Page 50 of Enticed

“How was your date with Cooper?” Perry continues, and suddenly I feel like I’m naked in a crowded room.

“Oh, uh… it was nice. We just went for a run with his dog and had some lunch.” I’m avoiding making eye contact with my best friends, especially Olivia. If she only knew her brother was literally in my house as we speak and we just fucked right where she’s sitting—she’d probably lose her shit.

“Cooper said you seem to be doing well… you know, after everything that happened in December,” Olivia assesses me as she speaks, like she’s waiting for me to burst into tears or something.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Better lately, but good. So Perry, how’s the blog?” I turn to her, desperate to redirect the attention on someone else.

“You know you can talk to us, Clara,” Amy cuts me off.

“I know, Amy.”

“And I feel you’re not being honest about how it affected you. I mean, you barely talked about it right after it happened,” she continues.

My eyes bounce around between the girls and suddenly I feel like I’m in the middle of an intervention.

“What do you want me to say, Amy? It happened and I’m handling it.”

“You don’t have to get defensive, Clara,” Olivia chimes in. “We’re your best friends, and you can be honest with us. We’re sort of worried about you. I feel you’re keeping everything inside and we just want you to know that we’re here.”

I can hear the plea in her voice for me to open up, and I know that if there are any three people on the planet that I could be honest with, it would be them. I could tell them everything that happened—how I was almost raped and held at gunpoint and fought for my life until Cooper saved me. I could tell them about the nightmares, the anxiety, the fear, and how I can still feel the weight of his dead body on me some nights when I wake up in a cold sweat. I could tell them how I would drink myself silly on the days it got to be too much until I finally realized I needed to speak to someone professionally.

But right now, the one thing Ican’ttell them is that the only person who I can say all of that to and not fear judgement is Olivia’s brother—the man who saw what I went through, saved my life, and who I am slowly falling for.

So I tell them what I can—because Olivia is right. These women are my best friends and they should know. I’ve been talking about the fact that I’ve been withholding the information from them with Dr. Martinez, and she suggested that opening up to them would help me—and what better time than the present. My friends are literally here to check in on me.

I need to do this.

Letting out a long sigh, I flick my eyes back up from my lap to see the three people who know me better than I know myself.

“I need to tell you guys something, but I need a minute first, okay?”

They all nod and then Olivia says, “We’re right here. We’re not going anywhere, Clara.”

I bob my head up and down in acknowledgment and then head to the kitchen, cutting a slice of lasagna and garlic bread, before sneaking down the hall with the container of food and a soda under my sweater. When I open my door, I don’t see Cooper anywhere, so I call out for him in a whisper.

“Cooper?” I say just as his head pops out from behind the bathroom door.

“Hey, babe. Are you okay? You look terrified.” His hand cups my face as I look up at him.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I just… I need to tell the girls some stuff and it’s going to take a while, so I smuggled you some food,” I reply as I reach under my sweater and retrieve the Tupperware full of the dinner he worked so hard to make. “I didn’t want you to starve. And it’s really good—you worked hard on this so I wanted you to bask in your efforts.”

“Aw, thank you. Are you gonna be alright?”

“Yeah, I just need to tell them about the night…” I trail off because Cooper doesn’t need any more clarification to know what night I’m talking about.

He nods. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Dr. Martinez has been suggesting I do it anyway, so there’s no time like the present. I think they came over here so we could have a come-to-Jesus moment anyway. I’m sorry that our night turned out like this.” I peer up into his eyes that show me no judgment whatsoever. All Cooper is showing me is acceptance, and it’s the first time I’ve ever felt that from a man.

“It’s okay. I’ve got my food and I don’t have anywhere to be. Take your time and I’ll be waiting here when they leave, okay?”

I rise on my tip-toes and press a light kiss to his lips. “Thank you,” I offer him a thin-lipped smile before exiting my room and making my way back down the hallway.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I tell the girls when I sit back down on the couch, take a deep breath, and spill every detail of that night—how I tried to run, how he pressed the cool metal of the gun against my temple, how he was inches away from raping me when Cooper and the other deputies arrived, and how Cooper shot him as he straddled me and his body collapsed on top of my own.

All three of them are in tears by the time I’m done, and so am I. It’s painful and horrible to relive it, but after talking about it so much with Dr. Martinez, it’s gotten easier. And having Cooper be there for me when I was burying my pain in alcohol and now as whatever it is we are—I finally feel the old me returning with this new outlook on things as well.

“My God, Clara! Why didn’t you tell us?” Olivia admonishes while walking over to me, sitting down next to me, and pulling me in for a hug.

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