Intercepting Love (Second Chances #5)(53)

When we got to the end of the track, Cooper smiled at me and walked away with Brianna so I could talk to Derek. “Do we need to go to the locker room?” he asked.

“No,” I blurted out, maybe a little too loudly. I laid out a few towels on to the bench so it wouldn’t be so hard, and pointed to it. “Here is fine.”

He looked around and focused on Brianna and Cooper before lying down, stomach first. “Okay, which leg is it?”

“My right one, back here,” he said, pointing to the upper back part of his thigh.

I massaged his leg, trying to gauge if it was a hamstring strain, and never once did he squirm or complain. “Are you sure I’m in the right spot?” I asked.

Sheepishly, he looked at me over his shoulder. “Don’t be mad at me, but there’s something I wanted to ask you and I didn’t know of any other way to get you alone.”

Removing my hands, I placed them on my hip and glared down at him. “Please don’t tell me you lied about your leg so you could ask me out?”

Derek bolted upright and shook his head. “No, that’s not it at all.”

“Really? Then what is it? Because that’s not what Brianna said. She told me you were asking about me and Cooper.”

Closing his eyes, he groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Shit, I knew I shouldn’t have done that. When I tried to talk to her the other day I froze up, and when I looked away I saw you and Cooper. To cover up my fumble I asked how serious you two were. I wasn’t meaning it that I was interested in you, but I guess that’s how it came off. She’s going to think I’m a f*cking idiot.”

Chuckling, I sat down beside him and elbowed him in the side. It was a relief to know he wasn’t interested in me. I liked Derek, and the last thing I wanted was to think he had anything to do with what happened to Cooper; especially when they seemed so close.

“She’s not going to think you’re an idiot. I’m almost positive that if you asked her out she’d say yes.”

His eyes sparkled when he peered over at her. “You think?”

“Oh, I know. Although, I never took you for the shy type.”

He snorted. “Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard not to be around Brianna. She’s different from the other girls. Over time you just want a change … a woman that doesn’t want you for your title or your money. It’s hard to find that sometimes.”

“I don’t exactly have that problem since I’m not famous or anything, but I know what you mean. Brianna is a beautiful girl, inside and out, and the sweetest one at that. That’s why I choose to spend my time with her.”

Derek smiled as he watched Brianna talking to Cooper, her hands waving animatedly in the air when she spoke; she loved to talk with her hands. “That’s how I knew she was a genuine person,” he said, glancing back at me. “I knew you wouldn’t be around her if she wasn’t.”

Before Cooper and Brianna headed back our way, I stood up quickly and said, “Ask her out, Derek. I know she’s single, so get to it before someone else beats you to it.”

“Is your leg better, pansy?” Cooper joked, slapping him on the shoulder.

Smiling wide at Brianna, I winked and pushed her toward Derek. “He’s all better now … I think. He just needs to stretch his legs out a little more. Brianna, you’re good at that, so why don’t you show him how you do it?”

“Okay,” she stammered awkwardly, glancing back and forth between us all. Grabbing my bag off the ground, I took Cooper’s hand and led him to the stands so we could take a break. I pulled out a protein bar and a bottle of water and handed it to him.

“What was that all about?” he asked, nodding toward Brianna and Derek.

Opening a bottle of water, I took a sip and broke off a bite of my protein bar. “Well, Brianna happened to tell me that Derek and Jaxon had asked how serious you and I were. I thought that was kind of strange since no one has ever shown interest in me. Anyway, I talked to Derek and got that situation all sorted out. Jaxon, however, has never really shown interest in me. Do you ever talk to him?”

Cooper shrugged and glared at him on the field. “Not really. He tends to stick to himself. I’ll talk to him and see how he acts around me.”

“Don’t do it yet,” I pleaded. “Let me talk to the police first about the fingerprints. I would hate for you to scare the poor guy and him not have anything to do with this.”

“Has anyone called you yet?”

“I’m not sure,” I remarked hastily, rummaging through my bag. As soon as I found my phone, I noticed I had two missed calls. They were both from the number Officer Stilwell called me from yesterday.

I had a voicemail to listen to, so I punched in my password and hoped my heart would stop its incessant pounding so I could hear the message.

“Ms. Townsend, this is Officer Stilwell. We have the results from the fingerprints and I really think you should come down to the station so we can discuss matters further. One of our lead detectives, Sam Lennox, has been brought in and he wants to talk to you as well. If you would please give me a call back so that I can arrange a time for all of us to sit down and talk that would be great.”

My fingers shook as I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. “What did the message say?” Cooper asked.