5. Chapter 5
Chapter five
Sutton
H ours later, the house is almost clean, and the fresh scent of Pine-Sol fills the air instead of body odor and bodily fluids.
My back aches from all the bending and scrubbing. I’m dying to take a bath, but both tubs are currently undergoing a bleaching of the century, and I can’t even step foot into either bathroom without goggles or my eyes burn. So a bath is out of the question.
Cooper is working on hosing down the backyard and salvaging as many of my gnomes as he can.
A door slams, startling me, and I drop my mop. With a huff, I bend over to pick it up, but when I stand, I come face-to-face with Dillon.
“Let’s stop playing whatever game this is,” he demands, moving closer.
“I’m not playing a game.”
He dips his head, trailing his nose along the column of my neck in a motion that used to set me on fire.
Now it makes my skin crawl.
Backed against the wall, I’m completely trapped by the man I once thought could be the one .
I’m not scared of Dillon.
Not really.
He’s never been violent.
Verbally idiotic? Yes.
But I’ve always given it back to him as good as he gave it.
It’s comical now that I’ve ended the relationship just how open my eyes are to the shit show that was us.
We were toxic.
Constantly fighting over everything.
The only thing we had going for us was our sexual relationship, and even that had been strained in the end.
So to have me pinned against the wall, rubbing up against me, trying to tempt me, is laughable.
It also makes me want to cry. Not out of embarrassment for him. But for myself. How could I have been with someone like this? Worse, how could I think marrying him was a good idea? I hate that I ever thought he was what I deserved.
And I hate that a small part of me still craves the chaos from our relationship.
God, my brain is the worst.
“You know you still want me.” He trails his fingers up my arm and across my chest.
My breathing is erratic. Not from lust or temptation. But from anger. This man has done nothing but insult me, calling me every nasty name in the book since I called things off. He has proven to be a cheater and a liar. And he still thinks putting the moves on me is going to work?
As fucking if.
No, I’m pissed.
Like, about-to-kick-him-in-the-balls pissed.
So pissed the man would probably never have kids, pissed.
I turn my head away, looking out the window to the backyard. Maybe if I ignore his grabby hands, he will tire out and leave.
I don’t have time to test that theory, though, because the front door bursts open and slams against the drywall, possibly even denting it.
“Get the hell off her.” Cooper’s deep voice cuts through the room as he storms over to where I’m flat against the wall. He yanks Dillon off me and tosses him to the side like he weighs nothing.
And hot damn if I’m not turned on by it.
He did it so effortlessly, it has me wondering what else he could do with that amount of ease.
Maybe toss me about in the bedroom.
I bet he could switch positions without slipping out with the grace of a porn star.
Damn it, Sutton. No . Stop thinking about Cooper that way.
It’s Cooper .
The stupidly tall guy who shot you down the first time you met him.
Cooper Shaw, the same guy who makes fun of your favorite movies. The same man whose arms are looking mighty strong all of a sudden.
Oh fudge .
“You okay?” he asks me, stooping a little to look me in the eyes.
I blink away all lusty thoughts of him. “Yeah, Dillon was just—”
“Being a douche? Yeah, I could tell.”
A smile tugs at my downturned lips. “Does he know how to be anything but?”
“Nah, it’s his only setting.”
Dillon scoffs, interrupting our fun. “You two are assholes. You know that?”
“Sure we are, douche.” Cooper rolls his eyes and pulls me into his side as he spins to face the man who has outstayed his welcome.
Dillon’s anger flashes across his face for a second as he stares at where Coop is holding me, but then he schools his expression into a mask of indifference. “You should know, Cooper, our girlfriend here was looking mighty thirsty moments ago… For me.”
“Ew,” I scoff.
“It’s true,” he continues on, “She was practically begging me to screw her.”
I grind my teeth together. That slimy, lying piece of shit .
“Oh really? Is that why she looked like she was about to throw up as you had her trapped against a wall?”
“She wasn’t trapped…”
“Make her feel uncomfortable like that again and I will break your arm.”
I wrap my arm around Cooper’s middle, grasping his shirt in my hands. He doesn’t have to do this. In fact, I don’t want him to do this.
“Coop, it’s fine. Dillon was just about to leave, for good. Weren’t you, Dillon?”
“Nah,” Dillon replies.
“Yes you are. I want you to leave. Cooper wants you gone. No one wants you here.”
“Well, that’s too fucking bad for you and your new boy toy, Sutton, because I’m not leaving.”
“Yes. Yes you fucking are.”
Shaking his head, he laughs.
This dirty, two-timing son of a bitch has the nerve to laugh in my face.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“I’ll call the police.”
“Try it, baby.”
What the hell is going on here ? Why would he encourage me to do something that might actually affect him? I eye him suspiciously.
Picking up my phone, he clears his throat.
“Oh, and don’t forget to tell them whose name is on the lease. Or should I say names ?”
My heart drops.
No. No. No.
How could I have been so stupid? How could I forget that I added this motherfucker to the lease two months ago?
A slimy smile pulls at his lips as he watches the realization dawn on me. “Oh, did you forget that I am legally allowed to live here?”
“I’ll break the lease.”
“You do that.” He winks.
Anger zapping through my veins, I storm out of the room and call my landlord. It shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve been renting this house for almost five years now. I never call and complain. I never ask him to do anything for me. I keep the place tidy and pay my rent on time every month. I am the perfect tenant. So imagine my surprise when he says, “Sure, but it will be five thousand dollars, and you will be forfeiting your security deposit.”
It’s a goddamn highway robbery.
I try to reason with him and explain that I don’t have that kind of money.
But he doesn’t care, saying it’s just business, and it’s up to me how badly I want my ex to leave.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
There has to be some way to get this asshole out. Because I’m sure as shit not going to pay that ungodly amount.
My brain practically comes to a screeching stop.
Cooper .
It could work.
No, he’ll never agree to it… But if he did…
Dillon hates Cooper. It’s perfect. He’ll never want to stay if Cooper is around.
Walking back into the kitchen, I find Cooper and Dillon sitting across from each other, giving the death stare. The tension between them is as heavy as usual, but this time, it feels different.
My little lie about being with Cooper has worked, and he’s going along with it at the moment. So here goes nothing.
Dillon turns to me. “So how did that go?”
I hold my tongue but aim a hostile glare his way.
He snorts. “That bad? Looks like you’re stuck with me, Sut.”
“Get the hell out of her house.”
“You need to mind your own business,” he snaps at Cooper before turning to face me. “And no, I don’t think I will.” He stands, scraping his chair against the hardwood floors before grabbing yet another beer from the fridge and stalking off into the garage.
Not even a minute later, the sound of his guitar fills the house as he strums the tune of my least favorite songs of his.
Cooper flinches at the noise. “How in the hell did you put up with shitty music?”
“Honestly?” I shrug. “I have no idea.”
“At least now you don’t have to pretend to like it anymore,” he offers with a smile.
“One upside.”
I slump into the chair Dillon just vacated. “Ugh,” I groan. “This situation is a nightmare.”
“What did the landlord say?”
“Basically that I’m shit out of luck unless I want to pay him an obscene amount of cash and leave altogether.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“I know.”
“So what’s the plan?”
I peek up at him from under my lashes to find him staring at me intently. “For you”—I point at him—“to move in with me”—I turn my finger at my chest—“and pretend to be my boyfriend to scare him off,” I rush out.
“Come again?”