Changing the Rules (Richter Book 1)(64)

“Oh my God.”

“You smoked ’em.”

She hadn’t noticed who crossed the line first because she simply didn’t look.

Cooper jogged up to her, shaking his head with a huge smile.

“How did I do?”

He pointed to the digital score. She saw her name, and her time, right in the first spot.

She acted like an excited athlete and hugged her coach. It was the first contact she’d had with him in a week and she wanted to linger.

“Now that’s how you win a race, Porter.” Coach Bennett came up beside them, and she gave the older man a hug, too.

“That’s number-one smart-ass to you.”

Bennett didn’t stay long. “I wanna see that again in the relay,” he told her before walking off to another event.

“Rest up, walk it off, and don’t eat anything heavy,” Cooper told Claire and the others before walking away.

She looked over to where Sasha was standing and waved.

Sasha gave her a thumbs-up, and then pointed to her watch.

Claire nodded.

“Who is that?” Chelsea asked.

“My aunt.”

“You don’t look anything alike.”

“Adoptions work like that.”

She noticed the other girls looking at each other.

“Is she leaving?” Leah asked.

“She’s a flight attendant and has to fly out tonight.”

As Sasha walked out of the stadium, Claire watched Eastman follow her.

“That’s super cool. Do you get to fly anywhere you want?” Claire wasn’t sure who asked the question.

“Only if she’s in the mood.”

Behind Eastman, Isaac slipped out of the stands and followed him.

At her backpack, she plopped on the ground and changed out of her spikes and into her running shoes. With Eastman out of the stands, it was time for Claire to check in with Jax.

Before she ran off, she cheered on the rest of the girls running the one hundred before making her excuses. “I’m going to say hi to some friends.”

Jax and Elsie met Claire at the bottom of the stands.

“You were wicked fast,” Elsie exclaimed.

“I think you came in second overall,” Jax told her.

“Are you guys having fun?”

“I’m gonna be honest,” Elsie said. “It’s a lot more exciting than I thought it would be.”

“Where’s Ally?” Claire asked.

“She was grounded.” Jax shrugged.

“That bites.”

“Do you want to see what they have at the snack bar?” Elsie suggested.

“Sure.”

They weaved through the crowd, and Elsie started telling Claire about her boy problems.

“. . . I was telling Jax that he stopped wanting to do what I want to do. I kinda wanna break up with him, but then what happens with prom?”

“He totally bailed on last week’s party,” Claire said.

“He was pissed that I went without him. What does he expect? That I just stay home when he doesn’t want to go out? He’s the one that’s going to be in a dorm in August, probably join a frat or something. I bet he goes to a ton of parties and won’t ask me to go.”

They turned toward the concession stand and took their place in line. “I left my money in my backpack,” Claire told Jax.

“I got ya. You can pay me back later.”

“Jax?”

They all turned to her name being called.

Claire recognized him right away. “It’s Brian, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing here?” Jax asked.

Brian looked around, checked out the kids standing in line behind them. “I had to pick something up. Milo told me you’d be here, asked if I’d help out.”

Jax acted surprised. “Oh, yeah.” She reached into a side pocket of her purse and pulled out an envelope.

Brian handed her a card. “Milo told me to give you his number, make it easier.”

“This is really cool. Thanks.” Jax put the paper in her back pocket. “I thought I’d see you guys last weekend.”

“We took off early. We like things smaller,” he told them.

“It was a lot of fun,” Elsie told him.

Brian smiled at Elsie, a flirty lift in his eyes. “You were there?”

“Yeah, it was great.”

“Maybe next time I’ll stick around longer.”

Claire kinda wanted to puke.

He started backing away.

“Thank Milo again for me,” Jax said.

“I will. He said he’s really looking forward to seeing you.”

Jax put on the appropriate excited female smile one manages when she’s just heard the cute boy wants her number. “Tell him I said hi,” Jax called out to Brian as he walked away.

The line inched up and someone bumped Claire from behind as they were trying to get past.

She glanced around and saw Lars following Brian.



Cooper watched with anticipation as Claire’s next race set up to run.

He knew she wanted nothing to do with screwing up the other girls’ chances at medals and titles. And no matter if she blew it on purpose, or helped them win, they couldn’t claim the prize once this case was over. She’d told him earlier that she’d rather watch them smile now and deal with the fallout later. Maybe they’d understand.