“The best.” Coop sighed. “At least I thought it was. Guess it was all one-sided.”
“Did Mac actuallysayshe doesn’t love you?”
“She didn’t have to.”
Derek thought about that. “It’s probably the situation y’all are in. You had an hour’s drive here from your parents’, right? Did you two talk at all during that time?”
“Mac slept the entire way.” Although Coop suspected she’d been faking it in order to avoid having that very conversation.
“Oh. Well, talk to her tonight, then.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, D. I asked. She said no. End of story.”
A story he’d recently promised her was only beginning because that’s what he’d truly believed.
Fucking dumbass.
“Don’t give up on her, Coop.” Derek rested a hand on his shoulder. “She’ll come around.”
He shrugged his friend’s hand away. “I don’t want her to fuckingcome around, Derek. That’s not how getting engaged is supposed to work.”
“You know as well as I do things don’t always play out like we think they will. Look at me and Charlie. One misunderstanding cost us ten fuckin’ years. She went off and married that abusive prick while I spent a decade wishing like hell she was with me. All because we didn’t talk about shit when we should have.”
“This is different, D.”
“No, Sean. It’s not.” Genuine concern flittered behind the other man’s eyes. “Think about it, man. This team, our relationships…they aren’t your normal, storybook romances.”
Isn’t that the fucking truth?
Derek continued on with his thoughts. “Jake and Olivia went through hell and back to be together. Now, look at them. They’re in a room down the hallway gettin’ ready to have their firstchild.Trevor and Lexi were the same way. Trev damn near lost Lex before those two even had a chance to get to know each other. You already know the hell I went through with Charlie nearly bein’ killed, and Brynnon”—Derek looked around at where they stood—“it wasn’t that long ago Grant was in this very hospital, losin’ his shit because Brynn been shot and left out in the cold for dead.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Coop muttered.
“What?”
“Maybe guys like us aren’t supposed to get the whole happily ever after.”
“Nah, man.” Derek grinned. “The rest of us have already gotten ours. You will, too. You just have to do the same thing we did, in order to get yours.”
“What’s that?” Coop turned to his friend.
With a serious as shit expression, Derek looked him square in the eye and said, “Fight for it.”
Several minutes later, after Coop finally convinced Derek to change the damn subject, the other man was rambling on about something computer-related when Grant walked up.
Between his six-five frame, muscles, and the intricate tattoo running down the length of his arm from beneath his t-shirt’s short sleeves, the guy looked more like a bouncer at a night club than the decorated former SEAL he was.
“What’s up Hill?” Derek gave the other man a nod. “Finally get tired of hangin’ with the ladies?”
“Something like that,” the big guy’s voice rumbled. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for the boss and Olivia, but damn. It’s like total estrogen overload in there.”
“Why do you think I left my wife with yours to come out here?” Derek grinned.
With an oddly nervous expression, Grant said, “Guess I’d better get used to it.”
Not understanding, Coop asked, “Used to what?”
“All this baby stuff.”
