5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Jamie
C ooper Carrington is beautiful, smart, thoughtful and considerate. He is polished silver, and glittering gold, and the rarest diamond all rolled into one pale skinned, dark haired temptation.
He’s lying on his stomach on the grass, laughing at something he just read, his t-shirt riding up to show off a line of pale, freckle dotted skin on his lower back. His legs are crossed at the ankles and a backwards cap covers his dark locks. My eyes drink him in and my fingers twitch at my sides with the desire to swipe gently along the sliver of exposed skin.
We’re in our parents' garden, and though autumn is just on the horizon, the day is unseasonably warm. The house is large and welcoming, set in the leafy suburbs, not far from the town centre or the home I used to share with Mum. Cooper and I spend most of our weekends here, hanging out around the pool or raiding the kitchen. Cooper hates baking in his tiny shared kitchen so more often than not, I find him here, flour covering his clothes and the smell of chocolate or vanilla wafting through the house. And because my mum always wants us to feel like we have a place to call home, we both have bedrooms here too. Tastefully decorated by my mother and mostly unused, but ours nonetheless.
It’s been nearly five months since we first met and I’ve soaked up every minute we’ve spent together. We listen to music, go on walks, take the train to our closest big city - where I have to stop myself from chewing his ear off about architecture - and in turn, he’s taken me to an art class and shown me how to make vanilla sponge cake. And always, every single time we’re together, laughter is the soundtrack.
Some nights, after long days at school or work, we just sit and talk - on the phone, on the patio here or in the park between our houses. During each encounter, I've found myself growing more and more enamored with him.
He is without a doubt, the most spectacular specimen of a human I have ever met.
“Stop staring at him, you fucking weirdo,” Caiden snaps as he comes up beside me, taking me by surprise.
“Fuck off, Caiden. Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Maybe some weed to sell?” I look him over once, taking in his black attire - no surprise there - black jeans and black ripped band tee, the piercings in his ears and his disheveled hair. If his brother is the diamond, he is the rough.
“Oh fuck you, you judgemental piece of shit,” he barks back. “You seem to forget that I live here and he’s my brother. So why don’t you fuck off?”
I lift my hands in surrender because I have no desire to get into a pissing match with him. Not when I’d much rather be lying on the grass, enjoying Cooper’s company. It’s not that I haven’t tried to make nice with Caiden, I have. But he wants nothing to do with me. Only two people matter to Caiden Carrington - his twin and his mother.
Cooper rolls over onto his back, narrowing his eyes as he looks at us.
“Must the two of you fight? It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining and I have a cake in the oven.” He drops his book, stands up and comes closer until he’s standing in front of me. He’s wearing tight booty shorts and it’s all I can do to not trace the lines of his body with my eyes, from his sun kissed cheeks, all the way down to the outline of his dick behind the tight fabric.
“Sorry, little bro,” Caiden says, all earlier signs of animosity long gone, replaced now by affection. “Came to see if you wanted to party tonight, there’s a house party over on Tailor Row. Heard there’ll be some hotties there.” He bumps his brother's shoulder and my chest tightens, something akin to jealousy knocking on my ribcage.
Caiden smirks at me and I’m sure the fucker knows how I feel about his twin. I have both ninety nine reasons and no reason at all for not telling Cooper how I feel. Deep down, I guess it's the fear of rejection that keeps my lips sealed. I spend a lot of time telling myself I’m happy with this friendship we’ve built, that it’s enough. Adding feelings into the mix could ruin it, could make things messy where right now, they’re perfect.
“No thanks,” Cooper shakes his head but doesn’t get another word out before Caiden is in front of him, holding his cheeks in his hands.
“Please? I don’t want to go alone and you are the best wingman.”
I’ve seen this before - countless times. Cooper says no, Caiden begs, Cooper gives in. Sometimes he pulls the ‘I don’t want to go alone’ card and other times he plays on the fact that they're twins - two peas in a pod - and there's no one he'd rather hang out with. Cooper shrugs and I see the moment he relents, his head nodding before he turns to me. “Okay, I’ll go, but only if Jamie comes too.”
Maybe I preen a little, and maybe I look smug as fuck when Cooper playfully wraps his arm around my shoulders. Caiden glowers at me, his fists clenched at his sides, his lips set in a tight white line.
With an eyebrow raised in his twin’s direction, Cooper says, “Good?” and Caiden spits out ‘fine’.
“We’ll grab a cab around nine. Okay?” He chews on his bottom lip, his piercing glinting in the sun as he licks his bottom lip.
“I can drive us,” I say. My car is old and rusted, but it works, it was my mum’s for many years. A relic that is highly dependable.
“Or we can get a cab,” Caiden bites back.
“Or-” I start but Cooper jumps in.
“Or we can stop whatever this is,” Cooper points his middle finger between the two of us before continuing, “and enjoy the rest of the day together.”
Caiden looks down at his feet, a puff of air escaping his lips when his twin grabs him and drags him onto the lawn. I watch as the two of them play fight until they’re both precariously close to the edge of the pool, chuckling to myself when Cooper knocks Caiden’s legs from beneath him and they both go tumbling fully clothed, into the pool.
Caiden pops up from beneath the water first, swearing at how cold the water is. He shakes his head, his dark hair flying around his face before he jumps forward and grabs his brother and shoves him back under the water. The two of them push each other around until they’re both gasping and laughing so hard, they need to lean against the pool wall to catch their breaths.
Caiden’s laugh is loud and foreign to my ears and I realise it’s the first time since we met that I’ve seen him even remotely happy.
He’d be just as beautiful as his brother , I think to myself, if he wasn’t so fucking angry all the time.
A few people I've never met before are standing around the side of the house when we arrive at the party. They cheer when they see Caiden, throwing their arms around him and offering him a joint, which he willingly accepts.
I raise an eyebrow at Cooper. “Caiden's friends, and I use that term lightly,” he says. “I guarantee if you asked any of them his name, none of them would know.” Cooper’s shoulders go rigid as he watches the group. “Except that one.” I follow his stare and see Caiden talking to a blond guy dressed in tight black jeans and an oversized hoodie.
Cooper walks over to his twin and grips his arm, marching him away from the guy who watches, his lips curved into a shit eating grin.
“I thought you weren't friends with him any more,” Cooper says under his breath, his gaze looking over Caiden’s shoulder.
“We’re not friends, more like acquaintances.” Caiden blows on his hands and rubs them together, the hot summerlike day giving way to a more autumnal night.
“Fuck's sake Caiden, the last time you were friends with that Oliver guy, you got suspended from school for a week. Please tell me you don’t see him often?”
“Calm down, I see him at parties, we’ve hooked up a few times. And besides, the suspension is old news, we were just kids.” Cooper shrugs and looks over his shoulder, back at Oliver. The guy licks his lips suggestively then grabs the joint from the girl next to him.
Cooper stamps his foot and the little pout he aims at his brother is kind of adorable, though his eyes are flashing with an anger I’ve never seen on him before. It’s probably a bad time to tell him how cute he is when he’s pissed.
“You nearly set the entire school on fire because he dared you to. That was after you skipped three days worth of classes because he suggested it. Please Caiden, for the love of everything good, stay away from Oliver Cross.”
Oliver, having heard his name, saunters over to the twins, his smile like the cat who got the cream as he runs a hand down Caiden’s ass.
“You called?” His voice is deeper than I expected and he’s a lot bigger than the twins. I stand back and let the little riff play out, watching as Cooper steps up to the guy and pushes him away.
“Stay away from my brother.” Cooper grabs Caiden’s arm and pulls him and I follow, running behind them as they enter the house. I have no doubt that Caiden could remove himself from Cooper’s grip if he wanted to but I think he likes it when his brother focuses his attention on him.
It’s crowded inside, and we’re barely able to move around without bumping into someone but we make our way further into the group of partygoers and spend hours drinking, playing silly games and talking to people - some of whom I recognise from campus. We lost Caiden a while back, somewhere between a game of Truth or Dare and refilling our drinks.
As we walk up the stairs from the basement activities, and move to stand along the edges of the makeshift dance floor, I spot Caiden.
A guy almost double his size has him pressed against the wall, taking his mouth in a kiss that borders on violence. He claws at the smaller man’s hips while Caiden tugs roughly on the guy’s short brown hair. My cheeks heat when Caiden looks over the guy’s beefy shoulders and catches me watching them. Why the fuck I am watching? I don’t know. Call it a temporary glitch in my social awareness.
“Looks like he’s not coming home with us.” Cooper’s warm breath ghosts my ear as he leans in closer, his eyes following the direction I'm staring.
Turning my body so my back is facing the two making out, I let my eyes rake over Cooper. He’s glorious. Dressed in tight pink jeans and a black sheer crop top through which I can see his tiny nipples, he’s a picture I never want to erase from my mind. His hair is perfectly styled to one side and he has dark liner on his eyes and shimmery blush on his cheeks.
“No, I guess not,” I say. “Do you think he’s okay?”
Cooper shrugs, “It's hard to tell with Caiden, he’s drunk but not wasted. My guess is he’ll go home with that guy - or someone else, hopefully not Oliver - or he’ll find me when he’s ready to leave.”
I mull over his words, chancing a quick glance back at Caiden before turning towards Cooper again. He steps closer to me, and my mouth goes dry when his hand lands on my hip. “Do you uh… do you want to grab another drink?” I gesture back towards the kitchen.
Cooper looks at me, his lip twitching into a smirk as he shakes his head and places his other hand on my hip. “Dance with me?”
The music blasting through the speakers of the huge mansion is a mixture of noughties pop and newer popular dance tunes. It’s catchy but not my favourite, but when Cooper slides his hands up to wrap around my neck, I no longer care if it's a nursery rhyme playing, nothing will stop me from dancing with this man.
My hands find their way to his slim waist, gripping his bare flesh below the hem of his crop top. His arms tighten around me as he pulls me closer, then moves one hand down my back while keeping the other on my neck. A shiver vibrates through me as his fingers toy with the short hairs there.
“I see the way you look at me, Jamie Durand.” Cooper’s blue eyes shine, despite the room being dim and hazy. We sway to the music, completely out of sync with the beat but transported into a song of our own.
“And how do I look at you, Cooper Carrington?”
His smile is wide. The rosy pink of his cheeks darkens and lines appear on either side of his eyes as his forehead comes to press against mine. Though he’s slimmer than I am - lean and lithe with soft angles compared to my more athletic build - we’re a similar height, so in this position we’re nose to nose.
“Like you want to kiss me,” he whispers. The feel of his breath on me tingles and I lick my lips so that my tongue brushes against both of us. Cooper’s breath hitches and he steps closer until our chests meet and I am sure he can feel the boom boom of my heart calling out to his.
“If I said I do, what would you say?” His leg slides between mine and I can feel the outline of his half-hard cock. I circle my hips so he can feel the effect he’s having on me, my own cock alive and awake and very interested in the man pressed flush against me.
“I'd ask what's taking you so long.”
This can’t be real, I think to myself before I close the gap, slanting my lips over his and kissing him with every part of me. Nothing has ever felt as powerful, as life-affirming, as fucking magical as this kiss. If I was head over heels for the guy before, I have no chance of ever standing on my own two feet again.
Everything around us fades away as his tongue demands entrance and I let him take control, let him show me what he likes and what he wants. Cooper groans, deep and primal, and I feel it rumble through me. Moving my hands from his waist to the small of his back and then up to his neck, I tip his head, changing the angle and deepening the kiss. We devour each other, neither one willing to take a break even as my lungs sing for air.
“I want to leave now,” a raspy, petulant voice says from my side and the world once again comes into focus as Cooper breaks away, dropping his hands and taking a step away from me. Turning, I find a pissed off Caiden next to us, his usual scowl directed at me.
“Take a cab,” I suggest, my one hand reaching up to lay on the small of Cooper’s back. He’s unleashed me now, and I have no intention of reigning in how I feel about him. Cooper leans into my touch but doesn’t say anything as his twin squares up to me.
“No, I want to go home with my brother.” Caiden sways on his feet and I reach for him, gripping his upper arm. “Get your hands off me! I don’t need your help,” he barks, the last word slurring as he tries to stand up straight. “ We don’t need you Jamie, you’re not our brother. You’re nothing to us.”
Cooper pushes Caiden’s shoulder and he stumbles backwards. “That’s enough, Caiden. Don’t be so fucking rude.” It’s the second time tonight that I’ve seen Cooper angry at his brother and by the way Caiden’s eyes widen and his head drops, it’s not something that happens often.
With one hand pressed to Caiden’s chest, Cooper turns to me and places a warm hand on my cheek. “I’m sorry, he’s obviously drunker then I realised. Can we call it a night? Get him home and then maybe we can meet for lunch tomorrow?”
Turning my head, I kiss the palm of his hand then nod. All the while, Caiden shoots daggers my way before wrapping his arm around his twin’s shoulder and pulling him into a hug.
I have no intention of coming between the two of them, but I’m also not going to let Caiden’s bad attitude and childish behaviour ruin something that has the potential to change our entire lives.