Page 57 of Collateral Damage
“Well, I’m exhausted already,” I joke, but he doesn’t play along.
“You want this to be a success so you can get the five percent, don’t you?”
Why did he have to bring that up? Our friendly moment bursts like a bubble in the wind.
“Yes,” I say, voice clipped. “I have a lot riding on Top of the World, but I still don’t understand why you’re so on board. I’d think you’d want us to fail, so you’d get to keep your little percentage of power.”
Cooper continues to stare, and I wish I could read the hell that’s going on inside that pretty head of his. To know what he’sreallythinking, not what he believes I want to hear.
“Helping Perry is important to me.”
“Really? As I recall, you guys got into a fight last summer when we were all at that dance club in Nantucket.”
I remember it as if it were yesterday. Perry got drunk and hit on Arden, getting handsy while they were dancing. Ethan lost his shit, and Cooper got in the middle of it. I thought that fight might have been the end of their friendship, but apparently, I was wrong.
“Perry was an asshat, but he apologized to Arden. Ethan, too.”
“Ethan forgave him? Just like that?”
I find that hard to believe. Ethan is insanely protective of Arden.
Cooper shrugs. “I don’t know. Not my problem. Ethan’s friendship with Perry is not the same as my friendship with Perry. Perry has never betrayed me.”
Knife? Meet my heart. And twist.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “He’s… been great to you.”
Even if he can be a jerk. Nobody here is perfect. Me, least of all.
“Anyway,” Cooper continues, “our deal wasn’t only about funding; it was about making sure the show is successful. A flop this expensive will ruin Perry’s career. We figured having more money and more people gunning for success would be a good thing.”
He says this with utter conviction, but I feel like there’s something more he’s not saying. My gut is screaming to dig for more, to ask questions and demand answers. But I have no right to push him, not when I haven’t been there for him. I’m probably the shittiest friend he’s ever had.
And being around him this much lately? It’s killing me to know how badly I hurt someone I once considered my best friend.
“I want our friendship back,” I blurt, and instantly regret it when his brows furrow.
Too soon.
And finally—painfully—he breaks eye contact.
“Maybe we should get back out there,” he mutters.
I deflate, and tears burn my eyes. “Sure.”
I move to walk past him, and he catches my arm, pulling me against his chest and wrapping me in a tight hug. It’s familiar and wonderful and immediately makes me sob. I shake against his hard body as he holds me tight, the tears pouring out of myeyes a firehose. I’m not normally such a baby, but I can’t help it. I need this hug so fucking bad.
“I’m so sorry for leaving you,” I blabber into his broad chest, comforted by the warmth of his hard muscles and the beating of his steady heart. “I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how else to cope. I fucked up. I’m so sorry.”
Cooper holds me, letting me cry. It’s not fair he’s the one consoling me when he’s the one who got hurt.
We’ve both been through so much. We’re collateral damage—the wreck left behind in the wake of our family's life-altering mistakes. And yet, that doesn’t excuse how I treated him when he needed me most. I added to that damage, but I only did it because I didn’t know how to heal. I’m still healing, but I realize what a terrible person I’ve been.
I want to be better. For myself. For him. For everyone.
Cooper doesn’t forgive me—he doesn’t say it’s okay or offer any words at all. But he does hold me, and I really need to be held right now, so I can’t be anything other than grateful. At least there’s something left between us that isn’t completely broken.
Twenty-Six
