Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
COOPER
For a second, I try to figure out how Ellery knows. She’s got that pissed-off look that’s usually associated with Dr. Murphy. But today it’s aimed right at me.
“We need to talk.” She walks right by me into my apartment. “And put a shirt on.”
I grab a T-shirt from my bedroom drawer and throw it on, finding her pacing in front of my television. I pick up the remote and turn off the morning show I was watching.
“What’s wrong?”
She stares at my hand, and I know for sure that she knows what happened last night. I haven’t even looked on my phone yet to see if any videos have turned up.
Miles and Damon lectured me the entire ride back to the hotel. Thankfully, most people slept on the plane ride back this morning, so no one said anything, but I’d be naive to think there isn’t footage out there somewhere showing me punching a teammate.
“Seriously? You’re going to play stupid?” She stops pacing and crosses her arms. She’s wearing yoga pants and a long-sleeve shirt with a puffy vest over it.
“I hit him.” I spread my arms out as if I were asking if that’s what she wanted to hear.
She balks, and her jaw hangs open as she stares at me. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he was all over another girl!” I’m not going to be made to feel stupid for what I did. I punched him for being a douchebag. For not knowing exactly what he has in his grip and for not cherishing her. “And he made a crude comment I didn’t appreciate.”
She squeezes the bridge of her nose and inhales deeply as if she needs to center herself. “Bradley and I aren’t exclusive.”
“So?”
“So you had no right to do what you did, and now there are videos out there. Everyone who knows us is going to assume it’s over me.
I can’t go from always being videoed and photographed as your best friend, and then I start dating one of your teammates and suddenly you end up punching him.
Do you know how humiliating this is for me? ”
I head into my kitchen to make breakfast. “Did you think I’d just sit there and watch him be all over some girl when my entire team knows he’s dating you?” I crack an egg and drop it in the bowl, throwing the shell away.
“It’s none of your business,” she says, coming to my side farther down the counter.
“And if roles were reversed?” I arch an eyebrow.
“You’re missing the point. We weren’t even boyfriend and girlfriend. I was just dating him. He was free to do what he wanted.”
I’m baffled that we’re even having this fight. She should be saying thank you, and that’s the end of it. “It doesn’t matter if he’d gone out with you once. The point is, as long as you are in his life, he shouldn’t be fucking around with someone else. He should be head over heels for you.”
Her fists tighten, and she strangles out a cry. “What aren’t you understanding? I don’t need you to be my bodyguard. I’m not sure I can ever show my face again in front of your teammates.”
“That’s a tad dramatic,” I say, continuing to crack eggs. “Let’s just eat breakfast and forget the whole thing. I have more important problems coming my way from this fight. I might get suspended from games or benched. The coach hasn’t called, but I’m waiting.”
“More important?” she asks, cocking out her hip.
Oh fuck.
I sigh. “I’m gonna be honest, Elle, I don’t understand why you’re mad.” I scramble the eggs, put some butter in a pan, and grab some veggies from the fridge.
“Because you’re a man and you feel as if you handled it the right way? You gave him a black eye.”
I stop what I’m doing and look at her. “How?”
“How what?” She paces again, her go-to when she wants to think clearly.
“How do you know he has a black eye? Is there a picture of it somewhere?”
She’s quiet for a second.
My eyes narrow on her. “You saw him before coming here?” I dump the eggs in the pan and drop the bowl into the sink. It breaks into pieces from the force.
“Because he sent me a text this morning.”
“To plead his case, Elle!”
“Yes, and he told me his side of the story at breakfast.”
I stare at her in disbelief. This is how far apart we’ve gotten. “I can’t believe you didn’t come to me. You would’ve come to me before.” I point at myself, my voice rising.
“And you wouldn’t have hit him before! You would have been the one to tell me before!”
“Because you wouldn’t have been dating him!”
“It’s none of your business!” she shouts.
I close my eyes, my jaw tight. “Stop saying that.”
“I’ve always respected the girls you hang out with,” she says.
I give her my fakest laugh ever. “I never bring them around, plus I hardly date.”
“Maybe you should. Maybe this whole best friend thing isn’t working out anymore.” She crosses her arms.
“You’re not serious.” There’s no way she is.
Her hands fly up at her sides. “You clearly can’t see how you crossed the line.”
“And you clearly can’t see why I would.”
Both of our phones ding at the same time, and we each grab them.
Bryce: Here you go. This is already live, nothing I could do.
Sure enough, it’s a clip of the fight, and Ellery’s face is at the top of the screen. The captions say she’s responsible for our fight.
“Great. Just fucking great. Damn you, Cooper!”
She walks out of my door and slams it before I can stop her.
I decide not to chase after her because she needs to calm down. I unlock my screen to see a picture of Bradley with a black eye that someone must’ve taken this morning. My head rocks back. What the hell was I thinking? I’ve always been able to deal with my emotions like an adult.
That afternoon, I go to the office for the Chicago Grizzlies because Coach Stone has called me in. I’m not surprised when I walk into the waiting area and find Bradley sitting in a chair. His black eye isn’t going to score me points with the coach.
I nod at Bradley. He’s an idiot if he thinks I’m going to apologize.
“Happy you get her all to yourself now?” Bradley snipes.
I sit as far away from him as possible. “Why did you want to date her if you wanted to fuck around on her?”
“I wasn’t fucking around on her, we weren’t a committed couple. I’m not sure what you don’t understand about that. She said she understood right before she dumped me at breakfast this morning.”
I inwardly clap for Elle. “That’s not the point. She’s my best friend.”
He scoffs.
“She is. We made a decision to just be friends a long time ago. But she’s too good for someone who can’t commit until you’re having sex with her. That’s the reason you were with that girl, right?”
His cheeks redden.
I figure I don’t need to ask any more questions, I just need to tell him where it’s at.
“Ellery is the girl you cherish as soon as she says yes to dating you. The one you court, who gets all your attention, all your effort. The one who makes you feel blessed that she wants you. The one you’ll wait forever for until she’s ready.
She’s not the one you date at the same time as five other girls. ”
“It was a hookup. Jesus, Cooper.” He rolls his eyes.
“Exactly! You shouldn’t want to fuck up things with Elle.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Go see a therapist and figure out why you can’t tell her how you feel. Why you’re so scared of starting a relationship with her because you love her more than any friend.”
Coach’s door opens before I can respond. “Get in here, you two idiots.”
We look at one another. I threw the first punch, so it’ll all be on me. I wait for him to walk in first, then I follow, shutting the door.
“Nice shiner,” Coach says, staring at me.
I bite the inside of my cheek. “I’m not apologizing.”
“Sit down.”
We both sit in the chairs across from him.
He runs his hand down his face. “This is ridiculous, you both know that, right? We’re in what could be our third season going to the championship and you jackasses pull this stunt. Do I have to remind you who we play next week?”
“No, sir,” we say in unison.
“The second-ranked team in the conference. And I wish it was up to me what happens with you two, but of course, the commissioner called me this morning.”
I didn’t think about all this before I went after Bradley.
“You’re both suspended for one game,” he says.
“I didn’t even throw a punch,” Bradley says, leaning forward.
“You know you’re part of this, and you each have ten grand in fines.” Coach Stone massages his temples. “I need to retire.” He sighs. “From now on, please tell Ellery I am forbidding her to date anyone on the Grizzlies.”
Bradley laughs. “You mean except for Cooper, right?”
“Yes, that was implied.”
I shake my head. “Are we free to go now?”
“Bradley is, but you’re staying.” He turns to Bradley. “I’ll be in touch if I hear anything more. Put some makeup on that thing or something.”
“Okay, Coach.” He rolls his eyes and leaves the room.
It’s dead silent while I wait for Coach to start in on me.
He takes his time before he speaks. “I’m no psychologist, but you can’t go apeshit every time someone hurts Ellery.”
“I would’ve done it for Bryce, but now she’s got Miles.” I don’t uncross my arms.
“With all of your ego and testosterone, I’m surprised you’ve made it this far.
Just keep this shit out of the locker room.
This is what I meant at the start of the season.
Distractions aren’t going to get you where you want to be at the end of the season.
Do you want that third ring in consecutive years? ”
“Hell yeah.”
“Then stop this bullshit. If you want to date her, date her, but if not, then I’m sorry, but you don’t get to be her bodyguard. She can handle herself.”
I don’t say anything because I don’t agree.
“Whatever.” He waves me off. “But you better use your free time to get Vetter up to speed for next week. We might not have you and Bradley, but we still need to win.”
I nod. “I’ll apologize to the team for putting them at a disadvantage this week, but not for the reason I did it.”
He nods. “How’s the hand? The knuckles.” I hold up my hand, and he winces. “Damn, can you even throw?”
“It’s just swollen. It’ll go down.”
He shakes his head. I hate that I’ve disappointed him. It feels like a physical weight on my shoulders.
“Make sure you see medical and see what they can do to speed up that recovery.” He points at the door. “Now get out of my sight. I have to go buy my wife flowers and hope she forgives me for running out on her brunch this morning.”
“Sorry,” I say, cringing.
“Yeah, you fucked with my life, you should be.” The tip-up of his lips says he forgives me though.
I walk out of the Grizzlies head office and get into my Land Rover. My thumb goes to call Ellery, but I change screens before pressing the button on my satellite radio.
Isn’t this the exact type of thing we were trying to stay away from? Never in all these years have we fought like we did this morning. I saw it in her eyes—it’s going to be a long time before she forgives me.