Collide(31)

Lenny chuckled.

Ryan kept painting.

Cooper’s hand tightened on the roller in his palm, so he didn’t knock Fredrick out.

“Like a fag/fag or just some guy with big pockets?” Lenny asked.

“Like an ‘I fuck guys’ queer. He’d told them he and his boyfriend were parting ways when he came in to look at the place.” Fredrick wore a look of disgust on his face. Cooper turned to look at Noah. The guy was about to come out of his fucking skin. That made two of them.

“Watch your fucking mouth, man.” Cooper told Fredrick. The three men all eyed him.

“What’s your problem, Bradshaw?” Lenny asked. He was smiling as he said it, probably not realizing how serious Cooper was.

“Besides that being a dickhead thing to say?”

“Hell, man. I didn’t mean shit by it. If he admits he’s a fag then why does it matter?” Fredrick really looked like he didn’t get it. He didn’t look like he was trying to be an asshole. But he was.

“I don’t like that word.” He never had.

“Chill out, guys. I want to get this painting done so I can get the hell out of here. He’s right, Fredrick. It’s kind of a dickhead word to use.” Then Ryan looked at Cooper. “But it’s also just a fucking word. You’re not gay, so who cares?”

Cooper did. He opened his mouth to say so but Noah cut him off. “I dropped my roller. Is there a hose I can use to clean it off?”

Fredrick walked over to show him where it was it was, and everyone else got back to work. It was less than a half hour later that Cooper said he was done, and he and Noah needed to leave.

“Why did you stop me from saying anything else?” he asked Noah, when they were in his truck.

“Because he’s an ass-backward, narrow-minded prick, but you also work with him. You don’t need to cause problems for yourself there because that guy can’t keep his mouth shut. Especially not over me.”

But he would, because it was the right thing to do. And, he realized, because it was for Noah.

“But I also won’t give him a free pass twice. I see him somewhere other than his home and he says something like that again, I won’t be as forgiving.” There was a sharp edge to Cooper’s voice that Noah didn’t often hear from the man. It was confident, and…sexy. Coop’s senses went on high alert. His body, suddenly buzzing.

He still wanted Noah Jameson, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep fighting it.





CHAPTER TEN



Noah sat up in his bed, wishing like hell he could sleep. He rubbed a hand over his bare chest, and closed his eyes, but he knew sleep wouldn’t come. He hated it when he got like this. When he was younger, he had a lot of trouble sleeping. His parents often fought at night, or sometimes that’s when they would leave.

It’s easier to drive at night, his parents would say. Less traffic.

He didn’t wake up with nightmares like Coop used to, but he still felt haunted by the dark sometimes. It’s when they’d left Blackcreek the first time. He’d run over to Cooper’s house in the middle of the night, banging on the door, before being dragged away.

“Fuck.” He dropped his head against the headboard. He didn’t need to think about that night, right now.

“Don’t make me go alone!” Cooper’s voice broke through the night. Before thoughts had the chance to form in Noah’s head, he was out of the bed and running toward his friend’s room. His heart jackhammered as he heard, “Please! I don’t wanna go alone!” in Cooper’s broken voice.

Christ, those nightmares. They’d been brutal when Coop was a kid.

Noah didn’t pause at the closed door. He pushed right into the room, and headed straight for Coop’s bed.

“No! No!” His rough voice broke through the night.

Noah grabbed his shoulder, slightly shaking him. “Wake up, man. It’s a dream. Wake up.”

Cooper’s blinds were open, the moon shedding enough light into the room, that Noah saw his friend’s wide eyes jerk open.

“You were dreaming,” he told him, as though it wasn’t obvious.

“The fire… Shit man, the fire. I…I still see them.” Cooper had been through a lot in his life. He overcame it all with strength and determination. He didn’t let his past hold him back. Noah always wished he was more like that. Cooper plowed into any situation, running never an option, because of that night. Now, his voice sounded so alone and so broken.

“You’re good. We’re okay. It’s over.” Noah wanted to snatch back the words. How fucking ridiculous could he sound? We’re okay? This had nothing to do with him. These were Cooper’s demons.