The Rebel (The Millionaire Malones Book 3) (19 page)

Cooper wasn’t Evan’s biological father, but in that moment, lost in that look in his eyes, oh how she wished he was.

‡

I
t was Monday
morning. Maggie was about to have her first cup of coffee for the morning and Cooper? He wasn’t there when Maggie got back from walking Evan to school. She was glad he was out, getting some air. The less cooped up he felt, the better he would
be.

Just as she’d poured her coffee, there was a knock at the front door. When she opened it, Cooper’s manager Alfie threw Maggie a warm smile.

‘Hello, darlin’.’

‘Hi, Alfie,’ Maggie said. ‘This is a pleasant surprise.’ She was even more surprised when he pressed a bouquet of flowers into her arms. She sniffed the red roses. ‘These are lovely. Thank you.’

‘It’s always a delight to see you,
Maggie.’ Alfie leaned down to kiss her on both cheeks. He looked slick and stylish as ever, from his quiff hairdo to his designer surf-wear shirt, and he sported a wicked smile, which improved her mood no end. She couldn’t help but like Alfie, not only for his charm and the roses, but for his particular loyalty to Cooper.

‘Where’s that lad of yours?’ Alfie looked over her shoulder and down the
hallway.

‘If you mean Evan, I just dropped him off at school. Can I offer you a coffee?’

‘A cup of tea would be smashing.’ Alfie followed Maggie to the kitchen, where she hunted for a vase tall enough to accommodate the long-stemmed roses. She didn’t often get flowers. She tried to think about the last time a man had shown up with a bouquet and came up with nothing. Cooper always brought wine,
not blooms. Wine was friendly. Flowers were something more, unless you were Alfie and then it was just Alfie.

‘Please, have a seat while I make your tea. I’m guessing you’re here to see Cooper, not to woo me, as sad as that is.’

‘Oh, Mags, can’t a man do both?’ Alfie laughed and winked at her. ‘As a matter of fact, I am here to see the big fella. Might he be around? He glanced around the room
as if the act of looking would conjure Cooper out of thin air.

Maggie shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. ‘I’m not sure. I’m guessing he’s headed out to stretch his legs and get some air.’

Maggie had noticed his absence as soon as she’d got home. She could sense it as soon as she’d opened the front door: her house felt strangely empty now without him in it, taking up too much space, playing
and laughing with Evan, lying next to her. His phone and sunglasses were gone from their regular spot on the kitchen bench—why the man couldn’t put them on the perfectly good dresser in his room she didn’t know—so she figured he’d gone out to have a hobble around the block. His knee was getting stronger, but he still favoured it. To distract herself from Alfie’s knowing look, Maggie rummaged around
in her cupboards for a vase and then took her time arranging the roses in it. When the kettle boiled, she found a teabag, dropped in into a mug and poured hot water over it. At least that’s how she thought a cup of tea was made. She found her sugar bowl and set it on the table in front of Alfie.

‘Thanks, love.’ He took a sip and sighed dramatically. ‘That’s a really terrible cuppa but it’ll do.
Does nobody do a decent tea in this country?’ Alfie winked at Maggie playfully but drank it down anyway. ‘Hang on, what’s this?’ He’d found the magazine with Cooper on the cover and was flicking through the pages.

‘Evan likes the picture. He tucked it under his pillow once.’ And there it was, another pang of guilt. She’d known all along that Evan idolised Cooper. How could she have put her little
boy’s heart at risk?

‘It’s a great shot. That magazine sells all over the world, which is exactly where the Malone surf gear is selling. Love that.’

Maggie pulled out a chair and sat. ‘I hear you’re going back to Sydney with Cooper at the end of the month.’

Alfie sipped his tea and smacked his lips. ‘Yeah, he’s got the wedding, and we’ve got some other business to sort out while he’s down under.
While this damn turn of affairs with his knee is bloody unlucky, turns out it’s not so unlucky for Callum. Since Cooper can’t do Hawaii and Bell’s Beach this year, he can be in Sydney for the wedding.’

Maggie stilled. Cooper hadn’t said a word about pulling out of any competitions. ‘He’s not competing?’

‘Not with that knee, he’s not.’

‘I didn’t think it was that …’ Maggie took a deep breath.
She knew Cooper better than he clearly thought and in that moment, in the space of just one sentence from Alfie, she knew that Cooper had been hiding the truth from her. ‘When can he get back on a board then?’

Alfie looked at her, serious now. ‘I dunno, Maggie. I’m waiting for him to tell me, which is kind of why I’m here today. He hasn’t been answering my calls all weekend. Something’s up with
our boy. Do you know what it is?’

‘Does she know what?’

Maggie and Alfie looked up. Cooper stood in the doorway, wearing board shorts, a T-shirt and an expression dark as a winter storm. His keys and his phone were in one hand. The fingers on his other hand were drumming on this thigh.

‘Ah,’ Alfie said, looking up to his friend and client. ‘Mate. I was just having a discussion with Maggie here
about Sydney and the wedding.’

Cooper clearly wasn’t in the mood for the joke. ‘What are you doing here, Alfie?’

The vase full of flowers caught his eye and then he glanced at Maggie. ‘And where did those come from?’

Maggie looked from one man to the other. They were having a conversation full of subtext that she couldn’t quite grasp. ‘Alfie brought them.’ She paused, considered for half a
second if she should say anything, and then just said it anyway. ‘He says you’ve pulled out of Hawaii and Bell’s this year.’

Cooper said nothing.

‘You haven’t been answering my calls, Coop. I came here to talk to Maggie and find out what’s been going on.’

Cooper’s mouth tightened into a line, his jaw clenched. He looked furious and about to fight, like a cornered feral cat. ‘What have you told
her?’ Cooper demanded of Alfie.

‘Not much of anything since I don’t know much of anything. But, mate, I think it’s time you told us the truth. It’s been almost two weeks. You need to come clean about what the doctor said. I need to get some plans in place, Coop. What’s the real story about that knee?’

Maggie felt herself begin to shake and put her coffee cup on the table, fearing she would spill
it. She got that subtext now. Cooper was hanging on to a secret so big that he hadn’t even told Alfie. She clasped her hands together and pressed hard. What had Cooper been hiding from Alfie? What had Cooper been hiding from her?

‘Fuck,’ Cooper said under his breath.

‘Cooper?’ Maggie’s eyes pricked and tears welled. He glanced at her, and she saw a flash of shock and something else cross his
eyes, then he turned, as if he was going to walk away. But instead, he dropped his chin, looked down at his knee for a long moment and turned his face back to them. The look there floored her. He looked lost. He hobbled over to the table, pulled out a chair and sat down, wincing as he lowered himself.

His voice was low, deliberate, pained. ‘You want to know the real story about my knee, Alfie?’

‘You bloody well bet I do,’ Alfie answered seriously. All the Cockney charm had drained from his tone. Maggie held her breath. The room became very quiet and her heart was pounding so loud in her chest she thought the whole world would be able to hear it.

‘It’s fucked, that’s what it is. The Doc told me I need to stay out of the water for at least twelve months of rehab.’ His voice was shredded
and raw. When Maggie looked at him, she could feel hot tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘Oh, Cooper.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Alfie exclaimed and stared at his friend.

‘My language was a little more creative than that when she told me. And, Alfie, you don’t need me to explain what that really means, do you?’

Alfie shook his head ruefully. ‘No, I don’t.’

The two men exchanged glances and both looked down
at the table. Alfie into his cup of tea, Cooper at nothing.

‘But I do,’ Maggie blurted out, her voice hitching on a sob. ‘Tell me, Cooper. What does it mean?’

He reached for her and covered her hands with one of his. ‘It means my career is over, Maggie.’

Maggie’s head swam, churned, and she felt sick. She didn’t care one bit about his career at that moment. What she realised was that Cooper
had been holding on to this secret, this painful truth, for nearly two weeks and hadn’t told her. Had she been nothing but a distraction for him all this time? Had she imagined how he was feeling about her? Whatever the reason: the man she loved didn’t trust her enough to tell her the truth.

She’d thought that sleeping together had brought them closer together, but it had only driven them further
apart.

The realisation was gutting. She’d been nothing but a way for him to avoid his pain. She felt shattered. Empty.

Alfie pushed back his chair and stood. He quickly glanced in Maggie’s direction. ‘Thanks for the tea, Maggie. I’ll get going. I’ve suddenly got a lot of work to do.’ As he passed her, he kissed the top of her head and squeezed her shoulder.

‘See you, Alfie,’ she managed.

‘Cooper why don’t you see me out?’

*

‘You think this
is easy for me?’ Cooper demanded at the front gate. He couldn’t have it out with Alfie in front of Maggie. He’d managed to hold it together until they reached the street.

‘For fuck’s sake, Coop. I was your friend a long time before I was your manager. And I thought I was still your
mate. Why have you kept this to yourself? News like this has implications. Far-reaching implications.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get what’s owed to you.’

Alfie fumed, his red cheeks bright against his pale English skin, still white no matter how many summers he’d spent in the sun by Cooper’s side, hustling and hassling for him, minding and mediating.

‘Now you are really being a dick.
As if I give a flying toss about that. You aren’t just a surfer anymore, Coop. You’re a brand and a business. If you want that to keep going, to keep employing people, then we’ve got to plan this announcement. If you really mean it that you’re retiring.’

‘I’m retiring.’ The words were bitter in Cooper’s mouth. It was a truth he’d been trying to come to terms with since he’d got the news: he was
thirty-four years old and he was done.

He thought of his brothers. Callum had his successful career as CEO of Malone Enterprises and their older brother, Chris, was running the Malone Foundation, a charitable organisation that helped children in need all over the world. Cal had bounced back from a divorce and found love with Ava, and Chris had married Ellie and found a career he was passionate
about.

Maybe it was the year that all the Malone men had to make life-changing decisions. He had options out of the water. He had his inheritance and his earnings from surfing, and he and Alfie had built a business that was growing and successful. And maybe, just maybe, he would have Maggie and Evan. Not to fill in the gap in his life that surfing had left behind, but to fill the hole in his
heart he’d been nursing since Bali.

Alfie reached out his hand and Cooper shook it. ‘Okay, then. You’re retiring. Bloody hell, I’m finding it hard to say those words out loud. But I already have a plan.’

Cooper dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Damn it, Alfie, I’m still actually coming to terms with this myself and now you want me to announce it to the whole world?’

‘Hear me out. I think you
should do it back in Sydney when you’re there for your brother’s wedding. That’ll give me enough time to flesh this out, talk to the PR people, our investors, set up the news conference, stage a few strategic leaks with the sporting press, you know the drill.’

Cooper flinched. He couldn’t help it. It had been real in his head for nearly two weeks. Now, with Alfie outlining a strategy, it was
concrete. ‘Let me think about it. I need some time.’

‘Okay. You get some time. But not much. Wheels are in motion, mate.’ Alfie nudged him with an elbow as he slipped on his sunglasses. ‘And for what it’s worth, I reckon that announcing it to the whole world’s gonna be a piece of cake compared with explaining it to your woman.’