Changing the Rules (Richter) by Catherine Bybee

Author:Catherine Bybee [Bybee, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2021-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

Claire tucked Jax into bed, reminded her she was her own woman, and left her snoring friend.

She sent a message to Neil and the team. Told them Jax was taking the next day off.

After a shower and slipping into a simple baggy T-shirt to sleep in, Claire pulled one of the yearbooks from her backpack and started flipping pages.

Her eyes kept sliding to the digital clock on her nightstand.

She put her AirPods in her ears to keep at least half of the conversation from anyone who may be listening. She trusted Neil with her safety . . . privacy, not so much.

Cooper picked up on the first ring.

“Go home and do your homework?”

Claire curled up in bed, a water bottle in her hand.

“Hey, I’m an upstanding staff member. I need to start talking like one.” Cooper answered as if they were in the middle of a conversation.

“You know, I think you like bossing me around.” Claire flipped the page.

Cooper was silent for a moment.

“What?” Claire asked.

“I’m not commenting on that one.”

“Dangerous ground?” she asked, teasing.

His silence made her laugh.

“Jax broke up with Lewis tonight.”

“Ohhh . . . is that a bad thing?”

“No. Still sucks. He called her and started giving her crap about not being around for him. She was at school. Ally was there. He was never right for her.”

“How is she?”

“I poured her into bed. Taking tomorrow off.”

Cooper chuckled. “That’s fair.”

She turned a page, looked past all the pictures of previous Auburn seniors.

“What are you doing right now?” he asked.

“I’m doing homework, in bed.”

Silence.

She stopped leafing through the pages. “And don’t ask what I’m wearing.”

He moaned. “That was mean.”

“Oh, was it?” It was good to laugh.

“Yeah. Now I want to know exactly what you wear to bed.”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

Was that Cooper growling?

Claire closed the yearbook and rubbed her eyes. “This is weird, Cooper.”

He paused. “Weird good or weird bad?”

“I don’t know, just weird. It’s like the rules changed overnight. And now, every comment, every joke, every look is charged, you know?”

“And that’s bad.” His voice sounded strangled.

Claire tried to grasp on to her feelings, which was never an easy thing for her. “Not bad,” she decided out loud. “Weird. Upended. That’s what it is. I’ll feel turned around and not sure which way to step or what to say.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I know.”

“How about going with your gut. Instead of thinking, just step or turn. Move forward.”

She shoved the yearbook off her lap and kicked the covers off her legs. “For the first time since I left Richter, I’m worried I’ll make a wrong move and regret it.”

“Will you do me a favor?” he asked.

“Depends on what it is.”

“I’m probably shooting my own foot, but when you stop thinking and start feeling, will you act on that?”

“That could go wrong.” In so many ways.

“Maybe, but it’s your truth. When I joined the service, I just jumped, went with my gut. Six months in I was like What the hell did I do?”

Claire laughed at that.

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