Michael leaned down to kiss my cheek. “You’re not going to fuck anything up.”
I sighed and looked at him. “Maybe. I’m not used to things going my way.”
Ben returned with our IPAs. “Here ya go,” he said, putting them on the bar. “Coop said to tell you they’re all over there.”
“Thanks,” I replied, then picked up my bottle. Michael slipped him a fifty-dollar bill.
“Keep the change,” he said to Ben.
“Thanks, man,” he replied with a big smile.
Michael reached for my hand. “Come with me.”
I followed along as he walked us into a less crowded corner. He turned and leaned his back against the wall, then pulled me closer between his spread legs.
“I want a minute alone to tell you how proud I am of you.”
“Okay. Why?”
“Because I know this isn’t easy. And I know what Cooper meant to you. If I could take that painful memory away, I would.”
I brought my hand to his neck and skimmed the rough pads of my fingers over his skin. “If anyone else other than you had said that to me, I would have called bullshit. But I know you mean it. And I love you for that.”
He nodded, sincerity written all over his face. “I do mean it. And I’m glad you’re taking the steps to clear the air with Cooper. I think you’ll feel better when it’s over.”
“I already do, just after our text. Coop was feeling as awkward as I was when we were in the same place.”
Michael smiled and leaned forward for a quick kiss. “Then let’s go do this, Rockstar. I’ll give you some space to talk with them.”
“Okay, but don’t go too far.”
“Never,” he whispered against my lips.
My hand in his, we made our way to the other side of the bar where they were standing. I smiled at Cooper and headed his way. Just like we'd discussed, Michael went to talk to Jesse and his friends, giving me some space to talk with him.
My stomach tightened with anxiety, but I knew I had to do this for all of us. It would only get worse in the future if I didn’t.
As I approached him, I offered a friendly greeting. “Hey, how are you?”
Cooper’s smile was a little apprehensive. “Kinda nauseated,” he said, looking kinda green. “I hate confrontations.”
I laughed and sat down. Greg had his attention turned to Dominick, but I had no doubt that he was listening.
I took a deep breath and looked at Coop. His usually friendly face was twisted with worry, making me feel even more nervous. I hung my head, ashamed not only of the pain I had caused Coop but also of myself and how I had let my insecurities get the best of me.
“Coop,” I said softly, trying to steady my quivering voice.“This is not a confrontation, I promise. But like I said in my text, I need to put all this behind me—behind us. To do that, I want to apologize for how I behaved when we were together. It's no excuse, but I've been dealing with abandonment issues for a long time and I let them get the best of me.”
Coop's face twisted in confusion as his eyebrows lowered, like he was trying to process what I was saying. “You have nothing to apologize for, Adam. It’s actually me who should apologize to you.I was trying to move on from my feelings for Greg, and I shouldn’t have involved you in it. That was wrong of me. And I’m so sorry for putting you through that.”
I stifled a chuckle and rubbed the back of my neck, glancing at Michael out of the corner of my eye. His expression softened as I continued speaking. “While I can appreciate that, let’s agree we both handled it poorly and made mistakes along the way. We were both in vulnerable places in our lives. And when I look back on it now, after all this time, I think deep down, I knew you always belonged with Foster.”
Coop’s eyes widened as Greg chose that moment to join the conversation. “What do you mean?”
“Well…” I began before trailing off. It was hard to explain everything that had happened in the past few months. From the extortion scandal to all the emotional turmoil I was trying to make sense of, and sometimes it felt like an insurmountable task.
“I’ve had a lot of shit to deal with in my life, and recently I’ve been lucky enough to resolve some of it. I’m sure you know about the extortion thing with my….” I trailed off again before I finished that sentence.
“Let's just say I've had time to reflect on my life, and sometimes hindsight is 20/20. As strange as it may seem, I think I knew deep down it wouldn’t work out between us. It hurt when things ended, but I could see the way you two looked at each other, and I tried to ignore it. But I get it now that I have some perspective, because that’s how Michael looks at me.”
