Chapter Twenty-Three
ALICE
Ibolted to my feet, not sure where I was going to run, when I glanced through the front windows and saw Pete emerge from a familiar gray sedan. He came through the door bearing a brown paper sack, Kristi behind him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, staring at him in shock. “It has to be a six-hour drive from D.C.”
Pete enfolded me in a hug, the paper sack crinkling between us, my mouth watering at the scent of grease and salt.
“Seven, but who’s counting? We stopped in town for lunch. Kristi figured there wouldn't be any food here.”
I buried my face in his shoulder. Pete handed the bag to Kristi and closed his arms around me, ruffling my hair. Like everyone else in the world, Pete was much taller than me, though not as tall as Cooper.
He’d settled into his thirties with a few extra pounds gently rounding his midsection and a set of very appealing laugh lines around his mouth. He worked hard, played hard, and loved his wife the hardest.
“Pete,” I said in a watery warble, “you shouldn’t have come. It’s too far. You’re crazy.”
“Are you kidding?” He hugged me tighter.
“When was the last time you asked for help, Allie? Never. You take care of everyone. Those ungrateful assholes you work for. Your friends. Hell, you pitch in for Mom and Dad and the rest of us when you come up for the weekend. If things are bad enough that you call me at midnight, you think I’m not going to make sure you’re okay? ”
“You shouldn’t have driven all this way with Kristi pregnant,” I protested, grateful they’d done it anyway.
Kristi came over to pry me away from Pete for her own hug, her pregnant belly pressing into me as her arms squeezed me tight. “Oh, please. Like you wouldn’t have done the same for us in a heartbeat.”
She had me there. If Pete or Kristi had called me with a problem in the middle of the night I would have sped to their sides the second I could.
Setting the paper sack on the table, Pete said, “Let’s eat and you can tell us what’s going on.”
Over piping hot subs and fries, I spilled the details. When I got to the part at the wedding, Pete’s affable expression was replaced with something dark and forbidding. He swore under his breath, pushing away from the table to pace into the kitchen.
Giving her husband a sideways glance, Kristi took advantage of his absence to lean across the table. “He’s amazing in bed, right? He has to be because there's no way you’d screw around with your boss unless you had a really good reason.”
Giving my brother a sideways glance to make sure he was out of earshot, I whispered back, “He’s beyond amazing. Cooper is—” His name caught in my throat, and I couldn't finish. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to be honest.
“It would be easier if it was just that. But it's more.”
If it hadn’t been more I never would have touched Cooper in the first place. If it hadn't been more this wouldn't hurt so much.
Kristi leveled a worried look on me, tucking a lock of straight brown hair behind her ear. “I saw a picture of him when he was dating that drummer. He’s smokin’ hot, babe, but he’s a little scary. Intense. Did you take off because you needed space to think or because you’re afraid of him?”
Afraid of Cooper? Never.
Afraid of getting my heart broken? Of falling for him and then having to leave my job, my home, when he moved on? Absolutely.
Afraid of Cooper? No way.
Before I could reassure her, Pete came back to the table. “I’m taking you home. I never liked you working for those guys. They’re dangerous. They think they’re above the law. Come back to D.C. and stay with us while you get settled. Forget about the Sinclairs and Atlanta. You need a fresh start.”
I stared at Pete, dumbfounded. My job isn’t dangerous. I spend all day at a desk. Then again, considering Tsepov and whatever Maxwell was mixed up in, Pete might have a point. That didn’t mean I wanted to leave.
Even if I did, Cooper would never let me go. Not like this, walking out without a word. No matter what he’d believed about me, I couldn’t do that to him.
“Pete,” I said gently, “I can’t leave Sinclair Security.”
“Why the hell not? You don’t owe them anything. They let their father lie about you, their mother treat you like shit, and now this thing with your boss. You deserve better.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I did deserve better than Maxwell’s lies and Lacey’s slurs.
But did I deserve better than Cooper?
Was there anyone better than Cooper?
You know there isn’t, my traitorous heart whispered, No one is better than Cooper.
“I can’t just quit,” I protested.
“Why not?” Pete threw back.
I thought about Cooper’s icy stare. “Cooper won’t let me leave,” I said without thinking.
“You’re here, aren’t you? He doesn’t own you, and I can’t believe you’re okay with him controlling you like that.”
“He’s not controlling me.” Pete didn’t get it and I wasn’t sure how to explain. “I don’t know that I want to leave, I just needed some time to think.”
“Then come home with us and we’ll stash you someplace more secure. Somewhere you can be alone until you figure out what you want.”
“Pete, there isn’t anywhere I can go that Cooper won’t find me.”
Pete leaned across the table and took my hands in his. “Do you not hear how creepy that sounds, honey?”
“It’s not like that.” I pulled my hands back and wrapped my arms around my chest, unsettled.
It wasn’t like that. Cooper wasn’t the villain here.
I was mad at him, sure. Angry. Embarrassed. Humiliated. But that didn’t make him the bad guy. I was fine with Maxwell and Lacey being the bad guys, but not Cooper.
“Pete,” I said softly, trying to make him push aside his big-brother protectiveness and listen, “I didn’t run because I’m scared of Cooper. Cooper would never hurt me, never let anything hurt me.”
“Except his family. He stood by and let them hurt you.”
I bit my lip to hold back the instinctive protest. Pete wasn’t wrong. Maxwell and Lacey had hurt me. Badly. By believing them, so had Cooper.
Sensing his advantage, Pete pressed on. “If you’re not scared of him, why are you hiding? Why the subterfuge to get away?”
“Because she’s hurt and embarrassed, you sweet idiot,” Kristi cut in. Pete tried to be annoyed at her interruption, but his eyes went soft when they fell on his wife. She reached out to take his hand, squeezing his fingers.
Sending me a look, she asked, “Am I right? You’re not done with him. And you don’t want him to be done with you. You just need some time alone. And Cooper Sinclair is way too used to being in charge to give it to you.”
I smiled gratefully at my sister-in-law. “Yeah. Pretty much. And I’m not sure I can face going back to work, knowing what everyone thinks of me.”
“Which is why you should come home with us,” Pete said again. “If you’re so sure Sinclair will come after you, make him follow you home. He can deal with you on your turf.”
I could do that, but… Pete’s words didn’t fit. D.C. hadn’t been home for a long time.
Atlanta was home.
Cooper was home.
Well, shit. Was there any way I could go back to Atlanta and not have to face everyone at work? Just the thought of looking them all in the eye, knowing they thought I’d been with Maxwell, made me sick.
“Alice,” Pete grumbled, “I've half a mind to go down there and tell him to leave you the hell alone.”
“No, Pete, don't do that.”
I love my big brother. He's the best, and he’s not weak, but Cooper is a head taller and solid muscle.
Pete hadn't seen a push-up in a few years.
If he and Cooper got in a fight, I had no illusions about who would win.
It would be over before I could blink, my teddy bear of a big brother face-down on the floor.
To his credit, Pete didn’t insist he could handle Cooper. “Alice, I’m not going to let him walk all over you. You put up with enough from Steve. If you want this guy, fine, but don’t let him get away with this shit.”
The outrage went out of me and I sank back into my chair, deflated. “I know. I’m so pissed at him. How could he have thought I cheated on my husband? And with his father? His father?! Maxwell was such a man-whore! Not that I would have cheated, but at the least, I would have had better taste!”
A growling rumble of frustration erupted from my throat and I glared at the scarred top of the kitchen table.
Every time I thought I was moving past it, I remembered Cooper telling me he forgave me.
Forgave me! Like I was the one who needed forgiveness in this clusterfuck of a situation.
He should be begging me for forgiveness. They all should.
Clearly, one day away was not enough time for me to calm down and get my head straight. In the midst of this whole mess, that was the only thing I knew for sure. I was still too turned upside down to make any decisions.
“What do you want to do?” Kristi asked gently.
“I don't know,” I said on a moan of sheer frustration. “I’m still too mad to think. Is it okay if I stay here for a few days?”
“Of course, you can,” she said immediately. “The place isn’t booked until Friday, so you’ve got some time.”
I nodded, tracing one finger over a gouge in the tabletop.
“Are you going to go back to work?” Kristi prompted.
Just the thought of it had a voice in my head shouting a vehement, No freaking way. I pictured myself walking through the door, everyone's eyes on me, knowing they thought I'd slept with Maxwell, that he’d hired me because I’d been in his bed—
No freaking way.
But what did that mean? Was I going to leave Sinclair Security? Walk away from my job? From Cooper?
An equally strong voice from my heart said, No. Not from Cooper. Never from Cooper.
Being with Cooper was— I pressed my palms into my closed eyelids until my vision exploded in white stars, trying to settle my thoughts.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to stay.
I never wanted to see anyone from work again.
I wanted Cooper.
I wanted to go home.
And I was pissed as hell at Lacey and Maxwell and Cooper for putting me in this horrible situation at first place.
I was in no state to make any decisions.
I didn't know anything else, but I did know that.
Kristi shoved the sub and fries in front of me. “Eat. Stop thinking so hard. You can stay here until you settle a little. You don't need to figure it out right now.”
Pete let out a sigh of defeat, reaching for the plastic-wrapped cookie Kristi slid across the table at him. “Thanks, honey.”
He took a bite and chewed, thinking, before he said, “We’ll take the rental with us.
Knowing this guy, he’ll find you before you’re ready to leave anyway.
If he doesn’t, we’ll get you home. If we leave the car, it’ll be too easy for him to trace the car to the cabin once they figure out how you got out of Atlanta. ”
“Thanks, Pete. I owe you guys, big time.”
“You can make it up to us in babysitting.”
Kristi nudged my shoulder. “Do you mind if we hang around until tomorrow? Get in some lake time, let Pete drop a line in the water?”
“Of course not. This is your place, and you drove all the way here.”
My eyes got wet at the thought that these two people had dropped their plans and hauled themselves on a seven-hour drive just to make sure I was okay. Whatever else was messed up in my life, I was lucky to be so loved.
Kristi bumped her shoulder into mine again, an affectionate smile on her pretty face. “Don’t get all weepy on me, Allie. I’ll start thinking we have an invasion of the body snatchers thing going on.”
I couldn’t help it, giving her a watery smile, my bruised heart aching with love. Slinging an arm around her shoulder, I hugged her close. “I’m so glad my brother married you.”
Kristi leaned her head against mine. “Me too, babe, me too.”