Chapter Eight
I woke up with a heavy pressure in my chest which had nothing to do with Cooper’s leg completely on top of mine. His warm breath hit my neck. As much as I wanted this to continue, it was safer to end it. No inevitable heartbreak when Cooper got bored, no drama with Sam, and no awkward moments where we’d be forced to be around each other. Sunlight burst through the windows and hit his perfect face just right, and my heart twisted. This couldn’t be the end. We just got started.
Before I could wake him up and tell him, someone pounded on our door, hard.
“Cooper, Daniella, let’s go! Where the fuck are you guys?”
Sam’s voice.
I groaned and eyed the clock. It was twenty minutes before we were supposed to get off the dock. Holy shit. We were supposed to meet for breakfast thirty minutes ago. “Shit!”
I jumped up and found a robe, yanking the door open to a panicked Sam. “Oh my god, we overslept.”
“You think?” Sam shook his head, but his face froze when his gaze moved from Cooper’s still-made bed and the way he sprawled out on mine...with my stuff at the end. “What?What?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I said, all the blood leaving my face and making me numb. His expression hardened as his lip curled up on the side. “Sam, don’t.”
“You slept withmy sister?” Sam yelled, shoving me out of the way and throwing his hands into the air. Cooper woke up with a bolt and covered himself with a sheet.
“Dude, take a second. You can hit me later but not right now.” Cooper’s voice was strong and hard, and his gaze landed on me for a beat. “You’re scaring your sister.”
Sam blinked and took a long breath before grinding his teeth. “Why her? You could have any woman, hell, you’ve been with plenty of them. She was always off-limits.”
“Sam, stop.” I moved and put a hand on his shoulder. “It was just for the weekend and totally mutual, okay? It doesn’t mean anything. You don’t need to worry. We knew exactly what we were doing.”
He huffed and glared at Cooper before giving me his attention. “I hate this. I love him, but he’s a womanizer, and you’re my sister.”
“That’s okay if you’re not comfortable with this, but we’ll be fine, okay? Nothing changes between us, Sam,” I said, desperate for him to understand.
He stared at me hard before he swallowed and nodded to himself. “I’m going to go. You have fifteen minutes to get your shit. Let’s just...you guys get an Uber. I’m leaving with Juliet.”
“I’ll call you later, okay?” I said, needing him to agree to it. If he was mad at me or wouldn’t forgive me, I couldn’t live with myself. He was all I had left since our parents passed. If he cast me out, I’d never get over it. “Please?”
“Of course, Dani. Yes.” He gave me a tight smile before glaring at Cooper. “I will kick your fucking ass.”
“I expected you to.”
Sam stormed out of there with same fury he stomped in, and when the door shut, I caught my breath. I hated the gross feeling overtaking my body. Shame, guilt, regret. Cooper got up from my bed without a word and slipped on his boxers, jeans, and tossed on a shirt, all without looking or speaking to me.
“Are you… okay?” I asked, nervous as hell and unsure what to do. Sam was like a brother to him, so the fact he hadn’t said a word worried me. “You’re quiet.”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
“Okay, you’re mad. Why?”
“Because, Daniella,” he snapped, shoving his toiletries into his bag. “You seemed to make the decision for us without talking to me or considering how I felt. So yes, I’m pissed.”
I blinked back emotion and gulped. “How could this work outside of here? You saw Sam. You sleep around, a lot, and that’s…you don’t do relationships.”
“If we were on the same page, it would be worth figuring it out, but apparently we’re not.” He pressed his lips together tight and looked at me with so much hurt in his eyes. I wanted nothing more than to comfort him.
“Cooper,” I said, needing to fix everything but not having a clue how to do it. “Just wait a minute.”
“No. You need to make up your mind if you want to give this a real shot or not. Until you know, I’m backing off. This isn’t a game to me, but to speak your language, you’re winning. You have all the points. Decide what you want.” He picked up his bag and exited the cabin, leaving me alone.
Fear clawed down my throat, making swallowing difficult. What if Sam didn’t understand or forgive me? What if Cooper stopped talking tobothof us? I paced the cabin as my heart hammered and absolute worry weighted me down.
The two most important men in my life were mad at me. Both mattered to me, but I knew before I could even talk to Cooper aboutanything,I needed to talk to Sam. With a plan in mind, I packed all my stuff and put on a sundress. I shoved my sunglasses on my face to hide my emotions and made sure I hadn’t left anything behind in the cabin. Cooper did a great job getting all his shit in less than three minutes. I sighed. An unfamiliar sensation twisted in my chest at the realization I might never kiss him again.
