“Have a safe flight and have fun in San Francisco.”
Andthat was that.
On his way down the long stretch of hallway, Nico determined that Cooper told no lies.
The other man had, in fact, changed how Nico walked, though that may have been the other man’s cum leaking out of his asshole.
Chapter Eleven
april 2021 - columbus
COOPER
What time are you coming?
STASSI
Trying to get a red eye out, but LAX is jammed up right now.
STASSI
Might not make it there till the morning.
COOPER
Please hurry.
STASSI
What is going on???
STASSI
Coop!
STASSI
Answer the damn phone!!
COOPER
Not in the mood to talk.
Cooper setthe phone down beside a fresh glass of red wine on the kitchen island.
Flashes of lightning painted the kitchen in quick bursts of somber blue, only to leave Cooper standing alone in the dark again. The wind and the rain howled outside, scratching at the windows and the roof.
His phone lit up again—another missed call from Nico Fallon. How many had that been at that point? Fifteen? Twenty? Cooper lost track a while ago. Everyone was calling: Nico, Tommy, Coach White, Mother, Stassi, Matteo, Razer. And he didn’t answer a single call.
Instead, he stood in the kitchen of the house he, Stassi, and Luke had built—a real-world cage brought to life right before it all came to a screeching halt. The memories, and the echoes, of the accident screamed a little louder whenever it’d rain. And when it’d storm like it did that night, like it did the night everything spun out of control, the memories deafened.
Screaming metal. Crunching glass. A hollow ringing in his ear not unlike his first concussion back in college.
A knock on the door? Unexpected.
Cooper left his phone vibrating on the kitchen island and made his way down the open hall leading to the grand foyer. When he ripped the front door open, a torrent of wind and side-swept rain tunneled inside, but not as fast as Nico Fallon did.
Cooper slammed the door shut, slicing the sound of the storm outside in half. “You can’t be here, Rook.”
