by L. P. Dover
Swallowing hard, I held back the tears and nodded quickly. I passed the test by staying with him during his hard times, now it was his turn to try his luck during mine.
Over the past six hours we’d gotten through a bulk of Cooper’s boxes and put everything away, but we still had a ton more to do. I was ready to make a night of it just to stay busy. Cooper went to take a shower while I offered to clean the kitchen after finishing his famous grilled chicken dinner. Finally, the call I’d been waiting on came through … it was my brother.
Heart pounding, I rinsed off my soapy hands and dried them before grabbing for my phone. “Evan, what’s going on?”
I could hear someone arguing in the background, and I knew it was Luke by the sound of his voice. “Dude, calm down,” Evan snapped at him. Then to me, he said, “Sorry about that. He’s kind of pissed right now.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re on our way to your house. He’s angry because I wouldn’t let him use my phone to call you.”
“Where’s his phone?” I asked curiously.
“Somewhere out on in the woods. That’s why no one could get in touch with him. He lost it out on the trails when he went out riding on his bike.”
“Evan, you can’t bring him here,” I warned. “The police are looking for him.”
“They’ve already let him go. As soon as I found him at the cabin and told him what was going on, we immediately left and I took him to the station. His alibi was solid, Kate. He hadn’t been in town in three days.” Luke fumed some more in the background. “All right, I have to get off of here before dumbass makes me wreck. We’ll be there in five minutes so you can talk to him.”
Quickly, I finished up the dishes and bolted out of Cooper’s house. By the time I got into my driveway, Evan and Luke were pulling up in Evan’s black Toyota Tacoma. Luke bolted out of the truck first and rushed over to me; his blond hair matted to his head and his jeans and navy T-shirt covered in mud.
“What the hell is going on, Kate?”
“I should probably be asking you the same thing,” I said, glancing down at his dirty clothes.
“Well, I had just gotten back from riding when I saw Evan’s truck in my driveway. When he told me what was going on, I jumped in his car and told him to bring me back.”
Evan scoffed, his nose turned up in disgust. “Yeah, it wasn’t fun riding back with him stinking up the truck and covering everything with mud. He’s definitely going to clean that shit up.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “I wanted to get here as soon as I could. I didn’t want you thinking I had anything to do with what happened. You didn’t, did you?”
Sheepishly, I hung my head and shrugged. “I don’t know what I thought,” I told him truthfully. “On one hand I knew you weren’t the type to do something like that, but on the other it was your knife. I gave that to you. I thought it might have been your way of showing me how pissed at us you were.”
Lifting my chin with his hand, Luke shook his head and sighed. “I loved that knife, Kate. I didn’t want to tell you that I lost it, but it appears now that someone took it. I was afraid I’d hurt your feelings by telling you I didn’t know where it was. Usually, I keep it in the center console of my truck, and now the police are going to dust for prints to see what they can find.”
“What made you want to leave in the first place, Luke?”
Casting a glance in my brother’s direction, he blew out a nervous breath and pulled me further away so my brother couldn’t hear. “You did,” he answered. “I knew that if I stayed I would see you and Cooper out together, and I didn’t want to get pissed off more than what I already was. At first, I wasn’t that angry, but then I had time to think. I didn’t understand why you would choose him over me. We were always so close and I thought I could use that to my advantage.” He paused for a second and bit his lip before saying, “Look, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be around Cooper.”
I heard the low growl from Cooper’s throat before I could even speak. “And I don’t think it’s safe for you to be around her.”
Glancing over Luke’s shoulder, I saw Cooper scowling with damp hair, wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a white T-shirt. Luke huffed and turned around, gritting his teeth. “All I’m saying is that whoever is after you is coming to Kate’s home. What if this person goes after her next? The first warning said to stay away from her; that’s not something to joke around with.”
“Don’t you think I thought about that?” Cooper snapped. “Believe me, that’s the last thing I want, but leaving her by herself worries me more. That’s obviously what this person wants. Well, they’re not going to get it.”
“It looks like you’re missing the other point,” Luke scoffed. “Whoever is doing this is making it look like I’m the one responsible. They’re trying to pin this shit on me. They obviously want me away from her, too. So the question is … who? What exactly are we dealing with?”
Evan cut in the middle of Luke and Cooper and came to my side. “You don’t think it could be Scott’s family doing this, do you?”
The thought did cross my mind, and Scott’s mother did vandalize my car two years ago, but I hadn’t had any other incidents since then. “I don’t think so,” I told him. “If it was them they would come after me, not the guys.”
Nodding, he agreed, “Yeah, that’s true. Can you think of anyone else? One of the guys on the team maybe?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m completely clueless.”
“Maybe you should stay at my house then?” Evan recommended. “That way if someone does go after Cooper you won’t be in the crossfire.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Luke agreed.
Cooper scoffed. “Yeah, you would.”
“Guys, that’s enough,” I snapped, glaring at them all. “I’m staying here and that’s final. Evan, you know I can take care of myself. I have an arsenal in my safe and I know how to use every single gun in there. I’ll be fine.”
My brother rolled his eyes. “Why are you so stubborn?”
“Because I get it from you,” I teased. “Anyway, the police are going to have fingerprints tomorrow. Hopefully, that’ll help them shed some light on who’s messing with us. It’ll all be over then.”
Deep down, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy.
Cooper and I rode together to practice since his car still sat in my driveway with flattened tires. My stomach was in knots all night because I couldn’t help but wonder if any of those prints on the knife were going to be someone on the team. I didn’t want to imagine any of the guys doing something like that.
“Kate?”
Jumping in my seat, I turned around and Brianna was there, stretching her legs. “Oh wow, I had no idea you were behind me.”
She laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. You’ve been too busy looking at Cooper to notice. You know, Lindsey was pissed when she found out you two were like seriously dating.”
I’m sure she was, I thought to myself. Over my shoulder, I could see out of the corner of my eye that Lindsey was glaring at me. When I looked at her, she turned her head quickly and pretended to do something else. Why were women so petty sometimes?
“She’ll get over it,” I said.
“Do you want to run with me? It looks like the guys are about to run around the track, too. Maybe we could show them up today.”
Chuckling, I tightened up my laces and joined her. At least if I did something to occupy my time, it would be less stressful than waiting for the phone to ring. Placing my phone in my bag, I zipped it up and set it with everyone else’s.
“All right, let’s go.”
We took off around the track, and before the guys could catch up to us, Brianna blew out a breath and said, “You know, ever since you started dating Cooper I think you’ve become a hot commodity around here. Now the guys know that you’ll date a football player. I’ve had at least two of them this past week ask how serious you and Cooper were.”
I gasped. “And what did you say?”
“Well, it’s not like I could tell them anything,” she scolded. “You haven’t exactly told me how serious you two were.”
The guys were about to catch up to us, so I had to ask quickly, “Who were they, Brianna? Which ones asked about me?”
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Derek was the first one to ask. I’ll admit I was kind of bummed because I thought he was going to ask me out. We’ve been kind of talking here every now and again, but I guess it was to get info on you.”
“Oh, Brianna, I’m so sorry. I could definitely see you and Derek together. He’s such a sweet guy. Who else asked?”
Derek was definitely not one I would’ve imagined asking about me, let alone anyone else. My brother threatened them all when I started working for the team.
“Let’s see … there was Jaxon. I’m surprised he hasn’t faked an injury just so they could be alone with you.”
Cooper ran up to my side and discreetly smacked me on the ass. “Mind if I run with you ladies?”
“Sure, but don’t get upset when you can’t keep up,” I taunted playfully, blowing out the air in my lungs. My legs were already on fire and I knew without a doubt that he could keep up.
Derek came up and squeezed himself in between me and Brianna. “I know I can keep up. You know, Kate, I’ve been getting this really sharp pain in my calf recently. It’s not that bad, but sometimes the pain shoots up my leg and it hurts like a bitch. Do you mind taking a look at it?”
I snuck a glance over at Brianna and she mouthed the words, ‘I told you so’ to me. Slowing my pace, I looked up at Derek and nodded. “Yeah, as soon as we’re done I’ll take a look at your leg.”
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 fucking 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.
Impatiently, I tapped my foot up and down, waiting on Officer Stilwell to answer. “He said they had the results from the fingerprints, and also something about bringing in one of their detectives … Sam Lennox, I believe.”
Finally, Officer Stilwell picked up the phone. “Officer Stilwell,” he barked, catching my attention.
“Good morning, Officer Stilwell, this is Kate Townsend. I’m returning your call.”
“Yes, Ms. Townsend, as you already know we have the results. Is there any way you can come down to the station to discuss what we found. It’s extremely urgent that you get here as soon as possible.”
An immediate sense of dread crept over my spine and through to the pit of my stomach. By the sound in his voice, I knew something was wrong. “Um … I can be there in twenty minutes,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“Sounds good, Ms. Townsend. I’ll tell Sam that you’re on your way.”
I hung up the phone and started toward my car while Cooper kept his pace beside of me. “I have to go, Cooper.�
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“What did he say? Did they find out anything from the prints?”
“He said they had the results and that it was extremely urgent. He wants me to go in and talk to them right away. He’s bringing in a detective named Sam Lennox. I have no clue what that means.”
Cooper closed his eyes and sighed. “I think I do,” he murmured regretfully. “I’m coming with you.”
“Cooper, you can’t just skip out on practice.”
Following me to my car, he opened the passenger’s side and climbed in. “Sorry, love, but I’m going. I don’t give a shit if I get reprimanded. I refuse to let you go through this alone when it concerns me as well. We’re in this together, Kate.”
Taking a deep breath, I started up my Jeep and gripped the steering wheel so tight to keep my hands from shaking. I wished I knew what was going on.
When we arrived at the station, Cooper and I were led to the back by a young deputy who didn’t look a day over eighteen; he had perfectly combed over brown hair and a boyish looking smile. I couldn’t imagine seeing him take on a hardened criminal in a fist fight, but as I’d learned before … looks could deceive you. The deputy stopped outside of a closed door and I finally had a chance to see the name on his uniform; it was Alex Whitman.
“You can go right on in, Ms. Townsend. They’re expecting you.”
He nodded at both me and Cooper before continuing on his way. Meanwhile, we stood frozen outside of the door. Cooper pulled me close and rubbed his hand soothingly down my back.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
Blowing out a shaky breath, I wrapped my hand around the door handle and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just want to get this over with. The last time I was at a police station was two years ago.”
Even though Alex said we could go on in, I still knocked and waited a second before opening the door. Inside, Officer Stilwell—dressed in his crisp police uniform—sat in front of a large mahogany desk that was scattered with a million pieces of paper. Behind the desk was a man, who I figured was Detective Sam Lennox. He looked to be in his late thirties with closely cropped dark brown hair. Instead of wearing a uniform, he was dressed in a Little League baseball T-shirt that had the word ‘coach’ in the upper right corner.