Page 23 of Blow Me Away
“You keep telling yourself that, El.”
“Keep telling herself what?”
Elliott jumped to her feet as Cooper approached, dropping his bag beside her as he reached for her hand and possessively pulled her into his side. Johnathan eyed the two of them as she nervously looked up into Cooper’s eyes and tried to place a comforting hand on his chest.
“Nothing,” Johnathan answered as he stood and threw his hands up briefly in surrender. “I was just leaving.”
“You stay away from her, you got it?” Cooper called after him.
Elliott looked up at him with slightly wide eyes and confusion on her face. Johnathan stopped and turned back around, taking long strides so they were practically chest to chest. Cooper pushed her behind him to protect her as he got in Johnathan’s face.
“You don’t control her, man,” Johnathan spat. “No one does. It’s best if you remember that.”
Cooper barked out a laugh as Elliott attempted to get between them. “I guess I do it better than you do, because it seems to me a man who takes charge and control is exactly what she likes.”
“Cooper, stop,” Elliott snapped, gripping his arm tightly and forcing him to look at her.
“For the record, she used to scream my name once, too.”
Cooper pushed Elliott away as he launched forward, grabbing Johnathan’s shirt before he punched him roughly in the face. She tried her best to get between them, but they had found their way to the ground, rolling around on the pavement.
“When you’re done being a fucking idiot, you can find me in the car,” Elliott yelled loudly as she stormed off toward the parking lot without a second look back.
Cooper looked up in surprise, watching her back as it disappeared while Johnathan was still underneath him. He sighed loudly before giving Cooper a shove, and he easily fell to the side. They both sat there for a moment, staring in the direction that she had disappeared.
“Go after her, man,” Johnathan said as he gestured his head in her direction. Cooper looked at him with furrowed brows before he finished by telling him, “Don’t let her walk away like I did. Once she walks away, she doesn’t come back.”
Cooper didn’t respond as he jumped to his feet and grabbed his bag, running toward the parking lot and leaving Johnathan behind. His eyes immediately fell on her vehicle, one of the few that were left.
He trudged over to the car, pulling open the back door and tossing his bag in before he climbed in behind the wheel. They sat there in silence for a moment before he started up the car and pulled out of the lot. The radio wasn’t on to provide any quiet hum, the silence more painful than if she had been screaming at him.
“You know, sometimes your protectiveness is hot,” Elliott said as she finally turned her attention to him. “But others, it’s fucking ridiculous and unnecessary.”
“I wasn’t about to let him get away with disrespecting you,” Cooper fired back, his grip on the steering wheel tightening slightly.
Elliott scoffed. “If I recall, you started it, not him. Had you just kept your mouth shut and took me where you had planned, that whole situation could have been avoided.”
They drove for the next five minutes in silence before Cooper peeled off. She watched the world go by outside her window, unfamiliar with where they were but too angry to ask. He suddenly pulled up to a random dirt path that was connected to the road and followed it through some thick trees.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was taking me somewhere to kill me,she thought to herself, the idea almost making her laugh.
Once they broke through the tree line, her mouth almost dropped—they were at a private little beach. The sunset was kissing the horizon, bouncing off the water and creating a beautiful glow around them.
“Tell me you’re mine,” Cooper said once he parked the car, tearing Elliott’s attention off the sight and bringing her back into the moment.
“Excuse me?” She asked in surprise.
Cooper finally turned his head to look at her, an unreadable expression covering his frustratingly handsome features. “I’m sorry, huracà, but I don’t share. Tell me you’re mine.”
“If you think I’d turn around and get back with Johnathan, you clearly don’t know me at all,” she lashed out, crossing her arms stubbornly in front of her chest. “I’m tired of your jealousy, Cooper.”
“I’m not jealous,” he retorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m protective. There’s a difference.”
Elliott laughed in disbelief as she shook her head. “It’s like you pick fights on purpose. And I don’t just mean with other guys, I mean with me, too. Why? What’s the reason?”
“I can’t help it,” he grumbled, and she noticed he was fighting back a smile. “You’re just so hot when you’re angry.”
“You’re impossible,” she said as she reached for the handle, climbing out of the car and slamming the door behind her.
