I Won't Give Up (23 page)

“Is that why you’re such a good fighter? Did you used to fight for him? He seemed like he knew you.”

There was a knock at the door
and I knew I wasn’t going to get answers yet
.

“It’s time.” He handed Cooper a bag. “
For Fiona. I won’t let anything happen to her. Promise.”
Cooper handed me the bag and I put the clothes on not even bothering to look at what they were. They put us in a waiting car
.
I sat as close to Cooper as I could get. Carl was next to me he would occasionally look over and give a small smile and I knew he was one of the good guys. When we arrived at the fight location that’s when I finally got a good idea of what was going on. There was a boxing ring set up in
the mid
dle of an old warehouse, a bunch
of people were in seated around the ring and some standing in the back of the room
against the wall
. It was loud
.
I was
feeling
absolutely exhausted, the only thing
s keeping me upright were adrenalin and
Cooper.
Cooper kept kissing the top of my head and rubbing my back until
he was summoned to the ring
. H
im and Carl
had some silent exchange and Carl
put his arm around my waist
hopefully insuring my safety
. Giovanni whispered something in Cooper’s ear before his hopped in the ring.
I watched him take his shirt off the sight of him shirtless was
better and I remembered,
something
magnificent
even with all this stress. I watched the guy he was fighting enter. I couldn’t belie
ve this was actually happening
I started shaking
.
Cooper looked at me for a split second before turning his focus back to the task at hand.

“Who’s he fighting?” I asked Carl.

“Chris Venture.”

“Who’s he?”
He looked to be about the same size as Cooper but blonde. I’d hoped it was at least an even match.

“He’s been in the Storm for a while.” I looked at him confused. “That’s what t
hey call the underground fight circle. He’s good but Cooper’s
a wild one
, one of the best that I’ve ever seen
. It’s starting.”
He pointed to the ring.

“Gentleman you know the rules. There are none.”

I watched Cooper move, he looked graceful. I saw Chris go in for a hit, I braced myself, but Cooper saw it coming. It was almost like watching a game of cat and mouse.
One of Chris’ hits grazed Cooper and Cooper returned the shot.
Chris got a kick to Coopers ribs making him flinch then they were back at it.
Finally Cooper went in for the kill. He was pummeling his face relentlessly.
He’s going to kill him, literally
.

I started screaming. He stopped instantly. The ref held his hand up deeming him the winner. I was relieved but scared I’d never seen anyone so ruthless, he was an animal out there
. As soon as I saw him I started crying.

“Hey Crash you okay?”

“You’ve done this kind of thing before.”
It wasn’t a question but what Carl had said hadn’t prepared me for what I witnessed
he was sooo good.
Embarrassingly i
t turned me on.

“This was my life before you. I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
I could tell he was embarrassed.

“Is he dead?”
I pointed to Chris
.

“No but he’s going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up.”

“Will you tell me about it now?”
I wanted to know about his involvement with Giovanni and I told myself no matter what he said I wouldn’t look at him any differently.

“Another time okay?”

“Okay.”
I smiled at his beautiful face and he kissed me desperately. He pulled away when Giovanni approached.

“I see you haven’t lost your touch. Marco’s been wanting this to happen for a while, it was supposed to be Garrett but I think I would have lost then.”
I wished it was Garrett he deserved to get his ass kicked
seven ways to Sunday
.

“Very well. Carl will see to it that you get back to the house. I have some business to attend to.”

Once the adrenaline wore off I was utterly
exhausted
.
I didn’t even remember getting into the house. As soon as Cooper shut the door I allowed myself to
slightly relax. I took a deep breath but
all I smelled was Garrett, a smell that once relaxed me was now sending me into a full-blown panic attack. I knew I needed to remain even tempered since we’d both been through the ringer today.

“
I’m going to take a shower
.
Please with me.
”
I took off my loaner clothes and headed to the shower.
I needed him close to me, I never wanted to away from him again.
Cooper came in
to the bathroom
behind me gloriously naked I grabbed his hand and pulled him in with me.

“All I can smell is him. Wash him off me. Please.”
I
pleaded.
He reached for the body wash creating a lather in his hands and slowly working his way around my entire body. His hands erasing the bad memories replacing them with his touch.
He stood up running his fingers through my hair.

“Better?”
He looked at me through his long lashes, his wet hair on his forehead.

“Much, thank you.”
I wanted him but now was not the time or place hanky panky
. I felt his excitement to which
was most likely due to a natural response and not lust but
made it even harder
to control the urge to throw myself at him
. I turned around and pulled his head down until our lips met. He kissed me sweetly until I felt like I couldn’t take one more second before I unwillingly pulled away.

“Come on. It’s late, we’re both exhausted let’s go to bed.”
He wrapped us both in towels and headed towards the bedroom. I climbed into bed and snuggled up next to him. Exhaustion set in and I fell into a deep sleep.

I felt Cooper shaking me but I was so comfortable I didn’t want to wake up. Then he started tickling,
when
I sat up and he handed me his t-shirt I didn’t want the stupid shirt I needed him. I moved so I was straddling him, I felt “little Co
oper” press up against me but
there was nothing little about it. We were skin to skin, our lips met and tongues grazed.
I needed him.

“Now’s not the time baby.”
I gave him the saddest face I could muster and hoped he would give in. I noticed he had a hard time saying no to anything that made me happy and I loved him for that.

“I don’t care, plea
se. I love you. I need you.” I
pleaded.

He rolled me onto my back and started kissing me all over stopping at my chest, sucking and admiring making me moan he moved his hand down my stomach before reaching my core
, massaging
me gently. I wanted him so bad and
as
always he knew my needs better than I knew them. He sat up easing himself into me. I felt my impending orgasm ready for detonation
almost as soon as he filled me then
he leaned in whispered “I love you” and I was done, he gently picked up the pace before finding his own release
making me find mine again at the same time
. He picked up his shirt and pulled it over my head then held out his boxers for me before rolling them a few times to make them like shorts. I sat on the bed and looked at his new tattoo.

“I can’t believe you did this.”
I
laughed.

“Well you know what they say about love, it makes you do stupid things. Though I wouldn’t call this stupid.”

“Well I’m glad I get to be stupid with you.”
He leaned in an kissed my nose.
He pulled me close and I just enjoyed the moment, the closeness. The
love
.

When I heard a knock at the door my heart went into overdrive it was almost too easy to forget what was really going on when it was just the two of us. They told Cooper
that they were moving us
.
We walked hand in hand down
the corridors down to the front door where Garrett’s black Tahoe was waiting. He was in the driver’s
seat
with a smug look on his face I wanted nothing more than to smack that look off his face, he really was a sick twisted fuck
.

“No way, we are
not going anywhere with him.” Cooper
shouted.

“Boss’ orders.”
Captain Ugly said
grabbing hold of my forearm
.

“I don’t give two shits whose orders they are. He’s gonna try and kill us.”
They were pulling
us towards the SUV when I heard a loud
pop
and Captain Ugly fell to the ground
. The others started looking around to where the shot came f
rom when another one went off I
didn’t
see it
hit anything but it was enough to make them take cover.
Cooper
moved me behind him to keep me safe and
started swinging.
I saw a black Range Rover come barreling through the gate.
It was
Luke
.

“Get in.” He shouted
. Cooper pushed me into the backseat and I was
trying to pull
him with me when
Garrett appeared. A
nother loud
pop
went off. Cooper
started bleeding
on his side
. 

“Oh my God.”
I screamed.
Luke stepped on the gas with the door wide-open flying out of the driveway. He stopped at the corner and picked up
Carl
.
He was the one that must’ve been firing the shots.
He winked at me before realizing that Cooper was shot.

“He’s bleeding do something.”
I
cried
holding pressure to the wound, he kept trying to mumble things but I couldn’t make out what he way saying
.

“Hold on.” Luke said.

CHAPTER NINE

Bl
eeding O
ut

I
sat in the back seat
of Luke’s Range Rover
rubbing
Cooper’s head softly trying to keep him conscious
,
I was using my other hand to keep pressure on the wound. He was still
mumbling but wasn’t making much sense.
S
cenery was flying by at warp speed until finally w
e arrived at Mercy General
thankfully the trip only took a few
minutes.
Carl
scooped Cooper up and ran him through the Emergency Entrance doors
,
I clambered in behind them still in shock.
There was so much blood.

“What happened?” Someone in blue scrubs asked.

“He’s been shot.”
Carl
said.

The doctor started sho
uting orders as a team arrived
they brought
a
gurney
over
Carl
placed him on the
bed.
I looked at Carl who was now covered in Cooper’s bed.
I was doing my best to not break down.
I needed to be strong for him.

“We need to get him to the OR
immediately
.
He’s already lost a lot of blood.
”

I kissed him quickly.
Please don’t leave me
.

“I love you.” I couldn’t hold back any
more
,
t
ears
started
streaming down my face.

“Love you more.” I could make that out
.
My legs went
out as I watched them round the corner.
I
felt arms around me
before I hit the ground
.

“Honey, are you okay?”
The voice was full of concern. I
t was my dad
. Where did he come from?
I shook my head no
. I’ve never been less okay in my life.

Several Federal agents surrounded him
.

“He has to be okay.” I cried.