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Chapter Thirty-Three

Ramona

“ Y ou have got to be fucking shitting me!” Alise shouts into the phone as I continue stirring the eggs.

With Cooper not knowing how to properly cook, I doubt he ever eats anything freshly made. After we spent our first night together, I remember him telling me he doesn’t eat much for breakfast, but I also know he needs more than coffee to keep his body going all day. I’m not above using any means necessary for him to eat the breakfast I make. It doesn’t sit well with me that he’s still eating his mother’s cooking. The two of us can start taking turns.

“Stop daydreaming about the sweet, sweet love you were having last night with your man.” I can hear Alise’s eyes rolling through the phone. I know she isn’t saying that to be hurtful; she just wants to make sure I know how annoyed she is that I won’t give her any details about what happened last night aside from the fact I told Cooper I loved him and he said the same. Loves me. Not himself. That would be weird.

“Shut it. I can stop explaining that we were right and Annamarie Sutton has lost her goddamn mind.”

“No, please keep going. I’m just jealous ‘cause I spent the night sharing a bed with Darius. That boy kicks,” she whines.

I cough loudly, attempting to cover my laugh. “Are you telling me Beau didn’t offer to let you sleep in his room?”

“No. I’m telling you he has to play this weekend, and sleeping on that small-ass pull-out couch isn’t good for his body. I don’t want to be blamed for the Timberwolves breaking their eight-game winning streak.”

“Fine. Anyway, she orchestrated the entire thing! Apparently, her daddy is a sucker and sent Cooper back to coach in Redwood Falls. His job probably wasn’t in jeopardy at all.”

“That bitch!” The loud sound of a car horn blares, and Alise swears under her breath. “Stupid fucking driver texting while driving.”

“Yeah. That’s totally the reason you almost got into an accident.” I pull open the fridge, searching for heavy cream and only find a half gallon of milk. Nope, that ain’t gonna work.

“What are you two going to do? Don’t tell me you're going to let Crazy win.”

“Hell, no. We’re going to see the owner of the club as soon as Cooper wakes up.” I continue searching the fridge for what I’m looking for, but the more I move things around, the more sure I am there’s no heavy cream in Cooper’s fridge. I always forget that not everyone knows how much better heavy cream is for cooking than milk.

“I can live with that. I just might have to exact some physical justice next time I see her out in the street.”

“You will not. Hopefully, none of us are going to see her soon.” I huff, finally giving up on there being any chance of heavy cream being in this fridge. “I gotta go to the store and grab some heavy cream so my eggs aren’t flat.”

“God forbid you have flat eggs. I hope I never meet someone as pretentious as you when it comes to food.”

I pull the phone away from my ear after putting her on speaker and hit the icon to open the internet browser. I’ve been here a few times, but we were focused on other things besides stopping at the grocery store. I find a few stores within walking distance. I can get to a few of them and back before Cooper even misses me.

“It's not being pretentious if I’m right,” I respond, grabbing a small pad of paper and pen from the junk drawer and rushing out of the kitchen. “I really gotta go if I want to get back here before Cooper wakes up.”

“You must have worn the man out if he’s still sleeping. I’ve never known him to sleep past 8 a.m.”

I check my watch as I slide my feet into a pair of yellow rain boots Cooper purchased for me to leave here after we got soaked by the rain. The matching raincoat is in the closet by the door. Alise cackles loudly when I don’t come back with a snarky retort.

“Sure thing. The elevator is here. Love you, bye.” I hang up the phone before rushing out the door and to the elevator. I press the call button and focus on the lights above the doors, counting down from the top floor.

I’ll never forget how broken I found Cooper, sitting on the floor of the elevator. I hoped that I’d be able to go downstairs to the car and back up before he arrived. I had a forest green negligee I purchased specifically as my personal Christmas present for Cooper, not that I’d have worn it for long. But the minute I saw him pressed against the wall, mumbling “ I can’t. I can’t ,” I couldn’t think of anything else but getting to him.

I don’t know if anyone other than me has seen this side of Cooper, his need to seem strong and like he has his shit together for everyone, his usual persona. It's something else we’ll need to talk about because I never want to see him like that again. I know what it feels like to be so lost in your own mind that you can’t move. I’d still be like that if it wasn’t for my therapist. Therapy has worked wonders for me since Dad and Imani died, and I think it will help Cooper fight his own demons, as well.

The elevator signals its arrival to my floor, and I step in. The ride to the lobby is short, but I better motor if I want to get back before Cooper wakes up. I pat my pocket for my phone, just in case he calls, looking for me, as the door opens.

“Ms. Ramona…” Stanley says, but I run toward the door, not giving him a second glance.

“Sorry. In a hurry,” I say over my shoulder, pressing on the double doors. “Cooper is upstairs if you need him for something.”

I probably shouldn’t be shouting into an open lobby that Cooper is sleeping upstairs in his apartment, but how would anyone know the last name of the Cooper I’m talking about? He could be some random dude with the same name as a famous NHL player who lives in the building.

I shrug my shoulders. The damage is already done. Hopefully, Stanley is as good at his job as Cooper says. The moment I’m out the door, I’m pushed back by a wave of sound. Lights are flashing in my face, and I pull my hand up to protect my eyes and stumble forward.

“Are you sleeping with both Hendrix brothers?” a voice says as I whip to the right.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I shout into the crowd as people keep moving toward me. I stumble backward as a sharp pain shoots up my left leg.

“What about Cole? Are you trying to get your hooks into him, too? Was that why he was in town over the Christmas break?”

My head swivels from side to side as they all keep firing questions in my direction, and my back presses against the doors. “Help me,” I plead, my eyes locking with Stanley’s behind the door.

“I’m trying, Ms. Ramona. Can you move forward so I can push the door open?” He continues pressing against the door from the inside. I can feel the door press into my back but close quickly behind me. I try to take a step forward, but the crowd surges forward, pressing me even harder against the doors.

The handle of the door digs into my back as I continue to move. “Please. Please, back up. You’re crushing me into the door.”

The pain of the handle pressing into my flesh is becoming unbearable as someone stumbles forward, knocking me off balance as I tip to the side. My hands flail in front of me, trying to grasp onto something. All the people surrounding me step out of the way, and I fall to the ground. My shoulder slams hard into the pavement, and I gasp in pain for moments before my head smacks against the concrete. As my vision goes black, I catch the faint red and blue glow of lights flashing all around me.