I staredat that last line and shook my head.
“Problem?” Coop asked.
“Maybe.” I closed the messages without answering. I needed to think about that and talk to Frankie before I took a single step. Personally, I wanted nothing to do with that crazy bat and her idiot choices. She was putting Edward before Frankie, and only an idiot would do that.
“Need help?”
“Not yet.”
And I wanted to talk to Frankie about it before I brought it up to the guys. Right now, we had enough crap on Frankie’s plate. Wittaker deserved a damn raise for the efforts he was putting out there to block her mother. The emergency order had been a great first step.
Frankie emerged from the hallway with her phone in hand.
“Hey, babe,” I greeted her with a smile. The endearment had stuck. I loved her name, but I liked that she was my babe, too.
“Hey,” she said, crossing over to collapse on the sofa right between me and Coop. “How’s it going?”
“Got them all,” I said, motioning to the screen. “Everything good with Jake?”
“Yeah, he was worried about me.” She chewed at her lower lip, and Coop nudged her until she moved and then sat with her back against his chest and he could wrap his arms around her. I envied him the position, but I could still see her at least, and that was something. “Can you do the thing here?”
“Gonna try,” I told her, and I had to admit, when a flicker of disappointment crossed her face, it boosted my ego. “But we can still go back to my place if you want that time.”
“Or I can take off,” Coop offered easily. “I can also text the boys and tell them to take a powder for the night.” He rubbed his chin against her hair.
She frowned. “I hate asking you to do that.”
I met Coop’s gaze and caught the concern in his eyes. Yeah. I heard the waver in her voice, too.
“You’re not asking,” Coop said firmly. “I’m offering. We all need our alone time. You two haven’t had much, and neither of you have complained.”
“Oh my hand has complained,” I interjected. “But he’s not used to the quality time with me anymore.”
Frankie gaped at me, mouth forming a cute little ‘o’.
“What?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “Babe, I told you before. Wanting you has never been a problem. I’m pretty sure Coop’s been looking after you, and I’d bet Jake, too.” The sudden flush to her cheeks confirmed it. While I might be envious of the time, I wasn’t jealous. Go figure. “Good. ’Cause you can’t hang out with Rosie Thumb and her four sisters while in that cast. Arguably, you could do it left-handed I suppose…”
Her sudden peal of laughter pierced through the gloomy little cloud hanging around her. Achievement unlocked. Go me.
“I’d like an evening with you, but I should call Ian before we go to bed. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
Sounded like a plan to me. I looked at Coop. “Get out.”
Frankie gaped again, and Coop snorted with laughter.
“Archie!”
“What?” I played innocent. “You said you couldn’t ask him. So we didn’t ask. I just told him to beat it.”
“It’s cool,” Coop said, eyes laughing. “Besides, I can probably squeeze in a shift and check on Sis before I go.”
Ugh. Sisters. That whole thing the other day had been uncomfortable as fuck. When I met his sister, she’d been in braces and elementary school. Now she was talking about dating someone at the same school as us? Never had I been so happy to be an only child.
Well maybe when I thought of Edward and Muriel as parents. Anyway.
I went back to looking at the tracks as Frankie walked Coop out, and I didn’t even gawk at them as Coop pinned her to the wall and kissed the hell out of her. At least he wasn’t noisy like Jake. Damn, no way to miss what Jake was doing to her, even if I wasn’t looking.
Not that it wasn’t hot, but I still needed to splice the video, and the fact that Frankie wanted to just hang with me tonight already had me semi-hard. Video. Feed her. Help with homework. Then play.