The Space In Between by Brittainy Cherry Read Free Book Online

be inappropriate. Only a girl who was emotionally damaged to
the core would laugh at such a situation.
    “I’m sorry, what’s funny?” Cooper’s eyes filled with
concern. I arched an eyebrow and touched my fingertips to my mouth. It was
curved into a grin where uncontrollable giggles were escaping. I shook myself
and stopped laughing. Nothing was funny. It wasn’t long until the silence grew
haunting and Cooper replaced the dead air with questions.
    “When? What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”
    Six months ago. A car accident. No, never.
    I nudged him in the knee, needing a change in subject. “So
what have you been up to?”
    His lips parted as if he wanted to speak but they shut fast.
He was handsome, but the twitch in his eyebrow showed me he was also in need of
repair on the inside. An overwhelming need to know more washed over me. Could
it be that someone was as messed up emotionally as me? Did he have a story,
too? I wanted to know. No, I needed to know. I needed to not feel so
alone for a moment in my life. My eyes pleaded for him to continue his thoughts.
He cleared his throat and bit the tip of his thumb.
    “I left my wife.”
    I watched as his face deepened into a shade of red. It was a
somewhat new hurt inside of him, I could tell. His beautiful eyes told a story
of sorrows and regrets—something I understood. It was my turn to ask the
questions. “When? What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”
    Five months ago. Tom Reed. No, never.
    I glanced down to my hand resting against his leg; it must
have landed there when I tried to give him some comfort after hearing that he
was going through a divorce. I moved it away fast, feeling as if I had somehow
cheated on my nonexistent relationship.
    Frank pounded on the door to the VIP room and reopened it.
“Andrea. Times up! Seriously!” He was probably getting heat from Roger. I could
tell because Frank would never raise his voice to anyone unless his boss was
raising his voice to him. Cooper stood up, pulled out his wallet, and handed
Frank a stack of bills. The guard looked down and counted the bills quickly
with his eyes before slowly closing the door.
    “So you moved to New York?” he asked me, reclaiming his
seat. I nodded and explained how I needed to get away from the small town. He
understood, remembering what a gossiping place I grew up in. There was a
silence filling the room. For the longest time it felt as if we were staring at
each other and a part of me was strangely all right with that idea.
    “You wanna get out of here?” Cooper asked.
    I laughed, nodding. He must have been able to see the need
for escapism in my eyes. I sure as heck saw it in his. “Absolutely.”
     
     

     
     
    MY HANDS SHOOK as I placed the key
into the door and turned the knob. Cooper stood behind me, patiently waiting. I
know he noticed, but he didn’t mention the small limp I had in my leg. It
wasn’t as bad as before, but it was still something someone couldn’t miss. As
we walked into the small, crammed apartment I welcomed him to my home.
    “It’s nice.”
    “It’s not.” I laughed. I walked to the kitchen and opened
the fridge, “You want a drink? A beer?”
    “No thanks. I’m not a big drinker nowadays.” I looked into
the fridge and realized there weren’t any beers anyways. Ladasha must have
taken the last one, which was fine—she was the one who bought them. Closing the
refrigerator door, I looked down, realized I was still wearing my trench coat,
and remembered that underneath it I was only sporting a leopard print bra and
thong. Horrified, I turned, on a mission to go change. Before I could make my
way to my bedroom, Cooper’s hand had somehow found mine.
    My body tingled at his touch, and I cussed for allowing
myself to feel anything of the sort. His southern accent was somewhat hidden
from his life in New York, but I heard it creep out as he spoke to me. “I’m
sorry about Derrick. My gosh, Andrea. I couldn’t imagine.