Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

24. Cooper

Chapter twenty-four

Cooper

D evin’s house was packed by the time Cooper arrived at the party later that week, and he saw Lucia, Jenna, and some of the other partners of players dancing in the living room, where Devin had pushed all his furniture against the wall. Cooper knew he should look for Colton, but since he and Maya had agreed they wanted to be together in some capacity, Cooper hadn’t been hanging out as much.

He’d turned down going on a double date with one of Lucia’s physio friends. Less than a week ago, he’d taken a flight to see Maya when most of his teammates had gone to dinner together. He’d been too tired the evening he’d come back to meet his friends at Frankie’s. He hadn’t been joining Colton for their usual optional lifts—though those were getting less and less optional as June camp grew closer .

It hadn’t necessarily been purposeful most of the time, but Cooper hated keeping secrets from his closest friend, and the longer they continued, the worse it would be when Colton inevitably found out.

A part of Cooper wanted to let everyone know how much Maya meant to him, but he stood by his reasoning for waiting. If nothing changed for Cooper after the first couple of weeks following On the Line's launch day, he’d talk to Maya about biting the bullet and telling her brother.

Cooper was sure Colton was suspicious, and it was only a matter of time before his friend found out and confronted him. So Cooper grabbed a beer from the massive chest in the kitchen and tried to get his story straight while he looked for him.

He clinked his bottle with TJ and a few of the other offensive Sabertooths players who had grouped together right outside of the kitchen, talking and laughing over the loud music, before walking past them.

A year ago, Cooper would have been with them or dancing with a bunch of girls or using one of Devin’s many guest rooms, which Devin had so elegantly dubbed his “teammate sex rooms.” The thought made Cooper feel sick, and all he wanted was to be in Los Angeles with Maya in his arms. Or even better, to be with her in front of his friends here in Charleston without worry that Colton would be hurt or that the media would have a field day .

When Cooper finally found Colton, his friend was already approaching him. Cooper took a breath and gave Colton what he hoped was an easy smile.

“Hey, Colt.”

“Coop.” Colton nodded, pulling him into a quick hug. “Everything okay?”

Cooper nodded into his beer. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Colton shrugged. “You’ve been gone a lot recently, it feels like. I know you’ve been in LA helping Maya some, but it seems like more than that.”

Trying to think quickly, he responded, “Ah, it’s just family stuff.” At least that wasn’t a complete lie.

His parents, in an effort to prove themselves right about how he was throwing away his life, had resorted to communicating with him via articles about his exploits. None of them were accurate, but his parents didn’t seem to care.

One of these days, Cooper was going to pick up the phone and tell his parents exactly how he felt. He just wasn’t sure he had the courage to deal with the guilting that would inevitably occur after.

Cooper owed a lot to his parents. His father had grown up poor but had worked his way up the ranks of a construction company until he’d owned it. At that point, he’d built half of the city of Oakridge Springs, and once their family was financially stable enough, he’d bought Hayes Ranch. While his father had always dreamed of having a ranch, he was also motivated by making sure his children didn’t live the same life of poverty he had. And through it all, his mother had been a beacon of positivity, even in the early days when Dylan and Cooper had been young.

Cooper wanted a relationship with them, and his siblings too. He just wasn’t sure how to keep them without moving back home and giving in to their wants and wishes.

“Oh.” Colton nodded. “You want to talk about it?”

Cooper didn’t talk much with anyone about his family. Even Maya only knew some of the story, though he planned to tell her eventually, when it came up a little more organically. But talking to Colton about it, especially before now, when it hadn’t been quite so bad, had never seemed necessary.

He wondered why.

“My dad wants me to come back to run for mayor. He thinks I’ve wasted my time playing football and that I’m only ruining my political chances by continually ‘making my exploits available to the media,’” he said, the last portion with finger quotations.

“Damn. That’s harsh.” Colton took a sip of his drink, looking toward Lucia. “What about your contract? Will they back off if it gets extended? I will personally have words with whoever I need to to make sure you stay here.”

Cooper sighed. “George just keeps saying they’re working on it. He’s been annoying the shit out of me recently so I haven’t talked to him much, but I need to call him.” He’d been holding off now that he and Maya were together. Cooper hadn’t yet decided whether to look into a move to LA. A part of him wanted to, but knowing Maya, he wasn’t sure it was something she would want.

But even if his contract did get extended, his parents might back off until they sniffed out his interest in retiring, and then he’d be back here again, with the expectation that he’d come home.

Which is why he needed to sit down and talk to them. Eventually.

Colton hummed. “And when you say exploits, you mean…”

“With women, yeah. I think they see the headlines and believe I’m just fucking around. They don’t care about the charity or outreach or any of it because what’s in the news? What’s bad for politics? My exploits .”

“But you’ve been dialing it down recently, right? I mean, at least when I’ve seen you, it hasn’t been as obvious what you’re getting up to as it used to.”

Cooper looked at his friend, confused. Colton continued, “I just mean, at these parties, you used to have girls draped all over you. All the time. We’d talk for a little while and then I wouldn’t see you again. It’s been different recently.”

Cooper nodded, glad that at least his friend had noticed the change. That made him feel a lot more confident in telling Colton about him and Maya. Eventually. “Yeah, I’m trying to make a change. Don’t want to be like that into my thirties. Figured it was time to do something different. ”

“Well, you know I support you either way, but I’m happy for you. You thinking about dating someone?”

He watched Colton’s reaction carefully as he responded, “Maybe.”

He wasn’t surprised to see the flicker of shock, but it still hurt. Cooper wished he’d talked to Colton about this sooner. Even his own best friend didn’t see him as a one-woman man.

“Wow. Someone specific?”

“No,” Cooper lied, shaking his head.

“Alright then.” Colton held out his drink for Cooper to cheers. “To a new Cooper. Maybe you could start by coming out with me, Lucia, and Lucia’s friends.”

Cooper chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Colton looked around the party before turning to Cooper.

“And Maya? You’ve been seeing her more than I have—does she seem okay?”

Cooper thought about Maya preparing for tomorrow’s big launch, her face split with a smile, beaming with pride for the legacy she was about to begin. If he hadn’t had practice, he’d have stayed the whole week to help her.

“Oh, uh, she seems okay. Better than three months ago, for sure,” Cooper said, looking toward where a group of people were hooting and hollering around Devin. “I only see her here and there though.”

A complete lie. Cooper video called Maya every single day without fail, even if just to say good night.

He was the worst friend ever .

Trying to take the heat and attention off himself, he asked, “You think we got a chance at another championship this year?”

Colton shrugged like it hardly mattered, and that change from before, when all he cared about was winning, shocked Cooper just like it always did. “I don’t know. I figure you and I try a couple more times before we go out in style. I’ll accept three or four rings.”

“We better stop Devin from hazing the rookies tonight then.”

Lucia walked over, and Colton held an arm out for her to walk into. Cooper’s chest ached as he watched them come together so naturally, so publicly.

Colton smiled at the group. “Nah, a little Devin hazing never hurt anybody.”