I die, or he catches me.
I keep going, doing my best to keep up my speed, only turning around when I think I hear him, but he’s never there.
It’s not until I run through a bunch of trees into a clearing that I see him and try to run past, but it’s too late.
He grabs me, one hand gripping my arm as his other grabs my hair, gripping the blue ribbon wrapped in my braid firmly before tugging me backwards, pulling my back to his chest, a groan falling from my lips.
“Fuck,” I scream, but it quickly becomes a groan as he presses my body against his, one arm wrapped tightly across my chest, holding me in place, his other hand exploring as his fingers tease my nipples, pinching and twisting before switching to the other side.
Daddy Coop didn’t come to play tonight, and with that realization, the last little bit of my restraint crumbles, leaving me feeling vulnerable.
But I’m not afraid. In fact, I’m…excited?
Is this what everyone feels like when they’re attracted to someone?
A pull that feels completely out of my control, one I can’t seem to fight.
And I don’t think I want to.
Being around Cooper is like swimming in the ocean. Sometimes it’s relaxing. Sometimes it’s intense. But the pull is always there.
But that doesn’t mean he needs to know that.