Intercepting Love

13. Cooper

13

COOPER

Watching Kate during practice and not being able to talk to her was f*****g t*****e. I wanted to know what the hell her problem was and why she was being such a b***h to me this morning after everything I did for her. Unfortunately, she had left with Luke before I had the chance to speak with her.

My shoulder throbbed, but then again my whole body pulsed in anger. I knew I needed to calm down, which was why I stayed behind while everyone left. Lounging on the field didn’t exactly give me the peace I needed like it would back home, but it was a start. I had to get used to the heat, humidity, and the sound of traffic all around me whereas at home I didn’t have to worry about any of that.

“Are you going to be ready for the game this Saturday?” Evan asked, standing over me.

My response was immediate. “Hell yeah, I’ll be ready.”

“What about the party? Do you think you’re ready for that?”

I scoffed, “Please, I bet you guys don’t even know what a real party is like.”

Evan chuckled and sat down on the grass beside me. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We’re nothing but a bunch of country boys out here.”

“Believe me, I was the same way out in California. I didn’t want to live in the big cities. I enjoyed having my land and being in the wine country.”

Evan’s eyes went wide. “Really? I never would’ve pegged you for a country boy. I guess there’s a lot we don’t know about you.”

“Yep, including your sister,” I mumbled low.

“You know, if you want to make my sister jealous I wouldn’t do it with Lindsey. I saw her with you today.”

“Trust me,” I said, “the last thing I’m going to do is mess around with Lindsey. She asked me to the party Saturday night and I said yes. Kate’s going with Luke, so I figured it was fair game.”

“Okay, so you have a point there, but in all seriousness, don’t play games with Kate. I don’t know what’s wrong with her today, but she’s not herself.”

Opening my eyes, I sat up and slid my sunglasses on. “She didn’t tell you what happened last night?” I asked curiously.

“No, what happened?”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’re here. There’s something I want to do and I’m going to need your help. Last night, Kate got extremely drunk and passed out. According to Lara, she doesn’t do that very often except on a certain day of the year.”

Evan sighed and hung his head. “Yes, I know. I knew she was upset, but I had no clue she was going to get wasted because of it. What else did Lara tell you?”

“Not much, but I do know Kate was dating that Scott guy when he killed himself and his family likes to f**k with her. I think they called her last night,” I told him.

“What the hell?” he growled. “I wish they would leave her alone. I don’t know why she doesn’t do anything about it. What happened after that?”

“Well, last night Kate and I went to the tavern because Lara wanted us to. She started drinking a lot, and when she went missing we found her passed out on the bathroom floor with her phone shattered. I took her home and stayed with her until this morning. Now she won’t talk to me and I don’t know why.”

Evan blew out an angry breath. “I’ll talk to her. She’s not exactly the most rational person in the world and she’s always been too hard on herself. If she doesn’t want to get a restraining order from those psychos then I’m going to make her.”

He turned to leave, but I stopped him. I didn’t want to pry into her life if she didn’t want me there, but I couldn’t stand to see her suffer. “There’s someone I know that can help, and I was actually planning on calling him today. If you give me the names of Scott’s family that have been harassing Kate then I can get him to investigate.”

“Oh, that would be great. Who’s this person you’re going to call?”

“His name is Mason Bradley. He used to be an undercover detective,” I grumbled.

Evan’s eyes lit up. “Oh yeah, I know him. Good guy and one hell of an MMA fighter. How do you know him?”

Chuckling, I got to my feet and brushed the grass off of my clothes. “It’s funny you should ask that. Mason was the guy who took someone away from me, someone I cared a whole hell of a lot about.”

“And you want his help even though you don’t like him?” he asked incredulously. “Wow, you must really want to help Kate.”

If he only knew how much.

After I grabbed my bag, Evan and I started off toward the parking lot. “I do, but I also figured that Mason owes me one. Even if Kate wants nothing to do with me, I want to know that she doesn’t have to put up with that bullshit anymore.”

Slapping me on the shoulder, Evan shook his head and grinned. “You know, I never thought I would say this, but you’re actually an okay guy. I honestly think you’d be better for her than Luke. Don’t give up on her.”

I wasn’t planning on it.

* * *

When I got home I wanted to talk to Kate, but Luke’s truck was in her driveway. Was that fucker always going to be in the way? Instead of storming over there, I did what I always did when things pissed me off. In my bathroom, there were plenty of bottles with those little white pills that made everything better; this time I swallowed three.

Before they could hit my system, I picked up my phone and dialed Mason.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Mason, it’s Cooper,” I replied.

“Ah, Cooper, so what can I do for you? Do you want permission to speak to Claire or something?”

“Smart a*s,” I growled. “If I wanted to talk to Claire I would’ve called her. I don’t think I need your permission to do that. Besides, this call isn’t about her. It’s about someone else, and she’s having some trouble.”

“Her, huh? Are you seeing this woman?” he asked curiously.

I huffed, “Not exactly. Can you help me or not?”

“That depends. What’s going on?”

“Okay, let’s see. My neighbor, Kate, found her boyfriend dead in his house two years ago. He committed suicide, and now his family blames her. For the past two years, they’ve tormented her by saying it was all her fault and basically harassing her. Last night was the anniversary of his death and she broke down, bad. I don’t want her like that again.”

“Do you have the names of the family members and those involved?”

“I do,” I said. Taking the piece of paper out of my pocket, I read off the names that he would need.

“Okay, I got it. I’ll see what I can do. Can you give me a few days?”

“Yeah, of course. Just call me back as soon as you hear something.”

By the time we hung up, I was already starting to feel good from my pain meds; the haze making everything feel less complicated. Grabbing a bottle of vodka from my refrigerator, I marched outside and headed straight for Kate’s house … except I didn’t get that far.

“Cooper, are you okay?” Lara asked, walking to her mailbox. “Why do you look stoned off of your a*s?”

“It’s because I am. I’m going to talk to Kate.”

“Oh, no you’re not,” she shouted, rushing to step in my way. Placing her hands on my chest, she pushed against me, backing me up toward her garage. “The last thing you need to do is go over there like that and start a fight. What did you take?”

“It’s just my prescription, Lara. It’s nothing illegal,” I stammered. “Anyway, Kate won’t talk to me so I’m going to go over there and make her.”

“Has she not been talking to you? Why would she do that?”

Chuckling, I lifted the bottle of vodka and took a long, hard gulp. I haven’t had alcohol in days, and it felt f*****g amazing. “How the hell should I know? After last night she blew me off and started spending time with that fucker,” I hissed, pointing over at his truck.

“Well that doesn’t make any sense.” Sighing, she looked at Kate’s house and then back to me. “Okay, I want you to go into my house and wait. I’m going to get Kate to come with me, and that way you can talk to her without Luke interfering. When you go inside, turn to the left and there will be a hallway. Go down to the second room on your right and wait in there. As soon as she gets into the room with you, I’m going to lock the door from the outside so she can’t walk away.”

“Why are you doing this for me?” I asked.

Lara grinned mischievously and winked. “Oh, I have my reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I like you and all, but for once I don’t want to see Luke get the girl. He deserves to be put in his place.”

With those final words, she turned on her heel and marched off to Kate’s house. Kate wasn’t going to like getting locked into a room with me, but at least I’d get my answers.