A light though insistent knock came at his door. “Cooper? What’s going on?”
Andi. He wondered how long she’d stand out there before she gave up.
“I’m not going away until you tell me what’s wrong.” Great, she could read minds, too.
He still couldn’t bring himself to answer, to give her permission to come in, only to break her heart.
“Cooper, seriously.” Her voice was sterner than before and held a note of fear along with her determination. “Are you okay? Answer me, or I’m coming in to check on you.”
“Andi, he’s fine. He looked…upset. Not sick or anything like that.” Reed this time.
Avoiding them was pointless. It would only delay the inevitable, and freak them out more in the process.
“I’m going to see for myself.” Andi opened the door a crack. “Cooper? If you don’t want to talk, tell me to go away. I need to know you’re all right.”
“I’m…” Fine? No, he wasn’t. “Not dead.”
“Oh, okay.” She froze, unsure of whether to back out or keep coming.
“You can come in. All of you.” He ditched the pillow and sat up, feeling like he’d aged a hundred years since he’d left that morning.
Andi flew to his side, brushing her fingers through his hair as she crawled onto the bed beside him. “What happened today?”
“Turns out Marty is a scumbag. He’s going to turn me in for an ethics violation. I mean, unless you want to fuck him to shut him up. In that case, he’ll look the other way.”
“I’m going to kick his ass,” Reed snarled from the door.
Simon put his hand on Reed’s shoulder, keeping him pinned in place. “No, you’re not. He’s not going to touch Andi. And you’re not going to jail over some loser. I think I’ll have a few words with Coach, though. Doesn’t sound like someone the Sabertooths need representing their organization.”
Who knew Simon would be the most levelheaded when the shit really hit the fan? Huh.
“Hang on. You’re saying you’re going to lose your job if you don’t break up with me?” Andi clutched her stomach. “You can’t give up on your dreams. You’ve worked so hard—”
“It doesn’t mean anything without you. All of you.” Cooper scanned across three very worried faces. “Fuck it. If I have to give up my job, my career, anything and everything for you, I will gladly do it.”
“No!” Andi shook her head and plopped from her knees onto her ass a few feet from him. “I won’t let you.”
“You’d rather cut me loose?” Cooper felt sick himself. “You’ll still have these two. I guess that’s enough for—”
Reed stopped him cold. “That’s not what she meant.”
“Of course it’s not.” Andi put her hand on her hip. “It’s just that I don’t want to be responsible for stealing something that important from your life.”
“Nothing is more important than you. This.” Cooper shrugged, his mind instantly made up. It was simple, really. If he couldn’t have everything he wanted, he’d have to be happy to keep the things that mattered most. “When I go in tomorrow, I’ll talk to the partners and tell them where I stand. If I’m not the kind of person they want in their firm, then fine. I’ll move on.”
“There has to be some other way to get the experience you need.” Simon tapped his chin. “We’ll figure something out. Besides, once you pass the bar and open your own practice, it won’t matter anymore.”
“It might to clients. What Marty said made sense. They might not want my actions tarnishing their already sullied reputations.” Cooper had to accept the very real possibility. Weigh out his idealism against practical considerations. “I want to say I don’t give a fuck, but…it’s a lie. I do. It’s pissing me off, because it’s so unfair. For a lawyer, that’s hard to stomach.”
Andi took his hand in hers and snuggled up close to him again. “I’m so sorry. The world sucks sometimes. I can’t fix it, but we could try to distract you until you calm down and can think about how to handle this with a clear mind.”
“You know, I’m beat from…” Reed gestured with his thumb over his shoulder toward the living room. “I think I’m going to turn in early.”
Cooper raised a brow at him. Reed smiled, letting Cooper know he could tell he needed some alone time with Andi.
“I could go again.” Simon cracked his knuckles.
“Idiot.” Reed snagged Simon by the neck and dragged him toward the door.