The Good Girl Boxer

Chapter 21

"Cooper?" I stared at what appeared to be my older brother standing ten feet away from me, alive.

He took a step forward and I took one back. Noticing my reaction he remained where he was. "Hey Daytona. I've missed you."

"No." I shook my head at him and turned to leave, "You're not Cooper. He's dead. This is just a nightmare." I heard his footsteps approaching and then a hand grabbed my arm.

"Does this feel like a dream Daytona? Look at me. I'm your brother. I'm here." I could hear him struggling to keep his voice even.

I spun around and looked into his eyes, "If you're my brother then where was the place I went to for my sixth birthday?"

I searched his eyes to see gauge his reaction, "No where. You decided to stay home because you had come down with the flu. But since it was your birthday, I tried to bake you a cake but accidentally burnt it instead."

Tears filled my eyes and I scrunched my eyebrows together. My voice came out barely above a whisper, "It's really you isn't it?"

He nodded his head and he smiled, "Yeah. It's really me."

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as if there was no tommorow. "Where the hell have you been? Wait no, I saw you die. What the hell Cooper?"

I stepped back a little frustrated. For the past two years I've gone through hell and back twice because everyone thought he died.

"It's a long story, and it's not meant for tonight." His mouth set into a grim line and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No you can't say that it's not meant for tonight! Do you know the hell I've had to endure because you weren't here? Because you were dead? No there's no way you possibly could." Tears filled my eyes again and a single one trailed down. I swatted it away before it could fall past my nose and I rubbed at my eyes to prevent more from falling.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but you have to promise to not tell anyone I'm back okay? No one must know." His voice was deadly serious and I shivered.

I thought about what would happen to me if I didn't tell anyone. I would carry around more guilt then I already did, the chances were my father would most likely continue to beat me, and who knew what else.

But at the same time, something told me that if I whispered a word of this to anyone else that I wouldn't see my brother again for a very long time, or worse, never again.

"Fine. I promise not to tell. Now, where have you been?" I laid down on the grass, looking up at the stars.

Cooper laid down next to me, "That night someone very dangerous was following us. They wanted to get back at me for something I did, and since they now knew about you, you were in danger. So to protect you I had to disappear. I had to die." He took a breath and let it go, "I purposely crashed the bike, not enough to hurt you, but enough that no one would question how I got died and how you walked away without any major injuries. Then I disappeared."

"Who were you running from?" I turned to my side and he did the same.

"Do you know the Loaded Guns?"

I sat straight up, "The Loaded Guns? As in Colton's gang?"

He sat up too, "Wait you know him?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, he raced a few of my friends over me."

"Wait," he sat up even straighter, "He raced a few of your friends, and you went to whoever the winner was?"

"Well kind of. He wanted me but Logan and Jordan raced so he can't mess with me anymore." Cooper jumped up and paced in the grass.