Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
There were many things Cooper could say about Elsa Callahan, most of which were not kind.
As he watched his mother whip a bowl of homemade mashed potatoes, he realized that underneath all the bitchy, vicious layers, the shell of the woman he knew was still there.
Buried under a mountain of bullshit he didn’t have the strength or patience to unbury.
The red dress she wore was covered with an old apron printed with apples and fresh pies. Her mother had passed it down to her and she outwardly cherished the memories it brought her.
The simplest of things served as a potent reminder she was human after all.
Tied to tradition, Christmas—or often in their case, give or take a week—was the one day out of the year she cooked her own food.
Otherwise, if she wasn’t socializing at expensive dinners, she hired a chef for her meals.
Born into nothing and married into everything, but Cooper couldn’t fault her for that because he was born into it, but his mother was sure to make him earn it.
Cooper leaned against the see-through refrigerator that was filled with fresh fruit and vegetables and pulled out his phone.
NICO
What did you get me for Christmas?
NICO
Hope it’s something nice.
NICO
Please no socks. I’d be so mad that I fear I would need to find another man.
NICO
Fine. Ignore me. I’ll just go diddle myself.
NICO
[Photo] Photo of Nico lying on bed with his legs spread and his finger knuckle-deep in his asshole.
NICO
[Video] Bird’s eye view of Nico pumping a load out of his swollen cock.
Cooper checked his surroundings before responding.
COOPER
I told you, I’m at my mother dearest’s house. I’ll send you something later.
NICO
Show me your hole.
NICO
Please
COOPER
It’ll be a surprise for both of us.
COOPER
And your present was delivered to your Malibu house but you’re not allowed to open it until Christmas Day.
NICO
I’m flying home tomorrow.
COOPER
I’m being serious…
NICO
I’ll try to be a good boy.
COOPER
Let me find out you opened it before Christmas.
NICO
What will you do? Spank me?
COOPER
You don’t want to find out.
NICO
I like it when you talk dirty.
COOPER
And I like it when you’re a good boy, but you’re increasingly the exact opposite.
NICO
“Cooper, can you please set the table?” Elsa asked as she stopped whipping the potatoes.
Cooper answered with a nod. It was the first time in what felt like forever she had asked him to do something instead of directing him to do it. He stuffed his phone in his pocket, grabbed the stack of gold-plated ceramic plates from the antique hutch, and carried them into the dining room.
Stassi sat two seats from the head of the table with her parents sitting across from her.
It was a family affair, but only two people in the house knew how fraudulent it all was.
Cooper never felt guilt when it came to lying to his own mother because he reasoned she was a major contributor to the necessity of the cage.
Luke always believed his parents would have supported him, but nobody would ever know if that was true or not.
It was one of Cooper's many regrets, something he could never take back.
Cooper placed five plates on the table and returned a moment later with a fresh bottle of wine to top off everyone’s glasses.
When he returned to the kitchen, a small black bag sat on the counter with gold tissue paper peeking out of the top.
“I thought we said we weren’t doing presents,” Cooper said as he made his way to the counter. He peered inside but couldn’t see anything beyond the gold paper.
Elsa spun to him with a hand on her hip. “This gift is as much for me as it is for you.”
Cooper eyed her suspiciously. It wouldn’t surprise him if the so-called gift was a bomb at that point.
He tore away the gold tissue paper to find a black box.
Etched in gold were the letters CC, which was the logo for a luxury brand of jewelry.
Cooper knew this because one of the presents he had shipped to Nico’s house was from the same place—a ten-carat diamond necklace.
Cooper initially suspected a necklace, but the box was too small.
He opened it, and underneath the bright overhead kitchen lights, he was blinded by the sparkle of a diamond ring. His gaze tore to his mother’s. “What the fuck is this?”
She sauntered to him, resting a hand on the edge of the counter. “It’s been nine years. I figured you needed a little push.”
Cooper slammed the box closed and tossed it onto the counter. “When I decide I’m ready to marry Stassi, I’ll buy my own goddamn ring,” he seethed. “Fucking return it.”
His disdain was answered with a slap to the face. The skin of her throat pulled tight as she straightened out her apron with her hands. “It’s custom made.”
Cooper checked the entryway to the kitchen to make sure the guests were still seated before turning back to his mother. “Then keep it for yourself. I don’t care what you do with it, but get rid of it before someone sees it.”
She grabbed the box off the counter and carried it to Cooper.
“Ask yourself why her family showed up here tonight.” She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, “I told them you had a special surprise and they were delighted to know the day had finally come.” She pushed the box gently into his hands and retreated with a smile.
“Do you want them flying home in the morning, spending five hours on a plane thinking about how worthless their daughter’s boyfriend is.
They might even start getting ideas of their own. ”
Cooper closed his eyes and inhaled. “You are an awful woman.”
“We just see the world differently.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Now, go out there and wait for your dinner. And when the time comes, be a man for once in your life.”
Cooper stabbed his fork into a slab of turkey and guided it to his mouth. He chewed slowly because when he was angry, he wasn’t hungry.
“The food is great,” Sheree Davies said, eyes angled at Elsa. “Nothing beats a home-cooked meal.”
“Thank you,” Elsa responded, raising a glass of wine. “I wish we had more time with you. I know you don’t get out to Columbus much anymore.”
Sheree looked to her husband. “We’re very busy these days.”
Busy was code for heartbroken. Every second in Columbus was a reminder of the son they had lost. Stassi said as much, and yet she stayed for half the year and spent the other year back home in LA.
“It’s a shame. You should come with me to a home game. I have room in the suite. The Cobras are already locked in for a playoff spot and if they win on Christmas Day, they’ll have home field advantage,” Elsa said. “I think it’d mean a lot to Cooper if you’d come.”
Cooper reached for his wine and chugged half the damn glass.
His mother’s cruelty was sometimes blatant, but most of the time it was casual.
Stassi’s parents donated to Elsa’s opponent in the senatorial race and Cooper supposed that was the reason she cloaked her cruelty behind generosity.
She knew exactly what the fuck she was doing.
Knew that they used to attend every damn game.
Knew the reason they stopped attending was the same reason Stassi stopped.
Benjamin Davies nodded his head. “Maybe next year.”
Cooper’s foot tapped incessantly against the runner on the floor. “You’re welcome anytime and you don’t need to fly all the way across the country if you ever change your mind. We play in Los Angeles twice every year.”
“We might be able to arrange that,” Sheree said.
Cooper leaned over to Stassi, “Can we go talk real quick?”
The elevator dinged as the doors parted. Cooper led Stassi into the cellar in the lowest level of the Callahan Estate. Cooper stormed past countless racks of wine and found the rack of bourbon in the back. He grabbed a random bottle, twisted the cap off, and chugged it straight from the bottle.
Stassi ripped the bottle out of his hands. “Okay, we’re not doing that.”
“I’m going to propose to you tonight,” Cooper said, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
She threw her head back and took a gulp. The heat of the liquor simmered on her lips as she passed the bottle back to him. “By the way you’re acting right now, I’m going to guess this wasn’t your idea.”
“You’re the only person in the world that can read my mind.” He took another gulp, relishing the burn at the back of his throat that opened his airways, calmed him, and allowed him to breathe. “She blindsided me in the kitchen with a fucking ring.”
Stassi took the bottle back and set it on the ground. “You know you don’t have to do everything she tells you to do.”
Cooper considered the preposterous idea presented, but his mother was a master manipulator. She’d already forced all the pieces of the puzzle into place. He lowered himself onto the ground, palming the bottle with his hand. “She told your fucking parents. That’s why they agreed to come out here.”
“Everything is starting to make sense now,” Stassi said, joining him on the floor on the opposite side of the bottle.
Cooper clasped his hands together and bowed his head. “We have to do this.”
“We don’t have to do anything.”
“Stassi, you know I love you.”
“I do.” She nodded. “I also know it’s not real love. It’s the love you feel for a friend. It’s not what you had with Luke. It’s not what you have with Nico.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes on her. “I don’t—”
She smiled softly. “I see the way you look at him. I know you well enough to know you’ll swear up and down you don’t love him, and I know enough to know you can only lie to yourself for so long.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“You’re right.” She grabbed the bottle and took a quick sip. “You deserve a life outside of this thing we created.”
“So, we don’t—”
“No, we do. We make it a long engagement. Five years. Ten years. Whatever.”
Cooper shook his head. “How can you agree to this?”
“Because in this life, you’re looking for someone to love, the same person you fuck and build a life with.
” She climbed to her feet and then offered her hand to assist Cooper up.
“All I’m looking for is a best friend and that doesn’t change when you inevitably end up with someone else.
I know for a horny bastard like yourself, that’s difficult to understand.
But at some point, you have to trust me when I say this is what I want.
So go up there and propose your ass off. ”
Cooper understood how this would complicate the thing he had with Nico, but he also understood that he was between a rock and a hard place. It was a consequence of half of his life being a lie, and the more time that went on, the deeper the hole. “I just need a minute.”
She pressed her lips softly over his forehead. “I’ll hold the fort down.”
He watched as she disappeared into the elevator and when the doors closed, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket.
NICO
We already ate and now I’m bored.
NICO
Think we’re going to watch A Christmas Story.
NICO
Lord, tell me why this movie is so awful.
NICO
I CANTTTTT take it.
NICO
Could you please drive down here and save me from this house again? I’ll be extra good.
Cooper responded to Nico as if nothing was wrong.
COOPER
We both have practice tomorrow.
Cooper’s mother met him outside the elevator, standing with an apple pie in her hand.
Her nose wrinkled as she inhaled. “Whiskey?”
“Bourbon,” Cooper corrected her.
“You’re just like your father. A coward who hides behind alcohol.”
“I know people didn’t tend to give a shit about mental health when you were growing up in the Wild West, but you’re gaslighting the shit out of me right now. Because what the fuck do you mean I’m hiding behind alcohol when you’re always pushing alcohol on me?”
She snarled. “Don’t get too close to the Davies lest they smell your breath.”
Cooper couldn’t hide his disdain, even behind a forced cackle.
She put on a well-practiced smile as she rounded the corner to the dining room. “Who wants dessert?”
Cooper leaned against the archway to the dining room, contemplating every moment in his life that’d led to this moment.
Theoretically, he could put an end to this entire charade.
He could break free from the cage and burn it all to the fucking ground.
So close that he could smell the freedom on the other side, but when he made contact with Sheree’s eyes, he knew he couldn’t.
He knew he’d be breaking more hearts than his mother’s.
The Davies, all of them, were good people.
But if his mother wanted a show, she was going to get one.
He cycled through a playlist on his phone and settled on a song that meant something to him.
Nobody in that room would understand what it meant except for him.
It was the perfect choice to give him the courage to do what needed to be done.
He connected his phone to the Bluetooth speakers and Wings by Birdy played loudly overhead.
Elsa slid the pie onto the table and turned to him with a knowing glare, the same disappointed look he’d grown accustomed to anytime he dared to step an inch out of line.
Cooper tore off his suit jacket and tossed it to the side and suddenly, all eyes were on him as he approached the table. He used his mother’s chair as a stool to climb onto the table and took great pleasure in watching his mother seethe.
Shoes on a couch or a bed was a serious crime. On the fucking dining room table? That amounted to a death sentence in the eyes of the not-so-fair lady of Columbus.
Cooper came to a stop in front of Stassi and offered his hand to her. She hesitated, but she understood the deal and ultimately accepted. He lifted her onto the table with him.
Stassi’s parents looked upward wide-eyed, but wearing inquisitive grins which was a stark contrast to Elsa’s disapproval and shame.
Cooper knelt on one knee and pulled out the ring. It truly was a stunning ring, but most facades were just that. Beautiful, meant to obscure the truth buried beneath the surface.
“Stassi Davies, will you fucking marry me?”
She played the part of the surprised lover, shrieking with glee and shaking her hands in disbelief. In another life, she could’ve been an actress. Could’ve taken the world by storm and won every award under the sun.
“Yes,” she screamed. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Cooper glided the ring onto her finger and it fit snugly.
He climbed back to his feet and gave her a quick peck before taking her hand in his.
And in a totally unplanned move, they both turned to Elsa at the exact same time.
Shrugged their shoulders with glee.
And fucking smiled at the devil they knew.