Chapter 32
Cooper
When I go outto the kitchen to get us some water, Rob’s there in the dark. The small nightlight Mom keeps plugged in under the cabinets is the only thing lighting the room. He looks up when he sees me, almost like he’s been waiting for me to show up. He downs the last of his drink and pushes it across the table.
“That was some great acting with Bea tonight.” His eyes lift, and there’s a challenge in them.
“Acting?” I want to bait him, tell him he might not be able to recognize the real thing when he sees it on account of how many times she had to fake it for him. But I hold my tongue. Trix didn’t want drama, and for her I’ll try not to cause any.
“I assume she told you I wanted to keep the past in the past.” He ignores my question.
“She mentioned it.” I’m weary of where this is headed.
“So you thought you’d what? Take advantage of that? Press your luck?”
“Is it luck or advantage, do you think?” I taunt him. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself. That he’s out here waiting to fight tonight is too much.
“I think you’d better keep your hands off her.”
“I don’t think you get to decide that.”
“I think I do. Whatever the fuck that was out there, you don’t do it again.”
“It’s a little late for that. My hands have been all over every square inch of her, reminding her of how perfect she is, even if there were people in her past too stupid to know it.”
Rob stands and kicks his chair back. It slides across the floor, almost silently, and his nostrils flare.
“Stay the fuck away from her.”
“Why? Having regrets now that you remember how much better she is than anything else you’ve ever even had a shot at having? Realizing you pissed it all away for nothing?”
“She’s mine. Always was. Always will be. Just because we’re not together anymore doesn’t mean that changes. You can’t change that no matter how hard you try, brother.”
I can’t help the laugh that rumbles out of me, and he hates it, pressing in closer to me from across the room.
“I can’t change the fact she picked the wrong brother first. You’re right there. But I can definitely do my best to help her pick which one she wants last. Brother.”
He moves to tackle me a moment later, and I dodge it. I always was faster than him, and I smirk at the fact that time hasn’t changed it.
“I’m not fucking fighting you in this house. Lizzy’s sleeping.”
“Then let’s take it outside.” He shoves my chest, and I stumble backward.
“Fuck that. Act your fucking age for once in your life, Rob!”
His big beefy arm is around my neck a moment later, and despite a hard punch to his ribs and another to his kidney, he manages to drag me to the doorway before I can shove him off again. He slides the glass, and we end up pushing and shoving our way out through it. I’m just thankful there’s no one to see us acting like children.
“I am acting my age. Why don’t you fucking act like a brother instead of going after my ex?”
“I didn’t go after her. She came to my city. Showed up at my stadium. Needed my help.”
“And she just fell on your dick in the process?”
“No. She just realized I could give her all the things she’d been missing with you.”
His face twists, and I think I’ve somehow managed to actually wound him. It seems to be confirmed when he charges toward me and slams us both into the dirt. We tumble for a moment, limbs tangled as we each try to best each other before we shove away again.
“It’s fucked you would ever try. Fucked that you’d bring her here and rub it in my face.” He pulls himself up to his feet again.
“Lizzy fucking wanted her here. I wanted her here. Fuck… our parents want her here. Had nothing to fucking do with you, and if you want blunt fucking honesty, it’s you and your replacement girl who don’t fucking belong.” I try to brush the dirt off my knees as I glare at him.
“She’s not a replacement girl.”
“Which is why you ran to knock her up and put a ring on her finger.”
“It was an accident that we’re making the best of. You should be familiar with that. Yours is what… fourteen now?”
My fist collides with his mouth a second later, and he stumbles backward and trips to the ground. He wipes the blood where his lip is bleeding.
“You ever talk about Lizzy like that again, I’ll make the damage permanent.”
We stay like that for long minutes. Him staring at me silently, and then at last, he shakes his head and stands.
“You’re right. That was fucked. But you’re a piece of fucking shit for this. And for what? Just because you needed to get your dick wet, and she was there? She’ll never pick you in the end. You might be able to give her the kid she wants, but you’ll never be able to give her the life she wants. She wants the real thing. The ring. The marriage. The big house filled with family at the holidays. Someone her family respects. The only thing anyone knows you for off the field is how many women you’ve fucked. You’re a rebound she’ll just be embarrassed of someday.”
My heart pounds in my ears. I want to hit him again. But not for what he said wrong this time. For what he said that hits too close to home. For what he might be right about, and I don’t want to face.
“What is going on out here?” Trix whispers harshly, her voice just loud enough that the wind doesn’t carry off the words.
I turn around, and she’s closing the sliding door behind her, wrapping a cardigan tightly around her shoulders to help keep out the wind coming off the lake. Her silk sleep set shimmers in the dim light, and her eyes bounce between the two of us. Then she notices the blood smear across Rob’s face, and her eyes widen.
“Oh my god!” She moves toward him out of instinct, and I don’t miss the way he relaxes when she touches him. “Seriously. What is going on?”
She looks to me for answers, and I shake my head, pissed that she’s touching him and annoyed he’s created a scenario where he looks like the victim.
“Ask him what he said about Lizzy,” I spit out, giving him a derisive look.
“Lizzy?” Her accusation turns to him, and she steps back.
“I shouldn’t have said it. But he’s out here bragging about fucking you.”
Her lips flatline, and her eyes hit the ground like she’s ashamed, and he smirks at me so subtly you’d almost miss it—if you weren’t his sibling, you definitely would. But I recognize it. The one I got a million times growing up when he made me look like the fool in front of our parents.
“I’m going inside. Going to make sure we didn’t wake anyone else up.” I turn on my heel and head inside, my heart ricocheting around in my chest. If I’ve come this far with her to lose her now because I walked straight into his fucking trap, I don’t know how I’ll live with myself.