The Final Temptation (4 page)

She shrugs and I know it’s because she doesn’t believe me. “I talked to him about what happened with Brittany earlier,” she starts quietly. “We were right, she lied. He never slept with her and he was pissed when I told him what she said to us. He also said, as far as he knows, Cooper hasn’t had anything to do with her since they broke up.”

As glad as I am to hear that I’d rather hear it from Cooper, to know it’s the truth. “I hope that’s the case, because if not, Julia, then I will have to make the decision to give up and move on. It was hard enough on me when he dated her, but if he’s been screwing her for the last year, after knowing my feelings for him…” I shake my head, unable to say it. I can’t even think it.

She links her arm with mine to offer comfort and we walk the rest of the way in silence. A few minutes later we turn down the street with big, fancy houses and I’m thankful to see Brittany’s lame, pink BMW is parked on her driveway and not in her garage.

“Come on.” I start jogging, pulling Julia with me.

“Oh god, oh god, I’m so scared for this,” she whispers, trying to keep up.

I roll my eyes at what a worrywart she is. “Would you stop worrying? We will do this quick—it will be done and over with before you know it.”

I get down on my knees next to the driver’s side door and Julia follows suit. “Okay, what are we doing?”

I hand her the jar of peanut butter and a knife. “Put this under the handle of her door.” With a giggle she takes the peanut butter and does what I say. Next, I reach in and grab a baggie filled with small rocks I gathered earlier, and proceed to put them into the small holes of her hubcaps.

“What does that do?” she asks, moving closer to me.

“It makes a bunch of racket and sounds like her tires are about to fall off.” I shrug. “I did some research in a quick amount of time.”

“It won’t cause an accident, will it?”

“No, of course not. I want to teach the bitch a lesson, not kill her or, more importantly, someone else.”

She nods. “I didn’t think so, but just wanted to double-check.”

We both giggle then, after we finish with the rocks, I reach in and pull out a pair of rubber gloves and a brown paper bag. “You might want to hold your breath for this,” I warn her as I put the gloves on.

“Why, what’s in it?”

“Dog shit,” I reply, barely containing my laugh.

“What? How on earth did you get dog poop? You don’t even own a dog.”

“A neighbor a few houses down from me has one. It was a nasty task, but it will be worth it.” Holding my breath I open the bag, then put my hand on the bottom of it and turn it inside out, using it as a tool to smear the shit all over the side of her car.

“Oh god, that smells so bad.” Julia pinches her nose with a chuckle and backs up.

I finish quickly since I’m about to pass out from lack of oxygen, then throw the paper bag along with the nasty gloves back into the plastic bag and tie it in a knot. Glancing around, I quickly run and throw it in their garbage can, making sure to shuffle the trash around so it’s buried. I don’t breathe again until I have my sanitizer out and am dousing my hands in it.

“Okay, is that it? Can we go now?” Julia asks hopefully.

“No, one last thing.” Reaching into my purse I pull out two black markers and hand one to her. She looks at it curiously then follows me as I walk to the back of her car. Across the rear of the trunk I write:
penis swallower
, knowing everyone who drives behind her will see it.

“Oh my god.” Julia covers her mouth in horror but can’t contain her snicker.

“What? It’s not permanent, it will wash off, just hopefully not before others see it.” I nod at her hand. “Write something for what she said about Jax. Believe me, it will make you feel better.”

With a grin plastered on her face she writes:
I’m as fake as my boobs
.

I burst out laughing. “Good one.”

“Thanks, and you’re right, I do feel better.”

We begin to laugh uncontrollably, and are so caught up in our amusement that we don’t hear anyone come up behind us until it’s too late. “What the fuck do you guys think you’re doing?”

A startled scream rips from us both as we flip around and land painfully on our butts. As soon as I get my wits about me, I quickly slap a hand over Julia’s mouth since she’s still screaming, and look up at a very pissed off Cooper.
Oh shit!
I stare at him, wondering how I should start.

He shifts his focus to the writing behind us then leans to the side and looks at the dog shit smeared on her car. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” He expels a laugh that doesn’t sound funny at all and shakes his head.

“Coop, I can explain.”

“Not here!” he snaps and hauls us both up by our arms. “Get into my fucking car before anyone else sees you guys.”

He starts to drag us toward his squad car, that’s parked across the street, but I dig my heels in. “Wait.” I rip out of his grasp then run back a couple of steps to pick up my pens. “Uh, don’t want to leave any evidence behind.” I hold up the markers briefly before putting them in my purse.

Julia tries to bite back her chuckle but fails miserably. Unfortunately, Cooper doesn’t find anything funny about it. I swear if steam could blow out of his ears right now it would. I get my ass in gear and link arms with Julia as we make our way to his car. I take notice that his lights are off, probably to make sure we wouldn’t know he was coming.
The tricky bastard.

“You don’t think he’s going to arrest us, do you?” Julia whispers, seeming terrified at the thought. I shake my head. He wouldn’t do that…I don’t think.

He opens the back door for us and Julia crawls in first. I think about asking if I can sit up front with him, but with one look at his expression I decide against it and follow in behind her. We both jump when he slams the door.

“Oh man, we are in so much trouble,” Julia whispers shakily.

“I got this. Just play it cool.”

Cooper slams his door as he gets in. As he pulls away, he wastes no time laying into us. “What the fuck do you girls think you’re doing?”

“Okay, now just calm down, I can explain.”

He falls silent and I try to think of where to start but have a hard time finding words. “I’m waiting!” he snaps.

I clear my throat. “Well, for starters, the bitch deserved it.”

A bitter laugh escapes him. “Well that just clears it right the fuck up, doesn’t it?” I glare at him, not appreciating his attitude. “And you?” He gestures to Julia. “I thought you were with Jaxson tonight. Does he know about this? I’m going to assume not or else he would have stopped you.”

Julia tenses, the comment clearly pissing her off, like it does me. “Jaxson has no say in what I do unless he’s fucking me,” she snaps. I give her a proud punch in the arm for telling him like it is and she nods in return.

Cooper sees our exchange in the rearview mirror and shakes his head. “Jesus, do you girls even realize that you just committed a fucking crime?”

“Oh give me a break, Coop, it’s not like we cut her brakes, for god sakes. All we did is smear some dog shit and peanut butter on her car.”

“And the marker, don’t forget the marker,” Julia whispers, which has us both bursting into a fit of giggles at a really bad time.

“I’m glad you girls are finding this shit so funny.” I roll my eyes, but before I can say anything—he whips out his phone and calls someone. “I’m bringing Julia by so you can drive her home,” he says, to who I’m assuming is Jaxson.

“Uh oh,” Julia whispers nervously.

“I’ll let her tell you the fucking story… Yeah, we’re almost there.”

After he hangs up I let him have it. “You didn’t need to bring Jaxson into this. It’s none of his fucking business.”

His angry eyes snap to mine in the rearview mirror. “Would you rather I drive her home myself so Margaret can ask why she’s in the back of my cop car?”

Good point, but I don’t bother to voice that. We pull up to Jax and Coop’s apartment building just a short two minutes later and see a concerned Jaxson waiting outside. I reach over and grab Julia’s hand when Coop gets out of the car. “Stay strong, don’t take no shit. The bitch deserved it.” She nods then we both step out of the car as Cooper opens the back door.

“Jules, what’s going on?” Jaxson asks, rushing over to her. “I thought you said you were going home to bed?”

“Well-I-um-I,” she stammers then blows out a breath. “I lied because I had plans with Kayla that I couldn’t tell you about. I’m sorry.” Her voice is soft and drips with guilt.

“What do you mean you fucking lied?” he asks, clearly pissed.

“Just like she said. She lied because she couldn’t tell you. Now back off!” He rears back at my outburst but I’ve had enough of both him and Cooper. The bossy assholes.

“Stay out of it, Kayla, and get back in the car,” Cooper orders.

My fists clench at my sides and I’m just about to tell him where he can go, but Julia ends up stopping me by pulling me into a hug. “Go. I’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll text you later.”

My anger evaporates and I hug her back tightly. “I’m sorry we got busted. I’ll take the heat if it comes down to it,” I whisper, feeling like shit since she didn’t want to do it in the first place, and it was my idea.

“No. No matter what happens we’re in this together. But I’m sure it will work out.” I nod, but don’t feel very confident with how mad Cooper is.

I get back in the car but this time in the passenger side. No way am I going in the back again. Angry silence lies heavily in the car when Cooper pulls away. He doesn’t look over at me once; he stares straight ahead and completely ignores me.

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit, Cooper? It was fucking peanut butter and dog shit.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s still vandalism, Kayla, what part of that do you not understand?”

“The bitch needed to be taught a lesson!” He shakes his head as if I’m being ridiculous. “You know, it’s really nice how fast you jump to her defense and blame everything on me.” Hurt starts creeping in, mixing with my anger.

He throws his hands up. “What the hell are you talking about? I caught you red-handed committing a crime, how the fuck is it not your fault?”

“She fucked with my car first!”

“Then report it. Don’t act like an immature adolescent!”

I grind my teeth, his comment taking my anger to a whole new level. “Of course you’re taking her side. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since you’re still fucking her.”

He tenses, clearly caught off guard by my statement. “What did you just say?” he asks, his tone deadly calm.

“You heard me.” Now that I think about it, it makes sense.
Why else would he be there?
“Did I ruin your booty call for you, Cooper? Is that what you’re so pissed off about?” Just the thought has me feeling sick to my stomach.

“Watch it, Kayla, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“No? I had a nice little visit from her today after your game. She waited by my car just to tell me how you guys are still screwing. Of course that was after she wrote
slut
on my side mirror with her lipstick.”

Out of the corner of my eye I see his grip tighten on the steering wheel, but I don’t look over at him—too afraid of what I will see.
Is he mad because it’s a lie, or is he mad because I found out?
I think about the way she hung on him today at the ball diamond and how he didn’t push her away.

His silence is all the confirmation I need, and the pain that slices through me is so intense that it hurts. I try to hold on to my composure, not wanting him to know how much he has hurt me.

I’m thankful when we finally pull up into his parent’s driveway a minute later. I bolt out of the car and quickly rush over to my house, not wanting to be around him for another second, but he intercepts me by grabbing my arm. “Whoa, hold up, baby, we are nowhere near fucking done here.”

His
baby
has me losing all control. I rip out of his grasp and spin around. “What?” I spread my arms out wide. “You gonna arrest me, Cooper, over fucking peanut butter and dog shit?”

“Would you stop fucking shouting and listen to me for a goddamn minute?” he snaps under his breath.

“No! I don’t want to hear any more. You can go fuck yourself!” I turn back around and start off again but I don’t make it far. With a low growl he grabs me from behind, then picks me up and hauls me toward his house. “What are you doing? Let go of me!” I kick and fight, needing to be away from him. I’m so close to losing it; I can feel tears flooding my eyes and I don’t know how much longer I can keep them from falling. He plows through his back door, almost knocking the thing off its hinges, then hauls me into his kitchen. “I mean it, Cooper, let go of me.” I fight harder, even more desperate for escape when I feel hot tears slipping down my cheeks.

“No, you are not going anywhere until you fucking hear me out!” He spins me around, his expression fierce, but it immediately softens when he sees my tears. “Jesus, Kayla, I’m not fucking her.”

“Don’t lie!” I grind out through the burning ache in my throat. “I saw her hanging all over you after the game.”

“Then you didn’t look for very long or you would have seen me push her away! I’ve had nothing to do with her since I broke up with her and I don’t want to. I haven’t fucked anyone in the last year because some pain in the ass blonde has been consuming my every fucking thought!” I gape at him, almost certain that he’s talking about me. At least he better be, or the other blonde pain in the ass is going to be hearing from me.

We stare at each other for a long moment, the air thick with tension. His hands still grip my arms tightly when something passes between us, something powerful.

“You know what? Fuck it!” Then suddenly it happens, the one thing I have been wanting from him, for three long years. He kisses me, his mouth crashing to mine, hard, hot and demanding.

Oh god
. My knees go weak and a whimper escapes me at the first sweep of his tongue. His taste—his incredible, masculine taste—floods my senses and sets my body on fire. I waste no time giving just as good as I get. My fingers weave into his hair with a grip that draws a growl from him and I match him stroke for every desperate stroke, taking what I have ached for, what I have dreamed about for so long.