Changing the Rules (Richter Book 1)(53)

“Well, shit.” She estimated they were a little more than a quarter mile to their destination, and she needed to make sure she ran with these guys again. “See you there.”

It took some serious concentration and effort to keep her legs moving. But she did.

And right behind her, so did the rest of the varsity teams.

Her chest was on fire, her legs burned, but she put her body into the race, and when she turned the corner and saw the field, she stopped thinking altogether.

The rest of the track team that was wrapping up their day stopped and watched. There were nine of them from the distance run stretched out and hauling ass. As a rule, the distance runners didn’t spend their endurance conditioning runs racing for fun. But there was laughter and jostling for first place. To make it better, some of the sprinters on the field started yelling her name, while others called out to their friends.

Two of the guys overshot her, as well as Brianna when they reached the fifty-yard line. By the time they reached the end of the grass, they were sucking in air like guppies out of water.

Claire walked in a circle, patting backs and giving high fives.

“You might want to save a little for the invitational,” Bennett said, coming up behind them.

Claire braced both hands on her knees. “Your fault,” she accused him. The sight of Cooper jogging over made her smile brighter. “You said to keep pace and come in pushing the leaders.” Claire extended her arms. “Mission accomplished.”

“You’re giving me gray hair, Porter.”

She laughed. “Looks like someone beat me to it.”

He was shaking his head, but he was smiling. “All right, walk that off and get in a long stretch. I don’t need any of you cramping up and getting hurt this early in the season.”

Claire saluted him.

Cooper had a hand over his eyes, a smile on his face.

She knew he wanted to say something. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked away.





CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE


Cooper rolled into the shop early on Friday.

He knew Kyle was already there because of the monitoring system he’d put in place shortly after taking on the job.

In the shop, Kyle’s Jeep was up on a lift, one of the wheels was off, and he was using a hammer with some serious aggression on the control arm. The usual pink box was missing, and the music hadn’t been turned on. From the way Kyle was swinging the hammer, it was obvious something was wrong.

“What did the car do to deserve a beating?” Cooper asked, making his presence known.

Kyle rammed the hammer down two more times before tossing it on the floor with a loud bang. “Piece of shit. I don’t know what I was thinking buying this.”

Two of his seniors took that moment to walk in the shop. “What’s up with you?” one of them asked.

Cooper reached for his wallet, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Why don’t you guys go grab some donuts?”

They took the hint and left, leaving Kyle and Cooper alone.

He gave Kyle a minute to calm down.

“You wanna tell me what this was all about?”

Kyle ran both hands through his hair. Took his time answering. “It’s Elsie.”

Cooper sighed. “Nothing will drive a man more crazy than a woman.” When Kyle didn’t elaborate, Cooper asked, “She break up with you?”

A shake of the head. “No. But I’m starting to think I need to break up with her.”

“You guys seem tight.”

Kyle grabbed a shop towel. “We were. Then she started hanging out with some new friends and she’s changed.”

“Changed how?”

Kyle sighed. “Suddenly her life sucks. She’s complaining about her parents, acting like she’s miserable. She wants to go out and party . . .” He glanced at Cooper as if he’d just told him something incriminating.

“I get it,” Cooper said. “I was seventeen once, too.”

“It’s too much. When I go with her, she runs off with other people. I don’t know . . . when I talk to her about it, she tells me I’m smothering her.”

Cooper opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off.

“She’s tanking algebra, for the second year. I’m in physics, I could totally help her, but she’d rather see her tutor, who’s probably trying to get in her pants.”

Cooper was about to blow off the whole conversation as typical teenage drama.

“Her tutor?”

“Someone from Bremerton. Or used to go there. I don’t know.” Kyle turned to the tire on the ground, kicked it, and yelled, “Fuck.”

Tony walked in through the shop door. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Cooper looked over. “Girl problems.”

“Screw women. Cost too much.”

That pulled a smile out of Kyle.

Cooper did a double take, saw Tony’s profile, and paused.

“I think Elsie is cheating on me,” Kyle told his friend.

“With who?”

When Kyle didn’t answer, Cooper did. “Her tutor.”

“The douche from Bremerton?”

“Yeah.”

“That blows,” Tony said.

The seniors came back with the donuts. One brought the change over to Cooper and dropped it in his hand. “Thanks.”