Page 98 of As Long As You'll Have Me
“I don’t need you to be worried about me. I don’t needanyoneto be worried about me,” he sneers.
Without saying anything else, we move into our normal workout routine. Working in silence, we set up our rack and other equipment. We move through the three stations we set up a few times before Coop pulls his headphones off his ears and looks at us.
“I’m a little worried about Willow.”
“Why so?” I grunt, dropping my dumbbells to the floor and holding them down so they don’t roll away.
“Well, first off, I hate her stupid boyfriend. He’s a prick and whenever I talk to her about him she tells me how he made her feel bad about something she did. Or didn’t do, which also pisses me off. And second, she seems really off lately. We generally text a few times a day but now I only hear from her every few days. I don’t know, something feels weird.”
Carter snorts and shakes his head before using the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
“What?” Coop asks, looking at him incredulously. “You know something?”
“What? No, I don’t know anything. Her boyfriend is prick, that’s all,” he answers.
“But we’ve always known her boyfriend is a prick. Ithought we were all waiting for her to wise up and dump his ass,” I comment.
“Well she lives with him now so I don’t see that happening,” Cooper laments.
“What?” Carter barks, swinging his head around to look at our friend. “What the hell did you just say?”
Coop flashes me a confused glance before answering. “Willow, she’s moving in with the prick. She texted me that last night. He asked her to move in with him and her lease is ending at her place by the hospital so she said yes. I guess they’re moving her in this weekend. She asked if I would come and help.”
“And are you?” he presses. A deep redness starts to creep up Carter’s neck as he glares at Coop.
“She’s my baby sister, so yeah, I’m going to go and help her move.”
“So you support her moving in with that jackoff?” Carter’s fists are balled up at his sides and I take a step forward in case he takes a swing. I’m not sure why he’s so riled up about this, especially more riled up than Coop seems to be about it.
“I’m not supporting it at all but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her move on her own. I’m all the family she has,” Cooper explains somehow managing to keep his tone even.
“The only family she has, right,” Carter scoffs out a laugh. “Because you’re the only one who cares about her.”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. It’s Carter’s phone lighting up that he has a new message. I bend down to pick it up from the bench and hand it to him when the label on the text message catches my eye.
“Who the hell is ‘Firefly’ and why are they texting you before 8:00 a.m.?” I ask, handing him his phone. He turns to look at me and snatches the phone out of my hand.
“Why the fuck are you touching my phone? Christ, you can’t seem to back off, can you?” He glares at me and scoffs. “I’m out of here.”
“Carter, what the hell, man?” I call out to his back as he storms out of the room. When he’s gone, I slowly turn to look towards Coop who’s standing next to me, completely stunned.
“What the hell was that about?” he asks.
“I have no idea,” I answer and look back towards the empty doorway where my brother once stood.
What the hell has gotten into him?
35
HANNA
The feathery feeling dancing down my arm causes me to stir and roll over. Somehow, it’s the final weekend of January already and the first weekend this month that Miles is off from the firehouse. He came over yesterday after finishing his shift and catching a nap back at his place and told me that his weekend is mine to have. Rolling over to face him, I settle into the gentle comfort of having someone to wake up next to in the mornings. He looks sleepy, which makes sense after the last forty-eight hours he’s had. He told me that they had four calls, three of which were fires all growing in size and severity. Looking at him next to me, I feel my lips pull back in the corners seeing how messy his hair looks after a good hard sleep.
“Hi, there,” I hum, my voice still scratchy from sleep.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he replies, leaning in and kissing the top of my shoulder. I let out a content ‘hmph’because I love the way his voice sounds when he calls me that. “How’d you sleep?”
