“Limbs.” He yanks his arm back and pulls down his sleeve.
“Then it’s most likely a reaction to something you ate.”
“Thank you, Dr. Edinger. But I already saw Ezrina. Believe me, I would not be around your kids if I thought I had something contagious. They can’t catch what I’ve got.”
He tries to step around me, but I block his path. “So, what do you think you ate?”
“It wasn’t something I ate.”
Logan and Gage run up, puffing like a couple of old men.
“What’s the holdup?” Gage nods my way.
“Coop needs to get his jammies on. The dude’s covered with a rash.”
Coop quickly relays to them what he told me, showing off his spots just as Ellis jogs over.
“Dude, you still got that?” Ellis bucks at the sight. “If I were you, I’d bow out of the next round.”
Next round? Ezrina? I know exactly what’s chaffing Coop’s ass.
I nod over at them. “So, you’re the guinea pigs, huh?”
Brody steps in and closes his eyes as he hears me.
“You, too, Brody?” I give a wistful shake of the head. “I’d watch out if I were you guys. Ezrina is going to be able to hide all the markers she wants once she puts you in the grave.” I pinch my eyes shut tight a moment as a rush of agony sails through me. I don’t really want that. I don’t want Brody, Ellis, Logan, or even Coop sailing six feet under. “I’ll talk to her.”
“What?” Gage doesn’t bother hiding his disdain. “You will not. We’re not tipping anyone off about anything that might actually lead them in the right direction.” He offers a peaceable smile as if we were simply talking about the game at hand.
“You heard the boss.” I offer Coop a fist bump. “Stay alive, man.” And in a well-timed move, Laken appears in our midst. There, I get to be the hero, after all.
Gage takes a breath and holds it as if he just remembered something. “On second thought, talk to Ezrina.” He slaps Coop on the shoulder. “Consider it a gift.” He looks to Logan. “To all of you.” And that’s exactly who he’s trying to protect. Logan. If it were just Coop, my antennae would go up. But Gage’s incessant need to protect Logan makes perfect sense just as much as it pisses me off. Here we had the perfect opportunity to watch Coop disintegrate and he yanks it right out from under me. But then, that’s par for the course when it comes to my brother. The only brother Gage Oliver has is Logan.
The fog rolls in, and soon enough you can’t see your hand in front of your face, so we end the party. Laken and I have tucked Tobie in. Charlie is sound asleep in the room next door.
Laken lies naked in my arms, the way it should be—the way it will be until kingdom come.
She scratches lightly at the stubble on my cheeks as she looks up at me. “Do you really think Coop will be okay?”
My stomach sours at the mention of his name in our bed.
My lungs fill to capacity with my next breath. “Ezrina knows what she’s doing more or less.”
“It sounds like trial and error.”
“It is.” And what a damn relief, too.
Gage was right. I couldn’t kill Coop. It would come back to haunt me. And now what I tell Ezrina might be just as crucial. But it doesn’t mean I have the answer. And if I did, would I really want to give it?
I guess I need to weigh exactly how much I want Cooper Flanders in my life.
If I want him there at all.
“Wes,” Laken whispers my name like a secret. “I know where your mind is. I’ve chosen you. What could you possibly do to make me change my mind? Nothing at all.”
Charlie begins to fuss and we listen as she quiets herself back down.
It’s not what I could do. It’s what I have done.
