Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t like that,” Cooper replied. But he worried. Maybe it was. He did want to get his hands on her. He didn’t want to deal with the ramifications of being her boyfriend. He loved her. He wasn’t sure he could handle her.
He was so fucking selfish.
“Then what way was it?” Ian asked, the question a landmine.
“Hey, remember he’s fifteen, too,” his dad said, standing up and moving closer to him. Like he had to protect him.
“Ah, but he’s not the one who’s out in the middle of the night.” Ian’s voice was smooth, but there was no mistaking the threat beneath every silky word. “He’s not the one who constantly gets told he’s too much. Cooper is the athlete golden boy everyone loves, and Kala is the weirdo everyone thinks will go psycho one day. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be the kid no one understands? You don’t have enough, Cooper? It’s not enough to be the most popular kid in school? You have to have her, too? But on your terms.”
Every word hit him like a bullet to the heart. Was that what he’d done? It wasn’t what he thought he’d done.
“Ian, I think you should go find your wife.” His dad sounded colder than he could remember, and he knew he was the reason his dad was fighting with his best friend. “I know the trouble with Kyle and MaeBe has you in a mood but…”
Ian pointed a finger his way. “Don’t blame this on something it has nothing to do with. You wait, Alex. You wait until your daughter, the one who looks so much like Eve, gets her heart ripped out of her chest by the only boy she’s ever cared about and you come back here and tell me I should be reasonable. You think I don’t remember changing his fucking diaper? But I’m not capable of seeing the kid I love right now. All I can see is the little shit who told my daughter she wasn’t good enough and let her walk out into the freaking night on her own.”
“She wouldn’t let me walk her home,” he protested. And he had to watch his brother and sister. He was the oldest. He didn’t have a Tasha and Kenzie to back him up. He’d had to wake his brother and freak him out by making him promise he wouldn’t open the door to anyone.
He’d let his parents down that way, too.
“And don’t tell him he should have called.” Tasha was a well of calm. She handled the whole thing so much better than he ever could have. “No phones allowed on the floor.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Ian pushed off the table and started for the door. “I don’t think your mom and I will be back for a while. Not now that I know I can’t trust any of you.”
Tasha went quiet.
“I’ll go get Derek,” his dad said, seeming to try to bring down the intensity in the room. Cooper recognized the name. Derek Brighton. He was a big deal with the Dallas Police Department. They were bringing in the police. “And I’ll let your mom know she needs to get home because Hunter is eleven and he’s not old enough to be alone. Hopefully Vivi slept through all of it.”
So much guilt. So much drama.
“I’m going to call Chelsea,” Ian said. “She’s at home tonight so she can pull up the security cameras between your house and mine. You two need to go and sit in the lobby.”
Tasha followed her dad out, but Cooper’s dad put a hand on his shoulder.
“Stay for a minute.”
Cooper braced for another blow. His father knew what a shit he was now. He felt like one. He felt like the worst piece of crap who ever walked the earth.
He could still see the minute she understood he wasn’t going to say yes. He could see the split second when her heart had broken.
He stood there, unable to respond.
“Cooper, what you did tonight was wrong, but Ian’s wrong, too.” His father moved in front of him so his face was all Coop could see. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt her feelings. I know she can push you. I’ve always been worried she would push you too hard and you would end up doing something you weren’t ready for. You were right to tell her no. You have every single right to decide what you do with your body and when. And I also understand how complex your feelings are. You were wrong to go behind our backs. You weren’t supposed to have visitors, and you’re going to be grounded for that. The rest of it? Cooper, it comes with being a teenager, and you navigated it as well as you could.”