I was behaving like an idiot. I shifted my eyes away from the door and looked at Cooper Cain. He looked a lot like his brother Jaxon—same blue eyes, same height, only Cooper’s hair was a few shades darker than Jax’s. They also shared the intensity.
He’d only recently moved to Maryland from Tarzana, California, leaving behind a job Jax had always said his brother would never leave.
“How are you making out with the new house?” I asked.
“It’s a pit but the garage is finished,” he returned.
For years Jax had bragged about Cooper’s skills rebuilding engines and bodywork.
“When are you gonna invite us around so we can check out all these cars of yours?”
Coop’s posture stiffened and his right eye twitched—a movement I would’ve missed if I hadn’t been paying attention. Then as quickly as the discomfort came it went.
“You wanna see my cars?”
So it wasn’t discomfort. It was something else.
“And that surprises you, why?”
“Didn’t take you for a car guy.”
That was bullshit. He’d seen my Lexus LC500. Further, we’d had a conversation about why I’d purchased that car and the engine work that had to be done after the previous owner had blown the engine. He knew I did that work myself.
“There a reason you’re trying to bullshit me?”
A wide familiar smile appeared. Familiar in the sense I’d seen that same smile on his brother years before I’d met Cooper. The similarities were eerie as fuck. Watching Coop was like watching a younger version of Jax.
“Yep.”
“You care to share those reasons?”
“Nope.” Then the smile faded and he contradicted himself and went on, “If I shared, I’d have to explain what it’s like living in my big brother’s shadow. And that would make me sound like a pussy so I’d rather not discuss why I’m surprised you’d want to see my garage and how I’m trying to sort out if you’re doing that because you wanna get to know me or if you’re doing Jax a favor by welcoming me to the team.”
That pissed me right the fuck off—until it didn’t.
I knew what it felt like to be an outsider. The new kid in school. The new recruit on a squad. The new guy on a team. The older you got, the nuances changed but the awkwardness was still there.
“If that’s how we made you feel then you should’ve said something.”
“This is my shit, it has nothing to do with anything anyone has or hasn’t done. And it has nothing to do with Jax. My brother is who he is and I’m damn proud of him. But because of that, he’s set a standard that’s damn hard to live up to.”
“In an effort to help you sort that faster let me explain. Jaxon Cain isn’t on our team, you are. Your brother’s a good friend. I’ve known him a long time. But saying that, I don’t give a shit how good a friend he is. I wouldn’t put my trust—and my life—in your hands if I didn’t know you were capable of having both. You’re new to us the same as we’re new to you. We need to feel each other out—”
“That’s different than feeling each other up, right?” Coop cut in.
“Well, thank fuck you have a sense of humor because that is one thing Jax doesn’t have. And God knows it gets boring being the wittiest on the team, so good to know I’ll have some backup with that, too.”
“Is that right? I’d heard from Natasha that Kevin’s the funny one and the rest of you are sticks in the mud.”
I believed Nat did say that. For some godforsaken reason, she thought Kevin was amusing.
“Yeah, she’s totally lying. Kev’s mostly rude. So tell me about what you’re working on,” I invited.
Over the next thirty minutes, Cooper told me about the 1964 Pontiac GTO he’d picked up and was in the process of restoring. Throughout this, I participated in the conversation but my mind was stuck on Evette and what the hell she was doing and why it was taking her so long. And as my mind wandered I wondered why in the hell I cared.
“Damn, brother, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were hung up on the woman.”
Fucking shit. My eyes sliced back to Cooper because, yes, I was back to staring at the goddamn door. The smirk on his face told me he was gonna bust my balls.
“You’re gonna hand me shit about her, aren’t you?”
“Hell yeah, I am. You’re sitting here in front of me