She was talking to me, and I knew I should be paying attention to what she was saying, but all I could do was watch her mouth move. I had begun to think about her at night when I was drifting off to sleep. A few weeks ago, I had woken up after having a dream about Kayla. My pajamas were wet and it kind of freaked me out. I did some googling, because there was no way I was talking to Alec about that stuff, and I was amazed at what I found. So, the next night, I tested a few things out, and man was it amazing. But I couldn’t do anything about that right now.
“So, do you understand that?”
She looked at me and her eyes sparkled like diamonds. I was so lost. I nodded, pretending like I had paid attention to everything she said. She smiled at me, and it felt like I became a ball of mush just by looking at that pretty smile. I thought about kissing her, but I didn’t know the first thing about kissing. I’d have to look that up online first. I didn’t want my first kiss to suck.
She continued talking and I continued staring. It wasn’t until a shadow fell across us that I even remembered that we weren’t the only two people in the world. I tore my eyes away from Kayla and looked up into the angry eyes of Coop. I swallowed hard and slid a foot away from Kayla.
“Kayla, Becky wants to see you,” he said, staring me down the whole time.
“I just saw her.”
“Well, she wants to see you again.”
“Alright, we’ll finish this up later. Okay, Reid?”
I nodded, still not looking at Kayla. I had seen that look before on the senator’s face, and I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
“Do you have a staring problem?” Coop asked as Kayla walked away.
“No, sir.”
“Do you want to tell me why you’re staring at my daughter like you want to fuck her?”
I had read about that recently, but I hadn’t really thought about doing it too much yet. I was still trying to figure out everything else.
“Sir, I didn’t- I mean, I-” I started sweating and I couldn’t form a thought to save my life. Part of me was terrified that Coop was going to beat me just like the senator, but the other part of me was just scared because I was staring at Kayla and I had been caught.
He grabbed my shirt collar and hauled me out of my chair, his face absolutely terrifying.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Alec shouted.
Coop dropped my shirt collar and I shuffled away from him. “I caught the kid staring at my daughter.”
“And?” Alec walked up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Even though I was still in the line of fire, I wasn’t scared with Alec at my back. I knew he would protect me, even from his teammate.
“And he needs to knock that shit off.”
“Back the fuck off. He’s fourteen. What the fuck do you think is going to happen?”
“I think we both know the answer to that,” Coop snapped.
“Look, I’ll talk to him, but think about this realistically for a minute,” Alec said calmly. There was a tension building all around me and Alec pushed me off to the side. “Why don’t you go find Florrie, Reid,” Alec said, leaving no room for me to argue.
I didn’t complain. I didn’t want to stay around Coop any more than I needed to. I grabbed my books and ran out of there, not bothering to look back.
CHAPTER THREEAlec
“What the fuck are you thinking?” I spat at Coop. The man was losing it. He was yelling at a fourteen year old kid for looking at his daughter.
“He was fucking staring at her, and we both know what the fuck teenagers think about.”
“Not that teenager,” I said, pointing to the door that Reid just bolted through. I couldn’t believe that he had just threatened Reid. He was the last kid on earth that Coop had to worry about. Hell, he looked like he was going to shit his pants when Coop turned on him.
“You didn’t see his face,” Coop argued.
“Look, he probably was staring at her, but that kid is not your average teenager. I can guarantee that he doesn’t know half the shit that you did when you were his age. And why the fuck did you put your hands on him?”
Coop sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I saw that look on his face and I flipped out.”
“I get it, man, but you can’t put your hands on him. He was fucking terrified. I don’t know what the fuck he’s been through, but I know it was fucking bad. Half the time he doesn’t even sleep through the night because of nightmares.”
“Fuck, I just lost it. I just…”
“I know, but after everything that Kayla’s been through, after all the nightmares, why the fuck would you do that shit to a kid that’s been beat on?”
I knew he felt terrible. I could see the shame on his face, but I also knew that he was still fucked up. “Fuck, I’m sorry, man. I just get so worried about her.”
“I know,” I said, gripping his shoulder, “and I’ll talk to him about it, but that kid is not someone you have to worry about. He’s obviously got a crush, but that’s as far as it goes. And I can guarantee that he would never hurt Kayla.”
“I don’t even like him looking at her,” he grumbled.
“Relax. One day, Kayla is going to bring home a man, and you’re not going to like that man. You’re going to be pining for the days that my kid was staring at her like she hung the
