Four seconds was how long it took him to walk over to the men who destroyed our night when they couldn’t take no for an answer.
Four seconds to know things were about to get messy.
When we locked eyes and I blinked through the sea of tears which still blurred my vision, I knew he was fighting himself as much as those men. I’d known Cooper a very long time and in all those years I’d seen the look he wore tonight only twice.
Once, when Kolin Frimer pushed Sebastian into the basketball ring because he didn’tthinkhe ran out with the ball and another when Seb told him how some guy in senior year said he was going topop my cherryand didn’t care I was only a junior.
At the time I didn’t even know what the phrase meant or why he would care. I also didn’t realise those words were the catalyst for the cast he wore on his left wrist for the next six weeks. Or understand why Seb said Cooper’s loyalty for those he loved had the potential to be dangerous.
Yet, now, I saw just how deep that loyalty went and what Seb truly meant all those years ago.
Tonight was supposed to be a night of love.
A night to celebrate all things, Arna. A night to dance, laugh and catch up with the girls I’d become good friends with over the past year. Until those slimy pigs thought the flashing bridesmaid sashes we were wearing meant we were easy prey. Women who were looking for alast fling before the ringas one of them so eloquently rasped in my ear.
Marls, Felicity and Arns were all drunk. A result of the never-ending cocktails which seemed to appear at the table in fifteen-minute intervals – something I was confident Marlee organised. Winter was so far beyond her comfort zone she was an imminent flight risk, and I was meant to be the sober one overseeing everything
Which only meant, I saw with stark clarity the look in that jerk’s eyes when I told him I wasn’t interested in a drink. When he looked at the empty glasses on our table and thought we were all intoxicated enough to be malleable.
And I felt the full sting of his fingers as they dug into my hip despite my repeated refusals.
I also saw the way Cooper arrived mere minutes after I’d gotten off the phone to Sebastian, in his leather jacket and dark jeans, radiating a savagery which sent chills down my spine.
I knew Seb must have told him, but I was surprised to see hestillcared that much.
Speaking of, where was my brother and why wasn’t he here if Cooper was?
So many questions and no time to ask because everything disappeared the moment he headbutted the man responsible for grabbing me, and blood flung through the air like crimson rain.
The panic was instantaneous. Three of them. One of him. The maths wasn’t in his favour.
What if they hurt him? Was he already hurt? Where were the security guards? Did he need help?
Why was he here?
Arna was still hollering, desperate to seek her own kind of revenge in a space which wasn’t safe for her.
Wasn’t safe for any of us.
The area around them cleared quickly, the security guard also conveniently melting into the crowd rather than doing anything to stop the melee.
I didn’t want to watch but I also couldn’t look away.
Cooper’s fists flew, a dramatic performance to the music which continued to play. When the first man fell to the floor, it was clear Cooper was wreaking havoc.
He waited, his shoulders rising and falling, turning on the next man stupidly eager to defend his fallen friend - until he too was a bloodied and bruised heap.
My gaze snapped to the last of the trio. At least he had the decency to look terrified - bouncing on his heels and his eyes flitting between his friends, both crumpled in pain. But Coop was wound up, relentless in his pursuit now.
He was going to kill them if someone didn’t intervene, but no one was moving in to help. Either too scared or preferring to watch the brutality of one man on people who deserved it.
But that left me with no choice.
Before I thought better of it, I pushed around the girls and ran for him.
“Cooper!” I yelled, his name catching in my throat, only a few feet away now, but he either ignored me or was too far gone to hear. It struck me then; I hadn’t said his name aloud in so long. It had floated through my mind on more occasions than perhaps any other word, but not for a little while and saying those two syllables now felt foreign.
I gripped my hair, uncertain what to do as his fist began to destroy the face of the last man standing.
