Page 20 of Cooper’s Promise

“Thank you. That’s been my assessment. Can you think of anyone, or anyplace that he might have gone to?”

“I’ll get his high school year book. He left it. I’ll point out the three people he was closest to.” Ed got up from the table.

* * *

The case that she had been researching was fascinating. Brenna loved the law firm that she got to work at, and the people were great. Dirk had really appreciated all of her findings, and they had talked about it a lot longer than she had thought they would. She was running really late for her date with Cooper. After the gooey, wanton mess he had left her in last night, she wanted to make sure she was dressed to kill tonight, so he was hurting during dinner.

She hustled it down to the parking garage, and it wasn’t until she got off the elevator that she realized she should have had someone walk down with her. She thought about going back to the office, but it was really late, and they were probably all gone. She gripped her purse in a death grip and marched towards her car. She could handle this.

Brenna breathed a big sigh of relief when she saw her red Prius amongst the few remaining cars in the garage, and no one was waiting for her. As she moved closer, she passed by the blue van two spots from her car. She pressed the key fob and unlocked her door, and then she slipped into her seat, closed the door and started the car.

She didn’t even realize how scared she’d been until she was halfway home and decided to turn on some music.

“Seriously Brenna, how stupid were you? You should have had someone walk you to your car,” she admonished herself.

It wasn’t until she pulled into her apartment complex and saw Cooper waiting for her that she totally relaxed. She was humming to the song that was playing. She shook her head at her earlier fear. She slipped the CD out of the player so she could see what song she’d been listening to, and her heart stopped.

A Gift for Brenna from Josiahwas written on the CD. She dropped it on the floor of the car. A tap on the car window made her scream.

“Brenna! Open the door!” It was Cooper. She struggled with the door handle, and when she unlatched it, he had it open and she slumped into his arms.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

She couldn’t speak.

“Talk to me.” She hugged him harder, her breath shuddering in and out. “I need you to say something. If you don’t, I’m going to assume you’re injured and call an ambulance.”

“I’m fine,” she gasped.

“Tell me what happened.” She breathed in his scent. Cooper and leather. She rubbed her face against the scruff of his beard, needing to surround herself in the safety of his embrace. “Brenna, I’m dying here. Talk to me.”

“The CD. He was in my car.”

Cooper unbuckled her seatbelt, and carefully pulled her out of the car. He settled her against the side of the Prius, ensuring she could stand. “Are you good? Can you stand here for a moment?”

She nodded. He bent inside the car, and came back out holding the CD with a handkerchief. She laughed.

“What?” he thundered. “There’s nothing funny about this.”

“You own a handkerchief?” He set the CD back down on her car seat, then pulled out his cell phone and made a call, while pulling her into his arms.

“Grey? Can you talk to Athena? I need some competent cops to help me with a stalker case. Here’s the address.” She listened as he rattled off her address.

“Yeah, this is about the bug I’m going to crush. But I still need things on record. Thanks.” He hung up and pulled her car keys out of her hand. Then locked her car, and guided her towards her apartment. He didn’t ask any questions, until he had her settled on the couch with a soft blanket around her shoulders.

“What would you like to drink?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“You’re getting, coffee, tea, or Grey Goose. You decide.”

“I’ll just throw up whatever you give me. Can you just hold me until the police come?” She loved how he immediately sat down, picked her up, and settled her onto his lap.

“Tell me what was on the CD.”

“Just some songs. I don’t even know who the band was. I liked it. I wasn’t thinking about it much. I was so relieved that he hadn’t been in the parking garage, that I really didn’t think about why I didn’t recognize the songs on the CD player.”

His hands stopped stroking down her back. He went as still as a statue.