Chapter Nine
“Seriously, guys, no one has to stay with me.”
Cooper tried not to think about his very precarious position.
Not so precarious, actually, since he was securely tied in here. Big Tag hadn’t forgotten how to tie a dude down. He had forgotten how to give a man some dignity. At least they’d let him get under the sheet before they’d gone to work.
“I think he’ll be fine.”
Seth Taggart had shown up, pulling his truck in behind Cooper’s SUV. Kenzie was somewhere in the house but had declared she didn’t have any part in this and all of her twin’s revenge was going to be on the men of the family. And she’d promptly run off, dialing someone on her cell phone.
Probably Tasha.
Big Tag made a tsking sound. “Seth, I thought I taught you better. You never leave a sub tied up and unattended. Anything could happen. A robber could come in and see our friend Cooper laid out like a feast.”
“A robber is not making a feast out of me.”
He should have known Big Tag would be obnoxious, but when he’d laid this plan out, it had halfway made sense.
And he was so desperate, halfway worked for him. If he let her sleep on this, it would be done. She would talk herself out of ever trying again.
He might never know what happened to her. He wasn’t sure he could live without trying everything he could.
So that was why he was naked, his wrists tied to Kala’s mattress, and nothing but a thin sheet covering him. He’d argued they wouldn’t be able to properly tie him up without the right equipment since he didn’t want to be tied to the headboard. It wouldn’t give him the freedom he needed for what he was going to do.
Not a problem. Big Tag simply stopped by Sanctum and suddenly they had all the under-the-mattress restraints they needed.
Seth looked like a younger version of his father. “I’m with Coop. No robber is taking anything from him. Also, I’d kind of like to not be here when she shows up. She’s going to figure out you took down her security cams so she couldn’t see us walking in, and that is a revenge I don’t want.”
Big Tag shrugged. “If Coop here does his job properly, she won’t care.”
“Also, should I really be doing this? Trying to get my sister laid?”
Seth asked.
“Holy shit,”
a feminine voice said. “I thought you were sneaking him in so he could talk to her. Whoa. Daddy, I think we should do this to Ben. Think of all the intel I could get.”
Kenzie was dressed for bed in PJs, with slippers on her feet and her hair piled high on her head. She did not look anything like the deadly operative he knew her to be.
Her father’s eyes rolled. “Absolutely not. And I thought you wanted plausible deniability.”
She shrugged. “Curiosity got the better of me. So what’d you do to my sister, Cooper?”
Now he saw the folly of his own actions. He was trapped with Taggarts. “I tried to start a relationship with her. Like I have been for years now.”
“Don’t,”
Big Tag said, putting a hand on his daughter’s arm. “I’ve already put him through the ringer. Do you think I would be doing this if I wasn’t certain he’s telling me the truth and he wants to make things right?”
An evil smile lit Kenzie’s face. “You would if you were going to murder him. Or let Kala murder him. I think it could be rough on her. You should let me do it.”
Damn. He always thought Kenzie was kind of Team Cooper. Not Team Murder Cooper. “I love your sister.”
Kenzie’s nose wrinkled, and she huffed. “Fine, but you should know it’s about fifty-fifty whether she makes a meal of you or makes you into a meal for Bud Two.”
She turned to her dad. “And if she sees Seth’s truck here, she’ll know something’s up and she’ll run the other way.”
Big Tag sighed. “I didn’t think about it. I had him give me a ride here so your mom could go home and help with Colton. Travis has a big test in the morning or I would have had him over here, too. He hates being left out of family projects, but that’s what you get when you don’t wear a condom.”
“Speaking of.”
Seth seemed intent on not ending Cooper’s torture. “Where do you keep them, sis? We should leave a few. Maybe we could decorate the bed. You know, like some people use flower petals except we use condoms.”
“You are not decorating the bed,”
Cooper began.
“Eww, not romantic,”
Kenzie argued. “I could go in the back and pick some daisies. Hey, Bri, have those daisies you planted come in yet?”
Was anyone asleep? He hadn’t seen Brianna Dean-Miles, the newest resident of the house. She’d moved in mere weeks before, and she seemed to be getting into the flow of giving no one any privacy at all. It was how this household ran.
“Oh, hey, Coop.”
A wide smile spread across Bri’s face. “You are looking good, buddy. Is this one of those nights Tasha warned me about?”
Kenzie snorted. “Tasha warned you about the guys invading because we made cookies and have better Internet. She was not talking about naked pilots tied to beds. Though I do see where we’ve missed a fun activity. I think we should decorate Cooper. After all, he’s a gift.”
“Not so sure about that,”
Big Tag snarked. “He’s very shy for a Dom. Didn’t get a good look at his dick, so I have to withhold saying he’s a gift.”
This was his life now. “For fuck’s sake. Maybe I didn’t want my future father-in-law seeing my junk swinging.”
Seth’s head shook. “I don’t think it can shake like this.”
He stared at the sheet. “It’s not making much of a tent, though. Are we sure about this? Has anyone seen him in all his glory?”
Cooper groaned. “Just because you walk around half naked all the time doesn’t mean I do, man. I haven’t taken a single submissive in two years because I love her. So, no, I didn’t walk around showing off my junk. I only wanted one person looking at it.”
“How do you think I got my Charlie?”
Big Tag asked as though this was a completely normal Taggart family conversation.
Which Cooper supposed it was.
“No.”
Kenzie’s head shook, and she put her hands on her dad’s arm. “You are done, Dad. Time to go. She can only eat so many waffles.”
“Yeah, but TJ’s with her. It could still be hours before they run out,”
her father replied, though he was grinning as she pushed him toward the door.
“Nope,”
Kenzie insisted. “He said the magic words, and now you’re done.”
“Magic words?”
Seth asked, not moving from his place.
Brianna took that one. “He said he loves Kala and now we’re on his side, and this is serious. I mean it’s not so serious we’re not going to decorate him, but it is serious enough that we’re going to kick you out so you don’t ruin this for Kala.”
“I thought we didn’t leave subs tied up,”
Seth complained, though his ass had been arguing the opposite way mere moments before.
“He’s not a sub,”
Big Tag admitted. “I can totally leave a Dom tied up. Ask your dad, Bri. Hey, Bud, you know what to do.”
Cooper turned his head in time to see the twins’ big mutt lumber through the door. He was a massive thing who would likely make any intruder think twice. For two seconds, until Bud started to lick the dude to death. The big dog walked right up to him, and for a moment Coop was worried he was about to get licked, too.
Nope. It was worse. Bud took the edge of the sheet between his teeth and ran off with it.
“You actually trained the dog to do that? What is wrong with you?”
Cooper asked, knowing the answer.
“Hey, Cooper, I was wrong. You are a gift, buddy,”
Big Tag yelled as he turned and walked down the hall.
Kenzie said something he couldn’t hear.
Unfortunately, Big Tag was loud. “It was a compliment. I didn’t think it would be that big. His dad’s is tiny.”
Brianna had walked after Tag and Kenz, and Coop found himself alone with Seth.
“It’s not so big I can’t take it off,”
Seth said in a slow drawl. “You should think about that.”
He did not need a lecture. “Come on, man. Put a sheet over me. This is awkward.”
Seth shrugged. “I don’t see why. How is this different from the locker room at The Hideout or that time at The Club when Julian made all the Doms run a mile naked in high heels to show us what it feels like to be a sub? Remember I got the five-inchers, and I’m pretty sure it’s because he thinks I’m after his daughter.”
“Yeah, well, I’m starting to wonder if I didn’t fall into your dad’s trap,”
Cooper admitted.
“Nah.”
Seth crossed his arms over his chest. “Dad only pranks people he cares about. See, that’s where people get confused about him. If my dad is yelling, everything’s fine. If he’s pulling dumbass pranks, you’re cool. It’s when he gets quiet and agrees with everything you say that you know you’ve lost him. He truly believes this is what’s best for Kala. If he didn’t, well, there’s a certain freezer at Top where we put those problems. It’s best they’re kept on ice.”
“Your dad isn’t going to kill me,”
Cooper argued.
“No, but I might,”
Seth countered. “You see, Dad believes you’re the only guy for Kala. Like Mom was the only woman for him. Personally, I think we can do better than an asshole who told her she wasn’t good enough for him in high school.”
“I never said that, and how the fuck do you know about what happened?”
He hadn’t thought Kala would tell him. “From what I can tell she didn’t talk to anyone but Lou.”
“I know I have a certain reputation as a dumbass artist who wouldn’t understand intelligence work if it hit me over the head with my own guitar.”
Seth moved around the bed, getting closer to the door. “It isn’t easy being the artist in a family full of badasses. But there are rewards to be had if one is smart. You see, I cultivate that shit because then no one suspects me of anything. No one would think that I would perhaps read my sister’s journal because I happen to know she won’t tell anyone when she’s hurting. I have always known Tash and Kenz will be okay. They’re resilient. They bounce back from everything, but not Kala. I knew it when I was fucking five, man. So I do what I need to do to protect her in a way she finds acceptable.”
Coop wasn’t sure about that. “I don’t think she would find it acceptable to read her damn journal.”
Seth leaned against the door jamb. “But then how would I have known to tell her I had a bad dream and couldn’t sleep alone and I didn’t want to disturb Mom and Dad? For three weeks. Kala sometimes needs a place to put all that anxiety and fear. Some people take all the bad shit and spew it on the world like a snake spitting venom. My sister puts it into caring for the people around her. She’s got it in her head she’s some kind of monster who doesn’t feel things the same way everyone else does.”
So Seth did know what was going on with his sister. “That’s not true.”
“I mean it is a little. The part about her not feeling things the same way. We don’t talk about it but come on, man. She’s on the spectrum. We all know it. I have been around so many artists whose brains work differently, and they get the shit kicked out of them for not being normal.”
“Neurodivergent.”
He knew the term, and now he wanted to kick himself for not seeing it.
“Yep. There are so many people out there who don’t fit the norms, but there’s nothing wrong with them. Their brains just work differently. Mom and Dad had been planning to have her tested in high school.”
He shrugged. “I’m also excellent at eavesdropping. When I get caught, I give the ’rents a cute dumb boy look and they assume the earbuds in my ears are working. They are, by the way, just not how they think they are. You see, a long time ago Lou figured out how to make it so they amplify sound from the outside.”
He waved his hand. “You don’t need to know the specifics. Anyway, they were trying to figure out how to talk to her about it. They wanted to test her in case she needed accommodations, but they were worried it would make her feel even more different. Before they had a chance to, want to guess what happened?”
“That night.”
He felt a bit sick.
“That night.”
Seth’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know a lot about what happened that night. I know my sister blames herself. She wrote about what happened between the two of you, but not what happened while she was a guest of Julia Ennis. The last entry in her journal was a poem. Did you know she used to write poetry?”
She’d never told him. “No.”
“I doubt anyone does. Maybe not even Lou. I know because I’m a sneaky bastard who won’t let her be alone even when she thinks she should be. The poetry was her outlet. She wrote one last poem about a week after she got home, and then she never touched that journal again. She thinks she threw it away, but I have it. One day I’m going to ask her if I can put them to music because her poetry is an insight into a truly beautiful and unique soul, and it should be heard if she allows it.”
Seth stared down at him. “My parents put her in therapy and didn’t talk about getting her tested again. I’m pretty sure the therapist told them she’s on the spectrum but functions so highly she wouldn’t need anything but emotional accommodations, and here we are. By the way, no one gives anyone emotional accommodations. We think everyone’s brains must obviously work the same way and anyone different has problems. My sister is perfect the way she is.”
“She’s not,”
Cooper argued. “She is perfect but her life isn’t, and it can’t be without me. I know I sound like an arrogant prick when I say that, but no one in the world is going to love your sister the way I will. No one. I might not have a technical word to describe how she thinks, but I studied it and I learned how to talk to her, how to give her what she needs in a way she can accept. I was stupid in high school, but I’ve changed. All I want is her. Do you think I want to be an Agency operative? Dude, I barely hold my shit together when she’s out in the field. I’m there because she’s there, and that means it’s the only place for me to be.”
“All right,”
Seth said with a long sigh. “Then I should tell you what she’s said about what happened to her.”
Cooper shook his head. “Abso-fucking-lutely not. That is her story, and you’re not telling it. If I find out you’ve told anyone, we’re going to have a problem.”
Seth’s lips quirked up. “And that is the right answer. The truth is I don’t know. I know it still affects her. She still wakes up scared sometimes, but she sleeps with Lou now which is good because it would seriously cramp my style.”
She was going to sleep with him from now on. He would take care of her, and eventually she would tell him her secrets. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of her. I’ll figure out a way, but you are going to give that journal back to her when she’s ready.”
“Journal?”
Kenzie walked back in. “Who has a journal?”
Seth’s entire expression changed. Gone was the intensity, and in its place the aw-shucks smile he was known for. “I’ve been using a notebook I stole from Kala to write some lyrics.”
“Dude, she’s been looking for that,”
Kenzie complained. “We’ll deal with that another day. You need to leave. Kala’s tracker says she’s three blocks away. Lou must have convinced TJ he’ll get a stomachache if he eats too much.”
Seth smiled his sister’s way. “Then I should get the old man home and tuck him in. It’s way past his bedtime. Cooper, you got a nice set of balls on you. They’re very well formed.”
Cooper’s eyes rolled. “And you say you’re not like your father.”
Big shoulders shrugged. “I never said that at all. ’Night.”
One problem walked out the door and another strode in. Brianna Dean-Miles had a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bunch of daisies in the other. “This is all I could find. We need to up our decorating game.”
Cooper closed his eyes. It was going to be such a long fucking night.