Confiding in You ϟ a.i.

Chapter 19

"What...the actual...fuck," Cooper repeats himself as he reaches the bottom of the stairs and we both just stare at him. His hair is a mess and he's still in his pajamas, so he has presumably also skipped school and we've woken him up.

Ashton wraps a protective arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. This just provokes my brother more, though. I'm afraid with where this whole thing is going, Cooper might end up murdering someone soon.

"Is that why you didn't pick me up this morning or even bother to let me know you weren't going to?" He motions toward me with a scowl. His face is turning beat red and I hope his head will just explode.

"Yeah, we overslept and everything," Ashton keeps his cool, staring Cooper down, "Sorry about that, man."

"Nah, man it's totally cool," my brother draws his words out sarcastically, moving closer toward us, "It's not like your best friend getting to school should take priority over fucking his slut of a sister, or anything."

I look up at Ashton to see his jaw tense and his arm tightens more around me. He doesn't say anything, though, only looking at Cooper with an attempt not to show any emotion. I let out a sigh and see that Cooper is growing angrier by the minute.

"Why do you keep assuming that I'm fucking your friends?" I let out after a moment, showing double the anger since Ashton doesn't seem to want to.

"Shut the fuck up Maddie," Cooper growls, keeping his eyes on Ashton.

The two are having a stare down and I'm left in the middle and with no say whatsoever, apparently. I wish they would yell or hit each other or something more expected, so I could have something to intervene on rather than just standing here in this tense silence. A solid five minutes passes, filled only with Cooper's heavy breathing, before Ashton speaks as calmly as ever.

"I was just making sure she had a place to sleep, since she was locked out."

"Bullshit!" My brother laughs obnoxiously, "We all know you've been trying to sleep with her since the day she got here."

I open my mouth to begin to dismiss him, but both of them turn to me with their eyes signaling me to shut up before I can even get a word out. Looking away from them with frustration, I let them carry on with their dumb fight. I'm done listening to my brother's sexual accusations, anyway.

"Believe what you want," Ashton answers, still exhibiting little emotion. I glance at him and can tell that he's about to burst out in anger any second. I'm surprised he hasn't yet, considering how mad he was about the whole thing yesterday. I would have expected him to start cussing at Cooper the moment he saw him.

Continuing to stare up at him, I wait and wait for him to blow up, but he stays impassive, only small hints of his body language showing how he's really feeling. Even if I hated it, I find myself wishing that I could be the little sister that my brother ignored and that his friends made fun of again. That was much easier to deal with than this. But that past is long gone, I think. 

Without so much as a warning or any words at all, Cooper clamps his hand down on my wrist and rips me out of Ashton's hold. If there was anything that I think could set Ashton off, it's this. But even as he pulls me back and breaks my brother's grip on me, he is still more calm than I would expect. It's actually starting to scare me.

"If you lay a finger on her again, I won't be this composed," He mumbles, breathing out heavily and warning Cooper with a glare. Cooper, like always, takes this as a joke and a challenge, merely laughing.

He doesn't waste a moment and smacks me across the face, right in front of his best friend. It's not on the same side as every other time but that certainly doesn't stop it from hurting like hell, causing me to fall back into Ashton, stunned.

There's only a second of hesitation as Ashton steadies me before he lunges forward and slams his fist on Cooper's smirking face. It's only a matter of time before they're on the ground, Ashton fuming and sending a series of punches my brother's way with both of his fists.