Forced.
They used to dream about this day. Would talk about it all the time, back when Luke was still a part of the equation. Back when the three of them were their own kind of special, fucked-up modern family. One part of that dream was coming true while the rest lay in a grave out in Los Angeles.
Something was wrong.
Stassi turned down the aisle—a makeshift bridge that spanned the length of the pool—and put on a show. She was so goddamn good at acting whatever part the world needed her to be. Today, she played the part of the doting, devoted bride.
And that beautiful smile masked over a decade of lies.
Cooper couldn’t quite fake it as well. Sure, he smiled because Stassi was the closest person he had left in this world. Love was love, and though he wasn’t in love with her, the love they shared was unconditional. Unbreakable. While the rest of the world rallied in cahoots to break his heart, Stassi Davies was the one rock that always weathered the storm.
As she reached the halfway point of the walkway, Cooper imagined she was someone else. Imagined she wasLuke, and it was an easy mistake to make. Same hair color. Same light curls. Same fucking eyes. In the brief flashes of time when Stassi would morph into her twin brother, Cooper saw him as he’d always imagined he’d look on the big day. He was dressed in a white suit with navy suspenders. And then he saw Nico, dressed exactly the same, as if the two were interchangeable. For a while, Cooper fooled himself into believing that was the case, but Luke never would have left him. Not intentionally.
The music edged to a stop as Stassi took her spot beside Cooper.
He turned to her and when he exhaled, he tasted throw-up in the back of his throat. This could be his last moment to break out of the cage. One final chance to stop living a lie. He had been so fucking ready to shout it from the rooftops, but Nico leaving him in that hotel room changed the equation.
He was stuck.
Wayne Holbrook, the pastor at his mother’s congregation, led the ceremony. A religious touch that Cooper and Stassi fought against, but in the end, this was Elsa Callahan’s day more than it was theirs.
Stassi’s lips trembled as Holbrook performed his song and dance of meaningless words. Cooper zoned out whatever rehearsed shit was spewing from the man’s mouth and honed in on Stassi. He brushed a thumb under her eye, wiping away tears that trickled from her drawn eyes.
His gaze flirted to the side, gauging the reaction of the crowd.
Nobody seemed aware that something was definitelyfucking wrong.
Cooper and Stassi’s eyes met somewhere in the space between them, and a silent understanding befell Cooper.
“Please don’t do this,” he pleaded in a hushed whisper, his lips barely moving. “Not in front of all these people.”
She stared blankly at him, batting away tears with her lashes. Her throat tensed like a twitch matching the rhythm of her trembling lips. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, “The day will come when you’ll thank me.”
He grabbed her by the small of her back and pulled her close, but it was more like he was holding her in place. Holding her long enough so he could make her change her mind. “I will never forgive you for this. Please don’t leave me alone in this cage.”
“I’m sorry,” she cried softly into his ear. “I have to go now.”
When she pulled back, a redness was painted around her swollen eyes and her cheeks were stained with tears of black mascara. She turned to the crowd and said the quiet part out loud, “I can’t do this. I’m sorry, everyone.”
And just like that, she was gone.
A runaway bride racing down the center of the pool while the audience gasped, lost in a state between confusion and entertainment.
Cooper heard the glass cracking all around him, rippling through the darkest corners of his mind. He looked to his mother whose lips were drawn tight.
“Go get her right fucking now,” Elsa mouthed to him.
Cooper gave chase, fleeing down the makeshift bridge. Up ahead, Stassi stormed through the rotating glass door, spinning her way to freedom. By the time he caught up to her, she was in the elevator and facing him.
“You had to have known,” she said, her voice exhausted. “This cage was always going to break.”
The doors began to draw to a close, but stopped when he rushed inside the elevator. He waited for what seemed like forever for the elevator doors to come to a close before turning to her. Stassi couldn’t look at him, instead opting to stare ahead at the elevator doors.
Cooper stabbed the emergency stop button with his thumb. “If this isn’t the life you want, then I’m not going to be mad at you for it.”
“This is the life I want,” she said, closing her eyes.
“Then what the hell is the problem?”
