Chapter 9
Cooper
The next morning,I barely get a chance to talk to Trix before she leaves to go to the stadium for some early PR appointment that Madison and Quentin have. She’s playing a support role. But I talked to her long enough to find out that she was tagged in another picture from the fair. That whoever is doing this hadn’t just taken a few rogue pictures to prank her but is tagging her again this morning.
It made me nervous to even watch her leave on her own, but she was in such a hurry to get out the door and run by the hotel to change her clothes, I could barely argue with her. I want her out of the hotel, period. Her going back there, even in the bright light of daytime, seems like a risk if they’re following her. They might already know where she’s staying. They might already have watched her walk from the hotel to the stadium every day. It makes my skin crawl and my fingers twitch around my cup.
“Dad?” Lizzy asks, and I realize that while I’ve been imagining scenarios in my head, she came into the room to gather cereal and a bowl for breakfast.
“Yeah?”
“What’s got you distracted? Is Trix still here?”
“No. She left early to go to work.”
“Is something wrong?”
I turn the words I want to say over in my head, looking for something that isn’t a lie but a believable half-truth. I’m not ready to have a conversation about how Trix makes me feel with anyone, let alone with my daughter who already adores her, or tell her what’s actually going on in terms of Trix’s safety.
“Not wrong exactly. Just thinking about Trix in that hotel.”
“I was going to say… Maybe you should ask her to stay here? You guys could commute together. No one ever stays in the guest room. She’s just here for the summer, right?”
The summer is short. Too short. I want her longer than that, but I’ll take a summer if I can get one. It’s better than her being gone permanently. A strange part of me was upset when she and Rob broke up, not that I wanted them together but that I thought I’d never see her again. No more holidays with her there. No more summer trips to the family lake house. No more seeing her in one of her sundresses, laughing as my parent’s dog chased after the ball she’d thrown for him, or her curled up next to Lizzy on the couch playing video games together.
“Yeah. I think so. She’s got plans going forward.” I think about her work with Madison and the looming potential she disappears from our lives again.
“Uncle Rob’s an idiot for leaving her and for that woman he’s dating now. She’s so rude and standoffish and not nearly as pretty or smart as Trix.”
“Be nice. She might be your new aunt the way he’s been talking.” I couldn’t debate the merits of her argument. Rob’s new girlfriend is standoffish and a little rude. She’s nowhere near as pretty as Trix, at least not in my opinion, but my brother has shared enough details for me to know that he has other reasons why he likes her. None I can share with Lizzy.
“Gross. I hope Trix finds someone better. Maybe we could set her up with one of your friends. Or someone on the team? Maybe it could get her to stay here longer?” Lizzy looks up at me hopefully.
Over my dead body am I setting Trix up with someone. I’ve had enough torture for a lifetime watching her with Rob. Seeing her on the date last night is enough to know I won’t survive another round. I can handle the idea that she’ll never want me, given that she dated Rob. I want her to be happy. I just don’t need to watch it unfold. Especially not after last night. The way she smiled at me, teased me, looked at me when we were at the fair. Fuck… if the alerts about the photographs hadn’t come, I might have been stupid enough to try to kiss her.
But now we have bigger problems on our hands. Namely getting to the bottom of whoever is fucking with her on social media. Whoever is getting close enough to photograph her. I have to figure out how to deal with that first before I can let my feelings about her get in the way.
“Let’s not try to play matchmaker right now. She’s got a lot going on, and the goal is to help her.”
“Finding her a guy could help her.” Lizzy grins as she eats a bite of her cereal. I can only imagine what devious plan she’s already working over in her mind for Trix. She’s been so boy crazy lately, plastering her room with images of the band she’s into now, and on her phone constantly, planning for the school dance that is coming up at the end of next week.
“Yeah? And don’t think I missed you and your friend holding hands last night. We’re going to talk about that. Does your mom know?”
“Mom knows about Billy. He’s just a friend.”
“You hold hands with all your friends?”
She rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head.
“It’s not like that. It’s just that everyone else is all hooked up, and we’re the single ones, so it kinda pushes us together.”
“Hooked up?” I nearly choke on my protein shake. “No one better be hooking up. You guys are way too young for that.”
“Not like that. And Dad, I hate to tell you, but there are people in my class who already have boyfriends. Some of them have done more than just kiss. You’re going to have to accept that I’m older now. Mom knows I’ve been thinking about dating.” She says it with the voice of someone who’s a decade older, and it’s unsettling. I’m not ready for adult Lizzy just yet.
“Dating is one thing. Holding hands, fine. Kissing, if your mom knows, okay. Anything more than that, you’d better be having a conversation with one of us first. I don’t care what other kids are doing. I care about you. Are you and Billy kissing already?”
Lizzy blushes, and I feel bad for being so direct, but lately, it feels like she’s growing up fast, and I’m barely hanging on anymore. I’m trying hard to skirt that line between staying her parent, being an authority figure for her, and still trying to stay coolheaded enough that she can tell me things she might not otherwise. I want her honesty. So does her mom. That was something we agreed on a long time ago about raising her. But I’m worried her high school years are going to test all of those boundaries.
“No, Dad. Billy and I haven’t kissed.”
“Have you kissed someone else?”
“Dad…” There’s an exasperated sigh.
“I just want you to be careful. I was your age once.”
“I know. A million years ago. You weren’t that much older than me when you and Mom had me.” She levels me with a look. One that cuts me to the core and reminds me that she’s mine—the same attitude and independence that drove my parents crazy.
“Which is why we want you to be careful. You know we love you. I’m glad it all worked out. But we were lucky we still got through college, had you, and had help to raise you.”
“I’m not having sex, Dad. There are no babies to worry about. I had sex ed, and Mom and I talked. I told her I’d talk to her first. You know this.”
“Okay.”
“Meanwhile…” She rolls her eyes.
“Meanwhile, what?”
“Meanwhile, you don’t practice what you preach. When was the last time you even had a girlfriend? Not counting Nikki because I hated her.”
My daughter recalls the actress I dated. One she had loved when she was five and saw a movie with her as a princess but grew to despise when she met her just after her eleventh birthday. I roll my shoulders and stand up from the position where I’ve been leaning over the counter.
“I’m working on it. Finding someone takes time.”
“Maybe instead of us helping Trix, you should ask her for help. She said she was helping Madison work on Quentin’s image. Finding him some dates with smart women. I bet she could find you a date.”
Like I said. This kid is mine. Great minds think alike. I just have a much more specific idea of who Trix could find for me.
“I’ve thought about trying to work on my image a bit too. But Trix is busy with Madison at the moment.”
“She’d have more time if she wasn’t running back and forth to a hotel. If she was here… you could talk to her more. She might be able to fix you.”
“Fix me,” I echo my daughter and raise my brow at her. “I think what you mean is if she was here, you could talk to her more.” I know how Lizzy’s mind works.
“We’d both have perks. Yeah.” She grins. “Just please think about it. Don’t say no yet.”
I’m at least glad Lizzy is clueless about how much I want Trix here. Maybe I’m a better actor than I thought. Because I’m not about to say no to the idea. I’m too busy thinking of ways I can convince Trix.
“I won’t say no,” I reassure her.
“How’s the power in her hotel room anyway? Do they have a new room for her?”
“I don’t know. She was in a hurry to get to her appointment. I have to check in with her after work.” At which point I fully intend to convince her to come stay with us now that I’ve been given the Lizzy stamp of approval without even trying.
When I enterthe locker room after practice, Quentin is the only one left, taking his time packing everything up. He and Easton are still moving around each other like they’re trying to decide who the alpha of this pack will be, and I can see the tension still riding in his shoulders as he tosses gear into his bag.
“So you know how I talked to you about Trix before? Wishing I had more time with her? I’m thinking of asking her to move in,” I say when I figure it’s better to distract him than ask about what Westfield problem he has today.
“Oh yeah?” He smirks. One of our post-practice dinners had involved him confessing his past with Madison and me admitting I’ve got my own issues when it comes to Trix.
“I figure it could help everyone involved. Gonna go talk to her when I’m done here.”
“You got the speech figured out, or are you just gonna wing it?” Quentin raises a brow in question.
“Wing it. Why? You writing speeches at night for Madison?”
“Fuck no. She’d see through that shit so fast. I’m just doing what she tells me to do when she tells me to do it.” He grins, and I can tell—despite the vice grip she has on his balls right now—he’s happy.
“Oh yeah?” It’s my turn to smirk.
“Yeah. I like seeing the way she lights up when she gets what she wants.”
I let out a choked laugh. “I bet.”
“I know Bea. She’s not quite Madison, but you’ll still be on a short leash if you go down that road. You sure that’s what you want?”
“I’ve never had a leash before, so I don’t know what I want yet.”
He lets out a low whistle. “I feel sorry for her then. She had enough trouble with your brother. She’s a good one, you know. Deserves someone good for her. You better decide what you want before you go too far down that road.”
“She’s been pretty clear that she doesn’t want a relationship. That she’s just looking for fun and a hookup here or there.” I have zero intention of doing anything to hurt her.
“She told you that?” Quentin seems as surprised as I was when she told me at the fair.
“She told me enough.” I lean against the locker. If anyone gets hurt, it’ll probably be me for making the mistake of wanting more from a woman who might only ever see me as a friend.
“So what, you’re just planning to be in the right place at the right time when she needs a little help on that front?”
“Figured it couldn’t hurt.” I grin.
“Well… Good luck. You’ll need all you can get with her.” Quentin grins at me before he nods and takes off out of the locker room, and I ponder if I really know what I’m getting myself into with this girl.
Not that it’s going to stop me from trying.