Elements of Retrofit (10 page)

“I know that,” he said. “I wasn’t implying that you… I didn’t mean for you to…” I’d never seen him struggle for words before. “I know that,” he said again. But then he smiled. “Just means we have to make the most of the next four weeks.”

We met the driver, he threw our luggage in the trunk of the car and we dropped Cooper home first. It was back to Mr Elkin and Mr Jones in the car and at work the next morning.

Jennifer came in with my morning coffee and asked me how the trip went. I told her we secured the Tamosaka job, to which she replied she already knew. “Did Mr Jones get through his to-do list?” she asked.

I smiled at her. “Yes, he was very…good.”

She smiled at my choice of words. “Good to hear. Any chance to think on that perspective we discussed before you left?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“I’m happy with what I’ve got,” I answered. “Just not sure on how to keep it.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of a way.”

I sighed. “Well, I hope so.” Then I thought of something. “Is Cooper in yet? I haven’t seen him.”

“Yes,” Jennifer answered. “Though I think he’s avoiding me. I presume you told him I know about you two?”

I smiled at her. “Yes, I told him. And yes, now he’s twice as scared of you.” But I stood up and walked with her out of my office. “The Tamosaka job file. Where is it?”

“With Donella.”

“And Cooper’s at his desk?”

“He was, yes.”

I walked down the hall to the cubicle area where the interns and other office staff were. I spotted him talking to one of the other interns and before I got to him, one of the other draughtsmen stopped me to discuss something.

That was when I heard what Cooper was saying. They were discussing Sydney. “Yeah, it’s really beautiful, but it was cold. I’d like to go back in summer,” he said.

“How was the big meeting?” one girl asked.

“Oh, it was so good,” he told them. “Sitting in there with them while they talked business. It was kind of surreal.”

“And what was Mr Elkin like?” someone else asked. “Did you see much of him?”

My heart stopped in my chest, waiting for his answer. I finished talking to the draughtsman and walked slowly over towards Cooper.

“Nah, he spent his time doing whatever, and I did my thing,” he answered. But then he looked up at me walking towards him, then back to his little audience and smiled when he said, “He’s old anyway. What is he? Like fifty-five?”

“Good morning,” I said loudly, and every intern there, besides Cooper, looked up at me and scattered in every direction, suddenly very, very busy.

It was almost comical. Cooper certainly tried not to smile. The little shit.

“Mr Jones? A moment please.”

“Certainly, Mr Elkin,” he said, standing up, and how he kept a straight face, I’ll never know.

I told him with my eyes he was in trouble, to which he replied with his eyes that he’d enjoy every moment of it.

“The Tamosaka file is with Donella, she’s one of my head draughters. I thought you might like to follow the job through its stages, considering you were there at inception.”

His eyes lit up. “I’d love to.”

Then with a stern voice for the benefit of the intern audience, I added, “Though I can probably think of
fifty-five
reasons to have you archive files for the rest of your stay here.”

Cooper bit the inside of his lip to stop from smiling, but the poor girl next to him who was staring at her computer screen trying not to listen to us made an odd whining sound. Cooper smiled. “That won’t be necessary, sir,” he said.

“I’ll let Donella know to expect you,” I told him. “But you can report to my office before you leave today.”

Sure enough, at a quarter to six, Jennifer’s line buzzed. “Mr Jones to see you.”

“Thank you.”

He walked in and sat in the seat across from me, but he didn’t speak.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Fifty-five?”

Then he burst out laughing. “Oh, my God,” he said as he laughed. “That was the funniest thing I’ve seen.”

“The poor girl next to you was almost beside herself.”

He laughed again. “She thought you were gonna send me packing.”

“I should have,” I told him. “I should have kicked your ass out.” Maybe he would have taken me seriously if I wasn’t smiling when I said it. I shook my head at him and finally laughed. “You’re such a little shit.”

He cracked up laughing at that, but then Jennifer walked in and Cooper sat up in his seat and straightened out his suit as he tried to stop smiling, which of course made me laugh. “Not so funny now, is it?”

He shook his head at me, then looked at Jennifer. She looked at me, obviously not used to seeing me laugh. “I’ll be heading home soon, Mr Elkin. Are you working late or from home tonight?”

“Yes,” I told her. “Home tonight. I’ll be leaving soon, but I have some work to catch up on.”

“You missed lunch today, so I can order something for you to eat before I leave, if you’d like,” she said.

The sound of food sounded good. “Actually, that’d be great,” I told her. “Thai fish, delivered to home around eight would be lovely, thank you.”

Jennifer gave me a smile, then looked at Cooper. “Mr Jones?”

Cooper’s eyes darted to mine, then to Jennifer. “Pardon?”

I smiled at Jennifer. “He’ll have the same as me, and he likes those Thai vegetable rolls.”

“Very well,” she said and walked out of the door.

Cooper stared at me, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. “What just happened?”

“Jennifer just included you in my dinner order.”

His eyes lit up. “Oh, that sounds like fun.”

“I didn’t mean I was having you for dinner.”

“But you can.”

I sighed and closed my laptop. “See you at my place in half an hour?”

“Sure,” he answered. Then as he walked to the door, he said, “Tell Lionel I’ll see him then.”

* * * *

For the next three weeks, we worked together, professionally and discreetly, and spent time together in the privacy of our apartments.

I had no qualms in going to his place because, to put it plainly, no one who knew me professionally would ever be anywhere near Cooper’s small, not-luxury apartment on East sixty-first street. And if anyone spotted Cooper entering my building, they’d presume he was running errands for me. My interns worked when I did, and I worked all the time.

We’d spent an incredible Friday night finishing off some prelims at my dining table, then finishing each other off on the sofa, before moving to the bedroom where we spent the night trying to break our record for how many times we could have sex in one night.

He had the libido of a twenty-two-year-old guy, and I told him I’d die trying to keep up with him. He laughed, and told me, “At least you’ll die happy,” right before he took my cock in his mouth.

Fucking hell.

I knew the countdown to the end of his internship was approaching, but he never brought it up again. Neither did I.

We just spent our time talking and laughing. And fucking. He was insatiable.

By the time we got out of bed on Saturday, it was almost lunchtime. I woke up to hear him in the shower, which was a little odd, but he came out wearing just a towel and a grin. He straddled me, shoving his semi-hard dick near my mouth and told me he’d showered so I could rim him.

No doubt about it. If he wanted something, he just asked. Or, in more cases than not, he
told
me.

I didn’t mind. Hell, I didn’t mind at all.

So I threw him off me, pinned him face first on my bed and gave him just what he asked for. I left him a quivering, sated lump on the bed and started the shower. He joined me a short while later, but I told him no more sex until we’d both eaten at least.

I left him in the bathroom, pulled on a pair of cargos and went in search of food. I had half the contents of the fridge on the bench, a couple of plates, had the coffee brewing, my stomach was growling, and life was pretty fucking good.

Then there was a knock on the door.

There were only a very few select people who Lionel wouldn’t buzz through, and I didn’t have to wonder for long when Ryan’s voice called out. “Dad?”

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Um,” I answered. “Coming,” I said, and when I unlocked the door, Ryan looked at my very rarely worn casual cargos, my shirtless torso and my still-wet hair.

“Did I get you out of the shower?”

“Uh, yeah…” I hesitated, walking back to the kitchen. “I was just making something to eat.”

“No worries,” he said brightly. “Just haven’t seen you much lately, thought I’d call in.” Then there was the sound of a door closing, Ryan turned his head towards the hall, then glanced back at me. “Is someone else here?” he asked. Then he grinned. “Do you have
company
?”

“Um, kind of…”

Fuck.

Then Cooper walked out, wearing only his underwear, holding up the new toothbrush I’d bought for him. “Tom, did you get me…”

And his words died away, as did his smile.

There were excuses I could give why Cooper was coming to and from my apartment lobby with his satchel or briefcase, but there was no reason whatsoever I could give to explain why he had walked out of my bedroom in his underwear. Except the truth.

The three of us stared at each other, mouths open and silent, then both of them looked at me.

“Ryan,” I started, but he held up his hand. He took a step back from me, then he turned and bolted for the door.

Chapter Eleven

Cooper was quick. I don’t think I’d ever seen him run. Certainly not in his underwear holding a toothbrush, but he beat Ryan to the door.

“What the fuck, man?” Ryan cried.

“You’re not leaving until you hear us out,” Cooper told him.

Ryan stared at him, but pointed to me. “That’s my dad, man!”

“I know that,” Cooper said calmly, still holding the toothbrush like it wielded some magical power. “Please. Just sit and listen.”

Ryan shook his head, but he turned and looked at me, where I stood half-dressed and helpless near the kitchen counter. The fight in him was gone, or the flight, as the case might be, and Cooper walked him to the sofa and sat him down.

Ryan was now pale and looking a little sick. I took a seat beside my son and sighed. “It’s a long story,” I said, rather pathetically.

“Oh, Jesus,” he breathed. “You’re not even denying it!”

Then he started to breathe erratically, like he was going to hyperventilate or throw up. Cooper disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a paper bag. I didn’t even know I had paper bags. “Here, breathe into that,” he instructed. “Put your head between your knees.”

“I’m not on a fucking plane,” he said, but snatched the bag and started to breathe into it.

Cooper kneeled down in front of him, still wearing just his briefs and still holding the toothbrush. “Ry, Tom and I have been seeing each other for about six weeks.”

Ryan lowered the paper bag. “The guy you’ve been seeing, the one you were all so secret-squirrel about,
was my dad
?”

Cooper nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh, fucking hell,” Ryan squeaked. “The one you said sucked dick like a Dyson?”

Cooper shrugged and looked at me. “I was drunk…”

I fell back on the sofa and groaned, and Ryan put the paper bag back to his mouth and started to breathe into it again.

“Look,” Cooper said. “Ryan, it’s complicated.”

Ryan nodded and spoke into the bag. “Tell me about it.” Then he looked at what Cooper was holding. “You have a toothbrush here?”

“Tom just bought it for me,” he answered with a smile.

Ryan huffed into the paper bag. “You call him Tom?” Then Ryan looked at me. “He calls you Tom?”

I nodded. “Ryan, we never meant to keep anything from you. I never meant to have secrets, or to go behind your back, but this thing between Cooper and I is…well, it’s complicated.”

He lowered the bag. “So you keep saying.”

“No one can know,” Cooper said. “We work together, I’m an intern at your father’s firm, and they have these policies…”

Ryan turned slowly to look at me. “You’d risk your precious fucking career for him?”

“Ryan,” I warned, but it was Cooper who spoke.

“It’s mine, Ryan. It’s my career he’s protecting,” he said quietly. “If we were found out, Tom would get no more than a slap on the wrist, but me? I’d be lucky to get a job cleaning floors.”

Ryan shook his head. “So why the hell do it?”

“Why do you think?” Cooper asked. “Jesus, Ryan.”

“You
like
him?” Ryan asked, staring at Cooper. “You’re serious about him?”

Cooper looked at me then looked at the floor. He nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

I smiled, despite the whole unfolding scene. Ryan turned to look at me, he saw me smile at Cooper, and he rolled his eyes. “And you like him? You want to be with him?”

I looked at Cooper when I answered. “Yes.”

“How very fucking Disney,” Ryan cried, putting the paper bag back to his mouth. He breathed into it a few times, then lowered it and looked at me. “He’s the same age as me!”

“I know that,” I answered quietly. Ryan was angry, and I guessed well within his rights to be so.

Then he stared at Cooper. “My dad?” he asked. “Dude! If older guys are your thing, then find someone else who’s not my father!”

Cooper gave him a sad smile. He scratched his head and sighed. “Ry, do you remember back when were in the twelfth grade and you had it so bad for that Rebecca chick? And she was such a bitch, and we all hated her, but you wanted her?” Cooper asked and Ryan stared at him, confused.

It was weird for me to hear Cooper talk like the twenty-two-year-old he was, and I wondered what he was talking about too, but then he explained. “Well, this is a bit like that,” he said, nodding to himself. “We paid out on you, but when you told me you were serious, I let it go. Regardless of what I thought, I did everything I could to help to help you date her, and you told me it meant a lot, remember that?”

Ryan nodded.

Then he was back to the Cooper I knew. “So Ryan, you need to let it go,” Cooper said simply and seriously. “You need to grow up and realise this isn’t about you. I’m sorry to put it like that, but that’s just the way it is. What we do, or what goes on between me and your father, ultimately doesn’t concern you.”