Chapter Ten – Coop
After Vick drove them to the garage, they unloaded Rick’s boxes, working up a little sweat. Coop wanted to take a shower and grab food, and maybe get Vick to buzz off so he could spend some quality time with his man. “So, what’s next, Rick? Is this everything?”
“Yeah. Uh, that’s it.”
Coop felt weird and exhilarated seeing all of their stuff mingling together.
The garage was the closest thing he had to a permanent home, for the most part.
He’d moved all his stuff here from his folks’ place in Savannah not too long ago, but Vick’s family lived here and let him use the garage as much as he wanted.
Hell, they were his second family. But maybe that could change soon.
Maybe they could get a place together, him and Rick.
That was going way too fast. There was too much in front of them for now.
Like camp for Coop and school for Rick. Although they would both be in Georgia for that, they would still be pretty far apart.
And then they also had that pinning thingy coming up. Coop had to get through that and still have Rick speaking to him afterward. He was going to screw it up—somehow, someway. It was inevitable because it was so far outside of his comfort zone, it was ridiculous.
Before getting worked up about all of that, he should start slower. “So? Food?”
“I could eat,” Vick squeaked, and Coop glared at his friend.
“Good. Go eat.”
“Oh!” The lightbulb going off in Vick’s head was practically visible.
“You mean…” He pointed to Rick and then to Coop.
“Not…” He made some kind of X thing over his chest. “Right. Oh! Hey. Here.” He flipped his keys to Coop.
“Take the truck. I’m just going…” He thumbed over his shoulder toward the big house on the other side of the garage, where Vick and his family lived.
It was a short walk from the garage, one they’d made together a million times.
“Thanks, Vick.” Coop gave him the old bro-hug, shoulder slap thing.
“Sure, sure. See ya later, Rick.” He waved.
“Thanks again for your help.” Rick was always so polite. Coop could appreciate that, especially when what he really wanted to do was shove Vick out the door.
But it didn’t take another minute for Vick to take off, leaving them alone in the garage. “So, yeah? Food? Or…”
Rick closed the distance between them with his long strides and got up in Coop’s face.
“Food, yes. But first…” He leaned forward and kissed Coop.
A not-so-gentle press of lips, followed by a demanding tongue that had Coop opening to him immediately.
Warm, and slightly sweet, the best delicacy in the world, and Coop couldn’t get enough.
He wrapped his arms around Rick’s back and pulled him until their bodies were pressed tightly together.
“Been waiting for this since you showed up.”
“Yeah? Well, guess what? Me too.” Coop dove in for another round. He’d happily live off of Rick’s kisses for the rest of his life. When had he become such a kissy-face kind of guy? Oh yeah…Rick grabbed his ass and squeezed. Since Rick entered his life. “I’m glad we met.”
“Me too.”
Coop had the urge to taste more of Rick, starting with his neck. He licked and sucked, then tugged on his shirt to expose more skin. Rick didn’t hesitate to pull it over his head, giving Coop more room to explore. He placed open-mouth kisses down his shoulder.
“You too. I want to feel you.” Rick pulled back long enough for Coop to toss his shirt off, and then they came together again, chest to chest, hands touching every bit of skin they could reach. And Coop couldn’t keep his mouth off of him. “I’m sweaty,” Rick protested.
“Don’t care. Tastes good.” He flicked his tongue over Rick’s nipple, then mouthed lower. He stuck his fingers in the front of Rick’s jeans. “Can I?”
“Mmm…yes, please.”
Exactly what Coop wanted to hear. He unbuttoned and unzipped and yanked denim down Rick’s hips, snagging his briefs with them, exposing Rick’s cock.
And what a beautiful sight. Coop dropped to his knees, not giving one damn about the concrete floor, and licked the head before sucking it into his mouth like a lollipop.
Rick moaned and plunged his fingers through Coop’s hair, grabbing and massaging.
The connection went right through Coop’s nervous system, practically making him vibrate.
Rick’s sounds joined Coop’s slurping, creating their own soundtrack.
It didn’t take long before Rick was panting, “Now, now…Coop!” When he exploded down Coop’s throat, everything felt right in the world.
Coop could do this forever. He sat back on his heels and looked up at Rick.
“I missed you, Rick.”
“Me too…”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Cooper was going to be late. He couldn’t get the damn tie adjusted correctly. It was bad enough he had to wear a jacket and dress slacks, but the tie? Fuck.
“Here, dip shit.” Vick stepped up and fixed it. They were in his bedroom. “There. Now you need to go.” Vick looked at his watch. “Also, you look fantastic. Rick’s gonna drool all over you.”
Coop flipped him off and started down the hall, then stopped and turned back. He ran in and grabbed Vick. “Thanks, man.”
“Anytime, bro. Now get.”
Get he did. He pulled into the parking lot and made his way into the auditorium, finding Rick was a bit of a challenge. A lot was going on as family and friends of all the students got ready. Coop complained to Rick that he didn’t know what he was doing. “You sure about this?”
Rick nodded, his big brown eyes sparkling. “Can’t think of anyone better.”
“Okay. Since I like you so much. By the way…” Coop leaned close and whispered in Rick’s ear, “You are so hot in that uniform.”
“You are not so bad yourself.” He ran his hand down Coop’s tie. “Now let’s walk through what you have to do.”
Finally, a few minutes later, Coop sat in the audience with the other guests while Rick was on stage with his classmates—fellow graduates?
Coop wasn’t sure what to call them. So many uniforms. Rick looked fantastic in his.
The best looking one, if Coop did say so, and that included the silver foxes in uniform in the audience, who were mostly related to Drew.
Go figure. But Coop was a bit biased, and he also didn’t care.
One of the older uniforms stepped up to the mic.
“Ladies and gentlemen, cadets, please stand for the presentation of the colors and the singing of our national anthem.” Cooper stood along with everyone else and watched as four young men, also in uniform, walked toward the stage holding the flags.
The young lady sang the national anthem, and Coop couldn’t help humming along a little.
All of this felt very regal and patriotic, warming Coop’s chest. He was so proud of Rick.
Afterward, someone said a prayer. Before he thought much about it, someone introduced the speaker, who was apparently related to Drew.
He mentioned the whole family with an impressive two hundred years of service between them.
Coop’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at that number.
When the guy put it that way, it was a heavy accomplishment.
Wow. Drew had a lot to live up to. Coop couldn’t help but respect the guy and where he came from.
And he was Rick’s best friend. Coop felt honored to know him.
Then, the actual speaker was announced. Major Tristan Nolan-Luna.
His bio was in the program, and Coop took a second to glance over it.
His awards and decorations made a significant list on the paper.
The major started speaking, giving Coop a better idea of what Rick and Drew’s life had been like with marches, drills, and skills challenges.
Coop wondered how Rick had done with all of that, since he hadn’t known him that long.
He only saw the finished product, not what went into it.
The speaker talked about other things that were over Coop’s head, but then he mentioned leadership and NCOs and had to pause when a chorus of “hooahs” echoed through the auditorium.
And what was that about? Then he mentioned career, family and bringing a partner into their military world.
Was Rick bringing Coop into his military world?
And what did Coop actually think about that?
Could he be a military husband? Racing was never going to last. Most racers retired at thirty, the rest by thirty-five, if they didn’t crash out earlier and end their career short.
That was what Coop had in store for him.
Arenacross was not a long career. And what the hell was he going to do after that?
Follow Rick around the world? Oddly, his answer was yes.
He never thought that kind of thing would be appealing, but if it was with Rick. He could do it.
He missed the rest of the speech, caught up in his head, until the speaker walked over to Drew and hugged him tight. Family. That hadn’t been a priority for Coop. He tended to distance himself from his and maybe took Vick’s for granted. Sometimes. His priorities may need realignment.
“Cadets, please stand and raise your right hand to swear your officer oath,” someone announced, and all of them stood.
The man led them through an oath, stating their names and pledging to defend the Constitution and some other stuff.
It felt serious, poignant. “Please be seated until your name is called for your family to pin your lieutenant’s bars on.
” That would be his cue. Some of Drew’s family helped Rick walk Coop through what to do before the ceremony started, but he was entirely too nervous and afraid he’d drop the pin.
Then a bunch of Drew’s family did the salute thing.
It was more formal than Coop was used to, but he would have to get used to this kind of thing if he stayed with Rick.
It was a bit scary when Drew’s people walked up to the stage like they owned it and everyone on it.
They were covered with military decorations that Coop couldn’t even guess at what any of them meant.
Then they started calling cadets. Coop only knew Drew and Rick.
A pretty girl who looked a lot like Drew did his pin, and Coop guessed it was his sister or a close cousin.
He had entirely too much family. Since his grandfather passed, Coop only had his mom and dad until he met Vick.
Vick had an older brother who was too much older than them to count.
It had only been Vick and him. He didn’t know any of his aunts and uncles, not that he had many, but they weren’t a close family.
Drew, on the other hand, had a big and close family.
It made him wonder more about Rick and his background.
And more importantly, what he wanted for the future.
Finally, they got to the S’s, and the name “Cadet Richard Stanton.” Time to do his thing.
He took a deep breath and walked to the stage.
He pinned the rank like he had been shown.
“I’m so proud of you,” he said quietly. Rick smiled like Coop had given him a million dollars rather than a pin he had earned.
But it was everything. Coop stepped to the side as the others before him had done, and one of the Drew-squad stepped and saluted Rick.
The rest of the cadets were called one by one, and then the craziest thing happened.
A pregnant woman who looked like she was about to pop walked up on stage to pin someone and as the Drew-squad did their salute, her water broke.
Coop’s jaw dropped. Chaos broke loose. He quickly guessed the woman was one of Drew’s family.
Unbelievable. That guy’s life had to be insane.