Page 24 of Dancing Hearts

“I want nothing more than to come in, but if I do I’ll never leave.” This time I sigh and we hold each other a little tighter. I pull away when his phone rings. I know he will need to get it. He gives me an apologetic face and I force my best smile.

“Go. Thank you for today. Call me later.” He kisses me quickly before grabbing his phone.

“Hello?” He looks over at me and pulls the phone away from his mouth.

“I’ll call you later, doll.” He turns and starts walking away while talking on his phone.

“Thanks, Roy. Yes, that would be great.”

That’s all I hear before he is out of my sight. I walk into my apartment and close the door, leaning against it. “Damn.” I close my eyes and think about everything that’s happened today. My phone, however, interrupts my thoughts and I grab it out of my purse.

“Hello?” I want to smack myself at how sad my voice sounds.

“Hey, doll. Just wanted to tell you again what an amazing time I had today and apologize for having to leave. You’ve got to know how hard it is for me to walk away from you. I hate it. I wish I could stay.” I grab a water out of the fridge and make my way to my ugly blue couch.

“I wish you could stay too, but I understand you need to go. Working opposite hours sucks,” I whine and he chuckles.

“It does fucking suck. I told you I would figure out a way to make this work and I will. Just hang in there.” Like he even has to tell me.

“I

’m not going anywhere, Cooper.”

“Damn it, Emma, I want to show you just how happy that makes me.” I smile and son of a bitch, if my pussy doesn’t start to get wet with his words.

“I want you to show me too.” We are both quiet for a minute before he clears his throat.

“Well, this conversation is making the situation a hell of a lot harder.” I start to laugh and after a second, he joins me. “I didn’t mean it like that, although now that you mention it.” This causes us both to fall into a fit of laughter.

“So I forgot to ask, who is playing at the bar tonight?” He tells me all about this new band. He said they have a great sound and he really liked them when he heard them. I wish I could go listen to them, but I have work early and I was dragging ass last weekend. Maybe I’ll talk to Terry and see if I can get next Sunday off.

“Emma, I just pulled into the parking lot. I’ll call you later.”

“Alright. Bye, Cooper.”

“Bye, doll.”

I drop my head back on the couch and clutch the phone to my chest. “Ugh.” Just then someone knocks on my door. I sit up frowning because I’m not expecting anyone. I’m sure it is Rowan or maybe it might be my mom. She was supposed to drop off a package for me that was sent to her house. I swing the door open and almost shit myself when Shelly is standing there with a smug smile on her face. She’s much taller than I am, but luckily I am not one to be intimidated. “Can I help you?” Until she gives me a reason to be a bitch, I’ll be decent. She flips her hair over her shoulder making me take notice of the way her tits look like they are going to fall out of her top. She looks like a hooker. She gives me a bigger smile once she looks me up and down.

“I just thought you should know that it’s not over with me and Coop. He told me he just didn’t want to hurt your feelings. I, however, don’t give a shit.” Is she fucking serious? Why the hell is she trying to start trouble like this?

“Listen, Shelly, I don’t know what the fuck is going on in your twisted mind, but I assure you that Cooper is through with you. Thanks for stopping by.” I go to close the door, but she sticks her boot in the way. She laughs without humor and pushes the door open again.

“I’m not done. You’ve got things all wrong. Coop is too nice a guy to hurt anyone. He may be spending time with you during the day, but have you ever spent the night with him? Have you had sex yet? I know you haven’t because once he is done being nice to you, he finds me to take care of all the naughty things he likes. You’re not enough woman to satisfy him; he need someone like me. And let me tell you, when he is pounding into me, you are the last thing on his mind. I think it’s best if you just walk away now. Make it easier for him. He was so tense last week it took forever to rub all the knots out. Just delivering the message, I’m off to see my man now.” She gives me the smuggest look before turning and walking away. I close the door and lock it.

Holy shit, can it be true? How could she possibly know all of that personal stuff without being told? I actually start to feel sick to my stomach. How could he plan this unbelievably romantic day with me and then want to spend the night with her? Maybe she’s right, maybe he does just feel bad. No way. No fucking way. He told me he’s never cheated on someone and I believe him, or shit, I want to. Ben fucked up my trust in men, so I’m totally second guessing everything right now. It makes sense why we haven’t had sex yet or that he hasn’t asked me to spend the night with him. I close my eyes against the tears I feel. I refuse to let myself cry over something if I don’t know it’s true. I open my eyes and blow out a breath. “I’ll just call him. He’ll explain it to me.” I drop down on the couch and pick up my phone. I call him and it goes straight to voicemail. I try a few more times and each time it gets sent straight to voicemail. Now my mind is totally making things worse. “Fuck this.” I get up and go fix myself. The only way to know for sure, and for me to protect my heart, is to go to the bar and see for myself.

It seems to take forever for me to make it to the bar. Once I get there, it is so busy I have no idea where the hell I’m going to park. I drive around for ten minutes before I decide to just park two blocks over and walk. I’m pissed, nervous, and my heart hurts as I make my way to ‘James Bar.’ I make my way in and damn it is crowded. I figure Cooper is probably behind the bar, so I push and weave my way over to it. Thankfully, I’m small and I am able to maneuver my way to the front. I look behind the bar, but I only see Roy. I look out into the sea of people, but I don’t see Cooper anywhere. This makes my stomach turn. He was sending my calls to voicemail and now I can’t find him. I feel the tears before I even realize I’m crying. Fuck. I push my way through the crowd and brave the dark hallway to the bathroom. Thankfully, it is empty so I close myself in a stall and cry silently into my hands. My heart is hurting even more than it did with Ben after being with him for months.

After about twenty minutes, I finally feel my tears dry up. I grab some toilet paper before making my way to the mirror. I look at myself and shake my head. “You’re a fucking mess.” My makeup is running and my eyes are red and swollen. I lightly wet the toilet paper and wipe under my eyes. My eyes are still red and swollen, but at least my face is clean of running makeup. I blow out a breath trying to muster up the nerve to walk out of this bar without the answers I came for. I push my way out of the bathroom, and once the door closes behind me, I am stuck in the dark hallway alone. I move as quickly as possible without running until I feel my head being yanked back by my hair. “OUCH!” I scream trying to hold my hair against my head so the pulling doesn’t hurt so badly. I feel an arm wrap around my neck and hot breath against my ear.

“Bitch, I told you to stay away. You just can’t listen can you?” Holy shit, Shelly. This is one crazy bitch. Instinct kicks in and I slam my elbow back into her stomach causing her to let go of me. I quickly spin around to face her. She’s doubled over holding her stomach, and I smile to myself thinking even though she is twice the size of me, I can still bring her down. Unfortunately, I let my guard down and she lunges forward knocking me to the ground. She climbs on top of me putting all her weight on me. Damn, this bitch is heavy. I try to push her off but she’s so much bigger like this. She gives me a smile before grabbing my hair again. “Thought you could get the best of me didn’t you? Let’s try this again. Stay the fuck away from Cooper.” I try kicking her while I am digging my nails into her hands to let go of my hair. I decide to start screaming for help before this bitch hurts me more.

“HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!” This gets her to remove her hands only to cover my mouth.

“Shut the fuck up. I’ll let you go in a minute, I need to make sure you’ve got the message.” As gross as it is, because God only knows where her hands have been, I spit on them before licking them. “Eww.” She lets go long enough to wipe her hands and I scream at the top of my lungs. I don’t know if it will do any good since the bar is so damn loud, but I continue to scream until she wraps her hands around my throat, causing me to stop immediately. “I told you to shut the fuck up.” I am frantically clawing at her hands when suddenly she is gone. I hear an ‘umph’ but I’ve got my eyes closed trying to catch my breath. Tears are pouring out of my eyes, rolling down into my ears because I actually was scared.

“What the fuck is going on? Holy shit, Emma!” He sits me up cradling me in his arms. This causes me to cry harder. “Oh my God, Emma. Doll, please tell me you are okay. Do you need an ambulance? Emma, please look at me.” I turn my head to look up at him but he is looking off in front of him. “Roy, don’t let her go. Levi, call the fucking cops and get this bitch arrested.”

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