Page 84 of Just My Type
Cooper rolls his eyes at me. “You put it in your pocket, which means that you’ll feel it when it vibrates, and you won’t be able to help yourself because you’re more obsessed with Hannah than they are with their girls.” He waves a hand at Elliot and Jordan. “I’m saving you from yourself. And preserving the sanctity of brother time.”
“Jesus, what’s up your ass?” I mutter, digging my phone out of my pocket and slapping it into his hand.
“Same question,” my dad says, taking my phone from Cooper and stacking all the phones in front of him, studying Cooper intently. “It’s not like you to be so…”
“Ornery?” Jordan says.
“Assholish?” Elliot adds
“Crotchety?” I try.
“Yep,” my dad says, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his beer. “All of those. What gives, Coop?”
Cooper sighs and flops back in his chair, raking a hand through his hair. “I’m tired,” he mumbles. “I’m so fucking tired.”
“Does you being tired have anything to do with you sending us an SOS to meet you at an ax-throwing bar?” I ask, glancing aroundthe room at the wooden stalls lined up along the wall, each with a target at the end. The bar is filled with thethwackof axes hitting wood and the occasional cheer when someone hits a bullseye. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it—it has a surprisingly homey vibe for an activity where you hurl deadly weapons at the wall.”
“Gotta love getting beers where a liability waiver is required for entry,” Jordan snarks.
Cooper takes a long pull of his beer. “Listen, it was either this or stab my coworker with a ballpoint pen. I chose the option less likely to land me in jail.”
“She still giving you issues?” my dad asks.
Cooper huffs out a laugh but there’s no humor in it. “Issues? She’s the bane of my fucking existence, and I was just staffed on a litigation with her that’s going to last at least the next six months. Probably longer. That’s, at minimum, one hundred and eighty days of all-nighters, document review sitting at the same fucking conference table, and her criticizing every single thing I do over and over again until I want to kill myself and her.” He scrubs a hand down his face. “But enough about me. Someone change the subject before I cry into my beer. Or quit my job.”
“Is quitting something you’re considering?” My dad’s voice holds no judgment, only curiosity.
Cooper shrugs. “I don’t know. Seven years in BigLaw is a long fucking time. I used to love every damn thing about it, but it’s wearing on me, especially with a potential partnership decision looming next year. I’ve always thought that was the goal, but the idea of competing to make partner and then the grind that comes with the partnership?” He blows out a breath and takes another sip of his beer. “It just makes me want to lay down and take a nap. Fuck it,” he mutters, standing up and stalking to our ax throwing stall, picking up one of the axes and hurling it at the target. It hits dead center, but he doesn’t even crack a smile. When I catch Cooper’s eye, his expression is miserable, like talking about this is the very last thing he wants. He’s the sensitive, intuitive one of us, the one who is always in touch with hisown feelings and all of ours. So to see him so unglued is a little startling. I decide to throw him a bone to take the heat off him for now.
“I think I’m in love with Hannah.”
The table is silent for ten seconds, my dad and brothers staring at me, before all four of them burst out laughing.
“What?” I ask, glowering at them.
“You say that like it’s news,” Jordan says, smirking at me.
“Isn’t it?” I ask.
“Uh, no,” Elliot says, expression amused. “You’re obsessed with her. Whenever you’re around her, you can’t go thirty seconds without touching her. Before you guys were…whatever you are now…you turned proverbial backflips trying to get her attention.”
I roll my eyes. “Like you’re any better with Amelia.”
Elliot smiles at me. “I’m not. Because I’m in love with her, just like you’re in love with Hannah. Amelia is my whole damn world, just like Hannah is yours.”
“He’s right, Noah.” My dad salutes me with his beer. “That girl was made to be yours.”
“You think?” I ask, hearing the uncertainty in my voice. Hating it.
“You don’t?”
I consider his question, realizing the line I’m walking here. I just meant to help Cooper by blurting out my feelings for Hannah, but now that it’s out there, I realize how much I need to talk to my brothers and my dad. How hard it’s been to keep some of this to myself. But I also don’t want to divulge anything Hannah told me in confidence. This is her story too, and I promised I would keep her secrets safe. I would die before I broke that promise.
“I do. I think she’s always been mine. Spending these last couple of months with her has been…god, it’s just been the best time of my entire life. She’s everything to me. My whole damn world, just like El said. You guys understand.” I glance at Elliot and Jordan and they both nod, smiles on their faces, and I know they’re thinking about Amelia and Jo.
“So why are you not grinning your face off right now?” my dad asks.
“I am. Mostly. It’s just…” I run a hand down my face and drain my beer bottle, thinking about Hannah’s text messages earlier, the alcohol lowering her filter enough to give me a glimpse at the core of her. How she really feels. “I think I’m moving faster than she is. No, I know I am. I want to go at her pace, and I would never push her for more than she’s willing to give me, but it’s hard. I said I think I’m in love with her, but that’s a lie. I know I am. I love her. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I can see it all so clearly. Our entire future. It’s hard to not want to start that future this minute when I see exactly how it could be.”
