“I love him, too.”
“I know. But I’ve been his one constant, I’ve protected him, taken care of him. And I have to continue to do that. Cooper, things between us feel too big for me right now.”
My stomach tightened. “What does that mean exactly?”
“It means what I said. It’s fine when we’re together. We’re in sync, we’re having fun. But I don’t like feeling like everything is going to come crashing down. I don’t want to fall without a net.”
The pieces were clicking rapidly, as everything started to make sense. Her behavior the last night we were together, the tears after we made love. She’d stayed away from me, and she’d kept Mehki away today.
“You can tell me I’m not,” she rushed on. “But you haven’t made a commitment to be a full-time presence at Prescott Holdings, even after you found out it was what your grandfather wanted.”
“Angel, the situation is complicated. I own a whole company, not connected to my family’s company.”
“Exactly. You could decide tomorrow that you want to move back to Detroit. Where would that leave me? Where would that leave my son? He already loves you. He told you he wanted you to marry me and be his daddy.”
So, she’d heard theentireconversation. Up until that point, I wasn’t sure what she’d overheard. “I know.”
“I can’t risk his heart, Cooper. I can’t stop protecting him becauseIhope for something you might not be ready to give us.” A tear fell from her eye. I wiped it away with my thumb. “And I don’t want you to feel obligated to be what we need. So, I think we need some space.”
Everything was happening too fast. I needed to slow this down, I needed to figure out a way to fix it. “What if I don’t want space?” I asked.
Her shoulders fell. “It’s not your choice.” She broke free from my hold and walked to the door. “I have to go. Bye, Cooper.”
Then, she left me. And nothing would ever be the same again.
* * *
ANGEL
“It’s goingto be okay, sis.” Tee rubbed my back. I’d cried nonstop the entire ride home, eventually stopping at a rest stop to get myself together, before I finished the drive. “You did what you thought was best.”
“Do you think it was best?” I asked, desperate to find a reason to take it all back.
“I’m not Mehki’s mother,” Tee said. “You’re not wrong for wanting to protect your son. From what you’ve told me, Cooper still hasn’t even talked about moving to Rosewood Heights.”
I’d gone over everything countless times. None of his friends and family thought he would stay in Rosewood Heights. I’d heard Dallas tell him to bring sweet tea home. I’d heard him tell Preston he wanted to be present for his company’s new project. The times that I’d seen him with his siblings, I’d heard the jokes about him still being there. It almost felt like I was the last person to realize this couldn’t go anywhere.
“Then, why do I feel like I fucked up, Tee?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always tell me not to overreact, not to jump to conclusions. I didn’t give him a chance to prove me wrong.”
“You heard him, you heard his family and friends.”
“But my heart doesn’t want to believe it. I was there, Tee. I spent time with him, I felt it. He didn’t say the words, but Ifeltit.”
“So, talk to him. Ask him. What did he say when you told him how you felt?”
I swallowed. I was so determined to get out of there before I broke down that I never told him how much I loved him. I’d kicked myself, too. In the end, though, I figured it was for the best. Because if I’d revealed myself him, opened myself up even more and he’d rejected me? I would’ve been devastated.
“I didn’t tell him,” I admitted softly.
“What?” Tee asked. “Why?”
“Because!” I explained my reasoning. “I can’t…”
“Oh, sis.” She leaned her forehead against my shoulder.
