Page 31 of Cooper

“Are you sure? I mean, she’s not going to tear me a new one if I go out there?”

London rises in bed, her breasts exposed, waking up parts of me that really shouldn’t be waking up at a time like this.

“She loves you. I think you’re good.” She says reassuringly, but with an evil smile and snicker, taking her robe off the bottom of the bed and draping it over her shoulders. “And it’s not like we were doing anything, Cooper. We were sleeping.”

“That’s another thing. You said you were going to go back into her room before she wakes up. Is she going to get all territorial on me? Like I'm stealing her mama from her?”

Her bum slides off the bed as she ties her robe up in front, and she leans in to give me a kiss. “Bean’s not like that. She tells it like it is, in the moment. If she was angry, she would have said so. I raised her to tell the truth all the time, and to never be afraid to say how you feel. She learned more from me and James’s therapy than he did.”

“Fuck.” I mutter, pulling up my shorts, dick shriveling at the mention of the asshole’s name.

“I’ll talk to her, okay? Just relax. Go get showered and ready for work, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.” I kiss her on the mouth. “Sorry, I’m…just not used to a kid finding me in bed with her mama is all.”

“It’s okay, Cooper. I promise.”

“Mommy, can I make pancakes?” I hear Bean ask as I trot into the bathroom to take a shower.

“Sure, you can. If you’re dressed.”

“I am dressed.”

“Then, let’s go.” London says, and I hear her pat Bean’s bottom, as she giggles. Relief washes over me.

I don’t know why it bothers me so much. I just don’t want to become one of those creeps that the kid calls ‘Uncle Cooper’ because she doesn’t want to be any closer to me than that. The thought makes me sick. I mean, I love the little angel. She’s the sweetest thing and her mama is her world. They’re both my world. And I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. But, I suppose that London’s right. We weren’t having sex, we were sleeping, and Bean has no idea that we didn’t have any clothes on.

As I shower and dress, I can hear the two of them singing Christmas carols with the radio in the kitchen, and it makes me smile, for two reasons now. When I arrive in the kitchen, I see that they’ve made me some Christmas tree shaped pancakes, too, so I thank them and eat them up quick. And as I keep worrying if everything is okay with us, London leans in and kisses me goodbye, right in front of Bean. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I tell her.

And just like that, everything is okay. I know it’s not, but it sure feels like a miracle to me.

As I walk past all the classes, I see the younger ones cutting out paper snowflakes, made of green and red construction paper, while the older grades are hanging them on the walls and from the ceiling, using dental floss and fishing line. The school looks amazing. With just a little under a month left before Christmas, and another week until the Christmas concert, the building is buzzing with holiday cheer. But even with all the festivities going on, my mind is still on London and Bean. More so, since I felt a call come through on my cell phone as I was teaching, and I’m heading to the staff room to return the call, knowing full well who it is.

Jenkins answers on the first ring. “Hey, man. Thanks for returning my call so quickly. I know you’re in class.”

“No problem. I’m in between classes. What have you got?”

“It took some doing. Normally, when I’m digging around for the Ford brothers, it isn’t to find out info on inmates, so this is outside of my territory. Luckily, I’ve got some friends in high places, and one particular friend who’s an attorney. Evidently, this case was very hot in Florida, which is why your lady friend there is in the Witness Protection Program, and in a completely different state.”

“Hot? How do you mean hot?”

“James Titan. He embezzled fifty million dollars through his wife. The story has been all over the media in Florida. Huge coverage on it. All I had to do was mention Florida and a lady and her kid under the Witness Protection Program, and this friend of mine made one guess.”

I’m confused as fuck. “What? How?”

“London Titan has enough goddamn suffixes to her name, it would make your head spin. She’s a genius. Not only does she have a master’s in accounting, but she’s got several other degrees in commerce, technology, shit, she could probably bust her way through the F.B.I. and find out what everyone makes, fudge their numbers, and move on to the next project before lunch.”

“No shit.” I say, impressed, lifting my brows.

“Anyway, hubby James decided to get cocky with some big deal that she and him were working on with their company, and he got himself in some hot water.”

“How’d he manage that?”

“He chose the wrong damn account to embezzle the money from. And by the time he got arrested, he’d hidden the money far away.”

“What’s this got to do with putting London in the program?”

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