by Morgan Rayne
“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”
Victoria tried to reign in her out of control libido and remind herself of who exactly she was ogling, but she was having a hard time tearing her eyes away from the front of Cooper’s towel. All the time wondering just how accurate his comment in the kitchen earlier was.
The sound of Cooper clearing his throat brought Victoria’s attention back to his face, and the smirk that seemed to constantly live there. Shaking her head, Victoria remembered that he had asked her a question and used the anger from being caught red-handed admiring his body as fuel for her retort.
“Knocking would have been the polite thing to do, but since you clearly threw polite out the window a few minutes ago I didn’t see the point.” Victoria snapped back. Never once letting her eyes drift any further south than his eyes as they continued to stare at one another.
“I told you I need to get ready for work.”
“And I told you that I need to talk to you.”
“Fine.” Cooper huffed out. “What is so important that you couldn’t wait to talk to me at the stadium, or until I at least got a shower?”
Closing the door so their conversation couldn’t be overheard easily, Victoria shoved the papers that contained the story from last night toward him.
After securing his towel around his waist, Cooper reached for the papers.
“So” He said when he started flipping through them. “Pictures were taken of me going to a club. There is nothing wrong with going out, or drinking, so what is your problem? It’s not like I was fighting, or caught falling down drunk. I was celebrating with…”
“No, but being seen with a different bimbo every night and drinking and driving doesn’t reflect well on the people that hired you.” Victoria interrupted.
She had listened to his excuses for three months now and it was always the same, so now Victoria decided it was her turn to finally speak her mind.
“Do you think The Crush are going to like doing a press conference when their highly sought after commentator is busted for a DUI? Like it or not, you aren’t like most commentators that people forget about as soon as the TV switches off. You are popular and your life is under the microscope as much as the players it seems.”
Cooper looked over the papers one more time, but instead of saying something in his defense he just tossed the papers on the bed and headed for the door.
There was no way Victoria was going to let him walk away again without her getting everything off her chest, so as he reached for the door she stepped in front of it.
“Move Victoria.” Cooper practically barked the order, but she had dealt with angrier people in much worse situations throughout her life, so Cooper was going to have to do a lot better than a gruff tone to scare her out of the way.
“No, I’m not finished.”
“Well I am.” Cooper countered. “So unless you want me to pick you up and carry you with me to the shower, I suggest you move.”
The idea of that shouldn’t have turned Victoria on the way it did but damn, she was only human. Pissed off or not, Cooper was gorgeous and the part of Victoria that had been denied for too long stood up and took notice. It was a good thing the rest of her knew better.
“I only have one more thing to say to you, and then I no longer care what you do.”
Crossing his arms over his bare chest, Cooper cocked an eyebrow but remained silent. Taking a deep breath, Victoria stood to her full five foot two height and looked Cooper in the eye as much as she could.
“I took this job because I was finally ready to expand my business. It has taken a lot of time and energy away from other areas of my firm, but I thought if I worked hard and gave it my all it would all be worth it. Thanks to you and your bullshit it has turned out to be the worst business decision I’ve ever made.”
Cooper started to open his mouth, but Victoria went on.
“You don’t listen to a damn thing I tell you even though I know what I’m talking about, and all your shenanigans do nothing but make me look incompetent. I thought if I stuck it out eventually you would stop resisting this whole process, but apparently that was just wishful thinking on my part. So whether it was your goal or not, you win. I quit. I have a meeting with Mr. Richards after the game today and after that you will be rid of me.”
A look passed over Cooper’s face that looked a lot like regret, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Not caring to hear anything else he might have to say, Victoria felt behind her and nearly jumped for joy when she felt the door handle. A quick turn of the metal nob and she made her escape into the hall and shut the door.
That was either the smartest, or dumbest decision I’ve ever made Victoria thought as the back of her head hit the door.
Shaking it off, Victoria raced to her Camaro and headed for home. The thirty-minute drive would give her time to think about what to say at her meeting later. She knew her reputation would probably take a hit, but getting fired would have done a lot more damage. Since her hair was secured in braids Victoria decided to roll down the windows and turn up the radio.
Pressing the voice controls, Victoria chose her favorite playlist and let the pounding of the bass mixed with the rumble of the car flow through her as she drove down the interstate. Trying her hardest to forget about her troubles for just a little while.
****
Chapter 2
Cooper stood frozen in his room long after he heard the front door close. He knew Victoria had a fiery side but he never expected to see it used on him. Over the last few months he had tried everything he could think of to get her to quit or even get mad, but nothing seemed to work. Now that it was actually happening he didn’t feel relieved like he thought he would. He just felt like an asshole.
The ironic part was he hadn’t even tried to be photographed last night. Cooper had gone out for an entirely different reason, but Victoria never gave him the chance to explain. Which given his track record he couldn’t really hold against her.
Glancing at his watch, Cooper cringed when he realized he only had fifteen minutes to shower, change, and get on the road or he would be late for today’s game. Live TV unfortunately didn’t care if you had other things on your mind. It couldn’t wait.
After the worlds quickest shower and even quicker shave, Cooper raced out the door and hopped into his car. Thankfully Kyle had taken him to pick it up early this morning before they went to play basketball, otherwise Cooper would be in an even bigger jam than he already was.
Traffic around Chicago was always a nightmare, but luckily Cooper caught a few good breaks and sprinted into the make-up area of the studio with ten minutes to spare.
Bob, his broadcast partner, was already dressed and ready to go. Standing with one of the producers going over today’s schedule and looking relieved to see Cooper had arrived. They both gave him a where-have-you-been look, but Cooper didn’t have time for an explanation. He went directly to a chair and let the hair and make-up people do their jobs.
Once he was changed into his blue Crush polo and kakis, Cooper and Bob went into the broadcast booth and clipped on their microphones. An assistant placed another mic in his hand, and Cooper went to stand in front of the large window that over looked the ballpark.
Ripley Field held a certain majestic charm in his eyes. Sure it was one of the oldest stadiums, but seeing the ivy growing lush and green up the outfield wall made Cooper think back to days of coming to the ballpark with his dad and Kyle.
“I’ve heard of fashionably late, but that was cutting it a little close.” Bob joked as he took his spot next to Cooper, breaking through Cooper’s flashback to his childhood.
“I’ll explain during the first break. Promise.” Cooper gave his partner a sly grin. The countdown from ten had already started and when the director pointed in their direction Cooper took a deep breath and smiled at the camera with the red light.
“Good afternoon, and welcome to Ripley Field. I am Cooper Wilde, along with my broadcast partne
r Bob Wright, we’d like to welcome you to another fabulous day of baseball here on the north side of Chicago. Today the Chicago Crush take on the St. Louis Cyclones in game two of a three game series. This heated rivalry has kicked up another notch this weekend as these two ball clubs fight for control of the division.” The camera shifted to Bob, giving Coop a chance to breathe.
“You’re absolutely right, Coop. Both teams need to win this series with the playoffs right around the corner. In fact, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from yesterday’s win by the Crush to see why they are leading this division.”
The director gave the signal that the sound bite was rolling. Cooper made sure his mic was off before turning to Bob to explain about this morning.
“Sorry about getting here so late. Although, I have no doubt you could have handle everything yourself.”
Bob had been a commentator with the Crush for ten years, and knew this ball club inside out.
“Damn straight I could have.” Bob stated firmly then smiled. “But I’m glad you made it.”
“Me too.”
“So what held you up?” Bob asked cheekily. “No wait, let me guess. It was a woman.”
“Yes it was a woman, but not in the way you’re thinking.” Cooper shook his head and laughed as Bob wiggled his eyebrows. “Apparently some pictures of me surfaced on the Internet this morning. Victoria saw them and let me have it when I got home from playing basketball.”
And she had looked hot doing it too Cooper wanted to add.
Between the skintight tank top, short shorts, and those long platinum blonde braids Cooper had had a hard time concentrating on her lecture while he was trying to also keep his dick under control.
“Back in two” someone yelled, bringing Cooper back to the present. Getting an erection on air with a room full of people watching was not a good idea, so Cooper thought it best to keep his mind on baseball and very little else.
“So what were you doing in these pictures?” Bob asked coyly. He knew the problems between Cooper and Victoria over the last few months. Unfortunately, Cooper had also let it slip after a few too many beers one night that he had been having less than professional thoughts about his image consultant, and Bob hadn’t stopped teasing him since.
“I wasn’t doing anything bad you perv, but the pictures made it seem like I was. I was going to explain that to her, but before I could say anything she flipped out and quit. Apparently she’s meeting with Richards after the game today to tell him.”
The car ride over had been so frantic Cooper still had no idea what to do. He didn’t think he needed an image consultant, especially when the reason Victoria was hired was because of a huge misunderstanding, but there was no way around it, which meant he had to fix this and fast.
“That’s a good thing. I mean, you hated all that image consultant crap. Right?”
“I do hate it, but when Richards brought her in I didn’t stop to think how it would affect her, or her career if I didn’t do what she suggested. Now instead of feeling great about this I feel like shit.”
All he could think about was the defeated look on Victoria’s face earlier and every time he did, the stone in his stomach sank a little bit deeper.
“Thirty seconds guys” The teleprompter turned back on as they both readied themselves to go back on the air. Bob reached for the button on his mic pack, but stopped short of turning it back on.
“I guess all I can tell you man is go with your gut. If you think you can play nice I say you need to find Richards before she does. Delay the meeting and talk to Victoria before she can talk to him because it’s not just her ass that’s going to be on the line.” Bob made a good point, but with only fifteen seconds before they were live Cooper had to push all thoughts of Victoria out of his mind.
The pre-game show wrapped up a short time later, and although it was a tight game the Crush managed to pull out a three to two victory over the Cyclones.
During one of the many commercial breaks, Cooper managed to make a quick phone call to Mr. Richards secretary. After a lot of charming on his end, she agreed to reschedule the meeting between Richards and Victoria for Monday morning. Now with that taken care of, Cooper had to hope those same charms worked on Victoria when he saw her tonight.
After saying his goodbyes, Cooper pulled off his blue Polo and made his way to the staff parking lot. Traffic around the stadium was still bumper-to-bumper, so Cooper pulled out his cell and called the person responsible for this whole mess; or at least last night’s part of it. It took her until the fourth ring to finally pick up, but when she did Cooper had to stop himself from laughing as Amy’s scratchy voice huffed through the phone.
“You’re the devil.”
“Good afternoon to you too.” Cooper made sure to sound as cheerful as possible. “Have a bit of a hangover, do you?”
Cooper knew he should feel bad for his sister’s current state, but since she ordered the shots and the long island iced teas his guilt was lessened.
“I feel like Andre the Giant is sitting on my head.” Amy whined. “You are never allowed to celebrate anything with me again.”
“You were the one that kept ordering drinks.” Cooper reminded her. “I’m just that one that paid for them.”
Amy had been working her ass off in school for the past four years, and finally completed her nursing degree last month. Cooper was beyond proud of his sister, and she deserved the celebration she had. Cooper just hadn’t expect Amy to celebrate quite so hard.
“Yeah yeah, details schmetails.” She said offhandedly, and Cooper could picture her waving her hand in the air wildly like she always did.
“So why are you calling me instead of letting me die in peace?”
“I just left the stadium and traffic is still backed up, so I called to see how you were doing.” He paused for a second, and then added. “Oh, and I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
“Getting my picture online of course. My personal favorite was the one of me carrying your drunken ass out of the club. I only wish others found it just as endearing. Maybe then that image consultant I told you about wouldn’t have been mad enough to quit this morning.”
Amy didn’t say anything right away, and Coop felt like a jerk for the millionth time today.
“I’m so sorry, Cooper. I haven’t drank that much in a long time.” Amy sounded so dejected. “Did you tell her what really happened?”
“She wouldn’t listen to me. She was talking so fast I couldn’t get a word in edge wise, and then she was just gone. Now I have to try and convince her not to quit before my boss finds out.”
Cooper was definitely going to need some help in this situation, and there was only one person he could think of to give him that advice, but he needed to talk to Amy first before making that call.
“I really am sorry, Coop. What can I do to help?” Amy sounded determined to make things right, and Cooper sighed.
“None of this is your fault, Amy. You deserved your celebration last night and I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just glad the article didn’t know who you were. That’s not really the kind of thing you need online when you’re going to start applying for jobs.”
A loud gasp came from the other end of the line.
“I didn’t even think about that. Shit, mom and dad would kill me if they knew. Good thing they aren’t all that tech savvy.” Amy said, sounding relieved. “But that’s not important right now. I want to help you. Didn’t you say something about a party tonight?”
“Yes, there’s a party tonight at Maxwell’s, but really Amy you don’t have to talk to her. I can handle it.” Amy snorted and Cooper could imagine her rolling her eyes as well.
Okay so he didn’t have the greatest relationship with Victoria, but he was sure he could get her to come around.
Yeah, and maybe world peace would be achieved over night the very unhelpful side of his brain laughed. Knowing he would probably need Amy’s help too, Cooper gave
in.
“Fine, it starts at seven. I could pick you up around six thirty.”
“Yay! I’ll be ready, but Coop.”
“Yeah”
“Don’t let me drink.” Cooper continued laughing even after Amy hung up on him. And he was still laughing as he dialed the next number on his help list.
“Hello.” A much deeper voice answered his call this time.
“Hey Alex, are you busy?”
“Not really. Just doing some revisions on a website design. What’s up?”
“I need your help.”
“With…” Alex prompted, and Cooper groaned at the torture he knew was to come from his friend.
“I need to calm down a very pissed off Victoria Howe.” The uncontrollable laughter that followed wasn’t very helpful.
****
Arriving at his parent’s house a little after six that night, Cooper slowed as he approached the front door and took in the familiarity of his childhood home. The house hadn’t changed much over the years. The same light blue paint covered the outside and the rope swing still hung from the large oak tree in the front yard, but after so many years nobody dared test its durability.
The flowerbeds that he and Kyle had gotten in trouble for ruining one summer were in full bloom and more colorful than ever. His mother had a real knack for gardening, and it was clear she hadn’t lost her touch over the years. At least not yet. The passing of time hadn’t been kind to his mother, and her failing health was the whole reason for Cooper’s move back home.
The porch light flicking on startled Cooper. The door opened revealing his mother’s small frame standing behind the screen door.
“Cooper? What in the world are you doing just standing out there? Come inside where it’s cool.”
“Hi Momma.” Cooper opened the screen door and leaned down to kiss his mother on the cheek. “I was just looking at your flowers. They’re beautiful like always.”