Chapter Ten

I started my trip a little after seven the next morning and did my best to enjoy the long ride down the freeway but my mind kept going back to Cooper, remembering his eyes as he explored my naked body, lying in the soft folds of his shirt. His soft lips and how they ravished over every inch of my skin. His masculine hands as they teased and caressed me. But, then, the images shifted and I saw the coldness in his eyes when he told me he was leaving, the tight line to his lips that made them no longer seem like they could ever belong the same man who had pleasured me endlessly the night before, and the hands that no longer seemed interested in touching my body.

The conflicting version of Cooper was battling in my head and it took a lot of effort to remain focused on my driving.

Finally, over an hour later, I arrived at the huge gate that blocked the long driveway that led to Cooper’s house.

“Shit,” I whispered to myself. I had forgotten about the gate. I flipped up the visor on my helmet and leaned over to inspect it closer. There was a speaker button, and I pushed it quickly, not giving myself time to freak out over who would answer.

“How may I help you?”

It wasn’t Cooper’s voice that echoed from the tiny box.

“Um, yes, my name is Allie—Allison Rand. I was here yesterday and left some things behind.”

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Brighton is not here at the moment. You’ll have to come back another time.”

I scowled at the voice. “I don’t need to see Mr. Brighton. I need my stuff. That’s it, and then I’ll go.”

There was a pause and I turned my attention back to the gate, waiting for it to start opening.

“I’m sorry, I cannot let you in. You will have to come back.”

“What the fuck? I just told you, I don’t need to see Cooper. I just want my stuff. Can you call him? I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Silence.

“Hello?” I punched the speaker button again. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

I screamed to release my frustration. My brain scrambled to find a new plan. I had just ridden an hour to get here. There was no way I was going to leave without my money. I took my helmet off and balanced it between my legs as I grabbed my phone out of my pocket.

Thankfully, my cell phone bill had been paid, so I still had service.

For now, I reminded myself.

I shook the thought away and dialed Cooper’s number—thankful that I hadn’t deleted it after the last asshole thing he had done.

The phone rang and rang, and eventually went to his voicemail. I hung up and immediately dialed again.

I got the voicemail message again. “Cooper, it’s Allie. Please call your idiot assistant and tell him to let me into your house. I need my money from the club the other night.”

I hung up and hoped my bitchy demand would get me somewhere, and fast.

It was so quiet I could hear my own heart beating. I got tired of waiting and after a few minutes, I leaned over and pushed the button again.

“Ma’am, as previously stated, I cannot let you into Mr. Brighton’s home. I am very sorry.”

“I just called him and left a message. Can you call him, please? This is very, very important.”

“I will try. One moment.”

I sat back, my fingers tapping the top of my helmet that sat in between my legs.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. There was no answer. I will let him know you were here. Perhaps he can mail you the items. Let me take down your address.”

“He knows where I live,” I shouted back. I slammed my helmet back over my head, latched it tight, ripped around in a circle and flew down the driveway. I refused to be treated like some other whore he had lured back to his place and simply shipped back any personal effects in a UPS box so he didn’t have to actually see her again.

Disgusting.

I made record time back to the city and cruised around a little, still trying to burn off my rage. I went by the bakery shop I had found Cooper at the last time he stopped answering my calls, but he wasn’t there. I didn’t have my laptop, so I couldn’t use the tracking program to locate his GPS signal.

Without planning it, I ended up retracing the route Cooper had taken me on when we left the pastry shop and before I knew it, I was staring up at the enormous tower, home of Brighton Enterprises. As I parked along the street, every fiber in my body rebelled against the idea of going inside, back to his office.

Logically, I knew that he wasn’t trying to steal the money from me. Truthfully, I should feel a little guilty even squabbling with him over a measly five hundred bucks, when he had just donated thousands to my own personal charity fund. But that wasn’t the point. Was it?

No, it wasn’t, I decided. I wanted to see him, face to face, and demand an explanation for his most recent surge of assholery. I wanted to make him feel as awkward and uncomfortable and stupid as I had when he had burst into my place of employment and had caused a scene. Deep down, I knew that Cooper wasn’t the type to feel awkward or embarrassed, but I was going to do my damnedest.

I abandoned Cherry Bomb and stalked towards his building.

I rode up the elevator and found his office. His assistant was sitting at her desk, typing on her computer, and didn’t even look up when I approached. I cleared my throat and she finally raised her head.

“Can I help you?”

“I need to see Cooper.”

She looked me up and down, a look of disapproval all over her bitchy face. “Mr. Brighton,” she corrected me, “is not in. Would you like to leave him a message?”

Before I could answer, she plopped a pack of sticky notes and a pen in front of me and then went back to typing.

It took a whole lot of restraint to keep my hand from writing “fuck you” on the top sticky. Instead, I wrote, “Call Allison,” and flipped it back to her, knowing the odds of him ever seeing the note were very slim.

“Thank you,” I said, making my voice as sweet as possible.

“I’ll see that Mr. Brighton gets this.”

I nodded and started to walk away, when she called after me. “And just a tip. If you’re trying to attract his attention, you should know he prefers a more…feminine look.”

I turned back, the muscles in my shoulder ready to cock back a fist and let her have it.

“Bye bye.” She waved, giving me a sickly sweet smile.

I couldn’t afford a public brawl on top of all my other problems, so I let my wrist relax and drop to my side as I turned and left the office. I kept my head high as I rode the elevator down and went back out to ride home. I walked down the street towards Cherry Bomb, and checked the windows of the surrounding businesses, hoping to see a glimpse of Cooper, wanting to bull rush him in some hoity-toity coffee shop and make a huge scene and embarrass him in front of “his people.” I reached my parking space without seeing him, so I climbed back on my bike, and ripped out of the city and back to my apartment to crash.