Page 14 of Claimed By the Mountain Man

“What happened to you, Gage?” I asked as kindly as I could. “You never drink more than one drink, which you usually nurse all night. Then, tonight you come in already half drunk demanding I keep the whiskeys coming. What made you go from one drink for the entire night to this? Did you have a bad day?”

He scoffed at me, then finally met my eyes. “Yeah, I had a bad day. I have the same bad day every year. And I’ll continue to have the same bad day every year for the rest of my life. It’s what I deserve. It’s the least of what I deserve.”

“What are you talking about? Why do you have the same bad day every year? Please talk to me, Gage. I just want to help you.” I pleaded with him.

He scoffed again, even louder this time. I had a feeling he had been about half-asleep because he actually startled himself with the noise. When he looked at me this time, though, most of his anger had dissipated, and I saw nothing but sorrow in his eyes. “You can’t help me, Cooper. Not unless you have a time machine so I can go back in time and convince myself not to be a selfish little shit. Or better yet, just tell the fucking truth from the start. But if I did that, I’d never have had him. And I can’t imagine never having him.”

I had no idea what or who Gage was talking about, but it was clear he was suffering. My heart ached for him, and I didn’t even know why he was so distraught. I spoke very softly to him as I asked again, “What happened, Gage? Please tell me.”

His broken eyes met mine and his tears began to fall down his cheeks as he whispered, “It’s all my fault. I should have told the truth, and now they’re dead. They’re dead because of me.He’sdead because of me. I was supposed to protect him, and I failed. I wasn’t there to save him when he needed me. I told him I’d always protect him, and I wasn’t fucking there! I wasn’t fucking there, Cooper! And he died! My boy died because of me.”

Gage dropped his head into his hands, outright sobbing then, his big, strong shoulders shaking under the weight of his guilt. And he just kept chanting, “All my fault, all my fault, all my fault.” Then he suddenly lurched to his feet and said, “I gotta go home. I’m no good for you. No good for anybody. You’re all better off without me.” But he didn’t make it more than a couple of steps before he had to lean against a table for support. He looked on the verge of passing out, honestly.

I jumped up and put my arm around him to support him and began turning him toward the back of the bar where the stairs leading to my apartment were. Gage had to lean heavily on me, but I managed to get him up to my door. I had to lean him against the wall, though, so I could get my key out and open the door. By the time I turned back to him, he’d already slid down the wall and was slumped over on the floor, lightly snoring with his thumb in his mouth.Great! Just fucking great! Now I’ve got a mountain-man-sized toddler on my hands.

Luckily, I was able to wake him up enough to get him up off the floor and into the apartment without him having a meltdown. We lurched our way to my bedroom with him being nearly dead weight by that point, and I let him fall into the bed. Then I removed his shoes and his coat, which he’d never bothered to take off after he’d come into the bar. He could just sleep in the rest of his clothes as far as I was concerned. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the most comfortable way to sleep, but he was passed out so deeply that he wouldn’t notice anyway. I had planned to put him on the couch, but not knowing exactly what or how much he’d had to drink before coming to the bar, I was worried about alcohol poisoning or him choking on his own vomit. I needed him close so I could make sure he was okay.

So, I stripped down to my boxers and got into bed beside Gage, who immediately pulled me to his chest to spoon me.Maybe I wanted to be the big spoon, you ever think of that, you oversized pain in my ass?But even as I inwardly complained, I secretly loved having his arms around me.

One thing was for sure, though, this mountain man was going to have a bear of a hangover tomorrow. And he was going to have a lot of explaining to do, because I would not take no for an answer this time.

NINE

GAGE

I woke to an incredibly bright light trying to force my eyelids open with its blinding intensity. But when I did finally open them, it felt like someone had jammed a heated metal spike right through my skull.Fucking hell! What the fuck did I do last night?

I lifted my head up to look around and immediately dropped it back down to the pillow, groaning in pain.Big mistake! Big, big mistake!I rested a minute, then decided to try again but much more slowly. Even though my head still felt like it weighed a metric ton, it was marginally easier to turn my head to survey my surroundings. I was in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, with unfamiliar too-bright windows, and a beautiful man draped over my chest who was all too familiar. Cooper.Fuuuuuck me. Seriously, what the hell happened last night?

The last thing I remembered clearly—well, semi-clearly, anyway—was ordering an Uber to take me to The Local. I’d already drunk all the alcohol I could find in the house, and I needed more. I also just needed to get out of the house, period—away from those photos and away from the memories. Ineeded to forget.Well, mission accomplished, I guess. I couldn’t remember a fucking thing after that.There were really hazy bits and pieces floating around in my brain, but none of them were connected. It was like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces that I was supposed to fit together somehow without knowing what the final picture was supposed to look like.

But my more immediate problem was currently jabbing me in the side with his morning erection. Cooper’s upper body—his naked upper body—was draped across my chest with his head resting right over my heart, and his left leg was wound around mine like a snake. And I couldn’t even properly enjoy it because my head was pounding so hard, I was surprised it wasn’t waking him up right then. And my stomach was just on the verge of revolting.

The last thing I wanted to have to do was wake this delicious-looking man up by unceremoniously throwing him off of my body so I could run to the bathroom and hurl up the copious amounts of alcohol still sloshing around in my body. I had never felt more like complete shit in my life, yet I’d also never felt more content than I did with Cooper wrapping himself around me like a damned sexy koala bear—like he belonged there. Like he had always belonged there.That’s because hedoesbelong there, you stubborn, clueless ass!Wow, my inner voice was coming hard with the sass this morning.

I shifted to try to ease the roiling in my stomach, and Cooper stirred. I froze when those beautiful, brown eyes opened wide, looking up and locking with mine. He looked terrified, like he thought I was going to be angry that he was covering my body with his own. In the immortal words of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless… “As if!” If it weren’t for this damned hangover—andlikely absolutely horrid morning breath—I’d have claimed those soft, pillowy lips of his already.

I gave him a soft smile so he would know I wasn’t mad about the situation and said, “Good morning, gorgeous boy.” The relief was obvious in his features. Cooper was an open book. Every thought or emotion he had was visible on his face, plain as day if you were really looking. And I was always looking… even when I was trying not to be.

He returned my smile and said, “Good morning, Mountain Man. How are you feeling?”

I groaned out a reply, “Ugh. About like what you’d expect, I guess. As my grandpa used to say, I feel like hammered shit.”

“How eloquent,” he said, giggling.Actually giggling. He’s so freaking adorable! I’m afraid that despite my best efforts, I’ve gone and fallen for this incredible man. Now, what the hell am I going to do about it? Because it still scares the ever-loving shit out of me.

I was about to ask him how he was doing today when his smile suddenly fell and the giggles faded to nothing.Nooooooo. Bring my giggles back.

“Gage, I know you’re not feeling your best right now, but we really need to talk about last night. I need to know what was going on with you. Do you remember what happened once you got to the bar?”

“Not much,” I admitted, “but I can imagine it pretty well based on previous years.”

“You mentioned something about that. When I asked you if you’d had a bad day, you said yes. But then you also said you’dbeen having that same bad day every year and would continue to have it. What does that mean?”

“I promise, I’ll tell you everything, but I’ve got to take something for this headache and my roiling stomach first. Right now, I can’t think about anything but how bad I feel.”

“Of course. There are some Advil in the bathroom for your headache. And if you come downstairs afterward, I'll whip you up some of Pop’s famous hangover cure. Everyone around here swears by it. I can't vouch for its smell or its taste, but the general consensus is that it gets the job done. You up for it?”

“I'm a little nervous actually about this hangover cure, but I feel bad enough that I'm willing to try just about anything at this point. I'll be down in just a second after I take the Advil. Thanks for doing this, Cooper. I really appreciate it. You have no idea.” As he left the room, I slowly and carefully made my way to the bathroom. Quick movements were not my friend right then.

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