17. Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Cooper
S he brought me a margarita.
Sutton Hale actively chose to get me a drink because she thought I might want it.
Do I like margaritas?
Fuck no.
But I drink it anyway.
Because Sutton got it for me. And I wasn’t going to turn down anything she was offering me.
Hell, I’m so gone for her that I would probably take any scraps she gave me.
It was such a sweet gesture that is normally hidden within the walls of her home that I was nervous when she first tried to hand it to me, thinking it was some sort of trick like we’ve been playing on Dillon.
But it’s not. So I drain the tequila-doused drink for her, and I do it with a smile.
“Are your parents here?” she asks, eyes wandering around the yard of crowded people for them.
“Nah.” I shake my head. “They couldn’t come tonight.”
“Why?”
“Some school function that they couldn’t get out of.” Sometimes it feels like my parents live for their job and nothing else. It was their passion that pushed me into teaching, which, don’t get me wrong, I loved. But it wasn’t something I could do for the rest of my life.
“How long are you two going to be keeping up the dating charade ?” Nate asks, his eyes darting between us.
“As long as it takes. Dillon still hasn’t gotten the hint that he isn’t wanted at her house. At this rate, I’m afraid he’s never going to get it.”
“Nervous you’re gonna be stuck with me for longer than we bargained for?” Sutton raises a brow.
“Petrified,” I lie. I’m damn near ecstatic that I get to be with her longer than we planned. I’m nowhere near ready for this thing between us to be over.
“As you should be. I am quite the hostile bedmate.”
“I agree, very demanding and aggressive.”
She shrugs a shoulder. “I see no issue with knowing what I want and how I want it. It’s called being decisive.”
“It’s called being domineering.”
Vivian’s voice breaks through, reminding me we aren’t alone. “Ooh, Sutton, are you a dom in the bedroom?”
“What can I say, I’m a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets.” She winks at me.
That’s no lie. Sutton’s love of my cum coving her body is something I never knew she’d be into. Fuck, I never thought I would be obsessed with seeing it drip out of her or drench her perfect skin.
She’s a surprise that I never want to forget.
“More like sheet stealer. Every night, I have to snuggle up to her just to get some warmth because she steals every damn blanket on that bed.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t sleep with a fan blowing on your damn face and you wouldn’t be so cold,” Sutton fires back. And God, does it turn me the fuck on. Her sass has my dick ready to take her again.
Nate chuckles into his beer. “How have you two not killed each other yet?”
“We’ve found creative outlets to help rid ourselves of the frustration,” Sutton replies, wiggling her eyebrows.
Nate’s eyes widen as they shoot to me. “Cooper. A word, please,” he says as he walks away.
I groan. “Great.” I look at Sutton. “Now look what you did. He’s about to have my ass for keeping this from him.”
“Please, Nate doesn’t know shit.”
Vivian and I shake our heads.
“Oh, he just figured it out,” Vivian says with a frown. “And once he is done laying into Cooper about keeping this secret, he is going to come for me.”
“If that’s so, why is he pulling you into a private area to talk?”
“Because he doesn’t want to embarrass you,” I offer.
“My husband is sweet like that.”
“As if talking about my sex life would ever embarrass me.” She laughs.
“It should. You used to sleep with Dillon,” I say as Nate calls my name. I sulk toward him, leaving Sutton with her jaw dropped in shock that I just said that to her.
I follow Nate into his shed, where his lawn mower and other landscaping tools are kept. He swings the door shut behind us, leaving us in pitch-black darkness.
“If you wanted your seven minutes in heaven, you missed your chance, buddy. You’re a married man, and I can’t do that to Viv. Even though I think she would enjoy watching it happen at least once,” I joke, needing to fill the silence.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think she would find it hot.”
Nate growls as his hands find the front of my shirt, sliding down my chest to rest over my pecks. And for a split second, I wonder if he is going to kiss me. That is, until he takes hold of my nipples and twists.
I let out a shriek that can only be described as something similar to the noise a cat makes when it’s in heat. My hands cover his as I attempt to get him to release his hulk hold on my sensitive nubs. Nate releases me after about five of the longest seconds of my life, pushing me back a step as he does.
“Why?” I cry, covering my nipples with my hands.
A click sounds, and light fills the space, illuminating an angry Nate before me. “Because you kept this from me. What the hell?”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“How long?” he whisper-shouts.
I stare at the floor, not wanting to meet his gaze.
“How long, Coop?”
“Since my work party.”
He lets out an exasperated sound. “Why didn’t you tell me? Based on the way Viv acted out there, she definitely already knew. So why didn’t I?”
“I didn’t know Vivian knew. I should have known Sutton would tell her, but she was so adamant on pretending like we were just faking it for Dillon and my work.”
“So you aren’t faking it?”
I groan, running my fingers through my hair. “Fuck if I know anymore. All I know is I love every moment I am with her. She makes me laugh with her weird-ass old-person hobbies, and the sex, God, the sex is like nothing, nothing , I have ever experienced in my life.”
“Does she know all that?” he asks.
“The sex part, yes. The rest, I’m not so sure.”
“You should tell her.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course you’d think a heart-to-heart is the answer.”
He laughs. “That’s because it is.”
“I don’t want to ruin it if she doesn’t feel the same.”
“What if she does, though? And you ruin it by being a little chickenshit?”
“What happens if she doesn’t feel the same way, huh? Did you think about that? Our little friend group won’t be the same.”
“That’s probably something you should have thought about before you stuck your dick in her.”
“Stop acting like you’re mister logical over here. You lied to Viv for months about the extent of your relationship with Hadlee.”
“I’m telling you to be honest because of that. You saw what that lie did to us, to me. I almost lost Vivian because I was scared to tell the truth. Don’t be like me.”
“But you’re my best friend. I love being like you.”
Nate glares at me. “Do yourself a favor and be honest with Sutton about how you feel. Don’t think about me or Viv, we can handle whatever the outcome is.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Nate turns the light back off as we walk out of the small shed and make our way back to where Sutton and Vivian are waiting with big smiles on their faces.
“What took you guys so long?”
“Nate was practicing his disappointed dad act on me.”
“Oh, we thought maybe you guys were kissing.” Vivian raises her eyebrows suggestively.
Sutton nods in agreement. “Yep, and Viv was very upset by that idea.”
Nate wraps his arms around Vivian, holding her to his chest. “Baby, I would never do that to you.”
“Oh, she wasn’t upset over you two potentially swapping spit. She was upset that she wasn’t invited to watch.”
Nate jerks his head back to look down at a smiling Vivian.
“Told you,” I tease with a laugh.
“Whatever, you are all insane,” Nate says, squeezing Vivian tighter.
“For a moment there, I thought it was about to happen,” I tell them.
“What the hell? What about that in there made you think I was going to kiss you?”
“Well, for starters, you took me into a confined dark space, and then you slid your hands down my chest.”
“You did?” Vivian’s eyes twinkle.
“Tell her the rest,” Nate says.
“And then he twisted my nipples so hard I thought I was going to die from the pain.”
“Now I’m even more shocked you didn’t have a boner when you walked out of there,” Sutton says with a devilish smile on her lips.
“Stop it.” Nate holds up a hand. “I’m learning too much about everyone’s sex lives and fantasies than I ever wanted to know.”
“But, Nate, I thought you didn’t want any secrets between us?” I smile.
“Fuck all of you,” he gripes, then looks at Viv. “But not you, baby. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she says, reaching up on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Sutton and I glance at each other like we usually do when the two start their sickeningly sweet declarations of love.
“I’m hungry. Are you hungry, Coop?” she asks.
“Starving. Let’s see if Nate managed not to overcook the meat this time,” I mutter as we both slink off in the direction of the food.
“I heard that, asshole,” Nate shouts from behind us.
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave him off and pile food on my plate beside Sutton.
We both have two plates filled with meat, corn, and every side dish imaginable by the time we sit down.
“Do you think we overdid it?” I ask her, looking at the massive amount of food between us.
She scoffs. “Speak for yourself, Cooper.”
Sutton tears meat off a kebab and begins aggressively chewing her food, all while scowling at me. “I swear if you make one comment about how much I’m eating, I will skewer you.”
I hold up my hands. “I wasn’t planning on it. I was going to say that I wish it was my meat you were shoving into your mouth right now.”
Sutton stops mid-bite. She slowly pushes everything off the wooden stick onto her plate until it’s clean of food. And then she stabs me right in the dick.
“Ow.” I jump, covering my dick with my hands. “First my nipples, now my cock. Why does this barbecue hate me?”
“What?” she says innocently. “I thought it was what you wanted.”
“I can’t believe you tried to castrate me.”
“Wrong word, Cooper darling. You mean make you a eunuch.” She grins, grabbing another kebab and taking a bite.
I grumble to myself about how scary she is and inch my chair away from hers. Sutton stops me, placing her hand on my thigh.
My heart speeds up as she slowly moves her hand up and down in a torturous rhythm that has me panting for more. Every time she goes up, she draws a tiny bit closer to my cock.
She places her hand over the growing bulge in my jeans and squeezes. “I’m sorry for stabbing you.”
“Are you apologizing to my dick?”
“Yeah, I don’t want him to be mad at me later when I need him.”
“Him? Him ? You mean me? I am the owner of said cock that you are currently teasing.”
“Cooper, shhh. I am trying to apologize,” she shushes me, turning her attention back to my crotch again. “I promise to give you extra kisses to make it better tonight. Does that sound okay?”
My dick jumps a little in response as I curse myself for reacting to her like this.
She pats my crotch and turns back to her food as if she didn’t give me a boner at a barbecue.
I’ll make her pay for this later tonight. She thinks she can just kiss it and make it better? Nah, she’s in for a rough awakening.
We leave the truck at Nate and Viv’s, opting for an Uber since both of us had our fair share of booze at the barbecue.
Silence fills the tiny back seat of the Kia Soul as our thighs touch.
“So,” Sutton mutters.
“So.”
“Our friends know.”
“That they do.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I glance at her from the corner of my eye. “About our friends knowing that we are sleeping together?”
She huffs, “Yes.”
“What about it?”
“Do you think it’s going to get awkward when we…”
“When we what, Sutton? When we break up?”
“Can’t break up when we aren’t actually together.”
My jaw hardens as I grind my teeth together with a nod. “Right.”
Every time I feel like there’s something real happening between us, Sutton has a way of reminding me that it’s all temporary. A show for Dillon.
The problem is, I’m not even sure she actually believes that. Lately, it’s felt more like she’s trying to convince herself. I wish she’d let herself give into this, to us. To try it for real. Stop hiding behind the wall of how this started and admit to herself that it is happening. That we are a thing. That we are something bigger than the small uncomplicated box she wants to shove us into. And we always have been.
Sutton’s hand covers mine. “You look mad.”
I don’t respond. Just turn to stare out the window, watching as we draw closer and closer to her house. We’re only a few streets away now. I need to hold it together as long as possible.
“You are mad. Why?”
I don’t respond.
“Coop, come on. What’s wrong?” she asks as the Uber pulls up in front of her house.
I climb right out, holding the door for her as she sits there staring up at me.
“Honey,” the middle-aged woman driving says, “You told the man you’re sleeping with that y’all aren’t a thing. I don’t even know y’all, but I know why that fine man is upset.”
Sutton sputters for a moment, her mouth opening and closing as she searches for the right words to say before settling on “thank you” and scooting out of the car.
I smile at the woman, thanking her for the ride, and shut the door before storming up to the front door with Sutton trailing behind me.
“Cooper.”
I don’t turn to her. Instead, I continue to move, placing my key into the lock and turning it.
“Cooper, stop.”
My hand stills on the handle.
Sutton wraps a hand around my forearm. “Talk to me, please .”
I sigh. “What do you want me to say, Sutton? That I’m cool with us being nothing more than sex? Is that what you want to hear?”
She says nothing. Just stares up into my eyes.
“Well, if it is, tough shit. I’m not okay with it.”
Her chest rises and falls rapidly. “What does that mean? That this”—she gestures between us—“is over?”
“Is there even an us ? You seemed quite sure that there wasn’t in the car.”
“Coop, please don’t do this.”
“Do what, Sutton? Tell you that I want more? Fine, I won’t. Because it already is more. It always has been more. You’re just too damn scared to admit it to yourself for some reason.”
She sucks in a breath as I wait for her to say something. Anything. But she’s speechless yet again.
I shake my head and turn the doorknob. “Never mind, Sutton. You win,” I say in defeat, walking into the house and leaving her on the porch. I flick on the lights in the living room, thankful that at least Dillon isn’t here to watch her absolutely clam up and deny her feelings for me.
I make my way into the bathroom and turn on the shower, needing something to do to get my mind off her and the lack of conversation she’s willing to have with me.
Stripping out of my clothes, I drop them in a pile and step into the shower, letting the hot water fall over my body. I tip my head toward the ceiling, squeezing my eyes closed as I try to block out the memories from moments ago.
Seconds later, the door to the bathroom opens, but she doesn’t say a word, so neither do I. I let the sound of water fill the air around us as I wait for her next move. She pulls the shower curtain aside, and the heat from her body brushes against mine as she steps inside with me.
“I’m sorry,” Sutton mutters.
I swallow, turning my head to the side to look at her from over my shoulder.
“I suck at this.”
“You really do,” I agree.
She lets out a strangled laugh. “I’ll do better.” She wraps her arms around me, resting her head against my back. “I promise.”
I can’t help myself. I pull her around me so her front is wrapped around mine as I hold her tightly against my chest. “Do better at what?”
“At being an us.”
I rear my head back enough to look down at her. “Us?”
Sutton gnaws on her bottom lip like she’s nervous. “Yeah, I mean, I’m not ready to label it as more, but I am open to it… With you.”
I answer her by tangling my fingers in her now-wet hair while dropping my lips to hers.