Page 2 of Covet (The Red #3)

Chapter Two

Coop

Listen to Loving You

by Cannons

W ell, that had gone well.

I cursed in the middle of an empty room and fought the need to run after Elle.

Ever since the bombshell with Landon and Adam, we’ve all been spinning out of control.

Max was inconsolable and I’d never seen him so torn up.

I figured Elle would understand and we’d support each other while trying to patch up the group.

Instead, she seemed even more distant; staring at me with sudden suspicion as if I was now part of a cheating club.

I headed to the refrigerator to grab a beer but hesitated as my hands closed around the icy bottle. I wanted to head back to the gym and had a meeting later with a possible client. Better not indulge. My nights were reserved for partying, but I tried to rein shit back during the day.

I shut the door, drank my water, and tried to get my thoughts together.

I needed to fix things with Elle. I didn’t like the growing chasm between us and refused to be punished for Landon and Adam’s bad choices.

Or Max. That cheating video had been the first of a chain in events to tear us all apart.

And we still didn’t know who leaked it.

A frisson of unease shot down my spine. I may not have fucked anyone like Max, but edges blurred under alcohol and hard partying.

I’d had some serious make-out sessions, which would freak Elle out.

I never worried who did what because my crew didn’t snitch and nothing had ever circled back to bite me in the ass.

We all slipped up now and then but kept quiet.

Until now.

I couldn’t trust anyone. I needed to focus on Elle and getting somewhere with my photography business. I didn’t want to rely on fitness modeling for my income. After the Red shoot, some magazines had reached out, loving the sexy vibe I liked to highlight in my work, so maybe I was gaining traction.

I didn’t want to be one of these guys who coasted through with dead end jobs and a degree that was meaningless.

My parents had forced me to go to college so I’d always have a back-up, and I was lucky enough they had the money to put me up in the dorms and let me party my way through school.

Classes were a blur but I passed everything with a solid B-, then went back to photography, just like I’d warned them.

I just hoped my parents weren’t right about needing a steady job. Chasing shoots to pay bills was getting old. I just didn’t know what else I’d want to do.

Even though I was excited for my career to bust open, my gut stirred with a strange feeling of doom. Like Landon and Adam had not only blown up our tight group, but that major change was coming for all of us, whether we liked it or not.

Maybe I was paranoid. But I sensed Elle pulling away and I couldn’t figure out why.

The only way we seemed to connect was through sex—the more intense the better.

During and afterward, she was my old Elle: melty and sweet, easy to be with, and definitely more chill.

We balanced each other nicely, but she complained I wasn’t emotional enough.

I didn’t feel things like Elle did. I had no idea why I seemed to be built more like Max.

I shrugged off shit that bothered people with ease.

Usually, I moved on without worrying about the fall-out.

Elle brought up my photography like I was supposed to be some sensitive artist but taking pictures was simply an interesting way to control results. I manipulated light and pixels and angles, able to take a raw object or person and make it different. That type of work fascinated me.

I was simple. I loved the gym, hanging with my friends, and coming home to Elle. I had no deep feelings buried, and I hated when she pushed those type of convos on me, trying to understand me better.

I wasn’t poetic enough for Elle. So, I found another way to connect with her that made sense for both of us.

I fucked her any way she wanted. I dug into her fantasies and forced her to live them out.

It kept her coming back for more, but since the Landon and Max debacle, we haven’t been together in a while.

We’d intended to move in together but that also blew up.

Max needed me for now, so hopefully once he got past Landon’s betrayal, I’d be able to move in with Elle.

And now that she kept battering me with questions about Landon and if Max had hired a guy to go after her at Red, things were even more fragile.

I hated lying to her. The whole episode bothered the shit out of me and I’d tore Max a new asshole about things getting out of control.

The original plan he shared was for a guy he knew to just try to kiss her.

Make her uncomfortable enough to seek Max out for comfort.

Instead, the asshole practically assaulted her and Adam had somehow found proof.

I was fucked if the truth got out. I should’ve told Max no from the beginning, but he’d been so desperate and always relied on me for help.

I reminded myself it was in the past. If I kept my mouth shut, I’m sure the whole thing would blow over.

After all, Landon and Adam were gone for a few months.

It would give us all the space and time needed to reset.

Elle was my future and I wasn’t about to let her go like Max had lost Landon.

Too bad I didn’t know Fate wasn’t done with her bitch games, and that another shitstorm was coming for all of us.

I would’ve made different decisions. I wouldn’t have gotten so sloppy with the people I loved.

But it was already too late.