Sweets

Chapter 3

Rae

My whole past stands before me. The day I buried my son, anything that had to do with Cooper also went with him.

At least that is what I told myself.

For some reason, I convinced myself that I would never see Cooper again.

Yet, here he stands, and I don't know what to do or how to act. I was not prepared for this.

I just can not believe it.

Out of all people and all places.

I give him a once over, and he is still fine a$$ f*ck.

Better than I remember.

F*ck!!!

He has long hair that is pulled back into a bun, and he also has a beard now. He is wearing glasses, and he is dressed very nicely, and he smells so damn good.

"It's so good to see you again." he pulls me in for a hug.

"Nooooo. Don't touch me!" I internally scream, but my body hugs him back.

I feel an electric shock when he touches me, so I jump back.

"How have you been?" he asks me.

His stare intense.

I feel my hands getting clammy and myself closing up, but I still answer his question.

"I'm fine," I say.

I don't want to stutter or seem like an !d!0t, so I turn back to my group.

"You all remember Cooper, right? Cat and Valen's son. Avalena's brother," I say, and try to step away from him. I need breathing room.

They are all quiet and staring. I make eyes at them and they get the hint.

"Oh yeah yeah. Of course, Cooper Dark Moon," My cousin Paris says.

"Hey Cooper," my cousin London says.

The others just say "Hi," and they all do a little wave.

I move the camera out of my face and take off my mic and place it on Cori. Camera man looks at me like I am crazy, but I will explain later.

Maybe we shouldn't have started the live stream, but I had no idea I would find Cooper freaking Dark Moon here.

I also promised my viewers I would go live during my vacation so they could all come along. I just don't want the wrong things caught here, and posted online, so this is the safest thing to do at the moment.

I take a quick peak at Cooper and his eyes are on me.

Why does he look so f*cking good?

I shake my head. It must be the alcohol.

It must have made me forget that Cooper left me.

I had to give birth to our still-born son all alone, and then I had to bury him all alone, and that is all I can ever think of.

His tiny coffin.

Yes, my family was there, but I felt alone.

My baby boy didn't have his dad there.

I know it isn't healthy to have these thoughts. It isn't fair to him. I always knew what the deal was, but these are my feelings.

All these feelings crashing into me at a club and with alcohol being involved, it doesn't seem like a good thing.

Now all I can think about is my baby boy.

My Forrest. I have to tell him. He should know.

Just not in this moment.

I shake my head to break free from these thoughts. I place a huge smile on my face.

"Rae," he calls my name. He is right next to me. I feel his body heat. I am sure he is probably waiting for me to acknowledge him, but I can't even look at him.

"Want a shot?" I ask him without looking at him. I go grab the bottle.

I get up, trying to busy myself. I turn around, and suddenly, there's a bunch of other guys there.

The band that is playing takes a break, and they begin playing softer music which allows us to talk without the loud noise.

"Hi, I am Bash, and these are my friends Zane, Henry," the guy says before Cooper stands before them and doesn't let him finish. "They are nobody," he says as he glares at them. One of them side steps him.

"Excuse my friend who has no manners. I am Henry," He extends his hand. I look at Cooper and remember the look he is currently sporting all too well.

I grab his hand and shake it, ignoring Cooper glaring at his friends.

"Rae Thomas. Nice to meet you," I say, and hand Cooper the shot.

I stare at him, wondering what he will say when I tell him that at one point he was a daddy.

I can't take my eyes off him, and he is starring at me with what seems like the same intensity.

"To the past and the future" he says.

We clink glasses and both take them down easily.

I won't lie after a few, they really do go down easy.

"What brings you beautiful ladies here?" another man asks.

"Bachelorette party," Paris shouts.

"She is crazy. We came to have a chill night out. Just trying to have dinner, and this was the closest place to our hotel, but they aren't serving food anymore, so we were stuck getting drunk with these amazing drinks only," Cori slurs.

She isn't wrong. These drinks are hitting.

"Well, we ordered a bunch of food before the kitchen closed. Why don't you all come hang in our section? Bring your drinks, and we will share our food," Cooper isn't even finished talking before my cousins and friends are grabbing their things and make their way over to their section.

F*ck my life.

All they had to say was food and they all ditched me.

"I'll pack up the equipment. Go have fun, and eat Rae," Corey tells me.

I swear, he really has become like another brother to me.

As soon as we get there, there is a girl who runs up to Cooper.

"Cooper, where did you guys go?" she whines. I watch how her hand rubs his arm.

"Ruby, this is Rae and these are her friends. They are going to join us," Cooper tells her.

"Why?" she asks instead of saying hello, making this all awkward. What if this is his mate?

"Because we have food, and they're hungry," Henry cuts in and tells her. He grabs a slice of pizza and hands it to Vivienne.

"Let's dance Cooper," she jumps up and down. Her b00bs nearly flapping out of the top of her dress, but he gently pushes her off him.

"I don't want to dance," he tells her.

The girl, Ruby grabs a bottle, tilts her head up and stomps away like Blaze does when he gets in trouble for being naughty. She sits in a corner just glaring at us. My cousin London just shrugs.

Cooper

My wolf is losing his mind at Ruby. He is angry at the disrespect of his mate. I am pissed too, because why the f*ck is she rubbing herself on me and releasing a foul scent? I was gagging. If it wasn't for my mate's perfect scent, I would have needed to go outside.

The music starts again, and I decide to just go for it. I need to touch her. I felt the sparks already, and I need more.

"Want to dance?" I ask Rae, who gives me this look I can't explain.

"I thought you didn't want to dance?" she asks me.

I chuckle.

"I don't normally dance, but I will dance with you. Only with you," I say.

She keeps giving me that damn look.

"Sure. I will dance with you," she shrugs.

I grab her hand and the sparks shoot up and travel all through my body.

I squeeze harder so she doesn't get scared or try to let go. So far, she has allowed me to hold her hand. We make our way towards the dance floor.

"Wait, where are you two going? Let's take a shot first," My cousin shouts to get our attention. He already has his arm around Rae's cousin. He takes a bottle and holds it up in the air.

"To the best night of our lives," he shouts and drinks out of the bottle and passes it around.

We each take a big gulp, and then get to the dance floor.

We start in the middle, surrounded by everyone, but I slowly move her away, towards a corner, so we can be alone. I need to talk to her.

I need her to know that I realize that I made a huge mistake, but that I never forgot her.

I grab her face and bring her close to me.

She tries to pull away.

"Rae," I say her name softly.

"Coop," she says my nickname, and that does it.

I grab her face and pull her in as I lean down and give her a soft kiss, because I need to taste her lips.

She surprises me as she pushes herself to me and deepens the kiss.

"Holy smokes. Moon goddess thank you, thank you. A million times thank you," I say silently. My wolf is in heaven with the attention we are getting from our mate.

Our tongues go round and round.

The kiss starts soft, then gets rough and messy, and I can't get enough.

"Let's go get another drink," she says shyly after finally coming up to breathe.

Her hair is wild, her lips are pink and plump and her cheeks are red and perfect.

That kiss was better than anything I remembered. She tastes so f*cking amazing. I need more.

We make our way back to our little section.

"Cooper, it's my turn to dance with you," Ruby tells me with a harsh attitude.

I shake my head. Does she not see me holding my mate's hand?

"Ask Zane," I tell her.

"No, come on Cooper. I want to dance with you," Ruby tells me.

I can feel my mate's annoyance and maybe jealousy and that makes me want to celebrate.

Our bond is already forming.

"Excuse me. I am going to go to the restroom," Rae says.

I watch her grab her friend's hand and they walk out front.

I quickly turn to Ruby.

"Do not f*ck this up for me," I say pretty harshly. I feel bad, but I am still upset at how she reacted to my mate.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

Luckily, everyone returns at that moment and Ruby goes away without making a fuss.

I will have to talk to her when we aren't drinking.

Rae

"I don't know how I am not freaking out right now," I tell Cori.

I ran into the restroom and shouted into he stall. I still can not believe that Cooper Dark Moon. My Coop is here.

I sigh.

He isn't my Coop anymore.

"It's probably the alcohol helping. Are you going to tell him?" she whisper shouts.

"I think so. I mean, I want to. I was kind of thinking that I could tell him here, and leave it all here. I will return home and can move on with my life," she nods, agreeing with me.

All of a sudden, the door opens, so we stop talking.

It is that rude little girl that's with Cooper's group.

"So, it looks like the guys really liked you girls, huh?" she asks.

I do not say anything, but Cori nods.

"Yeah, men seem to like women who are easy," she says, as she eyes me up and down.

I smirk. I see where this is going.

We stooped as low to insulting.

"Well, good thing that's not what we are," Cori says.

"Sure," she smiles, but it is a fake one.

"All the guys in the group, except for Cooper, like women who will give it up the same night. He is different though," she smirks.

"Cooper is mine," she looks at me when she says it.

"Oh. I didn't know you two were a thing. He didn't say you two were together," I say.

She nods.

"We are so in love with each other. Ugh, he is a gem. He is such a good man. He loves me so much," she smiles brightly.

"Yeah, you can tell he is so in love with you. That's why he is drooling for my best friend," Cori says, and drags me out of the restroom as she runs away laughing.

"Corina. Why did you tell her that? I think she is his mate," I say.

Her eyes widen.

"Oops, well I wasn't lying. I know what I am seeing, and it sounds like she is trying to convince herself that Cooper loves her. Trust me, she is not his mate. He doesn't look at her like your brother looks at Avalena or Zeus with Austyn," she starts laughing so loudly, she falls to the ground.

Oh, she is drunk drunk.

We return and I am not feeling this anymore.

Cooper immediately comes to me, but I duck down to talk to Corey.

"Do you want to go back to the villa?" I ask my camera man. We can go film something else. I doubt I will be able to sleep.

"No Rae. It's my only night out. Please don't leave yet," Cooper says.

"I'm sure you'd rather spend time with your girlfriend and friends," I say, not being able to say the word mate. That is who he has always longed for. His other half. He made that very clear to me.

My pack will be the strongest in the world with my mate by my side to help me lead.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he tells me.

"That's not what your little friend just told Rae," Cori opens her big mouth.

"Who?" he asks.

I decide not to give this any importance. It doesn't even matter. This is nothing anyway. I will not look into it too much. I am just looking for a fun time.

"Let's drink," I say instead, and drinks get passed around.

I have no idea what happens, but I blame the alcohol, and me for allowing myself to have a good time.

"Record her but not on the stream," I hear Paris say.

"I am taking pictures to show him," I hear Henry say.

"Damn, he's lucky," I can't recognize that person.