Page 42 of Swiped By My Dad's Best Friend
I couldn’t have anything real or permanent with Cooper—not unless I manned up and told my best friend I was in love with his son. And I wasn’t. How could I be? A few weeks of sexting didn’t equal a life together, and short of promising Cooper everything, I could only continue to promise him nothing.
Anything else would be the worst kind of failure as a Daddy—and as a man.
But that text continued to nag at me all the way to Hayworth. Why was Cooper asking for punishment? He’d been distant, but with all the miles between us, and conflicting schedules, it was sometimes difficult to gauge his moods. Was he merely distracted, or was there something else going on? The text was beginning to make me think it was the latter.
As soon as I reached the B&B, I pulled out my phone and hit call. It was rare that we simply called each other. It was usually texting or video chat on Skype. But I needed to hear his voice. The phone rang and rang, and just when I thought he wouldn’t answer, he finally did.
“Trace?”
He sounded normal, mostly. A bit hoarse, maybe. I breathed out some of the tension that had wound me in knots since seeing the text.
“What’s going on with you, boy?”
There was a hitching breath, a murmur of voices, and then the sound of a door shutting. Then Cooper’s voice crumbled into fragments. “I’m sorry. I messed up. I need to be punished. Please? Can I drive down to you? Ace says I can borrow his car. Please, please—”
“Whoa, slow down,” I said, concerned. “You know I’m out of town every weekend for my work.”
“Oh. Yeah.” His voice was full of defeat. “I probably don’t deserve to see you anyway.”
“I’ll be the one to decide who I see.”
“Sorry.”
Christ. I needed to navigate this carefully. Cooper sounded a few harsh words from falling apart.
“I want to see you,” I said, emotion thickening my own tone. For all that I’d believed it right to stay away, how could I do that when my boy so clearly needed me? “I don’t know about punishing you, but if you need me, I’m going to be there for you.”
“In person?”
“In person,” I repeated firmly. “Where are you? The frat? I’ll come to you.”
“N-no,” he stuttered, caught by surprise. “I’m at a friend’s house. Ace Collins’ place. It’s about sixty miles from school.”
“Text me the address. I’m coming to you.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be here…”
I wasn’t ready to explain that I was close by. There would be time enough to confront my mistakes face to face. Once I gave Cooper what he needed. That had to come first.
“That’s fine,” I said. “You can let me know if you leave before I get there.”
“Okay.” He took a breath. “Thanks, Daddy. I’m sorry I’m so fucked up.”
“You’re not fucked up at all,” I said. “You’re just right. You’ll always be just right for me.”
After I disconnected, I reversed out of the driveway and turned my pickup in the direction of this Ace kid’s house. I didn’t want to keep Cooper waiting while I checked in. There would be plenty of time for that later. But I did call Craig, the owner, to give him a head’s up.
Tonight, I’d be checking in with a guest—assuming Cooper still wanted to spend the night with me once he realized I’d been coming up to Hayworth without telling him. It had seemed like the right choice at the time, but now? It felt impossibly naïve to think I could keep my distance.
* * *
COOPER
I lounged on the far end of Ace’s sofa, watching Benji sketch. The petite redhead was curled into his boyfriend, while I sat a few feet away feeling like a third wheel. The television was on, but I was fairly sure no one was watching it. I was too distracted to pay any attention to the death and mayhem John Wick was inflicting onscreen. Benji’s focus was clearly on his drawing, and Ace’s was on Benji. He ran his fingers through Benji’s hair, gently stroking him like a cat while he worked.
They made a pretty picture together. I’d never pegged Ace for anything but a hetero bro, but I could see how happy they were. Better than happy, they were content. The kind of happy that just became a normal state of being.
It made my heart ache for something similar with Trace, though I knew it was just a fantasy. My father’s best friend. Could I have chosen a worse person to become infatuated with? But those thoughts weren’t what really troubled me. I’d accepted Trace’s limitations, mostly. It was my limitations that were the problem.
