Elijah (The Cooper Brothers Book 1)

  Copyright © Nikki Ashton 2019

  All Rights Reserved ©

  Elijah

  Published by Bubble Books Ltd

  The right of Nikki Ashton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A reviewer may quote brief passages for review purposes only

  This book may not be resold or given away to other people for resale. Please purchase this book from a recognised retailer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Elijah

  First published February 2019

  All Rights Reserved ©

  Cover design – Graphics by Tammy

  Formatting by— Formatting by Tammy

  Edited by – Brooke Bowen Hebert

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This book is for those of you who got their second chance.

  Elijah

  “When my heart met yours, it knew”

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Playlist

  Amy

  aged 17

  As Mr Jacobs turned back to the board, I risked a look to my right. Sure enough, Elijah Cooper was looking right back at me. His lips turned into a huge smile and his eyes crinkled with amusement. I quickly looked back down at my history text book, continuing to read all about Churchill.

  At least I tried to read it, but my mind was on Elijah, the boy who sat two desks down from me in my History class. In fact, my mind had been on Elijah since the start of our first day of sixth form, when he’d joined from another school. With dark hair, big brown eyes and golden tanned skin, he was gorgeous, and my stomach had not stopped loop the looping from the moment I set eyes upon him. I wasn’t the only one. Apparently, he’d already been on a ‘date’ with Lauren Proctor – and we all knew what sort of date that would be. I liked Lauren, she was kind of a friend, as we had the same art class, but keeping her legs together was not her forte.

  I sighed and continued to discover how Mr Churchill implemented a prison reform guide, during his time as Home Secretary. I was so engrossed in reading and listening to the faint hum of Mr Jacob’s monotone lecture in the background, I failed to realise that Vicky Smith who sat next to me had swapped places with Elijah.

  “Hey,” he whispered, leaning into me. “You fancy going out for a pizza tonight?”

  My head swivelled so fast I felt a crack in my neck. “W-what?” Was my startled reply.

  “Fancy going out for a pizza tonight?”

  “Me?” I asked, struggling to catch my breath.

  Elijah flashed his teeth in a smile. “Well there’s no one else in this conversation, so yeah, you.”

  “But I thought you were going out with Lauren.”

  He shook his head and furrowed his brow while he stared at me, and I felt sure he could see the pulse in my neck, my blood was flowing so fast and hard.

  “No,” he replied. “We went bowling with a few others from her drama group, but that’s it. Why, who told you that?”

  Well, Lauren had told the whole school to be honest, but I wasn’t going to say that.

  “Just something I heard.”

  “Well, I’m not…” Elijah paused and looked to the front of the class where Mr. Jacobs had stopped talking and was back to writing on the board. “So, do you?”

  I studied his face, looking for some sort of sign that he was taking the piss out of me, but he looked genuine. I quickly looked around the room, checking that his friends Lucas and Alex weren’t egging him on; but they had their heads down, scribbling away in their notebooks.

  “Okay,” I said. Feeling queasy and with more than a little trepidation, I held my breath, waiting for the peel of laughter that said he was joking.

  “Sick,” he said, breathing out what sounded like a sigh of relief. “Give me your phone.”

  Without questioning him, I handed over my mobile and watched as he keyed in a number and then started to text someone.

  “Who you texting?” I hissed, looking up at Mr Jacobs.

  “Me. That way you know it’s my real number.” Elijah grinned and turned his phone to me as it vibrated softly on his desk.

  I looked at the text and slapped a hand to my mouth to stop the giggle coming out and bringing us to Mr Jacob’s attention.

  Amy: Are you as hot as you look?

  Elijah gave a little smirk and picking his phone up, began texting. I retrieved mine from his desk and waited in anticipation. A couple of seconds later, a text reply popped up on my screen.

  Elijah: You can tell me later when I’ve kissed you

  I gasped, and my gaze shot to his.

  “Do we have a problem, Amy?” Mr Jacobs called from the front of the class.

  Without taking my eyes from Elijah, who was now looking at the board, I shook my head. “No, sir.”

  “Good, so let’s put the phone away, shall we? You too, Elijah and in future please conduct your romance outside of my class.”

  I was about to protest that there was no romance, but before I had the chance, Elijah sat back in his chair, put his arm around the back of mine and said, “Sorry sir, but she’s just too gorgeous to ignore.”

  As the rest of the class responded with a mixture of laughs, sighs, and groans, I swallowed and put a hand to my swirling stomach, all the while feeling Elijah’s thumb rubbing my shoulder.

  Elijah

  aged 17

  Fucking hell, Amy Brown said yes to going for a pizza with me. Get in!

  I’d fancied her from the minute I spotted her chatting outside History with her friend Rachel – I’d fantasised about her since then too. That first time I saw her, she was leaning against the wall and playing with her hair as she laughed at something Rachel had said and as she did, my dick twitched behind the confines of my grey school trousers. It was hardly surprising though, she was wet dream level of beautiful. Pretty, sparkli
ng eyes like the colour of the brandy my dad had stashed in the cupboard and hair the colour of cinnamon, were the icing on the cake of her hot little bod. Even from a distance I could see the curve of perfectly round tits and the jut of a full, delicious arse. I’d seen her eyeing me up a few times during classes, so today I’d grown a pair and asked her out. I wasn’t nervous, just didn’t fancy the idea of being turned down in front of twenty other people. Today was the right time and Amy Brown agreed to go on a date with me.

  As she packed up her bag at the end of the lesson, she threw me a shy smile and I felt a stirring in my pants – again. I’d already whacked off to images of her in my head when I’d had a shower, and if it wasn’t so disgustingly awkward, I’d have nipped off to the boys’ lavs to go another round with my hand.

  “I’ll pick you up at seven,” I said, cupping her elbow. “Text me your address.”

  “I can meet you, save you walking all the way to my house.” Her cheeks pinked a little and she looked down to zip up her bag.

  “I can borrow my brother’s car.”

  “You’ve passed your test already?” she asked, her tawny-coloured eyes going wide.

  I nodded. “Yeah, a couple of months after my seventeenth. To be fair, my brother had been taking me around the DIY store’s car park for a while, so I found it pretty easy.” I mentally rolled my eyes at myself – how to sound like an arrogant fucker to the girl you’re desperate to get some full-on tongue action with.

  She smiled and everything inside me went warm while my boxers went a little bit tighter. Fuck it, I was going to have to go home for lunch and spank one out. If I had to last all afternoon with a boner, I’d likely pass out from lack of blood to every other part of my body. The fucking joys of being a hormonal seventeen-year-old who’d had one, very poor, sexual experience.

  “Okay,” she replied. “But maybe meet me at the end of the street.”

  “Your mum and dad don’t like you seeing boys?” I asked.

  “It’s not that. They’re really nosy and are likely to come out to the car and ask you loads of questions, it’s just easier if I meet you.”

  Amy shrugged as if to say ‘parents, hey’ and then hitched her bag up onto her shoulder.

  “Okay, great. See you later.”

  “Bye,” she whispered with a little grin, as she moved past me and out of the classroom.

  As I watched her go, I heard Lucas shouting to me from the doorway.

  “Eli, come on, or there’ll be no decent food left.”

  I scratched at the back of my neck with one hand as I picked up my backpack with the other. “You go,” I called back. “I forgot my biology text book, I need to nip home.”

  “Okay, you want me to come with you?” he asked, taking a step into the classroom.

  “Nah, I’ll see you in Business later.”

  Lucas nodded and waved a hand as he disappeared, leaving me to ponder whether I could get two wanks in before I needed to get back to school.

  Amy

  aged 28

  “Please tell me that truck does not belong to who I think it does?” I hissed at Claudia, my assistant.

  “It doesn’t belong to who you think it does,” she deadpanned.

  “It fucking is his, isn’t it?” I stopped walking up the long, cobbled drive and threw my portfolio and handbag onto the ground, stamped my foot and thrust my hands – fisted ones, I should add – to my hips.

  “You told me to tell you it wasn’t.” Claudia sighed and bent down to retrieve my discarded portfolio. “So, I did.”

  “It was a rhetorical question, not a statement.”

  “Sorry. Yes, it’s Elijah Cooper’s truck.”

  “Fucker!”

  “What happened to the quiet little Amy that I once knew?” Claudia asked.

  “I had laryngitis and couldn’t speak, it hardly made me a different person.” I took the portfolio from Claudia and picked up my bag.

  “You tricked me by conducting my interview using mime and a wipe board and I only took the job because I thought it’d be nice and quiet.”

  I threw her a glare and continued up the driveway, feeling my intestines knotting themselves together at the prospect of seeing Elijah again. It had been over five years, but it didn’t make it any less painful.

  “We may as well get it over and done with,” I muttered, pulling my bag higher on my shoulder and then smoothing down my tight, black pencil skirt.

  “He may just be visiting or dropping a quote off. It doesn’t mean he’s got the job,” Claudia offered.

  “No,” I sighed. “He’s got the job. I’ll bet my Fendi handbag on it.”

  “It’s bloody hideous anyway,” Claudia said. “So, it’d be no loss.”

  “I know but I bought it with his money, so it was well worth it.”

  With a wink at Claudia, I took the last few steps and stopped in front of the huge, wooden, double front door. I was here to do a job and I’d damn well do it, whether Elijah was here or not.

  I was an interior designer, a job that I adored, and was bloody good at, with a steadily growing list of clients. I’d originally worked for a very exclusive department store, in London, the green one that rhymed with…well it didn’t rhyme with anything, but you know which one. Let’s just say I’d helped design interiors for Kings, Queens, rich oil Sheiks, and Premier League footballers. Three years living in London however, was, I’d say, one too many. I was absolutely knackered by it all and towards the end was sleeping for almost thirty-six hours of a forty-eight-hour weekend. Hence, I’d come back home to the North West and set up my own business. I hadn’t moved back to my hometown, choosing to rent an apartment on the outskirts of Manchester, but when my Dad had another heart scare, which luckily turned out to be a false alarm, I realised I needed to be near my family. About two months ago, I bought a small town house a ten minute drive from my parents.

  Luckily, when I first started my business, an old friend, Holly, wanted some help designing a new interior for the hotel she owned with her husband, Liam, and their business partner, so I had my first client. It all snowballed quickly. Liam was friends with a couple of members of the band Dirty Riches and one of them was building a house to sell on, and as he and his wife were too busy, he employed me to do the interior design. After that, the work rolled in and after only a year, I employed Claudia to help me. Eight months on from that and I’d landed the job of designing the interior of a house built for the Premiership Footballer, Faustino ‘Tino’ Grimaldi and his wife Sophie. Apparently, as Sophie was seven months pregnant and still working as a solicitor, she’d insisted Tino employ someone to decorate all the interior of the large, Italian Renaissance style house that he’d had built for them, their two, soon to be three children, and two llamas. There was seemingly a story attached to the llamas, but I was still to find out what it was. The designer they’d originally employed had let them down only three days before, so I’d been brought in to save the day, and this was only my second time at seeing the house. Lucky for them I’d had a cancellation - a banker in Didsbury whose wife had decided decorating the house wouldn’t save their marriage.

  As the house had been built between farmland and woods, the garden was…well there wasn’t one, the only part of the grounds that had been completed was the driveway up to the house, which was, I assumed, why Elijah’s truck was parked there. He was a landscape gardener and once upon a time, we’d dreamed of going into business together – him transforming the outside, while I beautified the inside. It never happened and now it looked as though I was going to have to work with him after all. I supposed I should have counted myself lucky I hadn’t bumped into him before in the last few months. I guess it was because I’d barely socialised since I’d come back home and any spare time I had was spent working. Now though, I had to deal with finally seeing him.

  “If I go to grab something heavy, take it off me,” I told Claudia, over my shoulder. “I don’t want to be arrested for assault.”

  “Yep
, no problem.”

  Claudia only knew what I’d told her about Elijah, but safe to say there wasn’t much good in there, so I was pretty sure she’d let me have a ten second head start before she stopped me from maiming him in any way.

  Letting out a long breath, I lifted my hand and knocked on the door, using the ornate knocker shaped like a llama’s head.

  After a few seconds it flung open and I was faced with Tino, looking a little like a country squire. He was wearing tweed trousers, a checked shirt, and a tweed jacket – none of which matched.

  “Amy, bella. You are ‘ere. Come in, please enter my ‘ome.”

  Tino ushered Claudia and I into the huge hall with its bare plaster walls and concrete floor. Cables were hanging down from the ceiling and light switch points and the wood of the impressive wood and glass staircase was untreated – I had a bloody huge job on my hands with this one. Usually there were at least lights and switches already in place.

  “Sophie, she want to be ‘ere to see you,” Tino said apologetically. “But she ‘ave, what you call them…the piles, that is it. ‘Er arse it really ‘urt.”