Filed to story: Katy and Brayden Cooper Novel
I straighten and turn to leave and I’ve already taken a few steps away, when his voice rings out behind me.
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about your mum’s company?”
I freeze. My throat tightens instantly, and my hands clench into fists. Slowly, I turn around and he has straightened to his full height now, a smug grin tugging at his mouth like he just scored a point.
“Dad told me you made a deal with him,” he says, his voice dipping into a taunting scoff. “You’re really as dumb as you look. You actually think you can pull it off? Huh?”
Anger burns hot and fast inside me, crawling up my chest, but I force it back down because I’ve worked too hard to wreck everything over his mouth. Hockey comes first and my temper doesn’t get to ruin that.
I exhale, forcing calm into my voice. “I see you and Dad are bonding. Not surprised.”.
His smirk falters for half a second, then returns.
“You can tell him I’m holding up my end of the deal,” I add, stepping closer. “And until then, he should get his money-hungry crazy bitch….well, stepmom, under control.”
At my words, Bryan charges and he stops inches from me, so close I can feel his breath fogging the space between us. I smirk and push my hair back, meeting his gaze firmly.
“You….” His lips tremble. “You should worry about your mum…oh, she’s fucking dead.” His words drop like stones. My eye twitches, but I keep my face calm, letting the heat queue behind my ribs where it can’t show.
He keeps going. “Is your mum the reason you’re heading downhill? Come on, she’d tell you it’s over. You’ve got three courses to retake plus this year’s load. How are you gonna make it, bro?
I feel my jaw tighten and I hate that he knows the numbers he shouldn’t. I grind my teeth, then let a dry laugh huff.
*Since when do you care about my grades? I didn’t know you were playing private investigator on me or is everyone in our family obsessed with my life?” I ask.
Before he can spit another word, I yawn like I’m bored of being entertained. It’s theatrical, and childish but it works. I pat his chin with my fingers and he jerks back on instinct, glaring like a hurt dog.
“This conversation’s getting boring,” I say, leaning in. “Don’t forget what I told you, bro. Delete the photos or say goodbye to baseball.”
I adjust my backpack and start walking, trying to shake off the heat crawling up my neck.
“You have three courses to retake.” His words keep replaying in my head as I keep walking.
How the hell did he even know that? Did he somehow get into my student portal or something? Or did that old man show him my transcripts? Is that what they do now…bond over hating me?
I exhale, forcing a nod to myself. Fine, let them run their mouths. I’ll prove every single one of them wrong.
Katy and I have been making solid progress, and I’ll just ask her to double our tutoring sessions. If anyone’s going down this semester, it won’t be me.
It’ll be them.
I’m still walking when something buzzes in my pocket. For a second, I ignore it, thinking it’s another random notification but then it keeps buzzing.
I sigh, slap a hand over my jeans, and fish out my phone, only to see it’s Katy calling..
Without thinking, I answer. “Hey-“
Her voice bursts through the line breathlessly before I can say anything else and my eyes widen.
“What?” I stop mid-step. “How did that even happen?”
“It’s a long story,” she says quickly. “Can you please come now?”
KATY’S POV
My foot keeps tapping against the hospital floor, faster with every passing second. I wipe my chin again, but it doesn’t help because the tears keep slipping down anyway. Allie’s in surgery for a spleen laceration after an awful car crash. A spleen laceration.
I press my hands together and breathe out slowly, but my heart’s racing, my fingers are trembling, and there’s this sour taste at the back of my throat that makes me want to throw up. Still, I keep telling myself to be strong. That’s what Allie would say if she was standing here instead of lying in that operating room.
“Oh God,” I whisper, leaning back against the wall of the surgical waiting area. I’m so terrified. I’ve never been this terrified in my entire life. Allie has to be okay. She has to.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and my heart jumps. I fumble to pull it out, thinking it’s Sean or her mother but it’s none of them. It’s Braydon.
BRAYDON: I’m here. Where are you?
I stare at the message for a second before replying.
ME: Surgery waiting room. Near the elevators.
I drop my phone into my lap, exhaling shakily. I know Braydon isn’t exactly that close to Allie, but Sean’s not answering, and I can’t sit here alone anymore.
“Katy.”
I look up and see Braydon walking in, a little out of breath like he ran the last few steps. The second he opens his arms as he stops in front of me, I step into them without thinking.
He wraps me up right away. “Hey,” he murmurs against my hair. “I’m here, okay? It’s alright.”
I clutch his hoodie, my fingers twisting in the fabric. “She’s in surgery,” I whisper. “I’m so scared”
He doesn’t answer but just tightens his arms around me and lets me cry and I bury my face there because I can’t stop shaking. I know I must look pathetic, but after my brother, Allie’s the closest person I have. The thought of anything happening to her feels like someone’s slicing through my heart one piece at a time.
When I finally pull away, Braydon’s hands move before mine do. He wipes my tears gently, then tilts my chin up so I meet his eyes full of empathy.
“I’m sorry, Katy,” he says quietly. “She’ll be fine. You know Allie’s a gangster. She’ll probably laugh at you for crying when she wakes up and when I tell her you were full-on sobbing with snot.”
I press a hand to my face. “Stop,” I mumble weakly. “Now’s not the time for your jokes.”
He gives a faint grin. “Isn’t that why you called me?” Before I can answer, he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. “It’s pretty cold in here.”
I pull it tighter around me. “Thank you for coming.”
He nods. “I kinda got here later than I wanted.” He gestures toward the chairs, and I sit. “You want something to drink? Have you called Allie’s parents? Or do you think she wouldn’t want them to know yet?”
“I called her mum,” I whisper. “She said she’ll book a flight and be here in a couple of hours.”
Braydon nods, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You did good, Katy. You handled everything well and you should be proud of that.”
I shake my head, blinking through tears. “I didn’t though. I was crying so hard her mum could barely hear me.” My voice cracks, and tears spill over again. “All I could think about was how scared Allie must’ve been before the crash… or when she was still half-conscious.”
My throat tightens, and I wipe at my eyes, laughing a little through the tears. “You know what’s crazy? The hospital called me first because she saved my number as Mother Hen. Can you believe that?”