“Don’t let him touch her. I’ll be right there.”
“Too late. He was showing her how to shoot pool. Now he’s helping her with darts.”
An image of Coop pressed against Lennon’s back as he wraps his hand around hers pops into my head. Fuck!
“Keep an eye on her,” I growl, launching myself off the porch.
Cooper isn’t a bad guy, and that’s the problem. He’s a good guy, probably the type of guy Lennon deserves, but I’ll be damned if I’m giving her up that easily.
Wait, what?
The thought causes me to stumble three feet from my car, but the stupid fucking organ in my chest doesn’t allow me to stop and think about it.
Five minutes later, I’m walking through the door at Dirty Dicks. My eyes find Mikey first, and I follow his gaze to the back of the bar. Lennon is standing with her right foot slightly in front of her left, arm perched and ready to throw a dart, when my cousin Coop steps up behind her.
My blood boils as he rests his left hand on her hip and covers her right hand with his and guides her dart straight to the bullseye. Throwing her hands in the air, Lennon spins around and launches herself at Cooper.
This quickly accelerates my boiling blood into a raging inferno. I take two steps forward before Mikey shoots an arm out, stopping me.
“Don’t go over there acting all macho.”
“Back the fuck up, Mikey.”
He shoves a beer at my chest. “How about you drink this, calm down, and tell me why Lennon is here with Coop instead of you.”
I take a long pull from the bottle. “Mind your own business.”
His face twists with disappointment. “You fucked it up,” he mumbles. “How did you manage to fuck that up? The girl is perfect for you. Even I saw that. In fact, I saw it the second I pulled over on the highway and found you cuddled up between her legs.”
“I wasn’t cuddled up between her legs.”
“Call it what you want. Doesn’t change the fact that she’s perfect for you.”
“You don’t even know her,” I argue.
He shrugs. “Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know she’s a good person. And she clearly has feelings for you. Anyone could see that from a mile away, but oddly enough, she has her arms wrapped around Cooper.”
“I kissed her.”
“Ah.” Mikey nods and then shakes his head. “How did you screw that up?”
“Same way I screw everything up. Same way I screwed up Nova’s life.” Downing the rest of my beer, I set it on the bar, instantly regretting my loose lips.
“Come on, Noah.” Mikey’s voice is low, and it pisses me off. “You didn’t screw up Nova’s life. Or Kim’s. She made her own choices. You were just doing what was best for your daughter.”
I’m a dick. That’s the only way to explain why I turn to Mikey and say, “Should we paint our toenails now and have a pillow fight?”
I’m a lucky son of a bitch because Mikey knows me. He knows where my anger and insecurities lie.
“Only if you paint mine first,” he says in his most feminine voice.
I crack a smile.
“Now,” he says, “go get your girl.”
I head to the back of the bar just as Lennon turns around to throw another dart. She hasn’t seen me yet, which is a good thing. This time, Coop hangs back. Good choice considering I’ll rip his arm off if he touches her again. Lennon lines up her dart, tosses, and once again hits a bullseye.
“Good aim,” I say.