Losing Control

Chapter Twenty

I made my way to Coopers place in a bit of a drunken haze. The vodka had already went to my head, and I could barely remember these streets I was walking. It was only at the last minute I had remembered that Cooper didn't actually live in our old house yet. When we had that scuffle in my motel room, and his wallet fell out, I had managed to get a quick look at a scribbled down address. He had obviously moved back in a hurry and had written it down. I hoped my memory served me well because I needed to see Cooper. I needed to end this once and for all.

It was fascinating to me that I walked along with a calm air, even a peace within me, I knew I was going to do something bad, really bad....and yet it seemed like the right thing to do. It seemed like it was something that should have been done all along.

All my days locked up in that prison, all the hurt of losing my Mom and Dad.....the hurt of finding someone like Harrison only to lose him again, those days were what had led up to this moment, and as I stood at the bottom of Coopers driveway looking at his house that was big enough to be a mansion, I knew there was no going back.

Everything served as a brutal reminder of the life I had given up and the life I had allowed him, my brother the murderer, to have. I couldn't stand to look at the cosy welcome mat that sat outside of the front door, it seemed to be tormenting me by even being there. I ran an agitated hand through my curls and licked my lips. My mouth was unbelievably dry from the alcohol that I wasn't used to, and I wished desperately I had water. I felt the cold gun still in my waistband. I shook myself all over, I had waited long enough for this moment, and I rapped on the door loudly with my knuckles.

I only waited exactly three seconds before I knocked again. Patience wasn't a strong point of mine after waiting twelve years to get out of prison.

Cooper answered the door, a frown on his face. His frown only deepened when he saw me.

"Oh hey little brother. Not a good time actually."

He made to shut the front door in my face, but I stuck my foot there so he couldn't close it. I resembled an animal at that moment, I suppose the only way my expression could have possibly been described was a kind of menacing growl escaping me. I just couldn't get used to how easy Cooper found all this. How he could still stand there and call me little brother after everything. He had to pay.

"Oooo somebody looks pissed off. What's the matter Noah Ray? Is that weird little porcelain doll boyfriend of yours still battered up in the hospital? I can be so clumsy sometimes when I'm driving."

He grinned. A sickening awful grin that made me want to get the gun out and shoot him right there. But I couldn't. Not on the front step in broad daylight.

"Is your wife in? Or the children?"

My words changed Coopers expression from a grin to panic. He shook his head quickly.

"No. No they aren't and they won't be back for a while. You won't be going anywhere near them, do you understand me Noah?"

Now it was my turn to grin. Of course, I knew in my heart that I would never lay a finger on those precious kids, or the wife for that matter, but it felt good to scare Cooper all the same.

He reached out, grabbing me by my collar and tugging me towards him so we were inches away from each other.

"You will stay away from them, do you hear me?"

I pushed him off me with such force that he staggered backwards in to his house and actually fell on the floor. I stepped in, slamming the front door behind me and shrugged my shoulders.

"I can't make any promises Cooper."

He scrambled up from the floor quickly and tried to regain his composure.