Something like Love, page 18
part #1 of Chicago Grizzlies Series
He laughs. “Are you suggesting football has more game than hockey?”
I shrug. “Can’t blame them. We have all our teeth and usually don’t leave the field bloody.”
“The girls like the blood. The teeth, probably not so much, but girls get hot for the fights. You guys go after one another, and the refs stop it immediately. And I won’t even say anything about quarterbacks sliding to the ground to make sure they won’t be tackled.”
I knock on the apartment door. Damon and Adeline are out.
“Actually.” He pulls out his phone. “Can you wait one second? I have a teammate who’s in the area and wants to see the place with me. He just got here.”
“Sure.”
He jogs down to the gates and I stand by the door. Ellery is in New York, interviewing for the job today. Her dad’s already started at Sherman Hope. She’s still at Mercy, and Dr. Murphy took Dr. Wallace’s position. If all goes well today, Ellery will put in her notice and be gone in two weeks. I’m not prepared for her to leave me.
I hear two bodies walk up the stairs, already laughing and having a good time together.
Holy shit, when he said teammate, I didn’t think he was talking about Tweetie Sorenson.
“Hey, Tweetie,” he introduces himself when they make it to the apartment door.
I wonder what his real name is if the man is introducing himself to me using his nickname.
“Cooper,” I say.
“Yeah, I know.” He smiles. “Awesome place you have here. Miles Cavanagh up on the top, and Siska’s moving out with his girl, huh?”
“You a football fan?” I chuckle.
“Jagger told me I should be here for the tour in case another one of you moves, and I want in.”
“Let me show you the apartment. All three are the same, but there’s no elevator, so the top floor is a hike.” I insert the key into the lock and open the door.
Damon and Adeline have already started packing, so there are boxes sitting around, but it’s neat and clean for me to show.
“So, this is Siska’s life now, huh?” Tweetie looks at the toy corner, shaking his head. “We used to be in the same circle a couple of years ago. He was the biggest partier and reminded me a lot of—”
“Ford Jacobs?” Rowan asks.
“Yeah. Both of those fuckers have wealthy families.”
“And both became daddies from one-night stands,” I add.
Tweetie snaps and points at me. “That’s right.”
They walk around a bit and take a look at everything.
“The place is great. Two bedrooms, not a huge building, close to everything. I’ll take it,” Rowan says.
“That was easy,” I joke.
“Well, personally, if you guys can live here and at least have some privacy, that’s all I’m looking for.”
Tweetie puts his arm around Rowan’s shoulder. “This guy is like you for the Falcons. He’s the heartthrob all the women want.”
Rowan almost appears embarrassed but doesn’t deny it.
“They’re out at the end of the week, so whenever you want to move in, it’s yours. I’ll hire a cleaning crew in between.”
“Great. I’ll give my current place two weeks’ notice, although I think they want me out sooner than later.” I must look confused because he continues on. “The women in the building stop by my apartment all the time. Sometimes they loiter around my door when I’m not home. And my neighbor across the way is done with it. She’s taken it to management, and somehow they see me as the problem.”
“That’s a rough one. You won’t experience that here. I’ll take you down and introduce you to Ruby at Peeper’s Alley. She throws the women out if they become a bother.”
“Perfect.”
I take them downstairs to Peeper’s Alley. All the men turn around in their stools and look at Rowan and Tweetie before turning back around to watch the old TV above the bar.
Ruby comes by. “Who are your friends, Cooper?” I’m not sure how much this group watches hockey.
“They play for the Falcons. Rowan Landry and Tweetie Sorenson.”
“Tweetie, did your mom not like you or something?” Ruby asks.
They all chuckle. “It’s my nickname on the ice.”
“Are you a gossiper?”
“No. I chirp at my opponents all the time.” He grins.
“I like that then.” Her eyes go to Rowan. “You’ve got one?”
“Um…”
“Magic,” Tweetie tells her. We all look confused, and Rowan lowers his gaze to the ground. “He’s got moves on the ice like Magic Mike.”
“Stripper moves?” Ruby asks, and I’m surprised she even knows the movie Magic Mike.
“Not really, he’s just really smooth,” Tweetie says, laughing so hard it’s contagious.
“Well welcome, Rowan. You seem quiet, and I like quiet.” She looks pointedly at Tweetie. “You, on the other hand, not so much.”
“Why?” He follows her closer to the bar, and I tell Rowan to follow me so I can show him our private room in case fans find him. What I’m not prepared for is to find Ellery in the room with Bryce, her suitcase by the door.
She got back and came to see Bryce instead of me? This isn’t a good start.
Chapter 27
Ellery
The door to the backroom at Peeper’s Alley opens, and my stomach drops, because without looking behind me, I know Cooper is there. I can feel him.
“Elle?” he says.
Bryce’s hand squeezes mine, and she lets me go. “Who are your guests, Cooper?”
I turn around to face him. Bryce is my savior for giving me time to process everything I just told her.
“This is Rowan Landry and Tweetie Sorenson,” he answers.
“I was kidding. I know who Rowan and Tweetie are. I’m the sports reporter, remember?” Bryce acts offended, and I’m not sure if she’s doing it because she really is or if she’s still helping me by stalling.
“You reported on the Tundra, not the Falcons.” Cooper appears pissed since he’s talking to Bryce, but his eyes haven’t left mine yet.
“I’m aware, but now I report on the Grizzlies, and I feel like maybe an unflattering article about their quarterback is due.” She juts out her hip and stares him down.
“Can we talk at your place?” I ask him.
He sighs. “Rowan, this is Miles Cavanaugh’s wife, Bryce. She’s a reporter, so be careful. I’ll be in touch about move-in dates.” All three men shake hands, and Cooper wheels my suitcase out the other door into the back hall, where we can get to his apartment without having to go to the street.
He doesn’t say anything, asks me no questions on the way to his apartment, and once we’re behind the closed door, he wheels my suitcase to the side and goes into the kitchen. “Want something to drink?”
“Water would be great.”
He meets me by the couch and hands me the water.
“You’re back early,” he says.
If he’s offended that I didn’t call him to pick me up from the airport, he doesn’t mention it, but I had to talk to someone who wasn’t him. As much as he was the first person I wanted to call after the news, I needed to run it by someone else first.
“Yeah, it didn’t take as long as I thought, and I was able to fly standby on an earlier flight.”
“And how did it go?”
“It went really well.” I force a smile.
He puts on a smile himself, but I’m not stupid, it isn’t his genuine one. “That’s great. They give you everything you want?”
“They took me on a tour of the hospital, and although their emergency room is a tad smaller than Mercy’s and can’t handle the same triage we can there, it’s busy. The other doctors were nice and knew who I was, that I was the daughter of the new chief. I mean, they could have been being fake, but no one said anything. The salary is more than I make now, a lot more. And the hours are a little better. I’d be responsible for a lot of things, not just patients.”
“So…” He seems to hold his breath while he waits for me to answer.
“I accepted the job.” Now I hold mine.
“Oh.”
“My dad was pressing me for a decision, and he took me to the airport and was telling me how great it is to take this step so young. How I’ll beat his milestones by ten years if I take this job. And…”
I don’t want to tell him why I wanted to talk to Bryce. I don’t want him to think my dad isn’t behind us, although I got the gist today that maybe he’s not. I want us to keep this relationship going, I know we’re strong enough.
“Why did you call Bryce before me?” Hurt is all over his face—in the downturned angle of his lips, in the crease between his brows, and in the glisten of his eyes.
I stand, unable to sit any longer. “I just needed another opinion, one that wasn’t yours, and I say that out of my love for you. This is coming at a horrible time for us, and I don’t expect you to be happy about it.”
“But I am.” He stays seated on the chair. “I’m on your side here, Elle.”
“My dad thinks we should take a break.” I spit out what he told me right before I got out of the car at the airport.
“What?” He stands but doesn’t come over to me. Doesn’t reassure me, instead, he goes to the cabinet and grabs some whiskey, pouring himself a shot before downing it. I’ve never known Cooper to drink like that. “And what did you say? ‘Okay, Daddy?’”
His words slice through me like an arrow.
He pours another shot and slams it back.
“Cooper…”
“What? I just think that you listen to him a lot more than you do yourself. Or maybe it’s me who isn’t listening to what you’ve been saying.”
I shake my head, wondering how this has all gotten away from us. Days ago, he was telling me that he was on board, that we’d survive this.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Can I ask you a question?”
“What?”
“On your dad’s little ‘timeline,’ did he leave any room for you to get married?” He puts timeline in air quotes.
“It’s not my timeline, it’s his.”
“But he’s telling you to leave me so that you can be ten years ahead of him. Is that what you want?”
I open my mouth and shut it. “I don’t know.”
He nods, pouring another shot and downing it. “Funny, you don’t know that, but you do know that you aren’t interested in marrying me or having children any time soon. Nor do you want to live together. What you do want is to dictate how many times I see you in a week. You’re pretty fucking clear on where we stand, but not your career. The career you’re traveling miles away from everything and everyone you know for.”
“You told me if I took this job, it wouldn’t affect us. That we’ll be fine.” Hurt wars with anger in my chest.
“Yes, but I also think maybe you’re taking this job, using it as an out. Ever since we got together, something is keeping you one foot out, and I don’t know what it is. I love you, and I’ve loved you for a decade, but maybe your feelings for me aren’t the same, aren’t as strong.” He downs another shot and pushes it all away, going back to his chair and staring down at the floor.
“I love you. I am in this.” My voice is growing louder.
“With stipulations of how much I’m allowed to love you.”
I’m growing madder the more he talks as if I’m not in this. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been in this one hundred percent from the start. Yes, did I want to date you? I did because I wanted to know what it was like. And I’m not ready for marriage and kids. We’ve literally been dating for like two months.”
“And we’ve known each other for over ten years!” he shouts.
I sit down on the couch. “I’m not sure what you want from me.”
“Nothing.” He raises his head, and he looks at me. “That’s the thing, I never wanted one thing from you. Actually, no, strike that. All I ever wanted was your love. That’s it.”
“You have it, Cooper. I love you.”
“So much so that you can’t wait to get away from me.”
“You told me to take it!” I shout in frustration.
“The minute your dad brought it up, I saw it in your eyes. The excitement. The wanting to please him. Never once did you think how it might interfere with us. It’s not that I think I should be the basis for your decision, but it would be nice to think that maybe I factored in even a little.”
He’s implying something without actually saying it, and if we’re going to move forward, I want to hear it.
“Spit it out, Coop.”
He throws his hands up in front of him. “I don’t think you feel the same for me as I do for you. I think you got caught up in it all, and after we got together, you got scared. That’s why you suddenly wanted to put some rules down. But I’m a big boy, Elle. I can handle someone not loving me the way I love them. Ten years ago, when you asked to just be my friend because you always wanted me in your life, I wish you would’ve just told me the truth—that you didn’t feel the same way I did.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, my voice low because I don’t understand what he’s doing. He’s taking a wrecking ball and aiming it right at our relationship, but I don’t understand why.
“I’m talking about the sacrifices I would make for you. Anything, Elle, I’d do anything as long as you were in my life. Quit football. Done.”
“I’d never ask that of you.”
“Just like I’m not asking you to quit, I’m asking you to include me in your life and your life decisions. You’re my entire future. I see no one else, but to you, I feel like a fresh relationship. I want you to have everything you want, Elle, but your actions don’t say that you’re one hundred percent on board with us. Not to mention, all you do is complain about all the shit you have to take at work because of your dad, and now you’re following him when this could be your time to get out from under him.”
I blow out a breath and stare at him. “So what then? Where do we go from here?”
He sits up in the chair, resting his forearms on his legs, and stares at the floor. “I think we take a break.”
My heart stills in my chest. “Seriously?”
He lifts his head, and he stares at me for a moment. “You need time to think about what you want, especially from this relationship. You can’t control my feelings. I want marriage and kids with you. I want you to have it all, the career and the family and anything else you want in this life. But I’m not sure it’s what you want, and even if you do, whether I’m the one you want it with.”
He stands. “Go to New York. We waited ten years. What’s a little more time?”
“Cooper,” I say, walking toward him, but he puts his hand up in the air.
“I can’t do it, Elle. I can’t come second. Not when I’d put you first every damn second of my life. I want to share my life with someone, not feel like I’m dragging them along for the ride.” He turns to leave.
“I never meant…”
He opens up his apartment door and shuts it quietly. He might as well have slammed it shut because it feels like the finality of our relationship.
Chapter 28
Cooper
Maybe I’m an idiot. I’ve never been so mad and disappointed in my life, and never would I have thought it’d be directed at Elle.
Jogging down the stairs, I zip up my jacket and push through the iron gates. Instead of heading to Peeper’s Alley, I walk down the block to one of the trendier bars.
I saddle up to the bar and ask the bartender for a shot of whiskey and a beer.
He nods and does me a solid by not saying he recognizes me.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it, continuing to drink and mindlessly watch the television that’s replaying some show about the stupid shit that people do.
A woman saddles up next to me. “Cooper Rice?”
I glance over at her. She’s a cute brunette dressed in jeans and a short crop top that shows off her stomach. Her hair is braided to the side. I remember when Elle used to do that with her hair. Back when she wasn’t mine, but I wanted her to be.
“Yeah.” I sip my beer. No reason to deny it.
“You don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” She circles on the stool.
“It’s not my bar.” I lift the shot glass, and the bartender brings the bottle down. I slide my credit card over to start a tab.
“I’m Flora,” she says, jutting her hand out.
I shake it and return my hand to my beer.
“You want to talk about it?”
“No.” I down the shot.
“Want to talk about anything?”
“No.” I keep my gaze on the TV.
“You certainly aren’t showing me a side that would make me want to cheer for the Grizzlies.”
I swivel in my stool to face her. “Listen, I’m having a real bad fucking day. The last thing I need is some girl hitting on me. I plan on drinking until I’m numb, so I’d go find some other guy to hit on tonight.”
She stares at me for a beat. “You know the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. Why don’t we go back to my place, and I promise you I can make you forget all about her.”
I used to be surprised by these advances, but not so much anymore.
“That’s not my style.”
She shakes her head. “Of course, the one player I meet isn’t into fucking around.”
My phone vibrates again, and I pull it out just to get away from this woman.
“I even gave you a fake name.” She picks up her drink and finishes it.
“What?” I answer my phone when I see that it’s Miles, hoping this woman will get out of here.
“Where the hell are you? Why is Ellery in tears?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I thought you were cool with her taking the job?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. See you at practice tomorrow.” I hang up on him and nod at the bartender.
“What a waste,” Flora, or whatever her name is, says, slamming her glass on the bar top and walking away.
