Intercepting Love (Second Chances #5)(67)

“Uh … no, he didn’t,” I replied skeptically. “Why were you going to call me tomorrow?”

She laughed. “I guess it was fate then. Bryan wants to do a follow up article on you now that you’ve transferred to another team. Would you be up for that?”

Wow, I believe it was fate. Now I could get my own story out there and redeem both Kate and myself.

“I would be honored,” I told her. “I think that’s actually what I need right now.”

“Great, I know it has to be a change for you being over in North Carolina instead of California. My husband and I bought a house in Nags Head just recently. We can always do the interview out there if you want instead of you coming out this way.”

“I would like that,” I said. Kate could come with me and we’d have a whole weekend away … that was if she still wanted to be with me after today.

“So what may I ask is the reason you called if Bryan hadn’t gotten to you first?” she asked curiously.

“Do you happen to know anyone who writes for The Star Report?”

She scoffed, “Unfortunately, yes. I know a couple of the journalists. Why do you ask? They didn’t do another article on you, did they?”

“I wish I could say they didn’t, but they did. Now everyone will know that the only NFL team that wanted me was the one coached by my uncle.”

She gasped. “Is that even true?”

“Yes,” I sighed, “it is. The truth is that no one wanted me after my injury. My uncle took a chance on me and brought me on. Believe me, it was an embarrassment for my family to know that I had fallen from grace.”

“No, you didn’t. You’re brilliant out on the field. Why do you think my magazine wanted to interview you? Do you honestly care what others think, especially TSR?”

Angrily, I ran a hand through my hair and huffed, “No, I don’t. I’m not going to lie, I used to care because I didn’t want to let down my family, but now I couldn’t give a shit. The only problem is that the article wasn’t just about me.”

“Who else was involved this time?”

Thoughts of Kate ran through my mind, and I couldn’t shake the fear deep in my gut that there was a chance I could lose her over this. “Shelby, there’s a woman I’ve been seeing and she happens to be one of our team physicians. She’s not like all of the other girls you’ve probably seen pictures of with me in the past. This one is different.”

“It sounds like you love her,” she said softly.

“More than anything, which is why I need your help. Kate knows everything about me and has helped me face my demons, but she also had some demons to face herself. There’s a woman who wants nothing more than to ruin her, and her plan was to come after me in hopes that I’d let Kate go. I’m not going to do that, though.”

“Wow, this is kind of complicated, Cooper. Hold on while I look this up to see if I can find the article you’re talking about.”

I heard her typing over her keyboard keys for a second before her sigh came through over the phone. “Okay, I think I have it. Give me a second so I can read it.” It was kind of a long article, but she read it in about three minutes. “Um … this is crazy, Cooper. Is the part about the doctor losing her license over you true?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” I said. “And just so you know, Kate’s not supplying me with pain meds like they seem to think. She’s the one who actually helped me get off of them.”

“Now what about the part about the guy named Scott? What’s the deal with Kate supposedly sending her boyfriends to kill themselves? I’m assuming this Scott did that.”

Gritting my teeth, I bit down so hard on my lip that I could taste blood. “Yes, he did by overdosing on his pain pills. Apparently, his mother went f*cking psycho after he died and blamed it all on Kate. We only recently just found out that he had cancer and that’s why he killed himself; the pain was getting to be too much for him. He made a video for Kate, and after two years, his sister finally shows up on our doorstep and gives it to her, along with the other stuff Scott left her.”

“Oh my God,” Shelby cried, “that’s heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine how upset Kate was over that.”

“The story doesn’t end there, though,” I thundered. “Scott’s mother had spent the last couple of weeks coming after me. She left a note on my car giving me a warning to stay away from Kate, and then the next week I got the tires slashed on my car. Obviously, when I didn’t agree to stay away from Kate, she went to the tabloids and spilled this story.”

“I see,” she murmured sadly. “Yeah, the woman seriously needs some help. All right, it looks like the journalist’s name is Kevin Layton. He had to have gotten a serious amount of money to be able to write this story.”

“Do you know who he is?” I asked.

She groaned. “Yeah, and he’s a real piece of work. Don’t worry, though … the guy loves me. I’m sure I can get some information from him. What exactly are you looking for?”

“Shelby, some of the things in this story are only things that certain people in my life know. I need to know how this Kevin Layton got it. There’s no way Scott’s mother could have gotten that information on her own. I spent a lot of money to keep that shit quiet.”