Chapter 9
Cooper
Isnapped the laptop closed, unable to stare at another word of my father’s latest email.
“Ouch,” Evangeline’s voice, quiet and unexpected from the open doorway, startled me.
“Sorry,” I offered, trying to wipe away the anger with a shake of my head. “Come in.”
I’d been in my home office for hours, trying my best to sort what I could before she headed in for her first day tomorrow - but the email left me with little focus.
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not even a little bit,” I inhaled deeply, cracking my knuckles.
“But it involves you, so you deserve to know.” Nothing pushed me towards infuriation quicker than my parents and their fucking meddling.
They’d been doing it since I was a child.
Their incessant need to control my life was as expected as the lengthy silences which followed whenever I dared speak my mind.
You’d think I would know how to manage it by now, only I’d inherited my mother’s stubbornness and my father’s drive and with that came an insurmountable need to rebel. If they wanted something from me, I did the opposite. It was stupid, yes, but it was also instinctual.
And in turn, they did their best to sabotage me, umpiring from afar, until they got their end game – the prodigal son to get married to a nice girl from an approved family, sell Golden Spades and take over Dane’s Real Estate.
Not a fucking chance.
I’d rather shit in my hands and clap than do either of those things.
“Involves me how?” She asked tentatively, those black glasses highlighting the little smattering of freckles across her cheeks.
“My father just emailed to remind me they were coming over in a couple of weeks and asked if they could bring their friends Maxine and Jim.”
“He emailed you?” She asked – her frown an appropriate response to the fucked-up relationship my parents and I shared.
“Yep, and he doesn’t even send them. His assistant does,” I added. “And it’s a few weeks away, why the fuck is he already riling me up?”
“Right.” She nodded. “Apart from the fourteen obvious things, what’s the issue?
” She swept a stray curl from where it had fallen across her face.
Her hair was up today, gathered and pinned with what looked like a chopstick.
How this woman grew up to be so beautiful - even with chopsticks holding that wild mass of curls atop her head - was beyond me.
“Maxine and Jim are Samantha’s parents, which means they want to bring her too.
Even though I’ve told them I’m both fucking seeing someone and that someone is living with me.
I said no, of course.” I added as an afterthought, my fingers tapping relentlessly against the woodgrain of the table as the frustration pushed for the surface.
I knew what they were like, and I could barely hold it together when I saw them.
I wouldn’t let them tarnish her too, not only because Sebastian had warned me about this very thing either.
Evangeline portrayed a brave exterior, and she wore that persona well, but she was all bark no bite.
I’d seen that plenty of times over the years and wasn’t about to unnecessarily throw her into the lion’s den.
She came around to sit on the desk in front of me, her feet swaying under the table as though she hadn't a care in the world, while I was thinking of ways to shield her from the wolves in sheep's clothing.
“Maybe once they see us together, they’ll back off. Although, we’re probably going to need to discuss how that looks.” She grimaced exaggeratedly, reluctantly pulling a grin from me.
She’d done her best to make me think she was entirely unfazed, happy to go along with the proposition as if it would be neither here nor there, but the truth was it would make her uncomfortable because it was a situation she couldn’t prepare for or control.
“How do you think it should look?” I asked, wanting to hear her take on pretending but more because I had no fucking idea what to do.
“Full disclosure, I’ve had two boyfriends, both of which lasted less than six months and I didn’t really like either of them.” She frowned, as if the memories genuinely irked her, and I couldn’t help it. Her look of dismay was so dramatic, I barked a laugh.
“Their loss is my gain,” I replied smugly.
“What about you, how many partners have you had? Seb says you’re terrified of commitment,” she said with a shrug, and I leaned back in my chair, my hands joining over my bare stomach.
“Seb says a lot of things,” I deflected, not needing to open that suitcase of bullshit right now, and she laughed.
“How do you think we should act?” I asked again, catching the ways her eyes quickly glanced down to my chest, and I liked it more than I should.
There were going to be benefits to preferring not to wear a shirt if she was going to keep looking at me like that.
“They’re your parents, Coop. I can’t imagine a real couple would be overly physical in front of their parents.
Besides, the only couples I’ve seen recently are my brother and Marlee, Andy and Arna and Jack and Winter and all of them spend more time with their tongues in each other’s mouths than talking to the people they’re with. ”
“Sounds good to me,” I joked easily, finding I’d smiled more in the last week than I had over the previous year.
“I don’t know. I’m not big on the whole PDA so it would be unnatural for me to have my way with you.” Dragging out the words in a mock-seductive tone, she was as naive as she was cute.
“Well, as you’ve probably been reminded, I’m a hugger. Parents or not. So, I’ll be pretty handsy,” I admitted, enjoying the way she openly rolled her eyes. Hugging her was nothing new, only now, she wasn’t a little kid anymore. Her body made that perfectly clear. And God help me, didn’t I know it.
“Of course your love language is physical touch when mine is to be as far from people as possible.” She whined and a surprised chuckle tumbled out of me.
“I’ll do my best to keep it to a minimum and they won’t stay longer than an hour, trust me. They’re only coming to make sure you’re really here.”
“Let’s do it right the first time then so they don’t come back. Because if they’re rude, I can only bite my tongue for so long.” This came as no surprise. She had the same Micallef fire her brother held and while it came with a lengthy fuse, once that tempered flame ignited, it was an explosion.
“Maybe it’s too soon,” I pondered aloud.
She’d only just agreed to the farce. How could we appear convincing when we were still skirting around what would and wouldn’t be okay?
I rubbed a hand down my face, groaning into my palm as I thought about how intrusive they both could be.
And if they got a whiff that this was a charade, it would be so much worse.
Perhaps only seeing them at the charity event would be best. It would be better for my mental health, that’s for sure.
“What should I expect from them?” Her voice was softer, the gentle touch of her fingers against my wrist as comforting as it was shocking. For a second, we both stared at the gesture, the warmth of her touch gone just as fast when she realised what she’d done.
“They’ll be abrasive and ask a lot of questions,” I answered honestly. “And any kindness comes with a price tag. Keep your guard up.” The truth of my words was still painful, even after all these years.
“Perfect. I love questions,” she said with forced gusto.
“I’m the woman for the job.” She added proudly, hopping off the table to stand next to me.
Even question loving Evy was no match for the intrusiveness of Portia Dane.
And that was what worried me most. I could handle my parents, and I’d mastered the art of indifference long ago, but I’d never needed to protect someone else from their bullshit.
Masking was easier when you were only worrying about yourself.
Evangeline didn’t deserve their gaslighting yet here I was, selfishly bringing her into a crucible.
Maybe I should just tell them the truth? We’d played this game for so long, always staying one step ahead and dodging their traps. But now I was raising the stakes. I was adding a new player and for once, I’d have a teammate, and the playing field was even.
“What are you thinking?” Her question brought me back to the room where she’d moved a little closer, my own hands now gripping her wrists. The gesture had happened naturally, the anxiety and worry around a simple afternoon visit proving as stressful as it always did.
“I’m thinking, maybe we should practice while it’s just the two of us. Want to make out?” I waggled my brows teasingly, enjoying the slight flush of her cheeks too much.
“You wish,” she replied, but her quick glance up to the roof was a dead giveaway I’d taken her by surprise.
“What about if you just sit on my lap?” I tried, tugging her hands a little towards me, suddenly feeling desperate to practice.
“You aren’t even wearing a shirt. Absolutely not,” she said, but her lips twitched a little.
“Do you remember how you’d curl yourself around me when we watched movies, forcing me to keep you warm,” I mumbled, thinking about the nights she, Seb and I would sit in front of the TV. Seb on his usual armchair but Eva and I were entangled like pretzels.
“That was twenty years ago.”
“I bet it would feel the same,” I said quietly, wondering now if I was still joking.
I wasn’t even sure she’d heard until she whispered that she always slept better on the nights we spent together.
“I promise to behave,” I quipped, the lie falling easily from my lips, desperate to cut through the moment. Teasing was light. Safe. But the second things got personal - that’s when it stopped being a charade - and I couldn’t let it go there.