“No, it’s not okay.” He twisted in the seat as I buckled my seat belt. When he cupped my face, I leaned into the contact. “Who hit you, baby girl? Your mom or Archie’s dad?”
“It wasn’t Archie’s dad,” Coop answered as he let himself into the backseat and tossed the backpacks in. “That much I know.”
“Coop.”
“It’s not the first time, Frankie,” he countered. “You always cover for her.”
I closed my eyes. “Please, just let it go.”
There was silence, and when I opened my eyes, I found Jake staring behind me and I could almost read the war on his face.
“Let’s just go to school?”
He dragged his gaze back to me. “How many times?”
“I’m not answering that. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Enough,” Coop supplied, and I groaned.
“Coop.”
“Nope, I told you, not letting it go. I’ve let it go enough. You don’t want to talk about it, fine.Iwon’t force you. But I’m tired of what she does to you, Frankie. You always defend her…”
“She’s my mom.”
“She’s…” Jake said, then seemed to bite off his next words before he leaned forward and kissed me. Like the hug with Coop earlier, I just leaned into the contact. The touch of his lips was gentle, sweet, and oh so careful as he licked his way in to tease my tongue. At my little sigh, he eased back and stared at me again. “I don’t want her hitting you.”
Neither did I.
“Can’t change it,” I said. “It’s done. But thank you for caring.”
His eyebrows tightened, and he shared an inexplicable look with Coop. Then he glanced back toward the apartments before giving me one more kiss. “We’re not done with this.” It sounded more like a promise. “Yes, I care.”
“So do I,” Coop said. “Of course, we care.”
It was all a little too much, and I shifted in the seat. I ached inside and out. “Thank you.”
“Silly girl,” Coop muttered then tugged my braid gently. “You need more coffee if you need us to explain it to you.”
Maybe I did.
Or maybe I just needed to get this day over and done with. I’d never been so relieved as I was when Jake pulled away. Even though I finally saw Mr. Standish’s BMW. It was parked just a few slots to the left of my car. If I’d been paying attention the night before, I’d have known.
The sick feeling pitted my stomach again.
The silence in the car was so loud and thick, I could touch it. Jake didn’t even have music on, so it wasn’t hard to hear the buzzing of their phones. Mine had gone off, too, but I didn’t want to dig it out of my pocket. Last night had been awful, but they’d all been great.
This morning had been so much worse.
Tonight?
Tonight, I had to go out to dinner with them, and Mr. Standish was buying me a dress?
Not a chance in hell would I wear it.
The sun shining seemed almost a middle finger from Mother Nature. Life sucks? Here, have some sunshine. I suppose it could also mean life wasn’t that bad. At least, until you opened the door and got a face full of humidity—not so bad? Ha, just kidding.
My cheek still stung a little, and I hadn’t looked in a mirror to see how bad it was and the closer we go to school… I flipped down the visor and pushed open the slide to look in the mirror.