CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"Still no luck?" Noah asked Braden , as the other man approached him. It had been two days since Cooper's accident. He came back every day but they wouldn't let him in. They didn't transfer calls through, and no one answered Cooper's cell. It was killing him.

No matter what happened between him and Cooper, he couldn't walk away without seeing him. Without witnessing with his own eyes, that he was okay. He'd been forced away from Cooper one other time, and he wasn't letting that happen again.

He fought to push those thoughts away. Thoughts that no matter what Cooper wanted, he might not be able to go forward with this. Not if he hadn't even been able to tell his family Noah was here. Was he embarrassed of Noah being gay? Of what people would think of him? He didn't know, and it wasn't important now. Not as important as Cooper's well being.

"His uncle told them not to let me in either, which I knew he would do. They won't let him have any visitors. His uncle has been in touch with the captain but he won't share any information with us at work, either."

"Fuck!" Noah yelled. A couple looked at him and then scurried inside the building.

He could hardly keep still, adrenaline pumping through him as though it was on tap. What if he lost him?

"I'll be back. I have…just wait here and I'll be back." Braden walked away , but Noah paid no attention. He didn't care.

Wes came over and stood beside him. The man hadn't left his side since last night. "You should be home with your sister," Noah told him.

"She understands."

Noah wanted to tell him , thank you. Who would have thought Wes would be someone he called a friend? He couldn't bring himself to do it right now, though.

"He lied to me, Wes. He didn't even tell them I was here. I've been here months and he didn't even tell them I was here. I don't think…"

"Now's not the time to think , anyway," Wes interrupted.

He wished he could turn it off like that. "Thinking is all I can do right now. He's not ready. I wanted to believe so bad he was, that it didn't matter that he'd never been with a man before. We loved each other and that's all that counted, but hell, he didn't even want his family to know we're friends again." Which confused the hell out of Noah. Vernon had been so fucking angry the other day. There'd been more to it than finding out about Noah and Cooper. A deep seeded hatred that Noah didn't understand.

"I saw the way he reacted that night at the bar. He's in this just as much as you are. I don't give a shit if this is his first time with a man ; he wants you. Don't think he doesn't."

Noah couldn't deny that. "I believe he wants me. I even believe he loves me. But that doesn't mean this will work. He kept everything about me hidden." Noah had seen people ignore the signs. Seen his dad ignore them, not wanting to believe his mother had cheated again. Hell, he'd ignored them with David , too. He couldn't ignore this. Actions spoke louder than words.

"I can forget the rest of it for now , though. I just need him to be okay." Noah ran a hand through his hair. "I can't fucking lose him like this."

It was then that Braden walked up with a redheaded woman. She looked around as though she was nervous stopping in front of him.

"Well, I'll be damned. So you're the reason Cooper Bradshaw told me he couldn't meet up with me anymore."

Noah dropped his head back. What the hell had Braden been thinking? Like he was in the mood to see a woman Cooper used to sleep with. Plus, this was Cooper's private business. He had no right to share it with this woman. But then he looked at her again, noticed the scrubs she wore. Fuck yes.

"Can you get me in to see him?"

She cocked her head. "If he wants to see you."

"He does." He did, right? Cooper would want to see him. Wait. "Is he awake?"

The woman, Adrianna her nametag said, glanced away. He was awake yet he hadn't asked someone for Noah? He hadn't called? It's over…. He's decided he can't do this.

"Look, unless Cooper tells me he wants to see you, I can get into huge trouble for this. Let me see what I can do. I'll try to talk to him today. Meet me at seven thirty, and I'll see what I can do, okay? That's usually when his family goes to dinner."

"Thank you," Noah told her. "And please, he hasn't…people don't know."

She looked sad again. "It's not my business to tell." Without another word, she turned and walked away.

Now if Noah could just forget the fact that not only had Cooper kept everything about him a secret, but he was awake and hadn't tried to get a hold of Noah, once.

***

Cooper's throat was killing him. He knew his shoulder should be too, but somehow the pain medicine helped more with that. He hardly spoke because his voice only came out in a whisper and he knew he needed to rest his vocals but still, he asked his uncle again, "No-ah…?"

How stupid could he be not to have Noah's phone number memorized? It was in his cell and he remembered giving it to the little girl, but no one knew what happened to it.

The parents of the little boy and girl had been in to see Cooper. Billy had smoke inhalation too but like Cooper, the little boy was on the mend. He'd saved him and as happy as that made him, he couldn't get his mind off Noah. Cooper needed him. How could he not be here?

"Now's not the time to worry about your friend. Focus on getting well. He knows you're here."

Then why isn't he with me?

Cooper fought to stay awake. To push his way through the fog of pain and medicine but he couldn't do it. Just like every other time he woke up, he slipped right back into blackness in no time…

***

Cooper had no idea how much time had passed when he woke up again. They'd moved him out of the ICU, he could see.

He let his eyes case the room, waiting for them to land on Noah , but again, the man wasn't here.

Cooper squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get a hold of himself. Had Noah decided Cooper wasn't worth the hassle? Did he change his mind? The pain in his shoulder, traveled to his chest. God, he fucking needed Noah. He wanted him here.

When he heard the sound of the door, he turned his head, hoping to see the man he couldn't get enough of , but it was his aunt who slowly walked in.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Cooper nodded, trying not to speak if he didn't have to. When Autumn sat in the chair beside him, he decided his throat didn't matter right now. He couldn't remember if he'd talked to Autumn or Vernon about any of this at any of the times he'd woken up, but he sure as hell couldn't stop himself now.

When he opened his mouth to speak, Autumn beat him to it. "Are you really in love with that boy, Cooper? Are you gay?"

They knew. But how? Had he told them? The only thing he did remember saying was that his friend was back, and he needed them to find him. "Love…him…"

Tears welled in Autumn's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me? Oh, God. Everything is such a mess."

Those words were like a bomb in Cooper's chest. Something had gone down he didn't know about. "Where?" When he tried again, his voice wouldn't come out. Fuck!

"We didn't know. You didn't even tell us he was back. It was such a shock to see him and then he made all these claims. Vernon loves you. You have to understand. He doesn't want you to be hurt."

Hurt? Noah would never fucking hurt him…would he? He wasn't here. But maybe he'd tried.

"Where. No…" He was going to lose his fucking shit if he couldn't speak right. They said it would be a matter of time. That he just needed to let his throat heal but Cooper couldn't wait.

"I should have said something. Seeing him just brought everything back."

Back? What could it have brought back?

"Autumn." Vernon stepped into the room.

Pieces of the puzzle started to form in Cooper's mind , yet still not forming the whole picture.

"He told me he loves that boy, Vernon. I don't care about anything else. I want Cooper happy. If he loves Noah—"

"Noah's just like his mother," Vernon shouted. "He weaseled his way into Cooper's life as a child and then clung onto him. And now he's back, pushing his way in just like his mother did. Cooper is not gay. He's never been, yet that man shows up, and suddenly he is? They're chameleons, all of them. Can't you see? I never would have hurt you like that if it wasn't for her. "

The truth slammed into Cooper, finishing that picture as though it had always been there.

The cigarettes in Noah's backyard, when Vernon was the only one of them who smoked. Vernon not wanting to go away with Cooper and Autumn that weekend. Noah, and his family disappearing out of the blue. Vernon and Autumn's sudden anger at Noah's family…and the tears. Autumn had been sad, hadn't she? He assumed it was because Cooper himself had been. Because, their friends were gone, but it wasn't.

"Son…of…a…bitch." Vernon had had an affair with Noah's mom. She'd hurt her son and husband to be with Vernon, and Vernon had hurt Autumn with her. He'd lost Noah, his best friend, the man he loved because Vernon hadn't been able to keep it in his pants. And he'd blamed Noah's family. Putting Noah and his parents down, every opportunity he got.

"Don't you talk to me like that. Not after everything I've done for you. We raised you, and loved you. That boy clung to you just like his mother used to do with me. I should have known it, even back then. They way he would talk about missing you in those letters."

Cooper's heart seized at that. Noah said he'd written , but he'd never gotten the letters. For years, after Noah had left, he'd felt like he'd let him down. Like he hadn't been there when Noah's parents tried to take him away, like he had promised, and he'd thought that Noah hated him for it. Why else wouldn't he have written?

But it was all because of Vernon. The man he respected and felt he owed his life to. The man who he looked up to for the way he'd loved his wife. And he cheated on her with Noah's mom.

"Out." He squeezed his fists together, angry that he couldn't form better words.

It was that easy. Vernon turned around and left the room, not that he expected anything more of the man.

He'd pretty much lied to Noah, because of Vernon, when Vernon was the man who had actually hurt them all. His uncle had been the reason the man Cooper loved had to go, and Vernon had blamed it on Noah, instead of taking the blame himself.

Inside him, anger at Vernon, blended with pain of betrayal.

Still with tears in her eyes, Autumn looked at Cooper. "I know what he did was wrong. All of it, and he does, too. Especially what happened here the past couple days, but Vernon is a good man. He beat himself up over what he did. And he might not always be the best at showing it, but he loves me, just like he loves you." Autumn touched his hand. "Just like you love Noah. Love doesn't always make sense. Not whom we love or how we do it, but no one is perfect. I'll be back to check on you." And then Autumn hobbled out of the room too, leaving Cooper alone. Still not sure, where Noah was. Or if he was even coming back.