Page 156 of Something Rad
I just didn’t know that would mean pushing her into Paul Strothers’s lap…
Stop. Breathe. This isnothing. She’s nothing to you.
You’re nothing to her.
My eyes snap into focus as I see Paul’s slimy little hands reach up to grip Cooper’s thighs, giving them each a light squeeze, his fingers digging in.
The blood in my veins definitely isn’t frozen anymore. It’s rushing hotter than ever. I think I’m going to lunge forward and break each one of his fingers individually, but I hold myself back, knowing Cooper can fight her own battles and that she is surely going to brush him off in the next millisecond.
I watch his fingers graze one inch higher and dig in once more. She pauses.
And she does the opposite of brushing him off.
Still attached to his mouth, she pulls back just a fraction of an inch and lets out the lightest little moan, her cheeks flushing with color.
The pricksmilesagainst her mouth.
And that’s when I’m done.
It’s a good thing Cooper chooses that moment to pull back for air, because I’m already on my feet, hooking an arm under each of her armpits and hauling her up off his lap. Paul smiles a shit-eating grin up at me as I do, and it takes every ounce of willpower not to kick him twice straight in the teeth and once in his surely half-hard dick for good measure.
“Robbie, what the–” Cooper stammers, kicking her feet in confusion as I drag her to her feet and take off, pulling her behind me.
Hoots and hollers sound off from the circle and I hear Brad shout “Ooo, lovers quarrel!” But I don’t even care. They’re already in the background. Out of sight and out of mind.
Speaking ofmind, I’m not sure at this moment if I’ll ever think straight again. Right now, all I can focus on is moving my feet forward and bringing Sara Beth Cooper– the infuriating, intoxicating, mind-bending, psychosis-inducing, and, most currently, very strongly protesting and violent, girl of my nightmares– with me if it’s the last thing I ever do. My plan was to take us to my car and to get the hell out of here, but there’s no way I’m going to make it that far. I feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t speak to her right now. I let out a huff and skid my feet to a stop, throwing open the nearest door and shoving Cooper inside. I realize after I follow her inside and slam the door behind us that it’s a closet.
“What the fuck, Robbie?” she rages, throwing her hands in the air.
“Wow,fuck? Big dirty word, Cooper. Just learn it today?” I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes at her. I need to get myself under control. My chest feels so heavy it’s hard to breathe right now.
She scoffs. “Yeah, maybe I did. Here, let me use it in a different way to prove it. What’s yourfuckingproblem?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “You know, that’s not very ladylike, Cooper. You should watch your tongue. Oh,wait. I think you left it back there in Paul’s mouth.”
Cooper’s spine steels, a brand new storm raging in her eyes. “You’re…mad?About what just happened?” she asks, pointing over her shoulder in the direction of the living room.
I say nothing, blowing a breath out of my nose. I let my eyes trace her face, and when I take in the light sheen across his skin, her flushed cheeks, and her swollen, redder than usual lips, I think I'm gonna lose it. I’d be a damn liar if I tried to tell myself I’d never pictured her this way. But in whatever fucked up fantasy world that was, she never looked this way because of…someone else.
Someone other than me.
I tear my gaze away from her, biting down on my knuckle.
I need to get my head straight.
“You’re mad,” Cooper repeats, stepping up behind me. “You’remadaboutPaul?”
I spin around to face her. “I’m not mad.” I shake my head.
“Well, good,” she says, crossing her arms. “Because you havezeroright to be.”
“Right.”Because we’re only pretending. This isn’t real.
“Because you kissed Denise first.”
“Right,” I reply automatically.
Wait.
