Almost Ordinary (The Song Wreckers Book 2) (5 page)

He breathed deeper, but otherwise had no response.

I tossed the pillow on the bed. “I’m kidding, of course. I wanted to see if you were okay.” I sat on the chair, without falling this time. “You gonna make it out of here alive?” I kept my tone light, so as not to overwhelm him right away.

“Guess so.” His throat sounded dry, so I poured him a cup of water. He struggled when he turned his body to accept the cup. “Thanks.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, gauging his state of mind as he sipped water. Hmm, what did I want to know first? A devil popped up and screamed,
Ask him why he’s such a douche bag!
Then an angel appeared. She shook her head and calmly stated,
Molly, find out what he needs.

Wait, what? I wanted to find out the rest of the story, you stupid angel. Who cared what he needed?

“Molly,” Cooper said. “Don’t need your thanks. Tired.”

I scrunched my face. “Of course I’m going to thank you for your help in capturing Adam.”

His eyes closed. “Oh. I thought . . .” He drifted for a moment. “Thank me for saving . . .” Another zone out. “Caleb shot.”

What? “Cooper, what do you mean?”

“Mmm,” he said.

I waited several seconds, leaned forward and poked him in the arm. “Cooper?” Nothing. “Cooper!” I said, louder.

His eyes opened. “Mmm,” he said again.

“Did you save Caleb from getting shot?”

“Mmm.”

“How?”

“Took bullet.” His eyes closed again.

Grr!
Come on, Cooper!

I poured him another cup of water, then poked him again. And again. And again, until his eyes opened. “Here you go.” I handed him the cup and he drank.

“Cooper, are you saying that you took a bullet for Caleb?”

“Who?”

“Ram!”

“Tapping,” he whispered. "Stop the tapping.”

I stilled my foot and plopped on the chair.

“Cooper, did you take a bullet for Ram? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes,” he slurred.

I closed my eyes to let that sink in.

Cooper took a bullet meant for Caleb.

I opened my eyes and found Cooper staring at me with glazed over eyes. “Nord’s dead.”

Nodding, I said, “I know.”

Cooper’s eyes closed, and his breathing fell into a rhythm. I could’ve poked him some more, forced him awake to keep talking or see if he’d answer any of the other questions I had for him. Instead I watched him for a minute.

“Cooper, one day we’re going to talk. I’m glad you’re going to be okay because I have some questions for you.” I knew he didn’t hear me, but had to say the words to him anyway.

Then I yanked the door open and marched the hell out of there, ignoring Taylor’s glare.

Chapter 6

I picked up the boys from Char and made it home before Caleb woke. He trudged downstairs as I finished making us lunch.

“I have to go to work today,” he informed me, halfway through our meal. Caleb had taken on more responsibilities at 3D with Cooper in the process of opening another branch. Caleb ran the office when Cooper was busy working out the logistics of the new branch’s opening, and when he needed to visit Florida. Or when he lay recovering from gunshot wounds in the hospital.

“Is it weird? At work is it weird seeing Cooper all the time?” We’d been able to ignore Cooper, act as if he’s nothing more than Caleb’s boss. Everything has been normal. Calm. But now, with Cooper’s injury, all the issues that picked away at me rose to the surface and wouldn’t sink down anytime soon. My husband working for Cooper being one of those issues.

“Not anymore,” he said.

Part of what drew me to this house not even a year ago, was how comfortable it made me feel, from the first step inside. The previous owner had a hell of an eye—or professional decorator—for the exact blend of colors, textures, and materials that worked to calm the mind and soothe the soul.

Unfortunately, the whole calming, soothing house thing did not work for me at the moment.

I didn’t say anything more for a minute, just kept eating. I didn’t want the subject of Cooper to be off limits, otherwise there’d always be this big, white elephant in the room. I also didn’t want the type of marriage where I felt like we couldn’t talk about any and everything.

“At first?”

Caleb shrugged. “Not since I decided that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. I told him I was going to marry you and raise his children as my own and we’ve had an unspoken understanding since then.”

It always amazed me that Caleb stayed so matter-of-fact when discussing Cooper. If I were in his shoes I’d be this raving, jealous monster with steam coming out of my ears whenever I thought about him. I knew Caleb loved me and the twins, could see it in his eyes whenever he looked at us, so I figured our love overpowered my affair with Cooper. Only with Cooper’s shooting, or when I blurt out I wanted to see him, did I hear emotion in Caleb’s voice when we spoke of Cooper.

Cooper’s thoughts were like this mini Bermuda Triangle in my life. I would love to know what the hell went on in his head when he thought about me and the pregnancy, but was also afraid of getting sucked into his abyss of Cooperness. Kinda like a dead zone. “What did he say when you told him that?”

“He didn’t say anything. I think he was relieved.” He speared a chunk of scrambled egg and, realizing I still looked at him waiting to hear more, put down his fork and continued. At least he didn’t look like at me like he felt sorry for me. “I tried to coerce something out of him, Princess. I really did. I don’t know what goes through his mind most of the time. I told him we were going to get married and that I wanted to change my work schedule to more family friendly hours and he made it happen. I think he’s relieved that you’re being taken care of and it’s not him doing it. Not that you wouldn’t have been able to do it on your own. You know what I mean, right?”

I nodded, keeping my face neutral because
ugh
. Hearing that the man who accidentally impregnated me wanted nothing to do with me still stung. I never wanted Cooper as a boyfriend or husband, but had he wanted a relationship because I was pregnant, I would’ve made it work with us for the sake of our kids. And how messed up was it that I had all these murderous thoughts toward Cooper for ditching me, when being with him would’ve meant not being married to Caleb? These past six months of marriage have been the best of my life. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

I focused on the boys, trying to get Alex to smile at me. A deeper understanding of Cooper’s thoughts would’ve been nice, but not all that good for my self-esteem. Once I started obsessing about all the ways my life could’ve gone—dead from The Creep, with Cooper instead of Caleb, single mom with no one—it swelled to the forefront of my head. The fact that my husband worked for Cooper didn’t help.

“You can quit, you know,” I told Caleb. “We have enough money if you want to quit and find something else.” The money I received for my work on Gina’s album could easily keep our family operating in the black for a while. The new offer I negotiated would allow Caleb to take his time in finding a new career, or at least a new place to work.

He reached down to pick up a teething ring Zander had flung near him. “Do you want me to quit?”

“If you want to.”

Caleb slumped against the chair, linking his hands together behind his head. “I may have lost any respect I had for Cooper, but I like my job. And honestly, with the extra responsibilities he’s been giving me I have more job security than I used to. Starting somewhere else isn’t something I want to do. And now this whole mess . . .”

I understood. He wasn’t going to let his feelings toward Cooper chase him out of a career he excelled at. And quitting now, while Cooper had a while until he recovered, could be detrimental to 3D.

After a few seconds of looking at each other Caleb resumed eating. I nodded and continued eating as well. With my husband. Who worked for the biological father to our children. The biological father who wanted nothing to do with his own children, but still had me scared to death that one day out of the blue he might waltz in and demand to be their father.

I had been thinking about that more and more the last couple of months. One day Cooper might realize what he gave up and want to be in our lives. Caleb and I would have to let him in. How would we handle that if it happened? I’ve let go, mostly, of the guilt from our family’s origins, however I still panicked about anything that could prevent the twins’ from having a normal, happy life.

Like having a man who raised them, was always there for them, then finding out they shared none of Caleb’s DNA.

Then finding out they have a biological father who never cared.

Or losing their mother to a nut case like Adam.

Like my kids having to call Katie “Auntie Katie Beans.” (I swear to God she came up with that to yank my chain.)

Like calling Mama, Katie’s mom and the woman who was more maternal with me than my own mother,
Meemaw
. In public. Where someone could hear them.

All of those things made me shiver. Okay, maybe Auntie Katie Beans and Meemaw were kind of sweet. But still, in the Midwest we’re
Grandma
or
Nana
, and Auntie Katie Beans sounded plain odd.

Caleb rummaged through a drawer and scarfed down a candy bar. He wiped his mouth then said, “Okay, I’m going to hop in the shower then take off.”

“No,” I said. “First you’re going to tell me how Belinda Nord died.”

“Oh, man.” He rubbed his eyes. “I forgot we got cut off yesterday.”

We each picked up a boy and went upstairs. I placed them on our bed and made a pillow barrier, grabbed a clean towel then sat on the bathroom counter while Caleb stripped and stepped into the shower.

“So, I heard what I assume was you and Cooper breaking a door down?”

He blew some water out of his face. “Yeah. I had a couple 3D guys watching her house and they saw a man peek out Nord’s window. I tried knocking first. No one answered so me and Cooper kicked her door and barged in.”

“Was Belinda still alive at that point?”

“I don’t think so. Adam was trying to drag her body out of the front room. He had ripped up some bed sheets and put her on them, and was pulling the sheet with her on top. The cuts all over her body . . . There was so much of blood. He butchered her, Princess.”

I closed my eyes and bowed my head. That girl had tried to beat me up and weaken me for The Creep’s attack, though she claimed she didn’t know he planned on attacking me too. Still, hearing he butchered her made my stomach churn. He’d tried to butcher me, too.

“Cooper went in first. Adam saw Cooper charging toward him so he let go of the sheet and grabbed his knife off of a table. He threw it at Cooper. Cooper jumped out of the way, then Adam grabbed a fucking gun out of his waistband.”

I let out a steady breath, rubbing the scar on my left forearm.

“You okay?” Caleb asked.

“I don’t know. That’s sick.” And that could’ve been me had Katie and Brett not seen me on the alley’s video surveillance and run out to rescue me.

He popped his head out, water dripping off him and onto the floor. “You want me to stop? I thought maybe ripping the Band-Aid off quick would be the best way to do this.”

“It is. Keep going, please.”

He disappeared back into the shower. I heard the squeezing of the body wash bottle. “When Adam was taking the gun out of the waistband of his jeans, I was going for the knife he threw so he couldn’t use it against us. I saw him pull the gun, but I was too far away to do anything.” He stopped talking.

Several silent seconds passed. “Are you all right?” I asked. He had kept his emotions in check thus far. Maybe telling the story aloud caused unexpected feelings to rise to the surface.

“It was so quick,” he said, almost more to himself then to me. “He pulled the gun, shot and hit Cooper in the leg. Cooper went down.” He stopped again.

I gave him a minute to regroup. “Caleb?”

The water turned off. Caleb threw open the shower door and stepped out. I handed him the towel I had waiting for him. He ran it over his face and hair, then wrapped it around his waist. He put his arms around me, and rested his chin on my head. “When Adam saw me going forward, he aimed the gun at me. Cooper somehow launched himself up fast as hell and threw himself in front of me. That bullet to his chest was meant for me.”

Cooper was pretty out of it when I saw him in the hospital, so I hadn’t been completely sure that he did, in fact, take a bullet for Caleb. Holy shit. I wrapped my arms around Caleb.

He kissed my hair. “As soon as Adam shot Cooper in the chest, he froze for a second. We could hear the police storming the apartment. I kicked the gun out of his hand.” He lifted my chin to look at me. “Know where that idea came from?” I shook my head. “On the video of him attacking you, at one point you were trying to kick the knife out of his hand. That video kept playing through my head, and I just kicked it. It flew across the room.”

I leaned toward him and rested my forehead on his chest so I could wrap my arms around him again. Plus, I didn’t want to look him in the eyes when I said, “I’m so glad that he was shot and not you.” What a horrible thing to say. It was even more horrible that I felt Cooper owed it to us to take the bullet meant for Caleb. “Does that make me a bad person?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “No, Princess. You want your family safe. That’s normal.”

He dressed and promised he’d be home by eight.

That left me alone for the rest of the day. I called Katie and told her about my brief visit with Cooper. She was disappointed I didn’t punch him. I asked her to come over to keep my mind off things, but she had wedding stuff to attend to. She invited me along.

“Hell no.” I didn’t want to drag the boys around and try to keep them entertained while she obsessed over the most minute details. Wedding planning didn’t interest me. I preferred my small courthouse wedding over some big spectacle.

She agreed to come over later for dinner since Brett worked at the bar tonight.

Visiting Cooper stirred up my courage, so I called my mom hoping for a nice talk. We talked once in a while, but never delved into any deep or meaningful conversation, and she didn’t know anything about The Creep; I told her my scars were a result of a car accident. I wanted to brag about my kids and hear her tell me how cute the latest batch of pictures I emailed her was.

She didn’t answer the phone, which wasn’t a surprise. We never talked a lot, but when we did I hear all about the little trips she takes with Victor, her newish boyfriend. To Cleveland for the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, Traverse City for wine tasting and the Cherry Festival, and shopping at Birch Run. And I was sooooo happy for them.

I used to be, anyway. Anymore, though? It hurt that she didn’t show more of an interest in her grandkids. I’m an only child; these would be her only grandchildren!

I waited forever for the beep of voicemail which fueled my irritation more. Stupid instructions droned on forever. “Hi, Mom. Checking in, haven’t talked to you in a while. Making sure you’re alive. Call me.”

Next I called Franny and asked her to come back to work on Wednesday. After the drama that went down this weekend, she deserved an extra couple of days off. That occupied all of thirty seconds.

Crap. Now I had time on my hands. Sure, I fed and played with the boys, but they weren’t intellectually stimulating enough yet to keep my mind off of Adam or Cooper. I changed two of the most rank diapers ever, read several baby books, and still conjured up images of what I imagined the bloody, chaotic scene had looked like.

Adam and Cooper. Why hadn’t the story hit the news? I had checked online and found nothing. And why haven’t the police contacted me? Maybe they didn’t need me since Adam’s arrest hadn’t involved me, or maybe Caleb dealt with it.

I was on a roll with the phone calls, so heck, I called Caleb to ask.

“Something you’d like to tell me, Princess?” he answered, way too sweet for my comfort.

Shit. He found out I talked to Cooper before I told him, and against doctor’s orders. “Um, I love you?”

“That’s nice. Anything else?”

God, I cringed inside. “Katie says the wedding planning is going well. She changed her mind on the flowers.”

“That’s nice. Keep going,” he instructed.

“Last week, when you asked me where all the Easter candy went, and I said Katie came over and ate it all? Big, fat lie. She ate some, I ate some, then I threw the rest away so I wouldn’t eat anymore. I’m sorry. I know you love candy, but I had a hard time staying out of it,” I babbled. “Having twins put a real toll on my body and I want to look my best for you. You want me to look my best, right?” No answer. “Sure you do. All husbands do. So really, you’re welcome. I respect you enough to throw away the candy that will lead me to a sugary doom.”