by Layne, Ivy
Pete’s close marriage to Kristi had made it worse. I adore Kristi, have since the first time Pete shyly introduced us. She was sweet and feisty and absolutely devoted to my brother. What more could I ask for in a sister-in-law? But it was hard sometimes, seeing them so happy, knowing my marriage was missing so much and having no idea how to fix it.
When I called Pete to tell him I was getting a divorce, he’d said, “Thank God,” and left it at that. My first weekend home after my announcement, my brothers took me out to get drunk, never mentioning Steve or my disaster of a marriage. They were the best.
Pete hadn’t demanded an explanation about the end of my marriage, probably because he was so grateful it was over he didn’t want to jinx it. I wouldn’t be so lucky this time. He let me off the hook while he helped me get out of Atlanta, but that wouldn't last.
I didn't care. I’d tell Pete everything once I was out of Cooper’s reach. If he caught up with me… It wasn’t that I thought he’d lock me up or force me to stay. Cooper isn’t a monster.
I was furious and hurt, but he was still Cooper, one of the best men I’ve ever known. That’s what I was afraid of. I needed space, needed to think.
If he asked me to stay with his heart in those striking ice-blue eyes, I might give in. I might give him everything he wanted. And I might hate myself for it later.
The transition from my ride to the car Pete had reserved was seamless. Forty-five minutes after I'd left the Sinclair Security building I was on the road to North Carolina. The drive was uneventful. I grabbed a coffee, but I didn’t need it. I was too wired on adrenaline to need caffeine. For five hours I sped through the night, ignoring the speed limit and doing my best to think of anything but Cooper.
I found the cabin in the dim light of the rising sun, the key exactly where Kristi’s text message said it would be. The place was small and basic, the air stale from disuse, but it had air conditioning. I locked the doors behind me, clicked on the AC, and texted my brother to let him know I’d arrived safely. Once that was done, I collapsed into one of the beds, not even bothering to put on sheets, too tired and heartsick to deal with anything.
Waking after a few hours of restless sleep, I found coffee and a loaf of bread in the freezer. I could have tracked down a grocery store, but I couldn't seem to muster the energy. My chest ached, and I wanted to crawl back in bed, shove my head under the pillow and shut out the world.
Every time I closed my eyes I heard Lacey's accusations echo in my ears, Cooper telling me he forgave me, and tears would flood my eyes.
How could he have thought—
No. I couldn't process it yet. Maybe it would have been easier if Maxwell hadn’t been such a creep, if I hadn't stayed faithful to my husband all those years despite finding out later that he'd been cheating on me the whole time.
But there I was, honest and loyal while the men in my life thought nothing of sleeping with anything in a skirt, and I was the one accused of being a whore.
The injustice of it burned in my gut, in my heart, a conflagration that my feelings for Cooper couldn’t extinguish.
The whole thing got to me deep down, bringing back the sense of failure that had haunted the end of my marriage. I thought I was so smart. Life had proven I was anything but. Steve had been cheating on me practically from the honeymoon and I’d had no clue. Maxwell lied about me to everyone I worked with and I was none the wiser.
I wasn't who I thought I was. I’d never be the person I wanted to be. Now I was sleeping with my boss, and he thought I was the slut his mother called me.
Cooper had pulled the rug out from under my feet, and I’d landed smack on my ass with no clue what to do next.
He said he didn't care anymore that I'd slept with his father.
He didn’t care anymore, which meant that for years he had cared.
For years he’d looked at me and seen a woman who’d thrown out her wedding vows to sleep with her boss. Who was sleeping with her boss again.
A small voice in the back of my head piped up to point out that if Cooper thought I'd slept with his father I should have been forever off-limits. If he’d gotten past it enough to pursue me, he must want me an awful lot. It wasn’t like Cooper was desperate. He could have anyone.
I wasn't ready to absorb that part of it. His desire for me felt like a tainted consolation prize after the hit of finding out he thought I’d been sleeping with his father.
I spent Sunday morning curled up on the couch, sipping on endless cups of stale coffee, nibbling on toast, and feeling sorry for myself. Around mid-afternoon, just when my stomach was starting to demand real food, the crunch of tires sounded on the gravel outside, scaring the living daylights out of me.
No. I wasn't ready.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alice
I bolted to my feet, not sure where I was going to run, when I glanced through the front windows and saw Pete emerge from a familiar gray sedan. He came through the door bearing a brown paper sack, Kristi behind him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, staring at him in shock. “It has to be a six-hour drive from D.C.”
Pete enfolded me in a hug, the paper sack crinkling between us, my mouth watering at the scent of grease and salt.
“Seven, but who’s counting? We stopped in town for lunch. Kristi figured there wouldn't be any food here.”
I threw myself into my big brother's arms, burying my face in his shoulder. Pete handed the bag to Kristi and closed his arms around me, ruffling my hair. Like everyone else in the world, Pete was much taller than me, though not as tall as Cooper.
He’d settled into his thirties with a few extra pounds gently rounding his midsection and a set of very appealing laugh lines around his mouth. He worked hard, played hard, and loved his wife the hardest.
“Pete,” I said in a watery warble, “you shouldn’t have come. It’s too far. You’re crazy.”
“Are you kidding?” He hugged me tighter. “When was the last time you asked for help, Allie? Never. You take care of everyone. Those ungrateful assholes you work for. Your friends. Hell, you pitch in for Mom and Dad and the rest of us when you come up for the weekend. If things are bad enough that you call me at midnight, you think I’m not going to make sure you’re okay?”
“You shouldn’t have driven all this way with Kristi pregnant,” I protested, grateful they’d done it anyway.
Kristi came over to pry me away from Pete for her own hug, her pregnant belly pressing into me as her arms squeezed me tight. “Oh, please. Like you wouldn’t have done the same for us in a heartbeat.”
She had me there. If Pete or Kristi had called me with a problem in the middle of the night I would have sped to their sides the second I could.
Setting the paper sack on the table, Pete said, “Let’s eat and you can tell us what’s going on.”
Over piping hot subs and fries, I spilled the details. When I got to the part at the wedding, Pete’s affable expression was replaced with something dark and forbidding. He swore under his breath, pushing away from the table to pace into the kitchen.
Giving her husband a sideways glance, Kristi took advantage of his absence to lean across the table. “He’s amazing in bed, right? He has to be because there's no way you’d screw around with your boss unless you had a really good reason.”
Giving my brother a sideways glance to make sure he was out of earshot, I whispered back, “He’s beyond amazing. Cooper is—” His name caught in my throat, and I couldn't finish. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to be honest.
“It would be easier if it was just that. But it's more.”
If it hadn’t been more I never would have touched Cooper in the first place. If it hadn't been more this wouldn't hurt so much.
Kristi leveled a worried look on me, tucking a lock of straight brown hair behind her ear. “I saw a picture of him when he was
dating that drummer. He’s smokin’ hot, babe, but he’s a little scary. Intense. Did you take off because you needed space to think or because you’re afraid of him?”
Afraid of Cooper? Never.
Afraid of getting my heart broken? Of falling for him and then having to leave my job, my home, when he moved on? Absolutely.
Afraid of Cooper? No way.
Before I could reassure her, Pete came back to the table. “I’m taking you home. I never liked you working for those guys. They’re dangerous. They think they’re above the law. Come back to D.C. and stay with us while you get settled. Forget about the Sinclairs and Atlanta. You need a fresh start.”
I stared at Pete, dumbfounded. My job isn’t dangerous. I spend all day at a desk. Then again, considering Tsepov and whatever Maxwell was mixed up in, Pete might have a point. That didn’t mean I wanted to leave.
Even if I did, Cooper would never let me go. Not like this, walking out without a word. No matter what he’d believed about me, I couldn’t do that to him.
“Pete,” I said gently, “I can’t leave Sinclair Security.”
“Why the hell not? You don’t owe them anything. They let their father lie about you, their mother treat you like shit, and now this thing with your boss. You deserve better.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I did deserve better than Maxwell’s lies and Lacey’s slurs.
But did I deserve better than Cooper?
Was there anyone better than Cooper?
You know there isn’t, my traitorous heart whispered, No one is better than Cooper.
“I can’t just quit,” I protested.
“Why not?” Pete threw back.
I thought about Cooper’s icy stare. “Cooper won’t let me leave,” I said without thinking.
“You’re here, aren’t you? He doesn’t own you, and I can’t believe you’re okay with him controlling you like that.”
“He’s not controlling me.” Pete didn’t get it and I wasn’t sure how to explain. “I don’t know that I want to leave, I just needed some time to think.”
“Then come home with us and we’ll stash you someplace more secure. Somewhere you can be alone until you figure out what you want.”
“Pete, there isn’t anywhere I can go that Cooper won’t find me.”
Pete leaned across the table and took my hands in his. “Do you not hear how creepy that sounds, honey?”
“It’s not like that.” I pulled my hands back and wrapped my arms around my chest, unsettled.
It wasn’t like that. Cooper wasn’t the villain here.
I was mad at him, sure. Angry. Embarrassed. Humiliated. But that didn’t make him the bad guy. I was fine with Maxwell and Lacey being the bad guys, but not Cooper.
“Pete,” I said softly, trying to make him push aside his big-brother protectiveness and listen, “I didn’t run because I’m scared of Cooper. Cooper would never hurt me, never let anything hurt me.”
“Except his family. He stood by and let them hurt you.”
I bit my lip to hold back the instinctive protest. Pete wasn’t wrong. Maxwell and Lacey had hurt me. Badly. By believing them, so had Cooper.
Sensing his advantage, Pete pressed on. “If you’re not scared of him, why are you hiding? Why the subterfuge to get away?”
“Because she’s hurt and embarrassed, you sweet idiot,” Kristi cut in. Pete tried to be annoyed at her interruption, but his eyes went soft when they fell on his wife. She reached out to take his hand, squeezing his fingers.
Sending me a look, she asked, “Am I right? You’re not done with him. And you don’t want him to be done with you. You just need some time alone. And Cooper Sinclair is way too used to being in charge to give it to you.”
I smiled gratefully at my sister-in-law. “Yeah. Pretty much. And I’m not sure I can face going back to work, knowing what everyone thinks of me.”
“Which is why you should come home with us,” Pete said again. “If you’re so sure Sinclair will come after you, make him follow you home. He can deal with you on your turf.”
I could do that, but… Pete’s words didn’t fit. D.C. hadn’t been home for a long time.
Atlanta was home.
Cooper was home.
Well, shit. Was there any way I could go back to Atlanta and not have to face everyone at work? Just the thought of looking them all in the eye, knowing they thought I’d been with Maxwell, made me sick.
“Alice,” Pete grumbled, “I've half a mind to go down there and tell him to leave you the hell alone.”
“No, Pete, don't do that.”
I love my big brother. He's the best, and he’s not weak, but Cooper is a head taller and solid muscle. Pete hadn't seen a push-up in a few years. If he and Cooper got in a fight, I had no illusions about who would win. It would be over before I could blink, my teddy bear of a big brother face-down on the floor.
To his credit, Pete didn’t insist he could handle Cooper. “Alice, I’m not going to let him walk all over you. You put up with enough from Steve. If you want this guy, fine, but don’t let him get away with this shit.”
The outrage went out of me and I sank back into my chair, deflated. “I know. I’m so pissed at him. How could he have thought I cheated on my husband? And with his father? His father?! Maxwell was such a man-whore! Not that I would have cheated, but at the least, I would have had better taste!”
A growling rumble of frustration erupted from my throat and I glared at the scarred top of the kitchen table. Every time I thought I was moving past it, I remembered Cooper telling me he forgave me. Forgave me! Like I was the one who needed forgiveness in this clusterfuck of a situation. He should be begging me for forgiveness. They all should.
Clearly, one day away was not enough time for me to calm down and get my head straight. In the midst of this whole mess, that was the only thing I knew for sure. I was still too turned upside down to make any decisions.
“What do you want to do?” Kristi asked gently.
“I don't know,” I said on a moan of sheer frustration. “I’m still too mad to think. Is it okay if I stay here for a few days?”
“Of course, you can,” she said immediately. “The place isn’t booked until Friday, so you’ve got some time.”
I nodded, tracing one finger over a gouge in the tabletop.
“Are you going to go back to work?” Kristi prompted.
Just the thought of it had a voice in my head shouting a vehement, No freaking way. I pictured myself walking through the door, everyone's eyes on me, knowing they thought I'd slept with Maxwell, that he’d hired me because I’d been in his bed—
No freaking way.
But what did that mean? Was I going to leave Sinclair Security? Walk away from my job? From Cooper?
An equally strong voice from my heart said, No. Not from Cooper. Never from Cooper.
Being with Cooper was— I pressed my palms into my closed eyelids until my vision exploded in white stars, trying to settle my thoughts.
I wanted to run.
I wanted to stay.
I never wanted to see anyone from work again.
I wanted Cooper.
I wanted to go home.
And I was pissed as hell at Lacey and Maxwell and Cooper for putting me in this horrible situation at first place.
I was in no state to make any decisions.
I didn't know anything else, but I did know that.
Kristi shoved the sub and fries in front of me. “Eat. Stop thinking so hard. You can stay here until you settle a little. You don't need to figure it out right now.”
Pete let out a sigh of defeat, reaching for the plastic-wrapped cookie Kristi slid across the table at him. “Thanks, honey.”
He took a bite and chewed, thinking, before he said, “We’ll take the rental with us. Knowing this guy, he’ll f
ind you before you’re ready to leave anyway. If he doesn’t, we’ll get you home. If we leave the car, it’ll be too easy for him to trace the car to the cabin once they figure out how you got out of Atlanta.”
“Thanks, Pete. I owe you guys, big time.”
“You can make it up to us in babysitting.”
Kristi nudged my shoulder. “Do you mind if we hang around until tomorrow? Get in some lake time, let Pete drop a line in the water?”
“Of course not. This is your place, and you drove all the way here.”
My eyes got wet at the thought that these two people had dropped their plans and hauled themselves on a seven-hour drive just to make sure I was okay. Whatever else was messed up in my life, I was lucky to be so loved.
Kristi bumped her shoulder into mine again, an affectionate smile on her pretty face. “Don’t get all weepy on me, Allie. I’ll start thinking we have an invasion of the body snatchers thing going on.”
I couldn’t help it, giving her a watery smile, my bruised heart aching with love. Slinging an arm around her shoulder, I hugged her close. “I’m so glad my brother married you.”
Kristi leaned her head against mine. “Me too, babe, me too.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cooper
I walked into the office Monday morning unaware of how desperately I'd needed to see Alice sitting behind the desk, her red lips quirked in a sardonic smile, a teasing look in her eyes. Hell, I’d be fine with frost. With rage. With anything but her absence.
Her chair was empty. Maybe I was just early. When the phone rang through to my desk an hour later, I knew Alice wasn't coming in.
I dealt with the call and forwarded the main line to an intern's desk, telling him Alice was out for the day. Then I tried to focus on work, telling myself she’d come back when she was ready. I tried to resist the urge to track her down, but with every moment that passed, my reasons for giving her space fell apart.