“One day, I’m making you come,” Cooper whispered against my ear as he entered me, “and it’ll be a day we mark on the calendar and celebrate each year like the Fourth of July.”
Aroused from earlier, I wasn’t interested in talking. Clinging to Cooper, I enjoyed his every thrust. Our lips met and I kissed him so hard I might have left a bruise.
“You’re mine,” I whispered as he propped himself over me and thrusted in a hard frenzy.
Holding onto his forearms while he moved deeper and harder, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Cooper. His muscles flexing with every movement, I remembered when his size scared me. Now, all of his power provided me a sense of security. Cooper loved me and I was safe with him.
Knowing he was close, I teased his nipples like he did to mine. While his weren’t nearly as sensitive, it was all the help he needed as his need intensified.
“No one else,” he gasped, finally coming hard inside me. “Never anyone else again.”
“Never,” I whispered, stroking his face as his movements slowed.
Once resting together, we said nothing. What was there to say anyway? We were where we belonged and nothing could tear us apart. As if proving me wrong, the sound of approaching motorcycles tensed me out of Cooper’s arms.
“Shit,” he muttered, getting up to look outside. “It’s my pop’s friends. I forgot they come in for the fair.”
“Should I go?”
Cooper glanced back at me with a frown and looked ready to bitch before changing his mind. His frown eased as he walked towards the dresser.
“Let’s take a quick shower and get breakfast.”
Forcing myself to go to the window, I looked outside where thirty Harleys were parked in the massive driveway. Some of the bikers were women, most weren’t.
“Do you recognize any of them?” Cooper asked, throwing clothes onto his bed.
“A few from your dad’s bar.”
“But none from before?”
Turning to him, I shook my head. Cooper nodded then reached for my hand.
“There are a lot of fucking bikers in this country so I probably don’t know them. If you ever see one of those fuckers though, you tell me and I’ll make him wish for death. Do you understand?”
Nodding, I walked with him to the shower. We soaped off without any fooling around. Nervous now, I tried to hide this fact, but didn’t succeed. To avoid making my tension worse, Cooper never once got anything sexy going even though he was hard again.
Seeing me wet had that effect on him.
Out of the shower, Cooper handed me his shirt to wear and I finally calmed down. I was impressed by how he thought to comfort me in such a way. In fact, he knew how to calm me better than I could calm myself now. Somewhere along the way, Cooper Johansson had become the Farah whisperer. When I told him this as we walked downstairs, he laughed so hard I thought he would fall.
“Hell yeah, I am,” he said as we joined the others.
The big Exam Day arrived and New Hampton fell into an eerie silence. Walking to my first class, I was shocked by the tension in the air. The first big college wide tests sobered the usually wild student body. The exams were scheduled on a single day to ensure everyone showed up. They were also scheduled on a Tuesday because students like Cooper didn’t attend school on Fridays. I was still amazed by how much the administration kowtowed to certain whims.
Sitting in my first class, I wasn’t overly nervous about the exams. I only missed one day of classes and I had always been good at tests. While I didn’t necessarily expect to ace them all, I figured I should easily pass. Then, I looked at the first question and realized I might be in trouble.
By the third class, I
knew
I was in trouble. I would barely skate by because I really didn’t know most of the answers. How had I forgotten so much of the lessons? I took good notes and studied each day. Maybe not as much as I should have since I had work and Cooper, but I did study. Yet, I figured I’d get low C’s on the exams when I was accustomed to solid B’s.
Waiting for the last exam of the day, I wished Cooper would arrive and cheer me up. My mind raced with all of the questions from all of the exams. I had also begun second guessing my answers. Instead of Cooper, Nick appeared.
“It’s not that bad,” he said, grinning. “The tests don’t even count for much of our final grades. It’s just a thing the school does to force students to stop partying and take classes seriously. A wakeup call.”
“I sure got one,” I said softly. “Are you feeling good about your tests?”
Nick ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed loudly. “Good? No. Okay? Yeah, I guess. I’m not great at tests, but I think I remembered most things.”
“Do you think we could maybe study again like we did before? I don’t really know anyone else in most of my classes and I’m pretty sure I did bad on the tests.”
“Sure. I only have my roommate Tad to study with and the guy is drunk most days.”
I felt like being proactive helped settle my anxiety. By the time Cooper arrived looking grumpy, I wasn’t nearly as worried about the tests.
“Did your big brain let you down?” I asked as we sat in the back.
“What?” he muttered, still grumpy.
“Should I not talk to you?”
“Do you want to talk to me?” When his tone shut me up and I stared at my desk, Cooper leaned over and whispered, “Why are you always fucking talking to him?”
“Nick? He’s in most of my classes. He’s nice and he helped me study.”
“I said I would help you. I’m smarter than him. I’m also your man, unless you want that to change?”
“You’re breaking up with me on test day?” I whispered, starting to cry.
“Damn it,” he said, pulling me out of the classroom. Once again, the other students became scarce to avoid Cooper. “I’m not breaking up anything.”
“Why are you so angry?”
“I can’t turn around without you and Nick getting cozy.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Whatever. Look, we need to take this test so we can get out of here. I need you to calm down.”
“Are you going to calm down?” I asked, wiping my eyes.
“Say it,” he demanded in a quiet voice. “Say it and I’ll calm the fuck down.”
“That I love you or that you’re mine?”
“I know I’m yours. I need to know you’re mine.”
“Who the fuck else’s would I be?” I growled at him.
Cooper grinned at my tone. “You’re so fucking hot when you get pissed. I wish we could leave right now.”
“I’m not getting naked with you until you stop acting like a douche.”
“Even if I do this?” he asked, kissing my neck before returning to class.
Lowering my gaze, I avoided the looky-loos as I followed Cooper back into class where the instructor waited. Soon, Manuel handed out our tests and my panic returned. Half of the questions were in Spanish and I understood none of them. Was I supposed to know how to read this? Why hadn’t I learned? Was the panic making me dumber or was I stupid and so I was panicking?
I spent so much time freaking out about freaking out that I had to hurry to finish the test in time. Handing the packet back to Manuel as I walked out with Cooper, I had a bad feeling that no matter who I studied with I might be in over my head.
Cooper remained grumpy for the rest of the afternoon. He even frowned during sex, watching me like he was searching for something on my face. By the time he dropped me off at work, I was ready for a little space. Even so, I worried the last few weeks with me had distracted him and he’d done poorly on his tests too.
Despite the wonky day, the first few hours at work were great. Test day put everyone on edge so they hadn’t eaten much. After the exams were over, students showed up at Denny’s and ordered most of the menu. Super busy, I loved every minute of the rush. In fact, by the time Cooper arrived, I was rolling in cash and ready to celebrate. Maybe I’d treat him to something special?
Usually when Cooper arrived, he’d kiss me in a completely inappropriate way before sitting down where he spent the next few hours making lewd comments to get me to laugh. This time though, Cooper walked straight to the restroom and I assumed even Cooper Johansson got sick.
When he emerged, his sleeves were pulled down past his hands, making him look like a kid in an oversized shirt. His expression made me worry more.
“What’s wrong?”
Cooper shook his head as he took my face into his hands still hidden in the shirt sleeves. “Tell me you love me,” he whispered.
“I love you so much and you’re scaring me.”
“I had a shit day, but I need you to need me like I need you.”
“I do,” I said, sitting next to him in the booth. “You look sick.”
“Just stressed. I have a lot of pressure on me to take over shit and I’m not even done with college. My pop is in a hurry to take a backseat in the business and it’s all on me and I only have you to help me relax. Everyone else just takes. Well, Aaron is cool, but no one relaxes me like you do, baby.”
Cooper turned to look at me and I saw such fear in his eyes. “You can’t live without me, right?” he asked in a pleading voice. “If I fucked up, you’d give me another chance, right?”
“Fucked up? Like if you were with another girl?”
His expression full of pain, Cooper shook his head. “If I’m scared I’ll lose you, why would I cheat?”
“I don’t know, but you seem freaked out. I can’t imagine what would be so bad that you’d be this way?”
Cooper studied my face in a way that made me think he wanted to confess. Was it really another girl? Was an ex pregnant? I couldn’t imagine every girl was on birth control and Cooper wasn’t great about using condoms. I waited for him to explain, but he only tightened his lips into a grim frown.
“You’re coming to my place tonight, right?”
“Of course.”
Cooper nodded, taking my hand. “I was thinking we should blow off school and work. Just take off for a few days. A little vacation.”
“I want to find out how I did on the tests and they’ll tell us tomorrow. Friday at the latest.”
“I’ll have someone email them to you.”
“Why do you want to leave so badly? Are you in trouble?”
Cooper shook his head, but I knew he was lying. He’d done something bad enough to scare him. When he kissed me, I realized Cooper was shaking.
He said I relaxed him. Even without knowing what he did, I needed to soothe away his tension. Squirming around in the booth until I was on my knees, I had him lean against my chest while I caressed his head. His hair wasn’t as short and it felt soft against my fingertips. Cooper wrapped his arms around my waist and exhaled softly against me.
“Whatever happened, it’ll be okay.”
“Do you promise?” he asked, sounding like a kid.
“Yes,” I said, unable to say anything else.
Cooper looked up at me, his dark eyes overflowing with emotion. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered, fighting for control. “Fuck, Farah. We’re perfect together so you need to stay.”
Kissing him, I tried not to show my concern, but he had me worried. If it wasn’t about a girl, what could he have done to cause me to leave? Did he kill someone? I knew his family business was violent. I knew Tucker likely dealt with those bastards harassing girls after Maddy made a toast to her hero who made it safe to walk the streets again. I understood Cooper would take over the family business and deal with his dad’s old biker contacts. I just didn’t think the violence would affect Cooper so strongly.
Later at his place, he never quite calmed down. When we were together, he held me too tightly like I might run away if he loosened his grip. As we dozed, I thought I heard him apologizing and saying he needed me to stay.
The next day, Cooper did everything he could to convince me to ditch school. He turned off the alarm, but I woke up on my own. He distracted me with sex and food. I still wanted to go to school and find out my grades. It was making me nuts not knowing and Cooper’s secret wasn’t helping me settle down. I promised him everything would be alright and he finally drove us to school.
Kissing me like he was saying goodbye, Cooper looked so young and vulnerable when I walked to my first class. I glanced back and waved, but he just stared. The mood in class wasn’t any better. Apparently, everyone thought they failed every test. A lot of students didn’t even show up to class, rather than learn their fates. I was nervous too, but then I heard how the counselors were calling in the people with really bad test results. When I arrived in my third class without an invite to the Admin building, I felt pretty confident. Then, Skye found me.
“I should have warned you that Cooper is the jealous type,” she said, sitting next to me in class and checking her appearance in a little compact. “I think I just got distracted by Tyler’s abs. Have you seen them? They’re pretty fucking spectacular. Oh, and he aced everything yesterday. Didn’t even break a sweat. Hot and smart, I’ve hit the motherload.”
As usual, I had to wait until Skye finished before I could return to the first thing she said. “What about Cooper?”
“You didn’t really like Nick, did you? He’s cute, but not really hot. Not rich or smart. He’s not Tyler and he certainly isn’t Cooper.”