Page 80 of Structure of Love

It was, granted, entirely possible that was wishful thinking, but Cooper had never apologized to me in his life. I’d figured it couldn’t hurt to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But calling? I didn’t know what to do about him calling me.

I stared at my phone for a long moment, debating whether to answer it or not. The call ended, then immediately rang again. Normally, he’d call, and when I ignored him, he’d text and rant about how I was a bad brother. He’d never before called back-to-back.

Some spidey sense tingled, telling me this was important, how it was vital I took this call. Against my better judgment, I answered. “What?”

A sob answered me, and my foreboding feeling only intensified. He sounded distraught, and that was never a good thing.

“Gage.” Cooper’s voice trembled, thick with tears. “Gage, he’s dead. He’s dead and I don’t know what to do.”

For a moment, just a moment, I forgot every trace of anger I held toward Cooper. All I could hear was his panic, how distressed he was, and my knee-jerk reaction was to help. How could I do anything else when he sobbed? I hadn’t heard him this distraught in a decade, at least, and I hoped to god I never would again. Listening to him cry actively felt like someone jabbed me repeatedly in the chest with an ice pick.

Autopilot engaged and I immediately turned, snatching up my keys, because this was genuinely bad. I didn’t have details,but I knew I had to help. I just had to. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself tomorrow if I didn’t go now.

I caught Logan’s eye, and he must have seen from my expression this was bad. He immediately got up and headed for the door, plucking the keys from my hand as he moved. I almost resisted on reflex, but then he looked me right in the eye and I could see everything he didn’t say aloud.

You’re in no state to drive, let me helpthose eyes said.

I couldn’t fight him when he was here trying to support me, and he was right. I was shaken and probably shouldn’t be driving. I was so grateful my boyfriend didn’t need me to spell anything out. I gave him a quick, helpless smile before shooting out the door. I turned my attention back to Cooper.

“Cooper, I need you to slow down, start from the beginning. Start with telling me where you are.”

“Are you coming?”

“Yeah, I’m coming, but where are you?”

“I don’t…I don’t exactly know?I’m…I wasn’t driving, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. I’m a little drunk right now. I’m…I think we’re on Grand River?We were heading toward Kensington Park.” He hissed, like he was in pain.

I now had a location, although that was a long stretch of road, and parts of it weren’t very populated. “Are you hurt?”

“A little. My whole right side hurts. Arm’s probably broken, it hurts to breathe. The car overturned. I barely got myself out. Jesse’s not looking good, Dwayne’s out cold but he’s breathing, I think he’s okay.”

“So this was a full car? And you weren’t driving?”

“No, Billy…Billy was driving. He’s dead, he was shot.”

How the fuck was he shot while driving?! No, that answer could wait. “Listen, I want you to hang up with me—”

“NO!” The word was panic.

Right, that wouldn’t fly. “Can you get someone’s phone? Anyone’s phone, and call 911? You’ve got to get help for your other friends.”

“I…yeah. Yeah, I can. Uh, hold on.”

I threw myself into the passenger seat of the Jeep and told Logan, “Head toward Kensington Park, get on Grand River to do it. He’s somewhere along that road.”

“Got it.”

Logan, bless him, took off out of his driveway like a bat out of hell.

“Got Jesse’s phone. I’m calling 911.”

I stayed on the phone with Cooper, switching to speaker so Logan could also stay abreast of the situation. I listened as he told the 911 dispatcher what happened and where approximately they were. He was rattled—he had to stop and repeat things or go back to make more sense of what he’d told her. Shock was a hell of a drug, and I had a feeling Cooper was more hurt than he’d let on. Hell, he might not even realize how hurt he was, if he was high on adrenaline and drunk to boot.

I also felt rattled, barely holding myself together. Knowing Cooper was in trouble, serious trouble, made my heart bleed. Dammit, this was why I wanted him to get clean, to avoid situations exactly like this one! How could he not understand I’d helped him so many times because I loved him and didn’t want him hurt? Would it really take this road of hard knocks to beat it into him? I didn’t know if my heart could handle Cooper taking the rough road. My heart shivered with fear and dread, even knowing my brother was alive with help on the way.

My hand found Logan’s thigh, and I kept it there because touching him grounded me. I wished we could hold hands, but his Jeep was a manual, and he needed his hand to shift gears. He clasped my hand a few times when he could, squeezing gently in support.