Page 73 of Collide
“You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
Cooper nodded, trying not to speak if he didn’t have to. When Autumn sat in the chair beside him, he decided his throat didn’t matter right now. He couldn’t remember if he’d talked to Autumn or Vernon about any of this at any of the times he’d woken up, but he sure as hell couldn’t stop himself now.
When he opened his mouth to speak, Autumn beat him to it. “Are you really in love with that boy, Cooper? Are you gay?”
They knew. But how? Had he told them? The only thing he did remember saying was that his friend was back, and he needed them to find him. “Love…him…”
Tears welled in Autumn’s eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me? Oh, God. Everything is such a mess.”
Those words were like a bomb in Cooper’s chest. Something had gone down he didn’t know about. “Where?” When he tried again, his voice wouldn’t come out. Fuck!
“We didn’t know. You didn’t even tell us he was back. It was such a shock to see him and then he made all these claims. Vernon loves you. You have to understand. He doesn’t want you to be hurt.”
Hurt? Noah would never fucking hurt him…would he? He wasn’t here. But maybe he’d tried.
“Where. No…” He was going to lose his fucking shit if he couldn’t speak right. They said it would be a matter of time. That he just needed to let his throat heal but Cooper couldn’t wait.
“I should have said something. Seeing him just brought everything back.”
Back? What could it have brought back?
“Autumn.” Vernon stepped into the room.
Pieces of the puzzle started to form in Cooper’s mind, yet still not forming the whole picture.
“He told me he loves that boy, Vernon. I don’t care about anything else. I want Cooper happy. If he loves Noah—”
“Noah’s just like his mother,” Vernon shouted. “He weaseled his way into Cooper’s life as a child and then clung onto him. And now he’s back, pushing his way in just like his mother did. Cooper is not gay. He’s never been, yet that man shows up, and suddenly he is? They’re chameleons, all of them. Can’t you see? I never would have hurt you like that if it wasn’t for her.”
The truth slammed into Cooper, finishing that picture as though it had always been there.
The cigarettes in Noah’s backyard, when Vernon was the only one of them who smoked. Vernon not wanting to go away with Cooper and Autumn that weekend. Noah, and his family disappearing out of the blue. Vernon and Autumn’s sudden anger at Noah’s family…and the tears. Autumn had been sad, hadn’t she? He assumed it was because Cooper himself had been. Because, their friends were gone, but it wasn’t.
“Son…of…a…bitch.” Vernon had had an affair with Noah’s mom. She’d hurt her son and husband to be with Vernon, and Vernon had hurt Autumn with her. He’d lost Noah, his best friend, the man he loved because Vernon hadn’t been able to keep it in his pants. And he’d blamed Noah’s family. Putting Noah and his parents down, every opportunity he got.
“Don’t you talk to me like that. Not after everything I’ve done for you. We raised you, and loved you. That boy clung to you just like his mother used to do with me. I should have known it, even back then. They way he would talk about missing you in those letters.”
Cooper’s heart seized at that. Noah said he’d written, but he’d never gotten the letters. For years, after Noah had left, he’d felt like he’d let him down. Like he hadn’t been there when Noah’s parents tried to take him away, like he had promised, and he’d thought that Noah hated him for it. Why else wouldn’t he have written?
But it was all because of Vernon. The man he respected and felt he owed his life to. The man who he looked up to for the way he’d loved his wife. And he cheated on her with Noah’s mom.
“Out.” He squeezed his fists together, angry that he couldn’t form better words.
It was that easy. Vernon turned around and left the room, not that he expected anything more of the man.
He’d pretty much lied to Noah, because of Vernon, when Vernon was the man who had actually hurt them all. His uncle had been the reason the man Cooper loved had to go, and Vernon had blamed it on Noah, instead of taking the blame himself.
Inside him, anger at Vernon, blended with pain of betrayal.
Still with tears in her eyes, Autumn looked at Cooper. “I know what he did was wrong. All of it, and he does, too. Especially what happened here the past couple days, but Vernon is a good man. He beat himself up over what he did. And he might not always be the best at showing it, but he loves me, just like he loves you.” Autumn touched his hand. “Just like you love Noah. Love doesn’t always make sense. Not whom we love or how we do it, but no one is perfect. I’ll be back to check on you.” And then Autumn hobbled out of the room too, leaving Cooper alone. Still not sure, where Noah was. Or if he was even coming back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Whether Adrianna could get him in or not, Noah was seeing Cooper. Tonight. The ache inside him had done nothing but grow with each hour, each second that went by.
“You know I could lose my job if this goes wrong. You have to promise me that if Cooper doesn’t want to see you for whatever reason, you’ll leave. It’s one thing if his family is keeping you away from him. If this is Cooper’s choice, he has the right to make it.” Adrianna wrung her hands together as they stood at the entrance to the hospital.
She was right. But he knew that couldn’t be true. Cooper would want him there. “If you just tell me what room he’s in, I’ll head up alone.”
