Page 1 of After All This Time (A Time For Love #2)

Liam

I remember the day I first saw Cooper.

But that day, even the afternoon sun felt like too much.

I was playing at the playground that was right next to the park near our house. My dad always took me there in the afternoons after he was done with work. Kicking a football around or practicing my dribble with my weathered basketball had always been my favorite way to pass the time.

Except, that afternoon, the constant beating of the ball against the concrete wasn’t enough to drown out the sounds of loud arguments and what seemed like a fight waiting to happen.

I remember chancing a look at my dad who was sitting on a wooden bench, reading a tattered paperback that I was pretty sure was another detective story.

Following the sounds of rising voices and scuffles, I almost reached the end of the park before I stopped just shy of turning the corner. Hiding behind a thicket of bushes big enough to cover me head to toe, I peeked around it.

A group of boys, older than me from the looks of them, stood in a semi-circle, caging in something I couldn’t see.

The boys were jeering and cackling in a way that made my hackles rise.

When the small crowd split for just a few seconds, I was able to squint and see what was happening through the small sliver of space between their bodies.

And my breath froze in my lungs.

A small boy was hunched on his knees in front of them, holding a tiny orange kitten. Some scratches and bruises marred both their bodies, and I remember that even though I had always been calm and reasonable, in that moment I’d never felt angrier.

My breath quickened, suddenly short and shallow, my heartbeat thumping in my ears.

My small fists clenched so hard they hurt, my body almost trembling from the urge to spring forward.

The only thing that stopped me from rushing in mindlessly was the glimpse I caught of the boy in the middle of everything.

He had dark, almost black, hair that fell on his face, covering his forehead. But where someone would have expected to see eyes wide with fear, all I saw was an ice-blue gaze full of wrath, aimed at the laughing boys around him.

That wasn’t the look of someone who was scared, but of a cornered animal protecting something important.

In the next instant, his eyes clashed with mine, and surprise flashed through them, along with some trepidation.

He probably thought I was there to add to the bullying that was already happening.

I was held captive in his intense gaze, unable to look away, so I silently tried to communicate that I wasn’t one of them.

I wasn’t sure if he believed me before his attention was drawn to somewhere on my left.

Fearing there were more reinforcements approaching, I whirled around, only to find that someone else had followed the voices, another boy around my age that was hidden partially behind a tree watching the scene unfold.

He looked familiar, someone I went to school with maybe?

But I wasn’t sure and there were more important things going on.

Needing all the help I could get, I locked eyes with him, a silent communication passing between us, nodding at each other in determination. Using the element of surprise to our advantage, we jumped at the bullies with a cry.

Looking back, maybe fetching an adult would have been a better move, since we ended up getting our asses kicked.

But at least we gave as good as we got, even as all three of us ended up on our backs on the hot ground, me, Nate, and Cooper laughing like lunatics and scaring the small orange tabby Cooper had almost been beaten up to save.

I remember the day I first saw Cooper.

It was summer and it was hot and his eyes shone like crystals under the afternoon sun.

And I also remember the day, years later, when I looked at him and thought he was mine.