by KB Winters
I eyed his car across the lot. I desperately wanted to know who Angela McKinnon was, and why Cooper had been spending so much time at her residence. If she wasn’t a lover—which seemed safe to assume, since he was willing to introduce the two of us—then who was she?
I looked back to Cooper and his “still waiting” expression. He held out a hand and I swear I heard my internal voice of reason sigh loudly in the back of my mind as I took his hand and hoisted myself off of my bike.
My poor brain. I never listen.
Cooper led me to the car and opened the door.
I removed my helmet and slid into the passenger seat. A slight flicker of deja vu came over me as I pressed against the cool, leather seat. I’d been in this vehicle on two other occasions and both times, the end destination had something to do with Cooper and me fucking each other like wild animals.
I closed my eyes and waited for Cooper to get into the driver’s seat.
Not tonight, I chanted in my mind. The only reason I am here is to see who Angela is and what she has to do with Cooper. I don’t even know why I care…but I do.
We rode in silence for awhile. Cooper’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as we sped through downtown. Cooper drove like an expert, handling the curves of the road with the ease of a seasoned driver. Obviously, his expensive car helped. I was sure there was a whole mass of computers under the hood assisting him as he snaked up into the hills.
I knew the route and I could tell we were getting closer to Angela’s house. Nearly half an hour had passed and neither Cooper nor I had said anything once the car doors had closed. I snuck a sidelong glance at him and could tell he wasn’t in a conversation mood. Even though he was technically doing what I wanted, indulging my curiosity, I could tell he wasn’t happy about it.
We parked on the opposite side of the street from Angela’s house, around the same spot I’d parked Cherry Bomb when I’d been out spying on him. I looked past him, out the driver’s side window, and stared at the huge mansion.
“Let’s go.”
Now that we were here, my insides starting reacting. My heart raced and my palms felt slick with sweat as I grabbed the interior car door handle. I opened the door on the second try and stood along the curb for a moment. My mind was racing with all the possibilities of who could be waiting inside. Was she an ex-girlfriend? But then why would they still be in touch? Did they have a child together?
My hand flew to my mouth.
I’d never asked Cooper about children before. I’d always assumed that he didn’t have any, since he had no pictures in his office or home, and he’d never mentioned having a child. But…maybe it was a secret.
My stomach flipped over, sending a wave of nausea through me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like kids…I did. I just didn’t want him to already have one.
That was perfectly normal, wasn’t it?
My internal ramblings came screeching to a halt as Cooper beckoned for me over the top of the car. “Allison, let’s go. You want to know who Angela is, right?”
Did I?
“Yeah,” I answered, although my voice sounded very unsteady.
“Okay, then what’s the hold up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
He looked over at the house and then back to me.
He was right, I was acting crazy. Whatever—or whoever—was waiting inside, I’d come too far to back away now.
I circled the front of the car and followed two steps behind Cooper as he led the way across the street and up the front walk. He paused on the porch, his finger hovering over the doorbell. “Allison, if I take you inside and explain everything, you have to agree to stop questioning me at every turn and trust that what I tell you is the truth. Understood?”
I balked slightly at his words. It seemed an unfair trade. He introduces me to one person in exchange for my unwavering trust? For how long?
My curiosity seemed to be searing a hole through me and the longer we stood there, inches away from the answer to so many of my questions, I couldn’t help but agree to his terms.
“Fine, whatever. Can we go in now?”
He gave me one last look, as if he knew I was only saying what he wanted. But, he pressed the small silver button and I heard a chime ring through the house. I avoided his eyes as we waited for someone to answer.
Chapter Eleven
Cooper and I stood on the porch, both avoiding eye contact. Luckily, we weren’t stranded too long as a few moments later, a woman answered the door. She looked to be in her early forties, with dark hair that was pinned back in a low chignon knot at the base of her neck. She was wearing an all black outfit that looked comfortable, but still had an expensive air to it. I knew right away that it wasn’t Angela. In my search, I’d found pictures of the actress and the woman in front of us was certainly not a match.
“Mr. Cooper, come in, come in! Angela didn’t tell me to expect you…” she looked over at me. “And a guest?”
“Apologies, Maggie, it’s a last minute thing. We won’t be long.”
Maggie ushered us into the sweeping foyer and I held back a gasp. The place was gorgeous. It was a stark opposition to Cooper’s home. Everything was contemporary and colorful. Whoever this woman was, the two of them could not have had different tastes. At least as far as art and home design went.
“She’s upstairs. She just woke up from a nap.”
Cooper smiled at Maggie, but I noted that it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Without another word, Maggie disappeared around the corner, exiting the foyer, and Cooper started to ascend the large double staircase. I hurried to follow along, praying I wouldn’t be too breathless by the time we reached the top. The house was eerily quiet, and I knew he would be able to hear me if I was panting for breath beside him.
God, I really need to get to the gym.
I shook my head, realizing I said the same thing every time I climbed stairs.
Cooper was at the top within seconds and I trudged along a few steps behind. He turned down a hallway that seemed to go on forever and stopped in front of a set of white French doors. I stopped short of him, nearly brushing against him.
“Wait here,” he instructed, his voice barely a whisper.
I nodded in silent agreement, but my thoughts were ringing louder and louder with every second. He went inside the room, leaving me out in the hall. I crossed my arms and looked around, feeling awkward and out of place in such an exquisite home. What would it be like to live in a place like this?
I didn’t have too long to wait before Cooper popped the door open and grabbed my arm. He pulled me inside and my discomfort ratcheted up another ten degrees as I stepped into the room and saw Angela McKinnon lying in her bed.
Words failed me as I surveyed her. She was a shadow of the woman I’d seen in the pictures online, taken from different movies and television shows she’d been cast in. The woman before me looked to be at least thirty pounds lighter, which was saying a lot since she was already petite. Her hair was either tucked up under her hat, or…I realized with a sickening feeling, she no longer had any.
My eyes flew to Cooper, desperate for some direction.
“Angie, this is Allison Rand,” Cooper said, looking over at me before completing the introduction. “Allison, this is Angela McKinnon. She’s my sister.”
All the oxygen was sucked from my lungs as Angela’s eyes shifted slowly to me. She offered a strained smile and I tried to return it, but I felt paralyzed.
It was like being in a state of shock, or maybe an out of body experience as I looked between Angela’s frail body and Cooper. I’d unknowingly walked into the deepest, darkest moments of this family’s history and now I wanted nothing more than to bolt and run away from the horrific scene.
“Angela has cancer,” Cooper said, confirming my suspicions. Even if I hadn’t seen pictures of her, it was very apparent that something was not right and that she was sick. Cancer had been my first guess.
“I’m so
sorry,” I whispered. I dropped my eyes to the floor and wished I could disappear. It would be easier. As it was, I had no idea how to get out of the house.
If Angela wanted to know who I was to Cooper, she made no indication. I was sure that Cooper didn’t often bring women around, so maybe she just assumed we were together.
Even though we weren’t.
“How are you feeling, Angie?” Cooper asked, sinking into an overstuffed chair that was positioned at an angle near the bedside table. It was obviously the place for visitors to sit when they came to see her. I imagined Cooper had spent countless hours, just as he was, leaning over her bedside, stroking her hair.
My heart twisted inside of my chest as I watched them together.
“Pretty good. The doc has a new cocktail for me this month, so we will see. So far, I’m just really tired.” She tried to smile.
Cooper nodded, but his face was clouded with concern.
Angela was watching me as I stood in her bedroom, my arms crossed, tapping my foot nervously. I realized that I probably looked bitchy and standoffish and dropped my arms. I linked my fingers together in an attempt to feel less awkward, but it wasn’t really working.
Cooper followed her gaze and looked over at me and then back to his sister. “Allie and I have to get going, but I wanted to stop by and introduce you two. I hope that’s all right.”
It was the first time I could remember Cooper asking permission for anything, and the fact that it was to his sister warmed my heart. I also wondered what he’d said to her before he brought me in to meet her. Had he told her we were a couple? It seemed that way, but that only filled me with more questions.
“It was nice to meet you, Allison. I hope we can meet again sometime. Maybe we could all have dinner, here?” She looked up at Cooper and he smiled at her. “I’m nearly past the nausea phase, I hope.”
He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “That would be nice. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She nodded as he stood up. She waved to me as I let Cooper lead me from her room. Wordlessly, he escorted me back downstairs and out to the car.
Once inside, I released a slow, steady sigh.
Cooper got into the driver’s seat, but hesitated, not starting the engine just yet.
“Cooper, I had no idea. You didn’t need to bring me here, and put your poor sister through that just to prove me wrong. You could’ve just told me.”
The whole encounter had been both overwhelming and awkward. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with Cooper, but on the off chance that our relationship ever evolved past arguments and angry sex, I didn’t want to look back and remember tonight as the first—and possibly only—time I ever met his sister, who very well could be the last remaining member of his immediate family. I knew his father had passed away, and he’d never brought up his mother. After tonight—I wasn’t about to ask.
I swallowed hard and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push all the emotions down before I had a full breakdown. I already felt that I was teetering very close to the edge.
“You’re right,” Cooper said.
My eyes flew open again, unsure I’d heard him correctly. I was right? I hadn’t realized him capable of admitting it.
“But, I wanted you to meet her,” he continued, tearing his eyes off the steering wheel and looking over at me. It was dark outside and the interior lights of the car had already faded to black. I could barely see his face in the lights on the dashboard showing the time, temperature, and radio station playing softly in the background.
“Why?” I whispered. I hated to ask, but I had to know.
“So that you would understand me, and also why I’ve asked you to do what I’ve asked you to do.”
My brow wrinkled, confused by his answer.
“She’s the reason why I need the competition’s formulas.”
“What are you talking about?”
Cooper looked away again, staring out the front windshield pensively. “I need to know the competition’s formulas because of Angie, and her condition. She’s used their products since before she was even a teenager. Their soaps, lotions, fragrances. Our father started Plush when she was young, but she and my father had some issues. I think her using the lead competition’s products instead of our father’s was just another little dagger she could use to hurt him. Obviously, that sounds petty to us, but at the time, it was important to her.”
I nodded, although I still didn’t understand why that mattered.
“The kind of cancer she has is linked to a certain chemical compound. I won’t bore you with all the scientific stuff, but the bottom line is that this chemical has been banned for nearly twenty years here in the US. The problem is that they still use it in other countries, which is how it still ends up in some products on the shelves today. Plush’s competition swears they don’t use the ingredient in their products, and that they never have, but I have reason to believe they’re lying. That’s why I needed someone to hack into their system and get the information in a less than legal way,” Cooper concluded.
The pieces were starting to click together, but I was still so confused.
“Why not give the FDA or whoever an anonymous tip?”
Cooper snorted. “Allie, if they’re using this chemical compound, it would ruin their business and possibly mean jail time for the execs. They have very smart people in place to make sure this stays buried. For good.”
“And you really think I’m capable of finding it?”
Again, his assessment of my skills seemed way overinflated.
“Like I told you at the beginning, I need someone I can trust. If I hire some tech guy, like that Clay guy who was sniffing around for the job—”
He kept talking but my world stopped at the instant Clay’s name left his lips.
“Wait, wait, wait. Clay?” I jerked around in my seat to look Cooper directly in the face. “Clay who?”
“I don’t know his last name. He’s a consultant. That part’s not important. What I’m trying to explain is that someone like that would come in and do the job, but they would know I was digging and would probably assume I was just trying to steal formulas to adjust my existing product line to make more money. Something stupid.”
A flush of shame drained my cheeks as I had thought the exact same thing at one point in time.
Now that I could clearly see the full picture, it was like pieces of a kaleidoscope finally coming together into one picture.
“Cooper, why didn’t you just tell me all of this in the first place? You said that you trusted me, that’s why you gave me the job, but then you held all this back from me. Why?” I asked, gesturing over at the beautiful mansion.
He made a frustrated noise and for a moment, I feared I’d pushed too hard. He was obviously raw over the situation with me and his sister. And me ragging on him almost every day was the last thing he needed. Still…I deserved answers. I’d been left emotionally wounded ever since I found him at her house. The fact that he had a good reason and wasn’t screwing around behind my back didn’t take away that pain and frustration.
“I lost my fiancée and then my father, and now—” His voice thinned. “Now, I’m losing Angela too. Can you understand why I wouldn’t want to talk about this? Most days, I can keep it pushed to the back of my mind, which sounds barbaric, but I have to do it. I have to be able to function. So, the less people know, the easier it is to put it aside so I can focus on keeping the company alive.”
His confession hit me hard in the chest. My fingers twitched against my knees. They were straining to reach out and comfort him. But what could I do? I was now the source of his discomfort. The reason all this pain had been forced back to the surface.
“I come and visit her as much as I can because I honestly don’t know how much time she has left. They won’t give me a straight answer. Her doctors switch her meds constantly. I have more money than all of them put together and it means nothing. I can’t save her,” he continued.
&n
bsp; Each word sliced deeper and deeper into me. I placed my hand on his forearm and ran my thumb along his wrist where his jacket met his skin. “I’m so incredibly sorry, Cooper. I had no idea. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
“There is, Allison. You’re doing it by finding out who is using the chemicals so I can bring them to justice. That is what you can do to help. Tell me you understand that.”
I nodded and kept my face neutral while inside me, a storm was raging as guilt joined the other horrible emotions that were building. Everything was so intense that I thought for sure I was about to burst. I’d spent an entire week working on a spreadsheet, trying to avoid hacking. Meanwhile, not only was the competition stealing our data right out from under us, but I was also wasting time to see about getting justice for Angela, all the while cursing her existence because I thought she was a threat to my relationship with Cooper.
Fuck. I’m an idiot.
I wanted to confess to Cooper that I’d been too busy spying on him and wasting my time on idle tasks, but I knew it wouldn’t make a difference. All I could do was put that behind me and move forward.
“Okay, I’m all in. I’ll get you what you need.”
Our eyes locked on each other across the central console. My hand was still on his wrist, my thumb stilled against his pulse.
“Thank you,” Cooper said—his voice still brittle with emotion.
I wished I could take away his pain. I’d dealt with my own share of tragedy in life, but in comparison, it all seemed rather insignificant. I’d never had someone close to me die, and Cooper had had two and was now facing the very real possibility of a third.
My heart broke all over again at the realization.
I squeezed his wrist and held on a little bit tighter.
“Thank you for telling me everything. I realize now that it wasn’t easy. I’m sorry that I doubted you and said all those horrible things to you.” I dropped my eyes to my lap, no longer able to look him in the eye.
He was silent and when I looked back up, his face had changed. He seemed to be more like himself and less like the lost man I’d just seen. He started the engine and pulled onto the street, giving one last look over his shoulder at Angela’s house as we drove away.