Page 9 of The Final Temptation (Men of Honor 3.5)
“Uh oh,” Julia whispers nervously.
“I’ll let her tell you the fucking story… Yeah, we’re almost there.”
After he hangs up I let him have it. “You didn’t need to bring Jaxson into this. It’s none of his fucking business.”
His angry eyes snap to mine in the rearview mirror. “Would you rather I drive her home myself so Margaret can ask why she’s in the back of my cop car?”
Good point, but I don’t bother to voice that. We pull up to Jax and Coop’s apartment building just a short two minutes later and see a concerned Jaxson waiting outside. I reach over and grab Julia’s hand when Coop gets out of the car. “Stay strong, don’t take no shit. The bitch deserved it.” She nods then we both step out of the car as Cooper opens the back door.
“Jules, what’s going on?” Jaxson asks, rushing over to her. “I thought you said you were going home to bed?”
“Well-I-um-I,” she stammers then blows out a breath. “I lied because I had plans with Kayla that I couldn’t tell you about. I’m sorry.” Her voice is soft and drips with guilt.
“What do you mean you fucking lied?” he asks, clearly pissed.
“Just like she said. She lied because she couldn’t tell you. Now back off!” He rears back at my outburst but I’ve had enough of both him and Cooper. The bossy assholes.
“Stay out of it, Kayla, and get back in the car,” Cooper orders.
My fists clench at my sides and I’m just about to tell him where he can go, but Julia ends up stopping me by pulling me into a hug. “Go. I’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll text you later.”
My anger evaporates and I hug her back tightly. “I’m sorry we got busted. I’ll take the heat if it comes down to it,” I whisper, feeling like shit since she didn’t want to do it in the first place, and it was my idea.
“No. No matter what happens we’re in this together. But I’m sure it will work out.” I nod, but don’t feel very confident with how mad Cooper is.
I get back in the car but this time in the passenger side. No way am I going in the back again. Angry silence lies heavily in the car when Cooper pulls away. He doesn’t look over at me once; he stares straight ahead and completely ignores me.
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit, Cooper? It was fucking peanut butter and dog shit.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s still vandalism, Kayla, what part of that do you not understand?”
“The bitch needed to be taught a lesson!” He shakes his head as if I’m being ridiculous. “You know, it’s really nice how fast you jump to her defense and blame everything on me.” Hurt starts creeping in, mixing with my anger.
He throws his hands up. “What the hell are you talking about? I caught you red-handed committing a crime, how the fuck is it not your fault?”
“She fucked with my car first!”
“Then report it. Don’t act like an immature adolescent!”
I grind my teeth, his comment taking my anger to a whole new level. “Of course you’re taking her side. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since you’re still fucking her.”
He tenses, clearly caught off guard by my statement. “What did you just say?” he asks, his tone deadly calm.
“You heard me.” Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Why else would he be there? “Did I ruin your booty call for you, Cooper? Is that what you’re so pissed off about?” Just the thought has me feeling sick to my stomach.
“Watch it, Kayla, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“No? I had a nice little visit from her today after your game. She waited by my car just to tell me how you guys are still screwing. Of course that was after she wrote slut on my side mirror with her lipstick.”
Out of the corner of my eye I see his grip tighten on the steering wheel, but I don’t look over at him—too afraid of what I will see. Is he mad because it’s a lie, or is he mad because I found out? I think about the way she hung on him today at the ball diamond and how he didn’t push her away.
His silence is all the confirmation I need, and the pain that slices through me is so intense that it hurts. I try to hold on to my composure, not wanting him to know how much he has hurt me.
I’m thankful when we finally pull up into his parent’s driveway a minute later. I bolt out of the car and quickly rush over to my house, not wanting to be around him for another second, but he intercepts me by grabbing my arm. “Whoa, hold up, baby, we are nowhere near fucking done here.”
His baby has me losing all control. I rip out of his grasp and spin around. “What?” I spread my arms out wide. “You gonna arrest me, Cooper, over fucking peanut butter and dog shit?”
“Would you stop fucking shouting and listen to me for a goddamn minute?” he snaps under his breath.
“No! I don’t want to hear any more. You can go fuck yourself!” I turn back around and start off again but I don’t make it far. With a low growl he grabs me from behind, then picks me up and hauls me toward his house. “What are you doing? Let go of me!” I kick and fight, needing to be away from him. I’m so close to losing it; I can feel tears flooding my eyes and I don’t know how much longer I can keep them from falling. He plows through his back door, almost knocking the thing off its hinges, then hauls me into his kitchen. “I mean it, Cooper, let go of me.” I fight harder, even more desperate for escape when I feel hot tears slipping down my cheeks.
“No, you are not going anywhere until you fucking hear me out!” He spins me around, his expression fierce, but it immediately softens when he sees my tears. “Jesus, Kayla, I’m not fucking her.”
