Page 68 of Chasing Elliott
"I told her, Coop," she said quietly to the point where I almost didn't hear her. "I'm really sorry, but she had a right to know."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I snapped as I pushed myself away from the wall, feeling like I was sobering up again from the news. "You ruined our relationship. Elliott and I weredoing fine till you went and told her that shit."
"Don't you dare put this on me," Laura fired back as she crossed her arms over her chest. "If you didn't tell her everything then your relationship was partly a lie. If you really were fine,you wouldn't be drinking yourself senseless."
Rolling my eyes, I felt like I was going to be sick again, so I quickly walked over to thebathroom and slammed the door shut behind me. Flipping open the lid, I braced my hands on either side of the seat as I emptied my stomach. Falling down to the floor, I sat there with my head against the wall before finally getting my bearings.
Pushing myself off the tile, I turned on the sink and splashed some water on my face. Reaching for my clothes, I felt they were still wet so I started digging around for a blow dryer but I quickly lost patience. Deciding to go ask Laura to help, I pulled open the bathroom door and stopped dead in my tracks.
Elliott stood by the door with a hurt expression on her face as tears started to fall from hereyes. Slightly confused, I glanced over at Laura and saw her hiding under the sheet before I looked down and remembered I was only in my boxers. Growing panicked, my eyes widened as I took a small step forward.
"Elliott, wait," I started to say, but she quickly turned on her heel and ran out of the room. Chasing after her, I kept bumping into people in the hallway as I continued to call her name.
Finally making it down the stairs, I caught sight of Benjamin and saw the back of Elliott's head. Calling her name once more, Benjamin glanced up and his face quickly turned from worried to pissed off. He suddenly pushed Elliott behind him as I approached and put a hand on my chest, stopping me.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He mumbled as he looked me up and down. "What thehell did you do, Coop?"
"I didn't do anything," I spat as I tried to make my way around him, but he kept blocking me from going after Elliott. "I swear to god, Benji, let me go after her."
"No," Benjamin said sternly as he pushed me roughly away from him. I stumbled into someone and heard them yell at me, but I didn't care as anger and fear started to course through my veins. "You don't get to go try and save your ass right now. Elliott has done nothing but try her best with you and this is how you fucking repay her? By sleeping with someone else?"
"Wait, what?" I questioned as I stopped and looked at him in disbelief. "I didn't cheat on her. How could you think I'd do something like that?"
"You're in your fucking boxers, Coop, and Elliott just ran out that door crying. It's pretty damn obvious," Kara snapped, swearing for the first timesince I’ve known her as she suddenly appeared at Benjamin's side. Shaking my head furiously, I tried to muster up the words to makethem believe me, but I knew if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't believe me either.
Sighing, I turned to walk away when I saw Laura emerge through the crowd and walk over to me. "It's over," I whispered as I tried to walk past but she put a hand on my arm to stop me.
She looked around me and saw Benjamin and Kara standing there. They both wore pissed off expressions, especially when they saw her touching me but at this point I felt so defeated that I didn't care.
"We didn't sleep together," Laura spoke up as she dragged me over to where they werestanding. "He threw up on himself, and on me, so our clothes are upstairs drying. You can go find vomit by the dresser and our clothes in the bathroom if you don't believe me."
Benjamin and Kara exchanged a glance as I stood there hopeful that they'd believe it. Seeing the doubt on Benjamin's face suddenly made me grow extremely angry, and I wasn't sureif it was the liquor or the fact that I had just lost Elliott, but I snapped.
"I wouldn't fucking cheat on her, but it seems like she trusts you a hell of a lot more than she trusts me so why don't you two go share some more secrets in the damn alleyway," I spat at Benjamin. His face fell slack as Kara glanced between the two of us, and I instantly regretted the words that had left my mouth.
"You may not have cheated on her but good luck getting her to forgive you for this one," Benjamin whispered after he closed the gap between us so that only I could hear. Looking over at Kara, I gave her an apologetic look before she turned to Benjamin.
"What is he talking about, Benji?"
“I cannot believe I let you talk me into this,” Nicholas groaned as we stopped outside ofBarnes and Noble so I could get some books. “Out of all the things we could’ve been doing today, this isyour choice?”
“What else would you have me doing?” I pondered, resting my head against the headrest and looking over at him.
Nicholas raised a brow at me. “You’re clearly depressed, Red. Obviously we should be at the bar right now drinking away your sorrows.”
“As much as I appreciate that wonderful piece of advice,” I started to say as I reached for the handle. “I’m not depressed, I’m just confused, and drinking, especially with you, doesn’t really help clear my head.”
I climbed out of the car and started to walk toward the front doors when I heard Nicholas come running up behind me. He reached for my arm, stopping me in my tracks as he turned me to face him. Nicholas studied my face, his eyes scanning me as if he were searching forsomething in particular.
“It’s Cooper, isn’t it?” He asked and I immediately released a heavy sigh. “What the helldid he do, Red? Tell me where he is, I’m going to kick his ass.”
“I love you, Nico, and I appreciate the protectiveness, but I need you to take a deep breath before I tell you what I am about to tell you.” I ran a hand through my hair as he nodded, taking a slow breath before looking at me. "I think Cooper cheated on me."
Nicholas didn’t say a word as he stared at me intently, a wild look in his eye. "Okay, I’m digesting,” he began to tell me, speaking slowly as he started to gesture with his hands. “I’m fighting all my murderous instincts, trying to remain calm. Alright, I’m going to put myself in mama's shoes. That should work, right?”
“Are you okay?” I asked with a soft laugh, folding my arms over my chest as I bit my bottom lip.
“Not even a little bit,” Nicholas responded with a forceful shake of his head. “But I’m coping. Alright, you said you think he cheated, so walk me through everything that happened.”
