“Oh, nothing,” Ron and I say at the same time, both of us trying to play innocent.
“Uh-huh...” She looks between us perceptively, but doesn’t say anything else before grabbing her water from the fridge.
That was a close one.
May 20th, 2006
Violet
I ’m standing outside my room, knowing I’ll have to face the music with Alexa and Julie. They’re going to give me such hell for not telling them about Cooper, and more so because I’m coming back doing the walk of shame.
I should’ve stolen more than a spare pair of boxers from Cooper.
Entering the room, Alexa and Julie are sitting on the edge of the bed clicking through channels. Both look like they got hit by Mack Trucks filled with Tequila.
“Good morning,” I say cheerfully.
“Well, well, well, if it isn't Mrs. Cooper Reid,” Alexa snickers, giving me a slow clap. “You look like you must have consummated your marriage a couple of times.”
Oh, I did. I didn’t get this ache between my legs for nothing.
“Maybe just a little.” I pinch my fingers together.
“Only a little? You look like you got hit by a bus,” Julie giggles.
“Obviously you haven’t looked in the mirror.” I stick my tongue out at her and collapse on the bed. “I think we all need coffee.”
I close my eyes for a second, exhaustion washing over me. “I can’t believe I got married,” I mumble to myself, throwing my hand over my eyes. The large, sparkling rock makes contact with my forehead.
Ow!
I better start remembering this glacier lives on my hand now.
Alexa and Julie crawl up the bed and lay down next to me on each side. Julie grabs my left hand and gawks at my rock.
“It’s so pretty. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you dated Cooper. You let me drool over your boyfriend-husband for years.” She throws my hand back down and it hits my chest. I prop myself up, knowing I have a lot of explaining to do.
“Sorry. I told you it was too hard to talk about. I missed him so much and I don’t know, maybe pretending he was a fantasy, kept it easier to deal with. I’m not sure. Maybe I didn’t think you would believe it, or if you did, you’d force me to reach out.” I shrug. I don’t have a real reason why I didn’t other than it twisted me up inside every time I would think he used to be mine.
“Watching you two last night,” Alexa fans herself. “Whoo. I swear I thought you guys were going to fuck in the middle of the dance floor with the heat coming off you both. Nobody would ever believe that you haven’t seen each other in years. Was it always like that with you two?”
My cheeks heat, remembering how intense Cooper and I always were. “Yeah. We were always pretty intense with each other. Like glued at the hip in love. I mean, that’s normal, right?”
“What I want to know is how did you guys meet?” Julie asks. “You said last night about how you two dated for a couple of years,” she stretches the word. “Now spill.”
I go into a quick history of how we got together and him saving me from Thomas. They both stare at me with their fists under their chins.
“It was like after that we could never be apart. Our parents hated us together. Brody was our gatekeeper. We snuck out all the time and he would lie for us.” I laugh at the memories. Poor Brody, I don’t know how many stories the guy had to come up with to cover our asses. “His parents hated me because I pushed him to do his singing. They really wanted him to go to Princeton and become some hot shot lawyer or a congressman. They blamed the whole Thomas thing on me, convinced it was my fault Cooper got arrested. My mom thought he was some bad boy and was going to ruin my life. It was my mom’s fault we didn’t get back together sooner.”
I should’ve known she would’ve stooped so low. Why didn’t I question her more? Why the heck didn’t I get my own burner phone? Why was I so stubborn not to go after him? Why did my mother want to destroy me forever?
“Why?” Alexa asks the same thing I’m musing about.
“I don’t know. When we moved to Tucson, he and I would write each other and talk on the phone sometimes. Then one day it all stopped. I didn’t know why he just gave up.” My heart clenches thinking of the words of my final letter. “Last night, I come to find out she sent pictures of me and Mark from prom, telling Cooper I had moved on. There’s more to the story, I’m sure. When I see her again, you bet I’m going to drag it out of her.” I picture the catfight between me and my mother. I’m so mad at her, maybe more pissed then when she made me move for a marriage that ended up only lasting six months.
“Well, you're together now and that’s all that matters.” Julie nudges me with her shoulder. “I mean let’s be honest for a second. Do you know how many women, mainly once me, would love to be in your shoes?” Julie gasps, a large ‘o’ shaping her lips along with her wide eyes. “Think of all the shoes you can buy now.”
I laugh at my nutty friend and shake my head. “You’re crazy. I’m going to miss you guys.” I frown. “I feel so bad leaving you guys so suddenly.”
“Hey, turn that frown upside down.” Alexa grabs my face and squishes my cheeks together, forcing my lips out. I’m giggling through my mushed smile. “It’s fine. We’ll visit all the time. Who knows? Maybe things will go well with Brody and me then we can all be family.”
She finally lets go of my lips and my jaw drops. “You hooked up with Brody?”
Her lips purse into a self-satisfied smirk and she shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah, you guys kind of left us to go fuck after the wedding, so the rest of us went to get more drinks. Me and Brody hit it off and one thing led to another.”
“Oh my god, I can’t believe this.” I gape in shock that Alexa hooked up with the one person I always considered a brother. If there’s anyone I would want as a future sister in law it would be Alexa.
I mean, if anything comes out of this one night.
“Believe it…he did this thing…”
My hand quickly covers her mouth and I’m shaking my head wildly at her. “No, no, no. You can do whatever you want with Brody, but please spare me the full details though.” I do not want to hear in length about, well, Brody’s length.
“Hey, I wasn’t the only one in on the action. Our girl over here hooked up with Tucker.” Alexa shoves Julie, who blushes deeply.
“Tucker? Who’s Tucker?” I ask, confused, looking between them.
“One of Cooper’s bodyguards. The one with the jet black hair, built like the Hulk, piercing green eyes with a hazel ring around them?” Julie swoons, daydreaming with glassy eyes about the man I suppose took her to “oh, my god” town.
“Well, I’m happy for both of you. I guess we’re all in debt to your dad now for the hotel vouchers.”
“He’ll be mad he didn’t get a wedding invitation.” Alexa pauses and takes my hand. “You’re happy, right? I know you have a past and he’s a big superstar now, but if we need to bolt you out of this hotel away from him, you’ll have to tell us now.”
“I am.” I know these two loony birds would kidnap me in my duffle bag out of the hotel if I just said the words. “I really am happy. Cooper is…amazing.”
I’m sure I have stars in my eyes from how hard I’ve been hit in the head with the love stick.
Julie wipes her finger along the corner of my mouth. “Sorry. You had a little drool.”
“Shut up!” I smack her with a pillow, the three of us falling into a fit of laughter.
The suite phone rings on the nightstand, and we all sit up to look at it before bursting into another round of giggles.
“Bet it’s lover boy,” Julie muses as the phone continues to ring.
I reach over and pick up the headset. “Hello?”
“Hello, wife.” Cooper’s honey voice sings through the speaker and my cheeks are instantly on fire.
“Hello, husband,” I reply back, giddy at how calling him that makes me feel like I’m flying.
Alexa and Julie stick
their fingers down their throat, making loud gagging noises. I throw them both evil looks and they only snicker in return.
“There’s been a change in plans with brunch. There’s a bunch of reporters outside the hotel waiting for us. If the girls didn’t tell you, we were spotted outside the chapel last night by the paparazzi.”
“Wonderful,” I breathe. “Does that mean our parents probably know?”
“Yeah, I’ve already had my call from my mother.”
I’m glad I missed that conversation.
“Let me guess, she was thrilled?”.
“Oh yeah, thrilled. As always when it comes to us,” he mutters sarcastically. “Don’t worry. I’ve put her in her place for now.”
“Okay,” I say meekly. The one thing I’m not ready to do is face Evelyn Reid and her permanent bitter face every time she sees me.
“What about yours?”
“No, nothing yet. I also turned off my cell when we got here. I didn’t want to pay the roaming fees.” Finally, my crap phone is good for something. Poor service keeping the mother hen away.
“Smart. Anyways, we’re going to have to have brunch in our room. Whenever you girls are ready. Brody and Tucker will be here too. If that helps them get a move on.” I can hear Brody in the background telling me it’s a must for me to bring the girls. He’s babbling about something else when Cooper tells him to shut up.
“Tell him I’ll drag their hungover asses with me. We’ll see you in a little bit. I still need to change.”
“Alright, I love you, Ace.” He says my nickname seductively, sending tingles to my core.
“I love you, too.”
“AWWWW.” The cooing comes from Alexa and Julie with their fists folded on their cheeks, eyes fluttering. I swear I see little hearts over their heads like cartoon characters when they’re in love.
“I see you have your own peanut gallery,” he says with an amused chuckle. Well, that’s one way of saying it.
“Yeah. There just full of themselves today. I’ll see you soon, babe.”
“Soon. I miss you already.”
We both hang up and I move off the bed to throw all my stuff into my bag. I grab a pair of cut off shorts and a long ivory cami.
“I’m going to change. We’re having brunch upstairs in Cooper’s room. Your men should be there as well.”
“Great, now what am I going to wear?” Alexa ruffles through her luggage, and I leave to get ready.
When the three of us open the door to our room to head up to Cooper’s suite, Tucker is standing there, waiting for us. He informs me he’ll be following me around ‘till we leave Vegas because of the crowds; something Cooper forgot to tell me about. Looking at this huge burly man as he walks in front of me makes me quickly see how much my life has changed by being with Cooper again. It’s going take some getting used to; always having someone follow me around. Though, I guess it’s better safe than sorry. I’m sure there’s a bunch of crazed women waiting to rip me to shreds for stealing their man.
Tucker lets us into the room since I didn’t grab an extra key on my way out. Cooper and Brody both stand from the couch as we walk in.
“Wow, this suite is awesome,” Alexa muses taking in the sights.
Cooper scoops me into his arms and kisses me gently. “Hey baby,” he whispers against my lips.
“Hey.” My heart flutters; I’m not sure this feeling of euphoria of being his arms again will ever pass.
His eyes dart behind me and he hooks his arm around my waist looking towards my friends. “It’s good to see you guys again, welcome.”
“Thanks for having us,” Julie answers. Alexa is already busy flirting with Brody.
“Shall we?” Cooper gestures to the large dining room table. My eyes grow large remembering some of last night’s activities, some which took place on that very table. I grab his arm, stopping him while everyone goes and sits down.
“Should we be eating on this table?” I whisper.
His eyes glint humorously and he kisses my forehead.
“I had it cleaned. No worries. But what do you say later today we reenact what we did last night and maybe what we did in the pool?”
I squeeze my legs tight at the delicious thought. “I look forward to it, husband.”
Cooper growls and grabs my face, kissing me forcefully, making it hard for me to breathe. My legs wobble under the intensity of the kiss. I moan into his mouth, pushing myself further into his hardened body, ready to wrap myself around him, not wanting to wait for tonight.
“Will you two cut that shit out, we’re going to eat!” Brody barks from the table.
My arms clamp on Cooper’s shoulders pushing myself away, and my cheeks heat when we turn to see three pairs of eyes staring at us. Cooper moves behind me, and his hand caresses my ass as he tries to adjust himself.
We sit down at the table and there’s everything under the sunset on this table. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, crepes, salmon, steak, pitchers of orange juice, and coffee. I’m starving, but I do think this is overkill. Then as I look around the table at the three men, plating up their food, making mountains out of pancakes and steak, I quickly change my mind about it being too much.
A phone rings, and Julie pulls hers from her pocket and groans. She waits for it to stop, then turns the Nokia device off.
“It was your mother. I’m not playing middleman for her,” she says before she shoves a piece of bacon in her mouth. “Fuck, this the best bacon, I’ve ever had.” She hums in delight.
“You can’t handle the wicked witch either?” Cooper asks once she’s done moaning over the brown sugar bourbon pork.
“Uh…no. I’m just glad Violet has Ron!”
“Oh, no, Dad!” I shout, slapping my hand on the table.
“Oh, you better run Cooper…” Brody roars with laughter. “He’s going to come after you with a shotgun. You married his little Violet, and you didn’t ask for her hand.”
“I’m not worried. Ron always liked me, unlike the wicked witch of the west.” Cooper snorts.
“Will you stop, she’s still my mother.” I smack his arm jokingly. She is a freakin’ wicked witch.
“Thankfully you ended up more like Ron then her,” he says, rubbing his arm, pretending it hurt.
“Me too,” I scoff. “I better call him. It’s a good thing he’s not into reading entertainment news.”
“I’ll go with you.” Cooper takes my hand and helps me from my chair.
“Oops, dead man walking here folks.” Brody hums the funeral march as we walk to the bedroom.
My dad adored Cooper like a son. I know he’ll be more disappointed because he didn’t get to walk me down the aisle then the fact I got married on a whim.
“You know Brody’s right. He’s going to give you lip that you didn't ask for my hand in marriage. You know how old fashioned he is,” I tease Cooper, who sits on the edge of the bed with a huge grin on his face. I eye him curiously. “What?”
“I kind of did.”
“When?”
“When we went to see him for your seventeenth birthday, shortly before he left.”
“You really asked his permission?” I curl myself into his lap, surprised that he had asked my father for my hand. At seventeen.
“Yeah. I told you I wanted to marry you. I didn’t have a plan, but I had hoped when we turned eighteen it would happen, and I knew I would need permission from the big guy.” He kisses my cheek.
“You surprise me at every corner, you know that.”
“Got to keep you on your toes, Mrs. Reid.” His hand brushes my hair back and nibbles on the side of my ear, sending signals straight to my core.
I push him down on the bed, locking my lips to his and rubbing myself on his ever-present boner.
God, I want him.
He pulls me up, while my hands continue to claw at his shirt.
“I would so love to do this with you. But we have a room full of people, and you still need to call your dad.”
; Oh, yeah.
I sigh dramatically and hop off him. “I guess you have a point. Promise me a rain check.”
“Oh, you bet your sweet ass!” he tells me.
Cooper offers me his phone and I dial one of the two numbers I know by heart. I remember when he came back from Afghanistan—after extending his tour—and how stunned he had been to hear Coop went AWOL. He had gone to visit me in Arizona, to convince me to go back to California with him, to see if I could get in touch with Cooper, but I passed. My heart had been broken enough by his sudden desertion. It didn’t matter anyway, because by the time my dad came back he was already a superstar. At the time, I thought he would be untouchable.
Even after everything I told my dad, he never spoke badly about Cooper.
The line rings twice before my father’s gruff voice answers, probably thinking I’m a telemarketer. “Hello?”
“Hi, daddy,” I say cheerfully.
“Violet, I was wondering when I was going to hear from you, young lady.” His voice is hard and stern. A tone I know well enough from when I would get in trouble. I still with sudden panic and glance at Cooper.
“You heard?” I swallow the sudden nervous lump in my throat.
“I think the whole world heard.” He laughs and I release the breath I was holding as the knot in my stomach unties. He’s not mad, thank god. “It’s made national news, little one. I was turning on the news this morning and there’s my daughter, outside a Vegas chapel, with some famous singer,” he chortles. “How did this happen? I thought you two hadn’t spoken in years.”
“We kind of ran into each other last night, and one thing led to another. I know it’s kind of rushed. But…I do love him, daddy.”
“I know you do, Vi. If you’re happy, then I’m happy. I’m only bummed I couldn’t walk you down the aisle.”
I knew he was going to say that.
“Thank you, daddy!”
“Now, you just need to promise to come see me soon. I assume Cooper is living in L.A. these days? Or has he bought his own island?”
“He’s in L.A.”
“And I’m guessing you’ll be moving with him.”
I Found You Page 9
