Page 53 of Relief Pitcher

Danita shot Coop an evil grin. “Except the guy was Coop’s boyfriend. You should’ve seen the look on his face.”

My mouth dropped open. “That’s how you found out? Oh shit. I’m so sorry. What happened next?”

“I dumped his ass and left. Then I felt bad and met Danita at the library the next day to finish our project.”

“Puffy eyes and all.” She made an Alexis Rose-esque pouty face and booped his nose.

“How did it go from that to you getting with Aleck?” I wanted to know more about Coop’s past. I ate each story up like my favorite chocolate-covered almonds.

“Aleck was a persistent little shit. It started with him trying to track me down to apologize and swear he didn’t know I was in a relationship with the guy.”

Danita laughed. “He followed me to the classes I had with Coop. Even sat in on a few until Coop would talk to him. Which was hilarious since my brotherhatedhistory class. He must’vereallywanted to talk to Coop to double up on those each week.”

“Persistent was his middle name. He still wouldn’t leave me alone after I heard his explanation and apology. He wasn’t the one who owed me an apology anyway.”

“Then you fell in love?” I still wasn’t piecing together how it happened. The mechanics of the falling baffled me. One moment, a person is a stranger, then a shake of a magic wand, and they can’t live without each other?

Danita shook her head. “Coop and I became good friends over the term, and Aleck kept pestering me to set him up with Coop. I wasn’t about to ruin my friendship with Coop because my brother couldn’t keep it in his pants. Do you know how nice it was to have a big guy to go to the bar with? Guys didn’t fuck with me after they got one look at him. Especially since he was on the football team. Couldn’t let Aleck ruin that for me.” Coop lovingly rolled his eyes.

“But he kept trying, then enrolled in a history class I was signed up for the next term and sat by me every day. Once he stopped trying so hard, I started talking to him and found out he was actually cool. I eventually asked him out for coffee, and he told me he knew I was special because I could deal with his sister.”

I sat back in my chair. “That’s one hell of an origin story.”

Coop smiled absently and stared at his beer as he twisted it in circles. Danita shot me a kind smile.

“I thought he was going to float away after that first date. He told me he was going to marry Coop. I told him he should see a doctor for his delusions. Have we mentioned how persistent he was?”

Danita was a riot as she shared more stories that had Coop groaning and covering his face. Seeing her and Coop together was a blast, and I liked getting to see a different side of him. The relaxed way a person could be when with someone they’d been close to for decades. Did that mean he felt relaxed around me too? Someone he could be himself with?

Is this what it’s like to care about someone?Was that what Austin and Ethan experienced with their guys? The thought of getting closer to Cooper in a new way made me curious and terrified. But the mix was closer to even than I ever would’ve expected.

I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what Caleb and Parker felt like as the boyfriends when they hung out with our group. Enjoying being around the person you cared about while also liking to hang out with their people—all while getting great sex. I still didn’t understand why most people so desperately wanted relationships, but some aspects of them weren’t as puzzling anymore.

“Do you want another one?” Cooper asked.

Danita shook her head. “I better head back. I’ve got a long day at the store tomorrow.”

I glanced at my phone and realized we’d been there for over an hour. I’d had so much fun with them that I hadn’t even thought to mention the brewery. For that hour, Danita hadn’t been the lead I was targeting for work but Coop’s best friend. Someone I wanted to get to know to learn a new side to Coop.

We went to the front to pay, and Coop insisted on buying our drinks. While he and Danita talked about something going on with her parents, I moved out of the way and over to a wall of framed photos of people I didn’t recognize. While the faces washed over me, my mind kicked into overdrive as it really sank in that I’d missed an opportunity to talk up the brewery. I never let sex get between me and work. But whatever was going on with Coop felt like more than sex. Sex and friendship?

At the very least, I had to hope she liked me enough from our bullshitting tonight that I’d made a good impression on behalf of the brewery and maybe scored some brownie points before our pitch meeting at the end of the season.

I followed Danita and Coop out to the parking lot.

“I got a text from that shithead trying to place a bet on the championship game. Can you believe the nerve to assume his team will get into the championship again? What an absolute douchecanoe. He’s got an ego the size of Texas,” Danita said as she drove out of the parking lot.

Coop and I shared a smile. She continued bitching about that sponsor on the drive back to the ball field parking lot. I didn’t know the rivalry origin between them, but it was hilarious to listen to.

After hugging Danita and sending her off, I noticed the empty parking lot beside us and turned to Coop. “You gotta head home now or…?”

He opened his passenger door for me. I mimed a curtsy and climbed into Coop’s truck without a word. We’d talked about fooling around, and I wanted my orgasm, dammit. Just because we’d hung out with his best friend and Coop had been aiming his fuck-me eyes in my direction all evening didn’t mean it had to bea thing. We could be teammates, friends, and fuck buddies. I’d always been good at multitasking.

TEAM TAP THAT GROUP TEXT

Dom: We need a new contractor. It’s unacceptable that he won’t be done on time.

Ethan: There’s a backorder on supplies. Hayden can’t control the supply chain! JFC, Dom.

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