The Handsome Stranger - Part 4

All characters are consenting adults (18+)

“Don’t stay up too late” Mom said, kissing me on the head.

The strong scent of her freshly sprayed perfume lingered, even after I’d jerked away from her.

“Mom” I sighed, “I’m eighteen”.

“I know you’re eighteen, Cooper!” She snapped, fixing her hair in the mirror, “but you’re still my little baby boy!”

Across the living room, Austin sniggered to himself. Mom didn’t hear it, but I shot a cold glare in his direction.

Dad appeared a few minutes later, and I had to admit, he looked quite handsome in a suit that I hadn’t seen him wearing in years. It was a little tighter now, than it had been back then, but they both looked good.

“Austin, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen” Mom said, “and Cooper, please don’t stay up all night, you know what you get like–”

“I know, Mom!” I barked, and she kissed me again before bidding farewell. I sat back, doing my best to ignore Austin as the car pulled out of the drive, but the moment my eyes flicked over to him, I noticed the big shit-eating grin.

“What’s so funny?” I growled, and he shrugged his shoulders. “Well then why are you laughing?!”

“I’m not laughing” he laughed.

“You are laughing!”

“Nope”.

I knew that if I continued the conversation then I’d end up losing my shit, so I shook my head and scrolled through my phone. I wasn’t even looking at anything, and my mind was firmly on how much I fucking hated Austin, but I kept my head down until he laughed again.

“What?!” I snapped.

“You’re still my little baby boy” Austin beamed, mimicking my mom’s voice.

“Shut up”.

“Aw, what’s wrong, little baby boy?”

“Dude, can you just fucking grow up?” I spat.

“Does the little baby boy need his diaper changed?” He goaded, still cackling to himself.

I knew that if I started a physical fight with the guy that he’d ultimately beat my ass and I’d probably still be the one blamed for it, so instead, I took a deep breath and got to my feet.

“Where are you going?” He asked, but I ignored him and walked out of the living room. “Dude!” He called, but I continued to ignore him. “Cooper, I’m fuckin’ with you, man!”.

By the time I reached my bedroom and slammed the door shut, his voice had finally been drowned out. What the fuck was it with this guy? It was almost like he was purposely trying to make me lose my fucking mind! I mean, what had I done to make him hate me so much? I’d been nothing but nice to the guy from the moment I met him.

Once again, I lay back on my bed and sighed. This was why I preferred my own company. People were assholes, and Austin was a perfect example of that.

“Cooper”.

I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. Was he ever going to just leave me alone?

“Cooper, I’m sorry” he said from outside my bedroom door. “I was just playing with you, man. I’m sorry if you took it the wrong way”.

That was it. The rage inside me had finally bubbled over, and I couldn’t help myself anymore. I leapt from my bed, rushed across the room and dragged the door open.

“You can’t even fucking apologise properly!” I roared, and swung my fist toward him.

It felt like it happened in slow motion. My arm soared through the air, but it was too late to stop it now. I began to regret the punch before it had even landed, and then I felt the bone crushing blow as my fist smacked into his solid face, and a brutal pain darted right through my arm.

“Fuck!” I gasped, grabbing my wrist as Austin stood there, completely unmoving, and watched as I groaned and clutched my hand, which was almost certainly broken. “You fucking idiot!” I whimpered, barely able to hold back the hot tears as I turned around and bent forward in agony.

“Uh… You punched me” he laughed. He actually laughed!

I glared back at him. If my fist wasn’t slowly swelling up, I would have punched him again, but as I looked at him, I realised that even with all of my strength, I hadn’t left a single fucking mark on him.

“Let me see it” he said, and walked into the room after me.

“No!” I snapped, “just get the fuck out!”

“Stop being such a brat” he said, and spun me around, “let me see it”.

I winced as the throbbing pain continued to shoot up my arm. I’d never broken a bone before, but this certainly felt close to what I expected it to feel like.

“Can you open it?” He asked, holding my arm up. As soon as I tried, the pain became worse. “Yeah” he nodded, “it’s broken”.

“Fuck!”

“That’s what happens when you punch people” he said, “come on, we’ll get some ice on it”.

I didn’t want to listen to him, but ice sounded like the best possible solution. He held my arm in place and walked me back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Here” he said, and reached for the bottom of my long sleeved shirt.

“What are you doing?”

He looked at me like I was an idiot. “Taking off your shirt?”

“W… Why?”

“Uh… You’ve just broken your wrist and it needs ice?”

My mind was blurred from the pain, so instead of arguing with him again, I simply lowered my head and felt the fabric being pulled over my torso, and eased down my arm. A rush of embarrassment filled me as I stood there, shirtless, and compared myself to him.

“This was your fault” I reminded him, as he took out a bag of frozen peas and wrapped them in my shirt.

“Is that right?”

“Yeah, it is!” I spat, and gasped as he held the ice down on my wrist. “That hurts!”

“Well yeah” he smiled, “broken bones usually do”.

I was glad that I had managed to stop myself from crying, but the pain wasn’t easing, and one wrong move would set me off.

“Take these” he said, finding the painkillers and dropping two of them into my hand. I watched in pain as he filled a glass of water and set it down on the table. Once again, I didn’t want to take Austin’s advice, but I had little choice, so I swallowed down the pills and waited for the pain to ease a little.

“I’m gonna’ have to go to the hospital, aren’t I?” I sighed.

“Yep”.

“Yep?”

“Yep”.

I shook my head again. Did he not realise that he was the reason that I’d punched him, so in turn, he was the reason I’d broken my wrist?!

“Why do you hate me?” I blurted, and almost regretted it as much as the punch.

Austin looked at me as he sat opposite, and cocked a brow.

“Hate you?”

I’d already said it, so there wasn’t much point in backing off now.

“Yeah” I winced, “you’re constantly saying shit to piss me off”.

“Maybe you’re just easily pissed off then”.

“No… I’m not!”

“Are you pissed off now?” He asked, with that smug smile.

“Well, yeah, but that’s because–”

“Were you pissed off when I called you Coop?”

“Well… Yeah but–”

“Were you pissed off when I got your parents a dinner reservation?”

“Yeah but–”

“You seem to be pissed off quite a lot, then”.

I scowled. It was becoming increasingly clear that Austin had zero self awareness, and what was the point in arguing with him over it?

“Maybe you’re right” he said eventually, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

“I am? I mean… I am”.

“I guess I’m not used to families like this” he said. “You’re lucky, you know that?”

“Lucky?” I scoffed, “my brother’s gone and my parents are so broke that they have to… Well, so you’re here”.

“Yeah” he nodded, and leaned forward to check my wrist, “lucky”.

Austin found some bandages a little while later, and wrapped my wrist tight. It felt pretty strange as he did it. Despite his strong, solid body, his touch was surprisingly gentle.

“Come on” he said, helping me to my feet.

“Where?”

“Bed” he grinned, “your mom won’t be happy if her little baby boy is awake all night”.

I glared at him and his smile faltered. “Sorry” he said, “habit”.

I decided to let him away with it. I was going to need as much sleep as I could get if I was to spend the next day in the emergency room, so when we got to my bedroom, I dropped onto the bed and Austin stood over me.

Without asking, the young man reached down and pulled off both of my shoes.

“What are you doing?” I asked, as he peeled one of my socks off. He looked at me like I was the weird one.

“Do you usually sleep in your clothes?” He scoffed, and threw my own sock at me.

“I’m not paralysed” I growled, and reached for my other sock before the pain stopped me in my tracks. “Fuck” I groaned, and Austin smirked.

“Now quit whining” he said, and dragged my second sock off, before shoving me back onto the bed until I was looking up at the ceiling. It only registered with me what he was doing, when he was already doing it.

“W… Wait!” I gasped, but my pants were already down to my knees, and Austin paused and stared at me.

“What now?”

I couldn’t believe it. Austin was stripping me down, and now I lay there wearing just my underwear, and he didn’t seem even remotely bothered.

“Uh… N… Nothing” I swallowed, and he yanked my pants off and hung them over my chair.

“Get in” he said, pulling the covers back, and I timidly crawled in and let him cover me over.

“I’ll tell your old man that you slipped on the stairs” he said, standing over me. “Unless you want to tell him that you punched me?”

“Stairs is fine” I sighed, and Austin nodded before turning and walking back toward the door.

“Sorry” I said, because even though I’d been furious, I hadn’t meant to actually hit him.

“Sorry for what?” He grinned, “you’re the one going to hospital”.

He closed the door after him, and the room became dark. I lay there, ignoring the pain and shaking my head. I’d been doing that a lot lately, but as I closed my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe he wasn’t as much of an asshole as I thought.

Maybe.