I wanted those hands around my body.
“Um.” I hesitated. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t hurt terribly anymore. Just initially after I hit him.”
“Good.” He looked angry that I was hurt. “I don’t want you getting hurt on my account.”
I rolled my eyes. “Copper, those things he said about your dad and your sister…he deserved what I did. At the least. He could get fucked up in the back alley, and have his eyes picked out by the neighborhood rats, and I still couldn’t care less.”
His lips twitched. “He’s right, though.”
I tilted my head. “About what?”
He swallowed and looked away. “You and your son deserve better than a man like me.”
Before I could answer, the door to the kitchen burst open and a frazzled looking Cerise made her way inside.
She looked…upset.
Really upset.
But my heart was still in my throat where it’d been placed there by Copper’s words.
I opened my mouth, ready to force him to acknowledge me, when Cerise made a keening sound that had my head whipping around to face her.
Copper wasn’t forgotten, but there was a sound that a person made when they were in serious trouble, and Cerise was making it.
“Cerise?”
Cerise’s head whipped around and she stared unseeing at me for a long moment before her shoulders slumped and she ran toward me.
I braced, and the only thing keeping me on my feet when her tiny body hit mine was Copper’s hand on my back.
Cerise immediately dissolved into tears.
“Cerise, what’s wrong?” I pushed, my arms going around her.
She sobbed into my neck, but I did make out a few words.
One of which was “Taigen.”
I stiffened immediately, that name bringing back the memories that made me want to murder someone.
“Taigen?” I asked. “Slow down, Cerise. What are you mentioning Taigen for?”
She sniffled hard, a sob choking her, before she pulled away and furiously wiped her eyes.
Her gaze flicked up to Copper, then back to me before she started talking.
“I just wanted a day, Baker. Just one day!”
I smoothed her hair back from her face, then used my thumb to swipe the mascara from under her eyes. “What happened? Slow down. Deep breath. What happened?”
She did all of those things, then started explaining.
Copper moved so that his hips were resting against the counter behind him, his eyes on the two of us, showing his silent support without more than a hip lean.
“Okay, so I will have to start from the beginning.” She swallowed hard, her voice rough with repressed tears. “Jade, Markus, and I were friends from college.”
I already hated where this was going, and she hadn’t even started yet.
