Page 88 of Revelry

“God I love this arse,” Levi says, pinching at my throbbing cheek through my denim shorts.

“That hurt, fuck face,” I say, slapping his hands away. When I turn, Cooper stands behind Levi. His face is stoic, but his eyes tell a story of bloodlust and rage. My smile falters, and I move inside the bus to find Zed and Deb sitting at the kitchen table while Ash stretches out on the bench seat alongside the luggage compartment.

I stop in the middle of the kitchen and turn on the Keurig, placing the little tea pod in the machine, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. Cooper leans around me, the strong scent of alcohol on his breath. He grabs a bottle of Jack from the cabinet above my head. The guys had a few drinks after the show earlier, but by the looks of things he’s had a few more while he sat with Ash. I glance over my shoulder at him, and he levels cold eyes on me.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Don’t know. You just seem extra ’specially pouty tonight,” I tease, but my smile vanishes when he glares at me.

“I don’t fucking pout.”

“Oh, that’s right, you just throw temper tantrums,” I whisper snidely, feeling less tired now, and a whole lot more pissed off. He narrows his eyes on me. They’re bloodshot, and he looks as tired as I feel. Despite this, Cooper seems to be itching for a fight. I see it in his aggression, the heat reflected in his gaze as he licks his lips, moving closer. I’m in no mood for his alpha bullshit right now. This isn’t the man I fell in love with. I raise my chin defiantly. Our anger becomes a shower of sparks between us, each one landing as delicately as a snowflake and burning as hot as magma.

“Jesus, get a fucking room already,” Deb says, pretending to gag.

I glance over Coop’s shoulder at Levi, who seems really unhappy about our shared moment … whatever that was. Coop unscrews the cap off the bottle of Jack and swigs from it, moving away from me, and slumping back against the booth, an angry scowl on his face. I turn and finish making my tea, and then I take the only available seat, perched on the edge of the booth, beside Levi and across from Cooper.

“Hitting the hard stuff, my friend?” Zed says, pointing to my tea while he pops two Advil in his mouth and chews them like lollies. He sprawls against the booth between Levi and Deb, resting his head on her shoulder, which she promptly pushes off.

“Yeah, you know me, life of the party,” I say, sipping my tea.

“Aww babe, you can be the life of our very own private party,” he says, dragging me into his lap. “I’ll even let you dress up like a cowgirl so you can ride me.”

“As tempting as that sounds, I think I’m going to go to bed.” I climb off his lap and stand, but Levi snags my hand before I can go any further.

“Wait, I’ll come with you.”

“She meant alone, jackarse,” Cooper says.

Levi glowers at him, raising his voice as he says, “You know what? You have been up my arse all week. What the fuck is wrong with you, man?”

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

“Oh, obviously,” Levi says sarcastically.

“I’m going to bed.” Cooper stands and snatches up the liquor bottle from the table, heading for the bunks.

“Sleep it off, brother. I’ll keep Red company tonight so she’s not lonely.”

Cooper stops dead in his tracks, and slowly turns to face us.

“Jesus Christ,” Deb says. “You know, you three idiots are going to have to deal with this shit instead of burying it beneath the covers and pretending like everything is fucking fine. Everything is not fine. Sooner or later, Ali, you’re going to have to make a decision, or one of you is going to have to step down. This machismo bullshit is getting old.”

She was right. We all knew it. We’d known all along that we couldn’t just fuck each other and pretend like it was going to last forever. I close my eyes against the prick of hot tears.

“No one needs to make any decisions. We’re all just fucking peachy,” Coop says, saluting us with his bottle of Jack.

I move in front of him, folding my arms against my chest. “Can I talk to you?”

He gives a humourless laugh. “Yeah, let’stalk.”

I push past him and head for the back room. I hate the idea of bringing this here, to this space where we’ve had so many good memories, but this is not a conversation I’m willing to have in front of the others.

Cooper comes in and shuts the door. He doesn’t lock it though, which I think is a wise decision, because he may need to run before I’m through with him.

I wait for him to go first. I end up waiting a while, because he takes several more deep pulls from his bottle of booze and then flops down on the edge of the bed.

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