J. S. Cooper Author

Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas will be out on December 15th. If you missed teaser #1, you can read it here! You can add the book on Goodreads here.

Teaser #2

Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas

Unedited Version

Chapter 2

Noah

 

“Which book would you like us to read tonight Skylar?” I pulled the bed sheets and duvet over her, before sitting down in the new armchair Lucky had bought for the room.

“Not Goldilocks and the three bears.” She yawned. “Or Cinderella. Something new.”

“Okay,” I laughed. “We can read something new.” I stared at her face as she looked at me with wide eager eyes. A swell of love filled my heart as she stared up at me with an open and loving face. She had only been living here as my adopted daughter for a month, but I could already see a huge difference in her appearance and her demeanor. She was happy 90% of the time now. There were still times when I would see her thinking hard, and she looked downcast. Whenever, I saw her looking too sad, I would go up to her and tickle her until she couldn’t stop laughing and then we would have a quick cuddle. “What about The Jolly Postman?”

“Yes, yes.” She sat up eagerly. “I want to read it to you please.”

“I’d be happy for you to read it to me.”

“Noah,” she said my name slowly. “Do you ever think about Palm Bonita?”

“Sometimes.” I smiled at her slowly, and my stomach lurched. So far, we hadn’t really had any conversations about Monica and I was worried that she was going to have a bad delayed reaction. Lucky had suggested that we go to a child therapist together to make sure that no issues developed but I hadn’t thought that was necessary. “Why?”

“I was just thinking about the day that we first met.” She blinked at me. “Do you miss Monica?”

“No.” I felt heat ride in my face. I could still remember the first time she had seen me, while I had been in bed with her stepmother. I was praying to God that she wasn’t talking about that incident, but rather about the more formal introduction. “Do you?”

“Not really.” She shook her head and bit her lip. “Does that make me a bad girl?”

“Of course not, sweetheart.” I stared at her innocent nine year old face and I felt tongue-tied. I really didn’t know what to say? It wasn’t like I could tell her that there was no way in hell I missed that bitch Monica and that no one would ever call her a bad girl for hating the witch. “Monica loved you in the best way that she could,” I took a hold of her hand. “But she didn’t really know how to love.” Anyone but herself. “She loved you in her own way, but needed to take care of her own issues.”

“I’m glad she left me with you.” Skylar’s eyes were wide and I could tell that she was trying not to cry. “She said that if you didn’t give her money she was going to make things bad for you.”

“Do not worry about what she said darling. She’s gone from our lives together.” I pulled her towards me and stroked her hair. “We’re a family now.”

“You, me, Uncle Zane, Aunty Lucky, and the new babies.” She grinned as she pulled away from me. “I can’t wait to have brothers and sisters.”

“They won’t be your siblings.” I laughed at her and pinched her cheek. “They will be your cousins.”

“Oh, okay, yeah. I can’t wait to have cousins.” She lay back in the bed and yawned again. “And then one day, I can have brothers and sisters as well.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“And a mommy.” She closed her eyes and her words were slightly slurred. “I’d like to have a real mommy as well.”

“I know darling.” Robin’s face flashed in my mind and I felt a wave of sadness fill my soul. Nothing had been the same after the day I had left Robin’s apartment to rush home without telling her what was going on. She had said that she was willing to move past everything and try again, but we’d only seen each other twice in the last month and both times had been awkward. Every night, I thought about her and making love to her. My body ached to touch her and be touched by her, but we hadn’t slept with each other since that incident. I knew that she was hurt by what happened, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do to get her to open up herself to me, and to give me a new chance. A real new chance. I sighed as I thought about the fact that Skylar was as far away from getting a mommy as I was from figuring out Robin. I was about to stand up and get the book when I realized that Skylar was sleeping. I looked down at her sweet face as she slept and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning the light off and exiting the room.

I walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen to see if I could find something to eat as I had forgotten to make myself something when Skylar had been acting up.

“That was quick,” Zane looked up from the fridge as I entered the kitchen. “Want a beer?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I nodded. “Skylar fell asleep already. Long day I guess.”

“I bet.” Zane opened the bottles and handed me one. “Lucky was right though, you’re doing a great job.”

“Thanks.” I took a chug and sighed. “It’s a lot harder than it looks.” I opened a cupboard and looked for some chips. “Want to share a pizza?” I closed the cupboard door and walked over to the fridge.

“Sure.” Zane grinned. “You call and I’ll go ask Lucky what she wants on her slices.”

“I thought she liked ham and onions?”

“She does,” He rolled his eyes. “But she’s on this thing about not assuming she wants what she wants.”

“What?” I laughed, slightly confused.

“We all know she wants ham and onions on her pizza, but we can’t order that until she says that’s what she wants.” He made a face at me. “I think it’s the pregnancy brains, it’s made her all crazy.”

“Oh, haha.”

“Don’t get married, bro. It will save you from many gray hairs.”

“You’re not married yet,” I laughed. “You can always walk away and give a better guy a shot.”

“Why do I feel you’re not joking?” He half-smiled, and stared at me. “Everything okay with you and Robin?”

“There is no me and Robin.” I looked away. “Go and get Lucky’s permission and I’ll call. You want pepperoni, peppers, onions and extra cheese right.”

“You got it.” He laughed. “I’ll be right back. Why don’t you give Robin a call and see if she wants to come over.”

“She won’t.”

“Give her a call anyways. Just to see.” He gave me a look. “If you like her, you’ll need to pursue her a bit harder.”

“I’m trying, she’s just getting over what happened.”

“Can you blame her? She let you into her life, into her bed and maybe into her heart and you held the biggest secrets you could from her.”

“It wasn’t because I wasn’t falling for her.” I said defensively. “In fact, she’s the only girl I’ve felt that connected to.”

“Does she know that?” He looked at me with a stern expression.

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “She doesn’t care.”

“Stop being so defeatist, Noah. I know you think you’re the savior of the world and the keeper of all of mankinds secrets, but you’re just a human like the rest of us. You do make mistakes, and while I know your heart does what you think is best, sometimes you get it wrong.”

“Okay, tell it like it is.” I made a face at Zane. “I know I fucked up. I just thought¾.”

“Stop thinking already. I know what you thought, I’m sure Robin knows what you thought, but sometimes you have to think about what the other people are thinking as well.”

“So I’m a screw-up, huh?”

“Basically.” He laughed punched me in the shoulder. “But I still love you. Just call her and see what happens. I’ll be back after Lucky tells me what I already know.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll call.” I turned away from him and pulled out my phone. I stared at it for a few seconds before pressing the numbers into the phone. I held my breath as the phone rang, and I could feel the disappointment seeping out of my pores as it kept ringing. I was about to hang up, when she answered the phone.

“Hello,” her voice was soft and my heart ached at the sound of it.

“Robin!” I said brightly and too eagerly. I stifled a groan.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” I answered and then there was a moment of silence. “How are you?”

“Fine.”

“I tried calling you a few­¾.”

“I was busy.” She said abruptly.

“I see.” I bit my lip, unsure of what to say next. “So Zane and I were about to order pizza and I was wondering if you would like to come over and share some with us.”

“Really? It’s 8pm.” I could tell she was feeling feisty by the tone in her voice.

“Yeah, we’re having a late dinner.”

“Am I the dinner?”

“What?” I frowned into the phone.

“You call me out of the blue at 8pm at night and ask if I want to come over for dinner. And I want to know if I’m the dinner. Is this a booty call?”

“Of course it’s ¾.”

“Of course, if it is, you wouldn’t tell me. I’d be the last one to know right?”

“Robin, this is not a booty call.” I sighed. “Honestly, I think a booty call would be if I had called you at midnight. And then I wouldn’t ask you to come over for pizza.”

“Oh, you’d ask me to come over for some dick.”

“Uhm,” I tried not to laugh. I knew that she hadn’t intended to be funny, but for reason I couldn’t stop myself from finding her last statement really funny. “If you want to.”

“What?” she screeched and I knew she was surprised at what I had said. But I was too tired to mess around anymore. Either she liked me or she didn’t. Either way, I wasn’t going to play games.

“If you want to come over for some pizza, then that’s fine. If you want to come over for some dick, preferably my dick, then that is also fine. Big Noah was talking to me the other day and he did tell me that he misses you, so I’m sure you’re be very welcome.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I’ve been told that once or twice.”

“You’re possibly the biggest asshole, I know.” She continued.

“Big Noah just told me that he wouldn’t mind exploring your asshole.” I joked and the phone went silent. “Sorry, Robin. I didn’t mean that. It was a bad joke. I have a problem of joking at the most inappropriate times.”

“Yes, you do.” Robin gasped and then burst out laughing and my heart soared with hope at the sound of her giggles.

“Let me make it up to you. Whatever you want on your pizza is all yours. I’ll even buy you your own.”

“I don’t know.” She hesitated.

“Please.” I begged. “I miss you.”

“I guess.” She sighed. “But I’m not staying over.”

“Fine.” I grinned into the phone. “You don’t have to stay over.”

“Big Noah better not try and beg me.” She laughed. “Cos I’ll tell him no too.”

“To his face?”

“You wish.”

“More like he does.” I shifted my legs as I felt big Noah awakening at the possibility of coming out for the night.

“Big Noah and Small Noah both wish.” She giggled. “Though, I don’t know which one is in charge of the other.”

“No fair.” I groaned because at that moment, I wasn’t sure either. “Anyways, I’m going to hang up now, so that you can come over before you change your mind.”

“Scaredy-cat,” she laughed. “I’m not a flake you know.”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay, I’m going to just go brush my hair and I’ll be over.”

“Don’t forget your toothbrush.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” I said quickly. “See you soon.”

“Wait, Noah.” She almost screamed into the phone.

“Yes.” I held my breath, wondering if she had been playing me, trying to get my hopes up before changing her mind.

“Pepperoni and Jalapeno’s please.”

“Huh?”

“On the pizza.”

“Oh yeah.” I laughed.

“There are going to be pizza’s right?”

“Of course.” I answered quickly, hoping her mind didn’t start jumping to conclusions.

“Okay, I guess….”

“I gotta go.” I said hurriedly. “See you soon.” And then I hung up. There was no way I was going to give her the option to change her mind. I stood there for a few minutes with a huge grin on my face and happiness in my heart as I realized that she was definitely coming. But that wasn’t the reason for my thudding heart and hopeful mindset. That was because she had sounded like she was open to really giving me another chance to make it up to her. It was crazy that I cared about her so much; we barely knew each other, but I already felt so connected to her. I knew that if I didn’t try to make things right with us. Scratch that, I needed to make things better than right. I needed her to give me a new chance, a fresh chance. Because I had a feeling that if she did that, things would work out for the best.

 

***

Ding dong. I ran to the door excitedly, only pausing to take a breath before I opened it nonchalantly.

“Hey,” I smiled, expecting to see Robin on the other side of the door.

“Hey, bro. What’s up?” Leonardo’s handsome mug grinned back at me before he reached over and gave me a brotherly hug.

“Leo,” I hugged him back and tried not to show my disappointment. “How are you?”

“I’m good, but I want to hear everything.” He stared at me and laughed. “Look at you all buff, I see you’ve been working out a lot more.”

“Well, you know.” I laughed as I let him in and we walked to the living room. “There’s not much to do when you’re in hiding.” I looked over at my brothers best friend and chuckled before becoming serious. “It was hard being away.”

“I bet.” He gave me a look. “We thought you were dead.”

“I know.”

“Zane was devastated.”

“I know.”

“Don’t do it again.” He gave me a look and I nodded understanding his unspoken words. I had nearly killed my brother inside and out. It had been selfish of me to disappear and not say anything; I still thought my reasons were respectable, but as time went by, I was starting to see that I didn’t have to be a Martyr in the situation.

“So Zane got himself a hottie.” Leo joked and broke the tension in the room.

“I heard that, Leo.” Zane came running down the stairs and into the living room. “Don’t you go getting any thoughts into your head.”

“Scared of a little competition?” Leo joked and Zane laughed.

“Never.”

“If Lucky’s a smart girl, I think we both know how this will end.” Leo winked at Zane and I laughed.

“Yeah, she’ll choose me.” I joined the conversation and Zane gave me a small glare.

“Who’ll choose you?” Lucky had a big bright smile on her face as she walked down the stairs in a simple white dress.

“These two fools think that you would actually give them a chance if I wasn’t in the picture.” Zane walked over to her and grabbed her hand. I smiled to myself as I watched him pull her into the crook of his arms. It was amazing to see Zane so protective and caring with Lucky.

“Oh, Leo. You’re here.” Lucky pulled away from Zane and ran up to Leo with a delighted face. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“Zane text and said pizza was on the way.” He laughed. “I couldn’t say no to that, plus I haven’t seen Noah since he’s been back. I wanted to lay my eyes on him.” He hugged her back tightly, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “You’re looking positively radiant, Lucky. Most probably the most beautiful mother-to-be I’ve ever seen. You almost make me want kids.”

“You’ll have gorgeous kids.” Lucky blushed and grinned and I laughed at the murderous look on Zane’s face, as he watched her with his friend.

“It’s a pity Zane got to you before me.”

“That’s enough, Leo.” Zane walked over and stood next to Lucky. “Maybe it’s time to get your own girl.”

“No thanks.” Leo shuddered. “I don’t have time for the stress and drama that comes along with relationships, no offense Lucky.”

“None taken.” She laughed and put her arms around Zane’s waist. “Trust me, sometimes I wonder how I put up with this guy.”

“Because you love me, duh.”

“I won’t love you so much if you keep embarrassing me.”

“Sure.” Zane laughed and walked into the kitchen. “You guys want a beer while we wait on the pizza?”

“I’ll take a bud.” Leo lounged down on the chair and stared at me. “So you dating anyone?” He gave me a quick look and I shook my head.

“Nah, not really. Not now I have a kid to look after.”

“A kid?” His eyes bulged wide open and I laughed.

“I adopted a little girl.” I smiled. “You’ll have to meet her.”

“Whoa, I go away for a few weeks and I miss everything.” Leo shook his head in wonderment and I was about to tell him more about Skylar when the doorbell rang. My heart thudded as I walked over to it quickly hoping to see Robin on the other side.

“Hey,” I opened the door with a wide smile and sighed when I saw the pizza deliveryman.

“Hey, pizza delivery.” He said in a monotone voice. I tried not to roll my eyes at him or say something smart like “I thought you were the paperboy.”

“What’s the damage?” I took out my wallet and pulled out some bills.

“There is no damage to your pizza, sir.” The pimply-faced teenager looked at me with a blank expression.

“What?” I frowned and then realized he had misunderstood my question. “What’s the total?”

“I didn’t total anything, Sir. I only tapped the back of that car. It wasn’t totaled at all.” He stammered as he held the boxes in his hands and it was at this point that I realized that he was either high or the biggest idiot I had ever met.

“How much money do I owe you?”

“You don’t owe me, oh wait.” He paused as he realized what I was asking. “A hundred should do it.”

“A hundred dollars?” I asked him incredulously.

“Yes, Sir.” He beamed at me and nodded. “A hundred dollars will take care of the bill nicely. Plus tip of course.”

I grabbed the boxes from his hand and handed him $40, before glaring at him. “You better believe I’m going to call your boss and report you. Now get out of here. And don’t try to pull this scam on anyone else.”

“But Sir,” his eyes widened in panic. “The bill is $55.”

“Then I suggest you find $15 from somewhere.” I smirked at him and slammed the door shut before he could say anything else. I turned around and saw that Lucky was standing right behind me, with a surprised expression, but laughter in his eyes. “Did that just happen?” I asked her and she burst out laughing.

“That was hilarious.” She grinned, while wiping tears away. “If I hadn’t just witnessed that, I would never have believed it.”

“They’re letting any old fool be a pizza delivery guy these days.”

“What is the world coming to?” She grinned and shook her head. And then the doorbell rang again and she smiled at me. “You go and take those boxes to the kitchen and I’ll take care of him this time.”

“Okay,” I grinned and walked back to the kitchen, sad that I wasn’t going to get to hear Lucky give dopey a piece of her mind. I put the boxes on the counter and pulled out some plates, while Zane opened up the bottles of beer.

“Shit, that pizza smells good.” Zane groaned and opened up a box. “It tastes good too.” He mumbled through a mouthful of pepperoni.

“Thanks for waiting on us all to get a plate before you started greedy bear.”

“Whatever.” He laughed and handed me a beer. I took a swig of bud and then froze as I heard a tinkle of feminine laughter that didn’t belong to Lucky. Robin was here.  I quickly placed the bottle back down and ran my hands through my hair. My heart started beating rapidly and I turned around slowly before walking back into the living room with a big smile on my face. Joy poured through me when my eyes fell upon her, she looked as beautiful as I remembered her and she looked happy as she stood there laughing. I stared at her for a moment, just memorizing her features, when a feeling of jealousy spread through me. Robin wasn’t just laughing at some random joke. She was laughing up at Leo, who was laughing down at her, and very obviously admiring her goods. I felt a surge of anger as I stared at handsome Leo flirting with her. He was a blond Adonis and I knew that to most women, he was one of the most handsome and charismatic men they had ever met. I was scared that now Robin had had a glance of him, that she wouldn’t be interested in me; especially as we had already had a bit of a rocky start. I stood there for a moment more just glaring at Leo and then I caught myself. I was being just like Zane, only I didn’t yet have the girl.

“Hi Robin,” I gave her a wide smile, trying to mask my jealousy and she turned to look at me in what seemed like slow motion.

“Hi, Noah,” she gave me a light smile and my heart flipped as our eyes met. All of a sudden, the room seemed empty. There was no one else in this moment than her and I, and very fiber of my body was aware of that fact. I walked over to her slowly, and she moved towards me as well until we stopped in front of each other and just stood there in front of each other, smiling like idiots.

“I’m starving.” Leo’s voice interrupted our moment and I looked up and saw a tinge of disappointment in his eyes.

“Me too.” Robin turned towards him and smiled and his eyes lit up again. I frowned as they exchanged a small look. What was going on here?

“You always did love pizza.” Leo laughed and I froze.

“You guys know each other?” I looked back and forth at them and noticed that Robin was blushing.

“Kinda.” She mumbled and Leo nodded.

“We went on a few dates.” Leo shrugged as he looked at me and I looked back at Robin.

“And then he just never called me again.” She laughed, but I could tell that she was still hurt. “I guess that’s what happens when you don’t put out right away.”

“That wasn’t why I didn’t call.” Leo’s voice was soft. “That wasn’t why at all.”

“Oh well, let’s eat before the pizza gets cold.” Lucky looked at Zane with a worried expression and ushered us all into the kitchen. “We can all catch up later after we eat.”

“Hungry are we Lucky?” Zane raised an eyebrow at her suggestively and she hit him in the arm.

“Yes, but not for you.”

“That’s hurtful.” He pouted. “You better not try and jump on me tonight, I have a feeling I will be too tired.”

“You’re never too tired.”

“Tonight I will be.”

“Children, children.” Robin grinned and walked past me and quickly into the kitchen behind them. I stood there for a moment and tried to control my breathing. Leo came and stood next to me and gave me a look.

“I didn’t know you were dating Robin.”

“I didn’t know you dated Robin.” I gave him a side look and his eyes looked pained.

“I didn’t dump her because she wouldn’t sleep with me.” He sighed. “I really like her.”

“Like or liked?” I frowned at his words.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I didn’t expect to see her tonight.”

“I like her a lot.” I bit my lower lip. “I can see her in my life forever.”

“So could I.” Leo looked away from me and mumbled under his breath. “That was the problem.” I pretended that I didn’t hear him and looked away quickly.

“Well, it’s good that you’re a confirmed bachelor or this could have been a problem.” I faked a laugh and gave him one quick glance before I walked into the kitchen. I looked back at Leo, who was just standing there and my stomach flipped with worry. Leo looked like anything but a confirmed bachelor at that moment and I had a feeling that my attempt to win over Robin over was about to get a lot more complicated.

The End

Are you ready for Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas?? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Are you ready for Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas? The final book in the Forever Love series will feature Zane, Lucky, Noah, Robin, Skylar, Sidney & Betty Johnson, Leo and more!! The book will be out on December 5th, 2013!!

This is the reading order of the series: The Last Boyfriend, The Last Husband, Before Lucky, The Other Side of Love, and finally Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas.

Join my mailing list so you are informed as soon as it is out! And don’t forget I have another great book out in December called Finding My Prince Charming! You can check out the first teaser here!

 

Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas

Teaser #1 (Unedited)

Chapter 1

Zane

 

“Imagine yourself floating in the ocean. Go on and close your eyes everyone.” The instructors voice was soft and I followed her command with pleasure. I had been ready to close my eyes as soon as she started showing us charts and photos of the labor process. I wanted to burn the images from my mind. I’d tried to look away, but Lucky had pinched me and given me a look. “Now imagine that you are surrounded by warm calming water. And think nice pleasurable thoughts. Think of your loved one. Think of how much fun it is going to be when you bring your little one home. And just keep thinking those thoughts.”

I laid back with my eyes closed and imagined Lucky and I playing in the backyard with Skylar and Noah. Lucky would be playing with the kids, while Noah and I grilled burgers and hot dogs. I paused as I thought about the scene, something was missing. I thought for a moment and then I added Robin to the image in my mind. Lucky and Robin would be playing with the kids, while Noah and I grilled out. I smiled as I pictured myself grabbing Lucky and sneaking her upstairs to the bedroom for a quickie, while Robin and Noah looked after the kids. That would be hot and needed. I was already worried about how much sex Lucky and I would be having after she had the babies. The doctor had said that it could be months before Lucky was able to and wanted to have sex. I wasn’t sure she had appreciated me asking him that question, but I’d wanted to know.

“Are you feeling calm?” Her voice sounded soothing and I felt myself drifting off. This class wasn’t so bad after all. The floor wasn’t super comfortable, but I suppose beggars couldn’t be chooses. I wasn’t sure why I had been so loathe to come with Lucky, this was really not bad at all. I was imagining what Lucky was going to do to me tonight to thank me for coming with her when someone starting screaming loudly.

“What the fuck?” I shouted as I sat forward, blinkly rapidly as I looked around the room. There were several couples looking at me in distaste and one stuck up looking redhead was shaking her head at me. I could almost hear her thoughts, “he’s going to be a bad dad,” she was thinking. I looked at Lucky and she glared at me and I gave her a lopsided grin. “Oops, sorry everyone.” I apologized to the instructor and she gave me a small patient smile.

“That’s okay, Mr. Beaumont. Now you know what your babies are thinking folks. The birthing process is just as tedious for them as it is for you. They are calm, warm, enjoying the comfort of their mothers bellies and then all of a sudden they are pushed into the world, and it is cold, bright, loud and scary. If they could speak, it is very likely that they would also be saying some variation of what the fuck as well.” She smiled wickedly at me and I laughed. I looked around the room again, as if to say I’m not the only one, but no-one else was laughing. The red-head looked madder than ever, and her husband looked like he wanted to run away and hide. I wanted to tell him to get out of dodge, but I guess it was too late. He’d already gotten her pregnant. I shivered for him as I realized that he was going to have to spend the rest of his life with someone that looked like she was having a colonic every second of her life.

“I am going to kill you, Zane.” Lucky whispered to me, as the instructor gave us a few minutes to gather out thoughts.

“It’s not my fault.” I shrugged. “She scared me.”

“How could she have scared you?”

“I was sle…I mean I was thinking happy thoughts about our babies and next thing I know someone is screaming like they are being murdered. I thought someone was giving birth in the room or something.”

“That’s the point.” She rolled her eyes. “She was simulating what the birthing process is like for the baby. Giving birth is hard for the mother and for the babies.”

“I know.” I said, all of a sudden feeling very serious. “I’m sorry, Lucky.”

“It’s okay.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. “It was kind of funny.”

“Do you think everythings going to be okay?” I looked into her eyes. “When you give birth and everything.”

“It’s going to be fine.”

“Are you sure they gave you all the tests?” I could hear the worry in my voice. “We can get you to some new doctors if you don’t trust them.”

“I trust my doctor, Zane.” She said patiently.

“Are you sure? We need to make sure that you don’t…”

“Everything is going to be fine, Zane.” She reached over and kissed me on the cheek. “I know you’re worried, but everything is going to be fine.”

“I’m just scared, after hearing about my mom, you know.”

“I know.” She nodded and jumped up. “I understand.”

“Okay, everyone. The break is done. Who’s ready for some fun?” The instructor spoke loudly and the room fell silent. She looked around waiting for someone to answer, and I stuck my hand up.

“I’m ready.” I spoke up, and I saw the redhead give me an annoyed look out of the corner of my eye. “I’m very ready.” I continued, laughing to myself. “Is there a room that Lucky and I can go into?” I continued, deliberately misunderstanding what she had meant. “I didn’t know we were going to practice how to make a baby as well.”

“Zane.” Lucky grabbed my arm, the red rising in her face.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Beaumont but that is not the type of fun I was talking about.” The instructor gave me a small frown, but I could see a glimpse of humor in her eyes. I was pretty sure she was glad to have someone like me and Lucky in her classes, along with the stuck up bitches from Beverly Hills.

“Oh, darn.” I laughed and put my arm around Lucky’s waist. “I guess it’s obvious we don’t have a problem in that department. We’re having twins.” Lucky pinched my waist hard, and she glared at me again as I looked at her.

“I am going to kill you when we get home. You’re in so much trouble.”

“Going to spank me, are you?” I whispered back and she laughed as she rolled her eyes.

“You wish. Now, ssh.”

“If you two are done, I would like to continue on with our next session.” The instructor gave us a disapproving look, along with the rest of the class, and I realized we were the bad apples in the class. I knew that Noah would think it was funny as hell when I told him what happened. That would teach Lucky to bring my along to these things. She knew I had no interest in watching videos of women giving birth and screaming. What man really wanted to see all that? I mean, it was a good video for a sex-ed class, it would stop boys from sleeping around, possibly. But it sure wasn’t doing anything for me, as a soon-to-be father.

“Right now, husbands and boyfriends, and of course, girlfriends, I want you to practice supporting your partner. When they are in the delivery room, they are going to be in pain. They are going to be worried, they are going to be scared. They are going to need your support in multiple ways. Now, does anyone know what actions you can take to support your partners?”

“We can hold their hand.” A big biker dude spoke up. “So that they can squeeze it hard when they push.”

“That’s what she said.” I whispered to Lucky, but she ignored me.

“Yes,” the instructor said. “Handholding is very important. But do not force her to hold your hand if she doesn’t want to. Also, realize that if she is squeezing your hand hard, it is not  good idea to complain about the pressure. If you don’t think you can deal with it without complaining, it might be a better idea to get her a stress toy to squeeze.

“She can hold my hand anytime.” The biker dude grinned. “I’m a strong dude. I can take.” I looked at him, and laughed inside. I bet he was going to be the first one to faint in the delivery room, once his wife started pushing. It was always the ones that looked rough and tough, that were the wussiest ones.

“Any other ideas guys. What can you do to support your partner?”

“You can tell her how beautiful she is.” The redhead’s husband spoke up and she smiled at him appreciatively.

“Yes, you can do that.” The instructor nodded and I rolled my eyes. What woman wanted to hear she was beautiful as she pushed a basketball out of her vagina? “Anything else?” She looked around and the class was quiet. I noticed that all the other guys were either staring at their feet or the wall, and looked as bored as I felt.

“Okay, guys.” The instructor laughed. “I guess I’ll take it from her. You can also rub your wives feet. There are pressure points in her feet that will help her loosen up and relax while in labor.”

“I like feet.” One skinny man spoke up eagerly. “I can do that.”

“That’s good.” The instructor gave him a quick smile. “What we’re all going to do now is practice rubbing our partner’s feet.”

“Now?” I looked over at her and frowned. “I thought the class was done in 2 minutes?”

“No, Mr. Beaumont. There is no official end time to the class. It all depends on when we get through everything we need to do.”

“Okay,” I frowned. “But the class schedule said the class ends at 7pm.”

“Well, as I just told you it’s not yet ending Mr. Beaumont.” All humor was gone from her face. “Everyone go back to your mats please. And we will practice making our partners comfortable with a foot rub. Remember husbands, this is not about you. You are not the ones you are going through the pain of delivery. You are not the ones giving birth. Your job is to make your partner happy and as relaxed as possible. You have to be patient.” She gave me a look and then turned around and walked over to her small boombox. “Now, I’m going to play some music that can be soothing in stressful situations.”

“I wonder if she’s going to play Kanye West.” I whispered to Lucky as we sat down.

“Yes Zane, she’s going to start blasting golddigger.” Lucky grinned at me, and slapped me in the arm. “You’re going to get us kicked out you know.”

“No, I’m not. I haven’t done anything bad.” I shook my head innocently.

“You’re acting like an idiot.” She shook her head with a half-smile. “I should be so mad at you.”

“You’re not?” I tilted my head to the side.

“How could I be mad at you?” She laughed. “But you better believe I’m going to be squeezing the shit out of your hand.”

“Ooh, you just said shit.” I laughed at her and she blushed.

“We’re seriously going to be the worst mom and dad.” She laughed. “Our kids are going to get kicked out of preschool for cursing.”

“Not with Uncle Noah in the picture.” I grinned. “He will school us.”

“True,” she laughed. “He’s taken to fatherhood like a fish to water.”

“Yeah, he has.” I smiled and warmth filled my heart as I thought about Noah and Skylar and how close they were. I never would have believed that Noah would be a dad in his early twenties and to see him in the role, made me see him in a new and even more respectful light. My brother really was the best man I knew.

“Maybe, I should have brought him here with me.”

“Are you trying to make me jealous.” I pulled her to me and she giggled as I kissed her neck. “He may be my brother, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t slap him silly if he even thought about getting close to you.”

“Zane, you’re an idiot.” Lucky’s eyes shined brightly into mine. “He’s my brother as well and he has Robin.”

“Well, we hope he has Robin.” I made a face, suddenly feeling sad for Noah. They had agreed to start over again, but Robin really didn’t seem to have much time for him. I wasn’t positive that she was going to get over the secrets he had kept from her and that made me feel bad for him. I knew just how much he really liked her.

“Well, if it doesn’t work out with Robin, he can always see if he likes Leeza. She’s coming to visit in a few months.”

I groaned at the mention of her friend’s name. I wanted nothing to do with Leeza and frankly I was pissed that Lucky was still friends with her. “Leeza will never date my brother.” I shook my head. “No way I want a tramp in my family.”

“She’s not a tramp.” Lucky glowered at me.

“How’s it going, you two?” The instructor walked up to us. “Now is the time to connect as partners having a baby. Small talk can be had after the class.”

“Yes, sorry.” Lucky sat back and blushed. “Stop distracting me, Zane.”

“Or?”

“You’re going to have us kicked out.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes!”

“We’re going to get kicked out for talking?” I mumbled to myself and sat in front of her and slid her shoes off. She placed her feet on my lap and sat back. Her long dark hair hung in curls down her back and she closed her eyes as she relaxed. I took her right foot in my hand and started caressing it. She smiled at me as she relaxed and I stared at her feeling the love surge through me. Her other foot nudged closer to my crotch and I wondered if she was trying to tease me. I grinned as I thought of a way to really relax Lucky. I’d show her how to get kicked out of the class, I thought to myself. “How does this feel?” I asked her softly as I kneaded the soles of her feet.

“Good.” She moaned, and slowly opened up her eyes to stare at me. Her lips looked pink and lush and from my vantage point, she looked sexy as her. I felt a stirring in my pants and I shifted slightly as her foot rested itself and pressed into my crotch. She grinned at me as I moved her foot and I realized she had been doing it on purpose. I smiled back at her and grinned to myself. Just wait, Lucky, I laughed inside. She lay back and closed her eyes again and I started kneading her foot again. Then I quickly lifted it to my mouth and bent my head and took her big toe in my mouth and starting sucking it. I made a big deal of sucking it and really enjoying it. Within seconds, Lucky had sat upright in shock and there were several gasps from around the class.

“Zane,” she blushed as she pulled her foot away from me. “What are you doing?”

“Excuse me, you two.” The instructor hurried over to us. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This class is for couples looking to make the delivery process easier. It’s not for those interested in public sex displays.”

“What?” Lucky gasped and I could see from her face that she was mortified. “That’s not why we’re here.”

“Come on, honey. I guess we came to the wrong class.” I jumped up and grinned.

“No, we didn’t. This is the …” Lucky started and I grabbed her hand.

“This is the class for the up-tight parents to be, not the cool and fun, we’re still going to fuck every night parents.” I grinned and stared at the redheads husband who was looking at me with jealousy. “Let’s go home.”

“Omg, Zane. I’m going to kill you.” Lucky whispered to me, as we hurried out of the class. All the women were looking at Lucky in sympathy, but all the men were looking at me in jealousy. Poor suckers.

“Thank God.” I breathed the fresh air in, as we walked out of the building. “I thought I was going to suffocate in there.”

“What the fuck did you just do?”

“Now now, mummy to be. Are you sure you want our babies to hear that language?” I looked at her with a shocked expression and she hit me in the arm.

“You’re an asshole.”

“But you love me.”

“Zane, that was a serious class. You can’t do that stuff.”

“Lucky, that class was a bunch of bull. I thought I was in a horror movie at one point when the screaming started.” She shook her head and looked at me wordlessly and I continued. “And did you see the miserable faces of everyone else in the class. It was depressing.”

“It was a bit depressing.” She smiled slowly. “But, you were still out of order.”

“Did you really want to go back and hang out with those women? Did you really want to be a part of their mummy and me groups?”

“No,” She laughed reluctantly. “Okay, okay, you’re right. They sucked.” She sighed. “Let’s just go home.”

“Don’t be mad at me.” I made a face as we walked to the car. “Don’t leave me for my brother.”

“Idiot, if I leave you it won’t be for another goofy overprotective Beaumont, it will be for some hot stud.” She grinned at me and then ran away as I tried to grab her.

“You better not even be thinking about any hot studs.” I felt a knife twist in my gut at the thought of Lucky daydreaming about some other man.

“Then you better not mess around in the next class we attend.” She gave me a look as we got to my car.

“What? We have to go to another class?” I sighed.

“We didn’t really learn anything tonight, asides from the fact that you’re a smart ass.”

“You knew that already.”

“Oh, and that you have a foot fetish.” Lucky shook her head, trying to stop herself from laughing.

“You weren’t exactly saying no.” I grinned as I started the car and winked at her. “And your foot was certainly telling me what you were thinking?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your foot was caressing me.” I raised an eyebrow at her and she frowned.

“What?”

“You were teasing my cock with your foot.” I grinned at her. “Trying to get me turned on huh?”

“Zane, I have no idea what you’re talking about. If my foot accidentally hit your crotch it was by mistake. I certainly wasn’t trying to turn you on in a pregnancy class.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “My bad.”

“Oh my gosh,” she laughed. “You’re too much.” She sighed and looked at me with a loving gaze. “I love you, Zane, but sometimes you’re just too much.”

“Sorry.” I laughed, happy that we could tease each over and have moments like this without her getting all angry and serious. “Shall we pick up some ice cream for Skylar?’

“I don’t think so.” She paused. “It’s a bit late. I’m sure she’ll be in bed. And I don’t think it’s good to give kids sugar late at night.”

“I think that’s just coke and pepsi.” I said as if I actually had a clue.

“I’m pretty sure it’s sugar stuff as well.” Lucky made a face.

“I guess we should look it up.”

“Or we go to a pregnancy class.” Lucky reached over and rested her head on my shoulder. “That may be the best bet.”

“I guess so.” I conceded and groaned inside. How many more gory videos and loud-pitched screams was I going to have to deal with? I paused as I realized that it could be a lot worse. Lucky could be having a difficult pregnancy and we could be worried about her life, or the lives of the babies. All things considered, I guessed going to a pregnancy class wasn’t as bad as it got.

 

***

 

“Skylar, it’s time for bed.” Noah was standing by the stairs when we got home, with his hands on his hips. “You have to go up now.”

“I’m watching something.” Skylar called back to him, without moving her eyes away from the TV.

“Hey bro,” I grinned at my brother as we walked through the door. “Good night?”

“A trying night.” He shook his head. “Skylar, if you don’t get off the couch, there will be no TV tomorrow night.”

“That’s not fair.” She cried out and looked up. The she spotted me and Lucky and broke into a smile, before jumping off of the couch and running over to us. “Uncle Zane and Aunty Lucky are home, yay.” She ran into my arms and I picked her up and swung her around.

“You being a good girl?” I sat her down and gave her a serious look.

“Yes.” She nodded and grinned up at me. “I’m always a good girl.”

“You know that Santa Claus only comes for good girls.” I continued on talking. “In fact, if you’re a bad girl, the Grinch will come and he’ll take away—.”

“Zane,” Lucky grabbed my arm and squeezed. “I think that’s enough.”

“Huh?” I looked back at her and then realized that perhaps I was going a bit too far with my story. “Well, just be a good girl, Skylar and listen to what Noah says.” She looked up at me with a confused expression.

“Is Santa coming?” Her lower lip started trembling and I felt my stomach churning. Uh, oh I’ve gone and screwed this up. “I’ve been good. I promise.”

“I think Santa is going to have a conversation with Noah and then will decide if he’s going to come.” I smiled at her gently and then saw Noah trying not to laugh at me. “So you better go and get ready for bed now.”

“Okay, uncle Zane.” She nodded and gave me a small hug. “Night night, Aunty Lucky.”

“Night, my precious.” She gave Skylar a kiss on the cheek, and then Skylar went running over to Noah.

“I’m ready to go to bed now, Noah.”

“Okay, run upstairs and brush your teeth and I’ll come and tuck you in when you’re done.”

“Okay.” She grinned and ran up the stairs. “I want a goodnight story as well.”

“We’ll see.”

“Please Noah.” She paused on the stairs and looked back down with pleading eyes. “I really want to read tonight.”

“Go and brush your teeth and we’ll see.” He grinned up at her and then walked over to us, once she had gone back up the stairs.

“Long night?” I laughed as I looked at his tired expression.

“You do not even know.” He yawned. “She didn’t want to eat fish sticks, she didn’t want to drink apple juice. She wanted ice cream for desert and then when she got ice cream, she wanted cake. And then when she got cake, she wanted chocolate. And then when she got chocolate she spat it out and wanted the ice cream again.” He took a deep breath. “So yeah it was a long night.”

“You’re doing a good job, Noah.” Lucky squeezed his arm.

“Yeah, he’s doing a good job at letting her have whatever she wants for desert.” I laughed. “Can we say that she’s totally pulling all the strings?”

“Whatever.” Noah walked over to the couch and flopped down. “Just wait until you have kids.”

“I know I’ll be loving but firm.” I sat on the couch next to him.

“Zane, you don’t even have the patience for a pregnancy class.” Lucky laughed at me. “I don’t know that you’re going to be Super dad, right off the bat.”

“That class sucked.” I gave her a grin. “Trust me, once the babies arrive I’ll be fine.”

“What temperature do their bottles need to be?” She questioned me and raised an eyebrow.

“What bottle?” I asked in confusion.

“The bottle with their formula.” She smiled at me gently.

“Aren’t you going to breastfeed them?” I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her growing bosom. “Why will they need formula?”

“I may not create enough milk for both of them Zane. It’s something we have to prepare for.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “I guess you’ll figure it out.”

“No, Zane. I won’t be figuring anything out. We will be figuring it out.” She plopped down on my lap and grinned at me before giving me a quick kiss. “Remember what Nancy said, we’re in this together and we have to make decisions together.”

“Who’s Nancy and when did she say this?” I was totally confused as to what Lucky was talking about.

“Oh my God, Zane.” She jumped off of my lap and gave me a disapproving look. “Nancy was the instructor in our class tonight, and that was the first thing she said after we all introduced ourselves.”

“Oh, yeah.” I smiled up at her weakly. I had totally spaced out during that conversation and had been thinking about trying to find a way to ask Lucky if she wanted to talk about possibly getting married in Vegas.

“Oh, yeah, my foot.” Lucky shook her head. “You have no idea what she said do you.” She glared at me. “I’m going upstairs to have a shower, and no, before you ask, I do not want to share it with you.”

I watched as she walked up the stairs and sat back and sighed. “Guess that didn’t go very well.” I looked over at Noah who was trying very hard to keep a straight face.”

“Yeah, I recommend you get your act together bro, or you may find that you’re on Santa’s naughty list this Christmas.” He raised an eyebrow at me and then we both burst out laughing.

The End

What did you think of the teaser? Are you excited for this book? Leave a comment and let me know!!

Join my mailing list so you are informed as soon as it is out! And don’t forget I have another great book out in December called Finding My Prince Charming! You can check out the first teaser here!

 

Hey everyone,

The Other Side of Love has been published on Amazon, Barnes & Noble (Nook), iTunes and Kobo.

It is now live on Amazon.com! It is now live on Barnes & Noble!

Lots of love,

Jaimie
XOXO

Small Teaser

The Other Side of Love by J. S. Cooper 
Out November 17th!

“You have to tell him,” Lucky’s tears dried up on the car ride over to the Johnsons’. “You can’t keep this inside. It’s not healthy for you and it’s not good for Zane either. He needs to know the truth.”

“I don’t want to break his heart.” I shook my head. “You have to keep this a secret.”
“Noah.” She sighed. “I don’t know if I can keep this from him.”
“Let me do this in my own way.” I looked at her, with my eyes begging her for a reprieve. “Please.”
“He’s going to be at the Johnsons’.” She took a deep breath. “We have a surprise for you. I’m sorry.”
“Oh no.” I looked at her in fear. “What did you do?”
“I’m sorry, Noah, but Zane went and picked Robin up. She will most probably be inside with the Johnsons as well.”
“What?” I shouted. “Why would you do that?”
“You’ve been so lonely this last week. I know you guys had an attraction and I convinced Zane that it was in your best interest to bring her over this afternoon. I’m sorry.”
“Fuck, I can’t believe you did that.” I clenched my fists. “I don’t need you interfering with my love life, Lucky.”
“I’m sorry.” She looked at me with huge eyes. “I made a mistake. I thought it would help. I didn’t realize, well, you know. I didn’t realize that you had so much going on.”
“I have nothing to say to Robin, Lucky. If I wanted to talk to her, I would have called her and asked her out on a date.”
“I don’t believe you.” She shook her head. “You’re scared, Noah. I don’t know what that girl did to you in Palm Bonita, but you don’t owe her anything. She missed out. You’re a good guy and you deserve better.”
“I don’t miss the girl I dated.” I sighed. “You have it all wrong. It’s a lot more complicated than you think.”
“Well, maybe if you didn’t keep everything to yourself I’d know why you’re still so hung up on Skylar, who frankly sounds like a bit of a bitch.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Lucky.” I shook my head and got out of the car. “You have absolutely no idea.”

 

THE OTHER SIDE OF LOVE will be out on November 14th, 2013. This is the fourth book in the Forever Love series and features Noah Beaumont and his story.

Here is the final teaser from the book! Enjoy!

“Zane, do you think that right now, at this very moment, Mom is staring at the stars as well and thinking about us?” I looked over at my brother as we lay on our backs and stared up at the sky.

“No.” 

“I think she is. I think she’s most probably waiting for a shooting star so that she can make a wish. And she’s wishing that she can find us and come back to us and smother us with hugs and kisses.” I spoke wistfully and tried to ignore the tears that were creeping into the corners of my eyes. At 10 years old, I still hadn’t perfected the art of not crying when I felt sad. Not like Zane had. He never showed any emotion.
“Then you’re an imbecile.” Zane turned towards me with a frown.
“What’s an im-be-ceil?” I asked him, not understanding what he meant.
“Nothing, Noah. Just be quiet.”
“I’m glad Dad let us go camping this weekend,” I continued excitedly.
“Dad didn’t let us do anything.” Zane sighed. “And we aren’t camping, idiot. We’re lying on bedsheets in the back garden. We don’t have tents or sleeping bags. We don’t have a bonfire. We don’t have anyone telling us scary stories. It’s just us lying here on a dirty bedsheet, looking up at some stars that we can barely see because of all the pollution.”
“It’s still fun, though.” I reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’m glad that it’s just us. We’re like two warriors staring up at the night sky waiting for the sun to rise and take us on our next journey.”
“Yeah.” He sighed, but smiled at me. “We’re two warriors.”
“I’m Conan.” I growled into the air and shouted. “I’m Conan, so nobody better mess with me or my brother Zane.”
“Shhhhh.” Zane placed his dirty hand over my mouth. “Be quiet. If Dad hears us out here, we’ll be in trouble.”
“I thought you said he said it was okay?” I looked at him in confusion and yawned.
“Just go to sleep, Noah, you’re tired.” Zane shook his head and lay back, looking up at the stars. I was quiet for a moment, but still wasn’t tired enough to go to sleep.
“We’ll always be brothers, right Zane?” I spoke lightly, scared that I was going to upset him again.
“What are you talking about?” He rolled over and looked at me with his older brother frown.
“You won’t leave me, right?” I bit my lower lip and opened my eyes wide so no tears fell. I wanted to be a big boy. I didn’t want Zane to make fun of me and call me a baby. “You won’t go away like Mom?” He didn’t say anything for a moment as he lay there staring at me. Then he reached over and hugged me and whispered in my ear.
“I’m your big brother. You’re never going to get rid of me.”
“Never?” I asked hopefully.
“Never.” He let me go and stared at me. “We’re birds of a feather, Noah. We could be the same person. We have exactly the same blood running through our veins. We’re family. We are all we got. I will never leave you. You’re stuck with me.”
“Just don’t try and eat all my candy.” I lay back and grinned, everything all right in my world again. “We may be brothers and we may have the same blood, but all my candy is still mine.”
“I’ll think about it.” He laughed, and lay back at the sky before pointing up to something quickly. “Look, Noah. There’s a shooting star. There’s a shooting star. Quick, make a wish.”
We both closed our eyes and mumbled our wishes. I wished that I would never have to go a day without Zane by my side. And then opened my eyes. “What did you wish for, Zane?”
“I can’t say.” He mumbled and his voice sounded hoarse.
“Tell me.” I pleaded. “Please.”
“I can’t tell you, Noah. If I tell you, it won’t come true.”

The Other Side of Love will be published on November 14th! Are you ready?

This is a link to teasers I have on my blog!

The Other Side of Love

Teaser #1

Teaser #2

Teaser #3

Teaser #4

Finding My Prince Charming

Teaser #1

Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas

If Only Once

Remember Me At Midnight

 

There are just 9 more days left until The Other Side of Love is published on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo on November 14th! Are you excited? Here’s a new teaser to wet your appetite for the book. If you missed the previous teasers, you can read teaser 1, teaser 2, and teaser 3 first!

Teaser #4

The Other Side of Love by J. S. Cooper

Chapter 2 continued

“Noah, you okay?” Lucky reached across the table and squeezed my hand. I looked up at her and blinked a few times to remember my bearings. “You drifted away there for a moment.”

“Sorry.” I said weakly, all humor gone from my tone. “I was just remembering someone.”

“Someone special?” Lucky and Zane both looked at me with curious expressions, and I was about to answer when Robin came back to the table.

“A girl I met while I was away.” I nodded. “The day I arrived actually.”

“Will you tell us about it?” Lucky bit her lower lip, and she stared at me searching, hoping that I was willing to give some answers.

“Palm Bonita is one of those cities that you think of when you think of old Wild West movies.” I stared at her, as I started talking. “It’s this small town that seems to be stuck in the early 1940s. There’s this air of terror and anarchy in the city. Nobody cares about rules, yet nobody wants to be seen to not care about the rules. The people who move to Palm Bonita are the dregs of the country.”

“You moved there and you’re not the…” Lucky started and I smiled at her ruefully.

“I’m not a saint, but you’re right, I didn’t fit in with the other people who had made Palm Bonita their home. And they could tell.” I sighed as I thought back to my many acrimonious interactions with people from Palm Bonita. “But I met someone, and she was a bright light in a very dark town. A town that was made darker because I was in a bad spot in my life.” I stared at Zane. “I’m still not sure if I made the right decision by doing what I did, but it’s all done now. I can’t change it.”

“If that’s an apology, it’s pretty weak, Noah.” Zane raised his eyebrows at me and I knew he still hadn’t forgiven me.

“It’s not an apology. I’m just saying I was in a bad place when I got to Palm Bonita. I wasn’t sure how long I would have to stay there, and it was a weird experience having to disappear.” My eyes glazed over as I spoke and thought about the loneliness and boredom that occupied my minds in the first few months. “I met someone and she gave me some hope, and a life. We became friends and pretty quickly we became more than that. But she wasn’t who I thought she was.”

“A wolf in sheep’s clothing, huh?”

“No,” I shook my head. “She was a wolf in wolf’s clothing.” I laughed bitterly. “She didn’t try and hide who she was. I was the idiot for thinking she was someone different.”

“But you fell in love?” Lucky interrupted me with a curious tone. “You fell in love in Palm Bonita right?”

“You could say that.” I cleared my throat and gave her a sorrowful smile. “But what’s love, really? What does it mean? What does it matter if you can’t help the ones you love?”

“You can’t change anyone. Not if they don’t want to be changed.” Lucky reached out and grabbed ahold of my hand again and squeezed it.  “You know that right, Noah?”

“I do.” I caressed her hand in mine and gave her a grateful smile. “You’re wonderful, you know that, right?”

“Hold on there, brother.” Zane gave me a look. “We may be family, but no flirting with my girl.”

“My name’s Lucky.” She rolled her eyes, but I saw her reach her other hand down and squeeze his thigh. “Not my girl.”

“Treat her right or you may have some competition.” I winked at Lucky as I spoke and her eyes sparkled back at me.

“You want to be a dad to my child?” Zane grinned at me.

“I think that when you love someone and you have a good heart, it shouldn’t matter who the biological parents are.” My tone became very serious. “So yes if it came to it, I could love both of your children as my own very easily and I would take care of them as my own.”

“Whoa, hold on there.” Zane’s eyes narrowed. “It seems like you’ve already given this some thought.”

“No, not really. I just think that people in general should be more loving.” I smiled at him. “Why can’t we all be open and loving to everyone?”

“Good point.” Zane cleared his throat. “I was hoping you’d say something like that because I would really like to know what you know about Mom and why she ignored me in Paris.”

“I…”

“I don’t want any bullshit answers from you, Noah.” His voice rose. “I’ve had about enough waiting to find out some answers.”

“Zane!” Lucky admonished him and shook her head in worry.

“No, stop sticking up for him. You’re my fiancé. You should be supporting me. I want to know what’s going on. I want to know why mom left and how long Noah has known. I’m done with secrets in this family.” He turned away from Lucky and stared at me. “You owe me some answers, Noah. Not some bullshit philosophical thoughts about life and families. I don’t give two shits about how things would be in your ideal world. I want to know the truth about our very real, un-ideal world, and I want to know now.”

We stared at each other for a few moments and I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I knew the truth would hurt far more than me keeping it a secret. Even if it made me the bad guy. Even if it meant he had to hate me for a little bit longer. I didn’t want to risk him going through all those years of pain and rejection again. I could still picture the pain in his eyes when anyone asked him where his mom was. I could still see him as a young boy crying in his bed when he thought no one was around. I could still see the hope in his eyes when the doorbell rang and we still thought our mom was going to come back. And I could still remember the angry bitter man who couldn’t get over the fact that we had been abandoned. The man that had sworn he would never fall in love, never get caught in that trap. And as I looked at him across the table with Lucky, his beautiful wonderful fiancé, who was starting to show her pregnancy in her stomach and face, and I watched the open and easy love he had for her, I knew I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk him clamming up and reverting back to his old self.

“So tell me, Noah. What’s the big secret you’ve been trying to keep to yourself?”

“Hey, excuse me, guys.” Robin approached the table with a slightly embarrassed expression. “Can you keep it down a bit?” She stared at me with an expression of curiosity.

“Sorry.” I nodded as I looked back at her with a blank expression as she attempted a small smile at me. I wasn’t in the mood for her hot-and-cold games. I was fed up with girls and their games. No matter how beautiful they were.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I think I was a bit…” She blushed as she mumbled on to me and I waved my hand at her.

“Forget about it. It really doesn’t matter. Just give us the check please.”

“Is there anything else you guys would like? You haven’t even gotten your…”

“Just the check, please.” We stared at each other for another moment and she nodded. “Sure, I’ll be right back.” She hurried away and I watched her walk up to the counter to print out our receipt. She had an air about her that was slightly mysterious and intriguing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she was unique and had somehow wormed her way into my already overcrowded mind.

“Don’t think this is over,” Zane leaned towards me and whispered in a low voice. “You may have been saved by the waitress this time, but next time you won’t be so lucky.”

“Give it a break, Zane.” I sighed. “Please, just give it a break. Okay.” I pulled out some 20s and placed them on the table, before jumping out of the booth. “I’m going to walk home, I’ll see you guys later.” I hurried away from the table and I saw Robin turn around and watch me as I left the table. I turned around to thank her as I exited but a weird feeling filled me as we made eye contact, and I felt flustered and uncomfortable. I nodded, and mumbled a quick “thanks” before hightailing it out of the restaurant and walking down the street. I needed to think and plan. I knew that Zane was not going to let this rest. And I also knew that I couldn’t allow for him to know the truth. But I didn’t want to lose him as well. Not after Skylar, the pain that remained in my heart from leaving her was still almost too much to bear.

 

***

“Hey,” I knocked on the study door and walked in without waiting for Zane to grant me access. “What you up to?”

“Balancing the checkbook.” Zane shrugged as he looked up at me from his table.

“Sounds fun.”

“Yeah, it’s a bundle of delight. Almost as much fun as disappearing to a small town in Florida.”

“Yeah, that was great fun.”

“I’m surprised you came back, what with your great love still being there and all.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m sorry that you think that.” He turned back to his computer. “I’m kind of busy.”

“Is that a hint to leave?”

“I won’t stop you if you walk out the door.” He started tapping on the keys in front of him and I walked over to the table.

“Hey.” I sat down in the dark mahogany chair.

“Yes?” He looked up at me in irritation.

“Really?” I rolled my eyes at him. “We’re going to play this game.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you’re mad at me. I understand that. I didn’t expect you to just forgive me when I got back. But this, this weird rude sarcasm, this is not what I expected. Shout at me if you must, scream, whatever. Just don’t treat me like some random person you don’t know and don’t like.”

“But, I don’t really know you. Do I?” He frowned at me. “And it’s not like you trust me, or care about my feelings. You didn’t tell me you were working for the FBI, you won’t tell me about our mom. I mean, come on Noah, what sort of brothers are we?”

My breath caught at his words and I stared into his blazing eyes with my heart pounding. “Do you think it was easy for me to just walk away without telling you? Do you think it didn’t keep me up at night? Do you think I didn’t want to call you every single morning and every single night? It fucking killed me, Zane. I wanted to tell you so badly.”

“So why didn’t you? You told others. Do you know how much that hurt me?”

“I don’t know why she told you I told her.” I said angrily. “I…”

“Who is she?” Zane frowned at me. “I was talking about Sidney.”

“Oh.” Fuck. “That’s what I meant…”

“No, it isn’t. Who is she? Who else did you tell?” Zane starred at me with a shocked and incredulous expression. “I know you’re not talking about Mrs. Johnson but who else is there? Wait.” Zane’s expression changed to anger as realization dawned. “Are you talking about Mom? Did you tell Mom?”

My face turned red and he looked at me in confusion. “So you’ve been in contact with her? To the point where you would tell her about leaving?”

“It’s not like that.” I shook my head and my tone was bleak.

“What is it like, Noah?”

“Have you ever loved someone so much that you’ve walked away because that is the only thing you can do to protect them?”

“What?” He looked at me in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“When I left, all I could think about was you. I knew that you would be devastated. We were all we had. And you’ve looked after me my whole life. You’ve been the best big brother ever. And you’ve always tried to protect me. Even when I didn’t need protecting. Well, I had to protect you as well.”

“You weren’t protecting me by leaving and making me think you were dead, and you sure aren’t protecting me by not telling me about mom. I’m not a baby, Noah. I don’t need you to hold my hand while you rip off the Band-Aid. Fucking pull that shit off and let it burn.”

“Going to Palm Bonita without telling you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. I wasn’t skipping and singing songs delighting in the fact that I pulled the wool over your eyes. But I couldn’t just do nothing. They killed people, Zane. I was young and dumb and maybe I handled it incorrectly, but when Agent Waldron told me this was the only solution, I believed him. I had to give up everything. I had nothing and no one and no one to talk to.”

“I’m sorry.” Zane’s eyes looked bleak. “I can’t profess to know what it was like.”

“It was hard. There were some days where I didn’t even make it out of bed because I didn’t care. I was in this limbo. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to talk to.”

“How did you get out of that funk?”

“One day, I met someone. She knew right away that I wasn’t like most of the other people in town.”

“Is this the girl you fell in love with?” Zane questioned me, and a dart of pain shot through my heart.

“She’s the girl that broke my heart into pieces.” I shook my head. “We’re powerless, you know, when it comes to love. No matter what type of love it is. You can love someone wholly and completely as a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend. But none of it matters. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you want to do the right thing and take care of someone. Sometimes there are external factors that will do everything in their power to stop you from making something right.”

“So this woman that you met? She’s the one that gave you hope? Did someone stop you from being with her?”

“I thought she was a victim when I first met her. I thought she was hiding out from an abusive ex. The first time I met her, she told me to be careful in the town. She told me there were a lot of bad people. I should have taken her at her word. She warned me from the beginning.”

“Did someone hurt you?” Zane clenched his fist.

“Not physically.” I shook my head, and closed my eyes as memories came pouring in from my early days in Palm Bonita. The second time I’d seen her she was in the grocery store, studying the labels on milk. “I’d recommend the whole milk.” I smiled at her as I walked over to her. “People like to recommend the 2% or 1% because it has less fat, but whole milk is a lot better for your bones.” She’d stared at me for a minute without talking before grabbing a bottle of 1%. “I see you take advice well.” I continued with a quick smile, and grabbed a bottle of whole milk. “I didn’t ask you for any advice.” Her eyes smirked at me. “I make my own decisions.” She walked away from me and down to the produce aisle. For some reason I followed her and picked up some bananas, as she grabbed some apples. She looked over at me and shook her head before walking up to me. “I thought I told you to be careful in this town?” Her voice was low and she looked around the store to see if there was anyone watching us as she spoke. “I don’t take advice well either.” I grinned at her, and she laughed. This time the laugh hit her eyes and her whole face was transformed with beauty as she smiled at me in genuine humor. “Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?” She’d asked me lightly as if it were no big deal, and I had accepted eagerly and happily, not knowing that that invitation was going to change my whole life.

“Noah, you okay?” Zane’s voice interrupted my thoughts and I nodded.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.” I sighed. “I was just remembering the day she let me into her life.”

“You still miss her?” His eyes searched mine.

“No, I don’t miss her.” I shook my head honestly.

“But you still think about her a lot.” He wasn’t asking a question, but I still nodded.

“Everything changed in my life when I met her and she brought me into her life. I was no longer the boy morphing into the man. I became the man.” I spoke with conviction. “She made me a man.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Zane looked at me thoughtfully. “Lucky made me realize that I was still acting like a boy a lot of the time. She brought out the man in me; all I want to do is love her and protect her. That’s what we’re made for, you know. To look after our women and to love them as best as we can.”

“I’m glad that Lucky has brought the love back into your life.” I answered him honestly. “Family is so important.  I’m glad you’ve added someone else to our small group.”

“We missed out on a lot, didn’t we?” Zane sighed. “No mother, no father to talk of. No real love. We had nothing. I’m surprised we turned out this well.”

“We’ll always have each other.” I grabbed his arm and squeezed it tightly.

The End

I hope you enjoyed the teaser. There will be one more before the book is published on November 14th. Are you excited for the book? Don’t forget to join my mailing list so that you will be alerted as soon as the book is published.

Did you enjoy my book Crazy Beautiful Love? Well, I am publishing Crazy Beautiful Christmas for free on my blog one chapter at a time. You can check out the book here!

 

Crazy Beautiful Christmas will be published as weekly chapters on my blog. You will find the links to the chapters here. The first chapter will be posted this Sunday!

Chapter 1: http://jscooperauthor.com/2013/11/crazy-beautiful-christmas-2/

Chapter 2: Coming soon

It’s Teaser Thursday and I have the 3rd teaser from The Other Side of Love. Noah’s story will be available on November 14th, 2013. If you missed the first two teasers you can find them here: teaser #1 and teaser #2. You can also read the first teaser to Finding My Prince Charming Here.

ENJOY!!

The Other Side of Love

Teaser #3

Unedited

Chapter 2

 

“This is where people go when they want to disappear.” She didn’t smile as she looked me over slowly and intently. “No-one else moves to Palm Bonita.”

“I didn’t move here because I wanted to disappear.” I shrugged and stared into her eyes confidently. I stood in the alleyway, and wondered who this woman was, who had just walked up to me out of the blue.

“Maybe you didn’t want to disappear, but you had to.” Her eyes issued me a challenge and I hid my surprise. She was smarter than I thought she would be. But to be honest, my thoughts weren’t based on anything other than her looks. She looked too beautiful to be intelligent. I suppose a feminist would kill me for saying that, but then again, I wouldn’t say it out-loud. I knew that my thoughts were based on my own masculinity but, based on her looks I thought she’d be an airhead. She had long white blonde hair, and big doeful blue eyes, that glittered at me with an emotion akin to distaste.

“Perhaps.”

“I know guys like you.” She laughed and shook her head. “You think you know me just by my looks, but let me tell you mister, you know absolutely nothing about me.”

“I think you’ve got it a bit twisted. You were the one claiming to know me, not the other way around.”

“No, I was just the honest one. I spoke my thoughts out loud.” She turned around then and walked away from me. I hurried up to catch her, feeling confused and annoyed at myself for getting off on the wrong foot with someone in my new town already.

“Hey wait, I’m sorry.” I grabbed a hold of her shoulder and she flinched, glaring at me as she pulled away quickly.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” My eyes narrowed, and this time I looked at her for a longer period of time. I studied her face carefully this time; I tried to look beyond the surface of her perfect features. Her pupils looked red and puffy as if she had been crying a lot, and her lips looked cracked under her lipgloss. Her cheekbones seemed too pronounced for her face, and her clothes hung on her body as if they were too big. She was either wearing someone else’s clothes or she had lost a lot of weight recently.

“You didn’t scare me.”

“So why did you want to disappear?” I smiled at her weakly, and her eyes flashed at me, looking me over in distrust.

“So you admit, you came here to get away?.”

“I’m dead.” I laughed, but no smile crossed my face.

“I’m dead too.” She nodded and ran her hands through her hair. She had understood exactly what I meant.

“I’m Noah.” I reached out my hand to shake hers. “I mean, I’m Mikey.”

“It’s best not to use any names.” Her handshake was firm, but her fingers felt soft and cold. I wanted to rub them between mine, to warm her up. “It’s safer that way.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Three months.” Her voice lowered. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t ask too many people too many questions. Most of us didn’t come here to get away from something bad.”

“What do you mean?” I frowned, not really sure what she meant.

“Most of the people in Palm Bonita are the bad. They have come here to disappear so that they won’t be caught.”

“Oh.” I pursed my lips. “Well, that means we good guys should stick together.”

“Who said I was one of the good ones?” She raised an eyebrow, and walked away from me, and back down the alley. I watched her as she walked away again, and she stopped after a few yards, and looked back at me.

“Be careful, Noah.” She placed a finger against her lips. “Be very careful.”

 

I sat on the couch, holding my phone, thinking about the first time I met her when Zane walked into the living room. He stood there staring at me for a few moments, and I laughed.

“Don’t tell me the cat has your tongue.” I shook my head. “This is the first time I’ve actually seen you stand and think before spouting off whatever you wanted to tell me.”

“Blame Lucky.” He laughed as well, and sat down on the couch next to me.

“More like thank her.”

“There’s that as well.” His eyes crinkled as he thought of his fiancé, and I envied him the peace of mind and stability she had brought to his life. I wanted that for myself but I also wanted to make sure that nothing interrupted the new joy that Zane had in his life.

“What were you thinking about just now?” Zane’s tone became thoughtful. “You looked so far away just now.”

“I was just thinking about the day I moved to Palm Bonita.”

“Palm Bonita? Is that were you where?” Zane stared at me. “Is that here in California?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s a small town in Florida, about an hour South of Orlando.”

“I see. Did you choose the area?”

“Agent Waldron suggested it may be a good place for me to go and lay low, as I didn’t want to become a part of the witness protection program.”

“Wait, what?” Zane’s eyebrows furrowed. “What are you talking about? I thought you were in witness protection?”

“I wasn’t an official part of the program.” I shrugged and looked away from him. “Once you go in, you can’t really come out. I wasn’t willing to close the door.”

“So you did it for me?” Zane’s lips thinned. “You risked your safety for me, yet, you couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me what your plan was.”

“I don’t want to go through this again.” I let out a big sigh. “Not now, please.”

“So what happened the day you moved to Palms Bonita?”

“Honestly?” I laughed. “I wondered what the fuck I had done, and wanted to call the whole thing off.”

“It was that good then?” Zane gave me a half-smile, but his eyes looked me over in concern. No matter how angry he was at me, I was still his brother, and he was still concerned about my feelings more than anything.

“Better.” I rolled my eyes. “Palms Bonita is one of those nowhere, small dusty towns, where ex-gang bosses, and mafiosa go to spend out their days.”

“Sounds delightful.”

“Yeah. It was an adjustment.” My thoughts drifted back to the decrepit apartment building I had found myself living in. It was cockroach and rat infested, but even worse than that was the smell. The smell of rotting eggs, and hidden fish had stenched the complex out, and no amounts of spray or candles had diminished it.

“Want to tell me more over lunch?” Zane looked at me hopefully, and I nodded. There were many things I couldn’t tell him, but I knew that he would want to know about my time away. And as long as I kept to the bare minimums everything should be okay.

“The sky looks beautiful today.” Lucky walked into the living room with some recently picked flowers and my face turned white. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I jumped up. “I thought you said something else. That’s all.” I gave her a weak smiled and I noticed Lucky and Zane exchanging a worried glance. “I’m okay guys.”

“No one said you weren’t.” Zane grabbed Lucky’s hand, and pulled her towards him. “Noah and I are going to lunch, want to come?”

“If Noah doesn’t mind.” She looked at me eagerly, and I tried not to laugh. She was so different to the type of girl I had imagined seeing Zane with.

“I don’t mind. I’m pretty sure whatever I tell my brother, he shares with you anyway.”

“Zane can keep a secret.” Lucky blushed, while my brother glared at me.

“I’m just joking guys. It’s fine. I don’t expect you to hide anything from each other. Secrets ruin relationships.”

“Yeah, they do.” Zane gave me a poignant look and I jumped up and turned towards the stairs. I had walked into that trap and I didn’t want to stay around and feel guilted into revealing information I wasn’t ready to share.

“You guys choose a place for lunch, I’m just going to go upstairs and get my stuff ready.”

“What stuff?” Zane’s voice was curious and I smiled at Lucky as she pulled him away from me, whispering something about wanting his help choosing out a crib for the babies.

***

“Hi, I’m Robin and I’m going to be your waitress today. Can I start you off with any drinks?” The girl in front of me was gorgeous and I couldn’t help but to admire her body. “I’m not on the menu by the way.” The smile fell from her face as she spoke to me and I wondered what had gotten her so upset.

“I didn’t think that you were.”

“Well, the way you were looking at me made me think that perhaps you thought something else was on the menu.”

“Uhm okay?” I looked at Zane to see if I had missed something. Had I said something and not realized it, or was this chick just crazy?

“No, it’s not okay. How would you like it if I looked at you like you were a juicy steak and I was a dog ready to pounce?” Her frown lifted and her expression changed to one of excitement and anticipation, she looked me over slowly and licked her lips before locking eyes with mine. “Not a very nice feeling is it? To be treated like a piece of meat.”

“Actually, I don’t mind.” I laughed and leaned towards her. “It makes me feel quite excited actually.”

“Noah.” Lucky’s voice sounded shocked and she shook her head at me.

“I’m just being honest.” I shrugged.

“Typical male reaction.” Robin shook her head and turned towards Lucky. “Anything I can get you guys?”

“We’ll have three waters please, Robin.” Lucky smiled at her widely and we were all silent as Robin walked away.

“Okay, is it me or is that chick crazy?” I exclaimed as soon as Robin was out of earshot.

“Noah.” Lucky laughed and made a small face. “I mean, she does seem like she is having a bad day.”

“She’s off.” Zane shook his head. “Like loony bin off.”

“Right? What was up with that?” I rolled my eyes. “I thought she was going to grab a knife and stab me and for what?”

“Well you did give her a once-over.” Lucky smiled at me. “Some girls don’t like that.”

“I looked at her and appreciated her beauty,” I coughed into my hand as Robin returned to the table with three waters. “I thought waitresses were meant to treat their customers like royalty, not like shit.”

“Are you talking about me?” Robin raised one eyebrow at me and our eyes met again. She had the most unusual hazel eyes, they seemed to change from brown to green to match her temperament.

“Do you see another waitress in the vicinity?”

“I prefer to be called a server.”

“And?”

“Noah.” Lucky’s voice sounded shocked, and I saw her poke Zane in the stomach to get him to say something to me. I looked at Zane and his eyes were sparkling back at me. I could tell that he thought the whole situation was hilarious.

“It’s okay. I’m used to dealing with spoilt rich boys who don’t respect the help.”

“Whoa, what?” I frowned up at her, and swallowed hard as I stared at her shimmering beautiful eyes. She was beautiful, and I had a hard time not feeling captivated by her. Her long black hair hung straight down her back, and her sunkissed olive skin glowed in the bright light of the restaurant.

“Nothing.” She sighed and bit her lip. “I apologize for my words. It’s been a long day.” She looked away from me and back at Lucky. “Do you guys know what you want to order yet?”

“We’re going to share the bluecheese burger with a large fries please.” Zane spoke quickly, and Lucky have him a look.

“Who said we were sharing anything?”

“I thought you wanted….”

“You didn’t even ask me if I wanted the bluecheese burger.” Lucky made a face at Robin. “Sorry but can you give us a few minutes?”

“Sure.” Robin smiled back at her briefly and gave me a look before walking away from the table.

“I think she likes you, bro.” Zane winked at me and I shook my head.

“Yeah right.”

“I bet she wants to take you in the back and….”

“Zane!” Lucky’s voice was impatient. “Is that what you thought about me when you first starting coming to Lou’s?”

“Of course.” He grinned. “I knew you wanted to do me the first day you met me.”

“You’re gross.” Lucky punched him in the arm. “More like you wanted to do me.”

“Of course.” He laughed. “I saw you doing the cha cha cha, and I was hooked.”

“I was learning salsa steps.” Lucky smiled at him indulgently.

“Yeah, whatever.” Zane pulled her towards him and kissed her. “I don’t care what steps you were doing, all I knew was that I wanted to be the one you were doing them with.”

“So you wanted me to take you to the back and have my wicked way with you.”

“I would have been overjoyed.”

“What about your date?”

“What about her?” He laughed again and kissed her on the nose. “Now, what’s this about you not wanting to share a blue cheese burger. I thought you loved them.”

“I do love them and we can share but you can’t just place an order and expect that I’m going to be okay with it without you asking me first.”

“Are you joking right now?” Zane’s eyes popped open and he spoke slowly. “You do want to share and you do want the blue cheese burger, but you sent Robin away because you wanted to be difficult.”

“I wasn’t being difficult,” Lucky rolled her eyes at him. “I wanted you to ask…”

“Okay, okay.” Zane raised his hand and put on a puppy dog face as he cut her off. “I get it.”

“You guys done?” I interrupted them both. “I’ve a feeling Robin is going to have a heart attack if we don’t order and get out of here soon.”

“She does seem a little bit intense.” Lucky giggled and made a face.

“Hey guys, are you ready?” Robin walked back up to the table and dropped off a basket of bread. “I thought you guys could have some French rolls on the house.”

“I told you. She wants you.” Zane mouthed at me and I tried not to laugh. “You should ask her out.”

“Ask her out to do what? Kill me?”

“Ask her out on a d a t e.”

“Yeah, right.” I grimaced. “That’s never going to happen.”

“I have a friend that you may…” Lucky started and Zane gave her a look. “Okay, okay. Leeza’s out.” She half sighed and gave me a smile. “So what kind of girls do you like, Noah?”

“One’s that don’t want to kill me.” I joked, but I couldn’t laugh. My mind drifted back to Palm Bonita and Skylar. I could still see the pain in her eyes at our last meeting. I’d never forget our last conversation. “Do you love me?” Her words were soft and sharp, as her eyes had stared into mine with intensity. “I love you.” I had said simply and honestly. “Then take me with you.” She’d pleaded, and her eyes were moist. “I can’t do that.” I shook my head and turned away from her. “I hate you.” She’d whispered and then she’d pushed past me and run away me. I hadn’t tried to stop her, even though I had wanted to. I wanted to run after her and beg her to understand that my decision wasn’t one I wanted to make. It was one I had to make. But I knew that in her world it didn’t make a difference. I’d broken her heart and betrayed her, like every other man. And I’d just walked away. That was the thing with love; sometimes no matter how badly you wanted to be with someone and take care of them, there were obstacles that were beyond your control. Sometimes you had to know when to walk away.

The End

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