Autumn (20 page)

Cooper made his way back to the main road, thinking about what Elle had said. He knew his fate, but he hadn’t thought of it as being a destiny of pain to others. What a miserable existence. When he reached the road, he noticed a small, impractical Mazda sports car parked behind his truck. As he approached, the driver-side window rolled down, and Archer dangled an arm out. He reclined casually in his seat as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

Must be nice.

Hell-bent on ignoring his teammate, Cooper beelined for his truck, acting as if it were perfectly normal for Archer to be stopped out in the middle of nowhere.

“Don’t ignore me, Coop.”

Cooper stopped at the driver’s door of his truck with his fingers brushing the handle, and turned towards Archer. “So it’s okay if you guys do it all day to me, but God forbid I
deign
to ignore the mighty Archer Wyatt. I don’t have time for whatever crap you have planned right now.”

He was halfway into his seat when he heard Archer’s door open and close, and was just about to start his engine when the quarterback appeared outside his window.

“What do you
want
?” Cooper grumbled, not meeting Archer’s gaze.

“You have somewhere you need to be?”

“Would it matter?”

“No.”

“Then tell me what you want so I can leave.”

“I want to know what you’re doing here.”

Cooper stuck his keys in the ignition but didn’t start the car. If this was going to be another
stay away from Lou
discussion, he didn’t have the patience for it. Certainly not from Archer. If he didn’t listen to his own mother’s warning, it was highly unlikely he’d take advice from a dude his didn’t even like.

“I was bringing a muffin basket to Elle Whittaker.”

“Your mother doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who makes muffin baskets.”

“Who said anything about my mother?” Cooper’s fingers fiddled with the keys, itching to start the truck and drive away, leaving Archer in his literal dust. But he waited. Something about Archer’s presence there made him uneasy but left him wanting to hear whatever message the other boy had come to deliver.

“You’re playing a dangerous game here, I hope you know that.” Suddenly any friendly pretense was gone, and Archer’s tone became that of a much older, more mature individual. “You know what they say about people who play with fire, don’t you?”

“That
someone
will get burned.” Cooper stared at him meaningfully, hoping his message was conveyed.

“You and Lou…you can’t be together.”

There it was.

“I’ve had enough of this.” He started the truck, but Archer’s arm darted through the window and latched on to his wrist. Cooper felt as if Archer’s touch carried a shock.

Cooper’s gaze trailed from the hand on his arm, across his body, to where Archer was leaned halfway through his window. “I need you to listen to me,” Archer insisted.

“Take your hand off me before I ruin any shot in hell you have of a scholarship.” Cooper gave himself props for sounding calm. All he wanted to do was punch Archer in the head or break all his fingers. He took a deep breath through his nose then said again, “Get your hand off me, Archer.”

The other boy complied hesitantly, and as soon as his fingers were gone so was the uncomfortable electric tingling. “I’m not trying to be a dick here.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“You are running out of time. Just like your brother did.”

That was it. Those words were like a dousing of ice-cold water poured over Cooper, sobering his rage and replacing it with a tangible fear he thought he might choke on.

“I’ve got your attention now, don’t I?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not telling you to stay away from Lou because I like her. Don’t get me wrong, I
do
like her. But you two can’t be together. Not shouldn’t.
Can’t
.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” He also wanted to know what Archer knew about Jer, and what any of it had to do with Cooper’s relationship with Lou. People were out of their minds with the need to keep the two of them apart, and for what? They weren’t Romeo and Juliet. They were two people who liked each other, and it was the twenty-first century, for crying out loud.

“You’ll hurt her. Or she’ll hurt you.”

“That should be up to us.” Frankly he was sick of hearing about it, especially from people who had no goddamn place meddling in any aspect of his personal life, like Archer.

“Have you kissed her?”

Cooper went rigid. “That’s none of your business.”

“You have, haven’t you? Was there anything weird about it?”

Aside from the fact that Cooper had lost almost all gentlemanly decorum and had wanted to literally shred Lou’s clothes off? He’d rather not be reminded about that little lapse.

“No,” he lied.

The look on Archer’s face said he wasn’t buying it. “I can help you.”

“Help me?
Help me?
” Cooper snorted and reached for the keys again. “I’d rather lay down in the middle of the highway and ask a passing semi to help me up.” He started the truck, and this time Archer didn’t stop him.

“One way or another, it’s going to end. When it does, don’t forget I tried to make it easier on you.”

“Do me a favor, Archer. Don’t do me any favors.”

As he pulled away he heard Archer say, “You asked for it.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

She’d run smack into Ariel Wyatt.

Lou’s immediate thought was to beg the woman for help.

Then her brain caught up with her gut instinct, and she realized Nigel would never have allowed a regular patron into the library with Lou locked up. Ariel must have known Lou was there.

The complete lack of surprise in Ariel’s expression confirmed Lou’s fears, and instead of asking for help, Lou turned to flee. This time, though, she found herself caged between Nigel and Ariel.

Lou backed herself against the nearest bookshelf, hoping to keep from getting bashed in the head again. She was still holding her insulin pen in one hand, but the element of surprise was shot. And she definitely couldn’t get by both of them.

“What do you
want
?”

“Nigel, she’s terrified, what did you do?” Ariel looked past Lou as if she wasn’t there to address her nutjob librarian captor.

“You told me to hold her here.”

“I meant keep her
occupied
, not take her prisoner.”

“You said I shouldn’t let her leave.”

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes at him. “Couldn’t you have given her a book to read? Honestly, Nigel, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be more of a screwup, but apparently I vastly underestimated your abilities in the idiot department.”

Nigel looked abashed, but Lou was having a hard time feeling sorry for him. She was still wobbly on her feet, nowhere near recovered from her high blood sugar episode, and likely wouldn’t be feeling fully herself for several hours.

“Who
are
you people?” Lou snapped, keeping her back up against the bookshelf should any more surprise guests decide to arrive and make the odds even worse for her.

“That will all be clear very shortly.” Ariel’s gaze wandered towards the front doors, where as if on cue, someone rapped lightly on the glass. As Lou had predicted, Nigel had locked them inside and the rest of the world out.

Nigel gave Lou and Ariel a once-over, then deciding it was safe to leave his prisoner with only one guardian, he went to the door and unlocked it.

Archer Wyatt stepped in, and in that moment Lou was sure she must have slipped into a diabetic coma and was dreaming the whole thing, because there was just no way this scenario could have been real. Her palms began to feel itchy as her adrenaline hitched higher. The last time she’d felt this was in Cooper’s embrace, and she still didn’t quite understand what had happened to her then.

“Archer?”

“Miss Whittaker.” He nodded to her, as though it was perfectly normal to find her locked in a library, clutching a tiny insulin needle, quivering with fear and adrenaline because she had been
kidnapped
.

“
What the hell?
” she demanded. Maybe because he knew her he’d be more apt to tell her
something
instead of leaving her in the dark both literally and figuratively.

“I bet you want some answers. I’m sorry, but we’re a bit short on time, so I’ll make it as simple as I can, then we’ll work on filling in the blanks when it better suits, okay?”

Lou wanted to tell him if he didn’t give her something, she was going to jab him with the needle anyway, but she was handily outnumbered and didn’t feel like testing their patience.

“I see you’ve met my mother.” He jutted his chin towards the blonde woman.

“We’ve met before,” Lou said tartly. “Though last time I wasn’t in captivity.”

“This is a mess, I’m afraid. Archer, your cousin has made a tremendous catastrophe of this whole situation. He locked her up in the reading room, and I’m fairly certain there’s blood in the poor girl’s hair. Eloise, can you show me the back of your head?”

“Why, so you can hit me with something again? Thanks, but no thanks.” She pressed her back harder against the shelf, feeling it wobble under her weight.

Ariel ignored her accusations and held out a delicate, tanned hand festooned with a variety of enormous diamonds. Lou recoiled from her. “I have to apologize for what’s happened to you here. You see, I asked Nigel that if you should return, Archer and I needed to speak with you. He took my insistence you not leave a little
too
literally, as you can tell, and now I’m worried you’ll be…reluctant to listen to what we need to tell you.” When it became clear Lou wasn’t going to shake her hand, Ariel extended it outward in the direction of a nearby table. “Please, let’s sit.”

“No.”

“Eloise, I must insist.”

“You don’t get to terrorize me then invite me to have a nice friendly chat. I don’t care what your original intentions were. I’m not listening to you.”

“I’m afraid you have to, as the very fate of this town depends on you hearing me out.”

Dramatic much?

But she had Lou’s attention.

“Are you being serious right now, or is everyone in this stupid town prone to intense bouts of hyperbole?”

Archer snorted. “Well, that’s not untrue, but you really oughta listen to what she has to say.” He turned his attention towards Nigel. “Can you put a sign up on the door or something?”

Nigel was playing with the cuff on his jacket, trying to blend into the background. Lou
almost
felt sympathetic to him because of how they were treating him, but then the knot at the back of her skull whined in protest and any empathy she had for Nigel vanished. He left to find a sign, and Lou had to wonder what was so pressing that Archer wanted it done now. Was someone looking for her? He had said they didn’t have much time. But why?

“Sit down, Lou,” Archer directed, coming in close to invade her personal bubble. He smelled nice, like lemon and sunshine, reminding her of being outside—a place she wondered if she’d be allowed to see again.

“I want to go home,” she whispered.

Archer placed a hand on her shoulder, his touch so soft and gentle she would’ve thought she was imagining it if she couldn’t see his hand. A familiar tingling sensation crept over her.

“Let’s just have a chat, then when it’s all over, I’ll drive you home myself, okay?”

She didn’t want to be anywhere near Archer or his crazy family. But if sitting down and having a
chat
with him and his mother was her best shot of getting out, she’d take it. She jerked her shoulder free of his touch and backed away from him, sliding herself along the shelf until she was near the table.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You’ll have to excuse me if I think your word is about as good as runny oatmeal at a dinner party.”

Archer looked hurt, but his expression changed after a moment, and the cool exterior returned. “You’ll learn to trust me.”

Why did that sound like a threat?

“Don’t hold your breath.”

“I don’t have to. You and I are going to be old friends before you know it, and today is going to seem like nothing more than a bad dream.” He kept his gaze locked on her as he spoke, and with each new word she felt a calmness begin to creep over her. She fought against it, trying to keep her guard up, but by the time he’d said
bad dream
, her shoulders had lost their tension, and she lowered the insulin needle to her side.

“Why don’t you give me that?” He held his hand out for the needle, and for some stupid reason, she gave it to him.

“Let’s go sit down,” he added.

Proving she wasn’t a complete fool, she kept her back against the shelf, but she still followed him towards the table where his mother was already sitting. He offered her a chair near the wall where it was nearly impossible for anyone to sneak up behind her, and when he realized she had no intention of letting him hold the chair out for her, he raised his hands up in false submission and let her seat herself.

Lou’s palms were still itching, giving her the strangest sensation, as if dozens of fire ants were crawling about just below the surface of her skin. She rubbed her damp palms on her jeans, doing her best to chase the sensation away, but when she crossed her arms, it was back full force.

“We tried to make this easy on you.” Archer took the seat next to Ariel. “Everyone warned you. It wasn’t like you weren’t
told
.”

“You’re talking about Cooper,” Lou said, when the realization dawned on her. “This is all about him.”

Ariel shook her head and placed a hand gently on Archer’s arm. “Let me explain it to her. Maybe she’ll be better able to accept it from an adult.”

Fat chance.

“You can’t be serious. This can’t all be about some stupid vendetta you idiots have against the Reynolds family.” Lou wanted to get up and storm out but reminded herself that righteous indignation wasn’t a luxury she was being granted right then.