Chapter 138: Eavesdropping Is Hard Work

COOPER

Avery turned out to be a hard worker, never hesitating when asked to do literally anything. Pick up garbage? Clear away branches and anything that might impede the work of others? No problem; she was on it, finishing whatever task in record time before asking ‘what’s next?’

“She’s a machine,” Steve, one of the other workers, commented while taking a quick water break. “Where’d you find her, Coop? And can I get me one of them too?”

A flash of annoyance raced through Cooper at the comment but was quickly pushed aside. “Not worth it,” he responded. “Trust me on that.”

“Hey now, that’s not nice,” Morgan, the third man who finished up what would usually be a four man — today a three man and one woman — crew admonished him. “She’s doing twice the work Jeremy would have done if he was here. We’ll probably finish early cause of her.”

“Maybe we should think about hiring her on,” Morgan continued with a grin. “Could get twice as much work done in half the time.”

“She’s real nice to look at too,” Steve commented, winking at Cooper who suddenly found himself want to rip the man apart.

“I can hear you,” came Avery’s voice as she, shovel in hand, straightened and turned to face them. “Might wanna watch what you say while I’m holding a potential weapon, boys.”

“Ouch,” laughed Steve. “She’s sassy.”

Avery took a step in their direction, causing the man to raise his hands in defeat.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

Cooper was still feeling some kind of way over how the two humans were discussing Avery but refused to delve into it further. They were there to work and this sort of conversation wasn’t conducive to work. That’s all it was, he told himself. Nothing more. They weren’t there to discuss how good Avery looked, even when sweaty from physical labour, grass stains on her clothes…

Scowling, Cooper turned away and got back to his own work in the hopes of distracting himself from unwanted thoughts about a certain she-wolf.

The job was suppose to take them well into the evening, what with Jeremy off, but, because of Avery’s can-do attitude and incredible work ethic, they managed to finish up in time for dinner.

At that point Cooper found himself feeling annoyed with the she-wolf because whenever she’d addressed him throughout the day it’d always been about work. Which was great — perfect — and exactly what he’d wanted. So why was he feeling so frustrated when she’d done nothing wrong? For acting exactly how he’d hoped she would?

After Avery’s threat of coming after them with a shovel, the two humans had stopped gossiping but it hadn’t stopped Steve from giving her glances throughout the day — all of which Cooper hadn’t missed. For her part, the she-wolf had ignored both of them as she toiled under the late summer sun.

“We should celebrate finishing early by getting dinner,” Morgan suggested as they packed up the equipment. “And to thank Avery for being the human equivalent of a bulldozer, since it wouldn’t have happened without her.”

Cooper felt his muscles clench at Avery’s name coming out of another man’s mouth but held back his growl. None of them knew who she was to him — hell, he’d never told anyone he was anything other than some weirdly strong human — and had no intention of changing that.

That said, he also wasn’t keen on having her stick around any longer than necessary which meant this ‘dinner’ wasn’t going to happen.

“Yeah, Avery, join us for dinner,” Steve chimed in, much to Cooper’s annoyance. “Let’s treat you to some good food for helping out! On Coop, of course.”

Oh hell no. Cooper was not going to get roped into this shit.

“You two are the ones inviting me,” Avery began, looking at the two humans with a smirk. “That means you’d both need to pay for it. I’m not making someone pay if they don’t want me there.”

“Coop wants you there, don’t you?,” Steve grinned as he turned to face Cooper, who was scowling.

“Don’t worry about it,” Avery told them with a wave of her hand. “I’d never let any of you pay for me anyway. I eat too much to let anyone cover my bill.”

“Coop?” Morgan prodded, giving Cooper a look that said, ‘just do the right thing already.’

Letting out a sigh, Cooper relented. “Alright. Fine. You should come for dinner with us, Avery.”

“Perfect! What kind of food do you like?” Steve was already on the move but Avery’s attention was locked on Cooper.

“You sure? I’d rather not impose.”

“It’s no imposition,” he grumbled. Truth was, both Morgan and Steve would never leave him alone if he didn’t agree and he didn’t want to deal with it. Giving in to this one thing would save him hours of listening to their whining.

“If you say so,” the she-wolf replied with a small nod. “I’m good with whatever, food-wise; I’m not picky.”

That meant they ended up at a pub where their unlimited wings were popular. ‘To keep Avery from breaking the bank with her appetite,’ was Steve’s reasoning. Cooper knew it probably had more to do with the price of beer than the mountain of wings. The sooner they ate, the sooner he could leave. There was only one day left of the breakfast deal before the she-wolf went on her way and it couldn’t be over fast enough.

Except Cooper found himself having fun. Even with Steve flirting with Avery — who was not putting up with it in any sense of the word, choosing to ignore everything that came out the human’s mouth — the atmosphere at the table was enjoyable.

The she-wolf proved to be good at socializing, laughing or poking fun at just the right times, in just the right way, to bring about more laughs — even from Cooper himself.

Time flew, food came and went, and beer flowed freely. Avery was true to her word, out eating the humans with ease, though she did fall short when it came to Cooper — no surprise there. She also held back on the beer after the first few rounds, nursing her drink over the course of an hour while the rest of them had no such compunction.

Things were beginning to die down when Avery’s phone rang, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Ohhh,” sang Steve, who was properly drunk at this point. “Is your lover calling you home?”

Avery didn’t even glance his way as she checked the caller ID before standing up. “Sorry; I need to take this. I’ll be right back.”

Cooper watched her go, the buzz of alcohol making him wonder who’d be calling her at this hour. As if invisible hands were controlling him, the wolf found himself on his feet, following his mate to the door. She’d wandered a little ways from pub where she leaning against the building before answering the call.

Not wanting to be seen, Cooper stayed in the alcove by the pub’s entrance, hiding him from view as he eavesdropped for reasons he’d rather not know.

“Hey,” Avery greeted whoever was calling, sounding happy. It made him bristle at the person on the other end of the call and how they were able to elicit that kind of reaction from the she-wolf. What if it was a man?

“Things are going, I guess.”

What things? What was going? It might have helped if he could hear the other side of the conversation but that would involve asking Avery to put the call on speaker — which in turn meant she’d know he was being weird and listening in.

“It wasn’t that bad, actually. Nothing I haven’t done before. One of the guys hasn’t gotten the hint to back off but I’d twist him into a pretzel if he tried anything.” A pause, then Avery let out a laugh. “As long as it works I won’t complain.”

Another pause, this time a bit longer, had Cooper wondering what the other person might be saying.

“I’m… not sure, if I’m being honest,” she said in a low voice. Actually, she sounded almost… sad. Defeated. Cooper frowned, wondering what could have brought about the change. He was under the impression Avery was a rather happy, up beat person who smiled more often than she didn’t; what was said to change that?

“…I don’t know. I want to say no but, if I’m being honest… I wouldn’t be surprised.” A moment of silence, then, “I know, and I appreciate your patience with me on this. I just… I’m kind of scared…”

Wait. Why was she scared? What was going on that made her feel scared? Cooper could feel his hackles begin to rise, a growl threatening to come out.

“Mmm. Yeah. It’s suppose to… it hurts, doesn’t it? What was it like for you?”

What was suppose to hurt? None of this made sense!

“Fair enough,” Avery whispered before taking a deep breath. “I’ll just deal with it when the time comes. Thanks again for everything.”

Cooper was too confused to move. It didn’t help that his brain was buzzing with alcohol, which only exacerbated his need to… to… what was he even feeling at this point? Annoyed, but not at Avery… Frustrated… but why? Why had he even bothered to listening in to her side of a phone call?

“Cooper… what are you doing?”

Brought back down to earth by Avery’s voice, Cooper glanced over to see her standing with arms crossed and giving him a look that screamed, ‘seriously?’