Changing the Rules (Richter Book 1)(34)

Claire abandoned her beer. “Now that is exactly what I need to do and get my mind off of boys.”

“Yeah. Flirt with other boys.”



This was the last place Cooper wanted to be and the last person he wanted to be there with.

“What a shitty day.” Leo Eastman bent over his draft beer while Cooper did the same.

They sat at one end of a crowded bar with happy hour in full swing. The time and date had been dictated by Cooper, the place picked by Leo. It worked out fine since Cooper’s apartment wasn’t far away. He could have a beer, pick the man’s brain, and slither home where he could work up the nerve to call or text Claire and apologize for making her run like she was escaping the reaper.

“You can say that again.”

“We don’t get paid enough.”

Cooper chuckled. “Hey, you get paid more than the lowly auto shop sub. And I volunteered for the drama in track.” Actually, Cooper wasn’t getting paid anything for the teaching. It was all part of the operation.

“I take it you heard about Claire’s latest today,” Leo said.

“Oh yeah.”

Leo started laughing, throwing Cooper off. “What’s funny?”

“I should have put harder problems on the board.”

Cooper studied his beer, found his smile.

“The minute she asked what was in it for her, I knew I was screwed. You should have seen her. Sass and attitude as she damn near flipped me off walking out the room. She impresses me almost as much as she aggravates me.”

Cooper lifted his beer. “You have no idea.”

“I never have understood why smart kids act dumb.”

“It’s all about reputation.”

“How so?” Leo asked.

“Oh, c’mon, you remember high school. You’re what, thirty-five?”

“Thirty-four, but high school feels like a lifetime ago.”

“It’s no different for them than it was for us. In order to stand out, you have to be the best at something. You have to be the quarterback and not the benchwarmer claiming someone else’s fame. No one remembers the person who was second-in-line for valedictorian. Hell, I don’t even remember number one.”

Leo nodded in agreement. “Our Claire wants to be a badass.”

“Number-one badass,” Cooper corrected.

“Have you met any of her family?”

He immediately thought of Neil. “I heard she lives with her aunt. Hoping I can meet her at a track meet.”

“I’m sure there’s more to that story. So many kids are getting the fucked-up end of bad parental choices.” Leo sucked down a generous amount of beer.

“Are you married? Have kids?”

There was a moment of hesitation. “Did that once. Have a four-year-old I’m allowed to see a couple weekends a month.”

Cooper hadn’t found that bit of information on the man.

“That sucks.”

“Just another parent fucking up their kid.”

“Lots of kids grow up fine with divorced parents.”

Leo looked over at him. “Your parents still together?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re lucky. Divorced for twenty years and my parents still bicker about each other any chance they get. I don’t want my kid growing up hearing those things.” He stopped talking long enough to finish his beer and signal the bartender for another one. “You know why I ask for the troublemakers at Auburn?”

“No.”

“Because I want to identify the kids that are really screwed up. The kind that walk onto campus with an AK and light it up. I want to stop a kid from being the one that will never be forgotten because of an adolescent mistake.”

That, Cooper wasn’t expecting.

“No guarantee you’re going to pick that kid out of a crowd.”

Leo turned in his seat, lifted his fresh beer. “Not going to stop me from trying.”

Cooper touched his glass with his. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think that kid is Claire.”

“I have a feeling she’s going to light up the school, just not with a gun.”

Cooper couldn’t help but laugh. “She’s definitely that girl.” He tilted his beer back and looked across the bar.

Beer slid down the wrong pipe when his eyes collided with hers.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN


This was exactly what Claire needed.

Loud music and a crowded bar that she and Jax had never gone to before. It proved difficult to pretend you didn’t speak English if you went to an old haunt.

They ordered drinks with a thick German accent, and purposely screwed up the names of their cocktails. Their parlor trick was always the best way to have a private conversation in a crowded room. And if the right guy came along, they could speak enough English to have a conversation.

Still, it had been a while since they went out on a random weekday for happy hour, and Claire realized she missed it. “Lewis has distracted you these last six months,” Claire told her in German.

Jax sipped her fuzzy navel while Claire drank a proper martini with two olives. If there was one thing about being tutored on the finer things by Sasha, it was ordering the right drinks. Anytime Claire tried to order some fruity stuff like Jax’s, Sasha would send it back and order something else.