Page 33 of Weathering the Storm of the Century

“I’m plenty of help,” he lied.

He was still lying, but he was also making some very good points.

Chapter 9

Cotter~

I was still fucking pissed as I rode the elevator to Aelix’s floor. It wasn’t often that I felt uncertain about things, but I still wasn’t a fan of that particular feeling. I wasn’t used to not knowing what to do or how to proceed, even when shit was hitting the fan. Nevertheless, despite my threats and less than gentlemanly behavior earlier, I still had no idea where Aelix stood on the idea of actually dating me.

When the elevator doors slid open, I made my way to Aelix’s front door, ready to give this all that I had. Jealousy was another emotion that I wasn’t fond of experiencing, and there was only one way to make that shit go away, and that was to put a fucking ring on that goddamn woman’s finger already.

Knocking on the door, a part of me wondered if she’d gone out with Kent just to spite me. In all actuality, I’d deserve it for the way that I’d shown up at her office earlier. Considering that I’d been the one to lay down the rules, I’d had no right to approach her the way that I’d had. I’d taken liberties that hadn’t belonged to me, and I wished that was enough to get my head on straight, but it wasn’t.

When Aelix opened the door, her sun-colored eyes were staring up at me warily, but she didn’t seem pissed, so I was taking that as a win. Granted, we’d never had a fight before, so I really had no idea what she was like when she was ready to rip someone a new one, but still.

“Since when do you knock?” she asked as she stepped back to let me inside.

“Since fighting made an appearance in our relationship,” I shot back.

“Which it shouldn’t,” she pointed out as she shut the door. “No drama, remember?”

I turned to face her. “Quit throwing my words back in my face,” I ordered. “I remember what I said clear enough, Aelix.”

“So, then what the hell is this, Cotter?” she finally asked. “Showing up at my office was so unacceptable that I don’t even have words for it.”

“Maybe,” I conceded. “However, I deserved better than a text.”

“Which is why I agreed to talk to you, despite your highhandedness,” she replied, doing her best to rein in her temper. “In all actuality, I should have called security to escort you out of my office.”

I shot her a look. “Seriously?”

That finally pissed her off. “Look, I get that you’re Cotter Moore and untouchable, but that still doesn’t give you the right to act like an unhinged asshole where I’m concerned.”

Ignoring that, I said, “If things were changing for you, then you should have said something.”

“They didn’t change for me until Kent asked me out,” she answered, repeating what she’d said in her office. “He asked me to dinner, and…and it sounded nice.”

“Then you should have called me and told me that!” I roared, finally losing it. “You should have given me the opportunity to decide where to go from there!”

“That’s not fair!” she yelled back. “I was just trying to honor our arrangement!”

“Bring up our arrangement one more time, and I swear to God, I’m going to fucking lose my goddamn mind, Aelix,” I hissed.

Her beautiful eyes widened. “I think you’ve already lost your mind,” she fired back. “Let’s also not forget that you’re overstepping, Cotter. I’m not your girlfriend. I was never your girlfriend. I did nothing wrong by accepting Kent’s invitation to dinner.”

She was right, and I hated it.

I eyed her. “Did you accept his invitation before or after I replied to your text?”

Aelix scowled. “What difference does that make?”

“I deserved the chance to respond to your breakup text before accepting his invitation,” I told her, reaching, but also not caring because I was desperate.

Her face softened. “Cotter-”

“Want to hear something crazy?” She let out a soft sigh before nodding. “Your favorite color is violet.” Her head reared back a bit in surprise. “You hate eating after six but make the sacrifice because your schedule is unpredictable. You’re a neat freak, and it’s because you’re so busy. If things aren’t lined up around you, then you get distracted, something that you can’t afford. Your favorite food is Mexican with Chinese as your second. You’ve got a wardrobe worth thousands, but if you could, you’d live in sweats and your Raiders sleep shirt that is practically threadbare. Your guilty pleasure is sexy lingerie, but you do your best to curb your spending there. Your favorite television station is the History Channel, but you watch Comedy Central when you’ve had a rough day.”

Aelix started shaking her head, her eyes wide. “How can you possibly know all that?”

---