Page 24 of Touch Me (Complete Collection)

Her heart slamming against her ribs, her hands shaking, she moved away from the door. What the fuck? She wanted to know what was going on. She ran to the bedroom, stumbling over a pair of shoes and muttering expletives as her toe throbbed. She pulled on a pair of jeans lying on the floor, before running back and opening the front door a crack.

“Are you fucking her?” Jason screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Go!” Cooper roared at Jason. “And I won’t press charges for assault.”

“Assault? You fucking bastard! You think she- ” His eyes fell on Jenny emerging fully from the apartment, and he chuckled sarcastically. “Why do you think I came, you moron? Jenny called me two days ago and told me she’s thinking about what to do. That she needed time! Now I find her thinking less and whoring more!” He rubbed the back of his hand over his lip and glared at Jenny. Cooper turned around and glowered at her too. She opened her mouth to say something but Jason swung at Cooper again. This time, Cooper didn’t see it coming. He staggered back, before grabbing Jason’s jacket and slamming him against the wall.

“Enough! Go! Now!” Cooper roared in a voice that rumbled through the corridor.

A middle-aged man, who lived in the next-door apartment, strode forward, disentangling the two men before directing Cooper toward Jenny.

Jason scowled at Jenny, but Jenny’s tongue was stuck seemingly irretrievably to the roof of her mouth.

Cooper was mad. There was pure, raw fury emanating from every pore on his body. He took her arm, hauling her inside the apartment and slamming the door shut.

He stood seething four feet away, and reached for her before changing his mind and running his hands through his hair.

“What the fuck, Jenny?”

“I know, Cooper.” She reached for him but he drew his arm away.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

Jenny gaped at him openmouthed. “Me?’

“Two days ago!” h H e bellowed. “You called him two days ago and told him you were still thinking? Why didn’t you say it was over? Why didn’t you just put a stop to his fucking persistence?”

“I...I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Like hell you didn’t!” He smacked a tall lamp with the back of his hand and it smashed to the floor, the light bulb shattering like a bomb in the living room. Jenny reeled back. This was a different Cooper. She had never seen anyone in a violent rage like this one, especially with the rage directed at her. “You called him!” He seized her upper arms and brought his face close to hers. “You called him two days ago, and last night you told me you loved me?” he scoffed in disbelief. “What the fuck are you playing?”

Touch Me Book 4

“Cooper, please.” Jenny reached for Cooper’s face and he pitched back as if she had scalded him.

“Explain, Jen.” His voice was suddenly low, shattered, his face squeezed in remorse and confusion. “Explain why you thought keeping Jason in the picture was a good idea. Why you kept your options open?”

“That’s not what happened!” Jenny screamed, tears stinging her eyes. As soon as he saw them, he looked away from her face. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to hurt, Jason…he’s done nothing bad to me. Look at me!” She tugged at his arm but he didn’t meet her eye. “Whatever happened with Jason, it was a misunderstanding. I left over money for Christ’s sake! I felt bad, and he kept badgering me to call him back. I just…I just thought…” She slipped her hand through her hair. “I didn’t think he would show up!”

He scoffed and peeked a glance at her. “I don’t even know you right now…this person. Because last I checked, you weren’t this stupid.”

“I'm telling the truth!” she wailed, her lower lip trembling.

“I didn’t think he would show up? Really, Jen? That’s the explanation? Oh, I killed someone because I didn’t expect to be caught! That’s…” He sighed. “I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

He left her standing in the center of the living room. The elevator took him down to the ground floor, and he sat in the backseat of his car before it sped out of the parking.

Dejectedly, Cooper stared out the window. He had never imagined that he would love someone, anyone, like he had come to love Jenny. She ruled every waking thought, and her face lingered behind his eyelids when he went to sleep. She was innocent, and sweet, and a liar!

He flexed his knuckles and saw the bruises marking them. How he had stooped so low, he failed to understand. He had engaged in a public brawl like a delinquent juvenile, all over Jenny.

He glanced at his watch. He was late for his meeting, and for the first time in years of hard work, he didn’t give a damn.

**

“Are you still not talking to me?” Jenny stood behind Cooper as he had his morning coffee in a blue t-shirt and gray trousers.

He didn’t bother to glance her way. “I don’t have anything to talk about.”

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