Fit for Love

12. Ashton

Chapter 12

Ashton

Marcus and I are covered in sweat as we circle each other in the octagon.

Today is different from our usual in that Marcus seems to want to cause real damage to me. The only reason he doesn’t succeed is because we’ve been sparring together for years, and I know all his moves.

“Listen,” I say as I dodge a lightning-fast jab. “Is this about my stupid joke about the wedding?”

His reply is a low kick, which I dodge.

“I didn’t mean to put you in an awkward position.” Or if I did, only a little.

He swings at me again.

Fuck this. My next argument is a roundhouse kick.

And so it goes, until Marcus’s phone timer informs us that the session is over.

“So… we good?” I ask as we regain our breath in the locker room.

“Fine,” he says through clenched teeth. “Just watch what you say around Emma in the future.”

“Deal.”

The truth is, I plan to avoid Emma as much as I can because where she goes, Kendall might follow. Then again, why should I avoid my friend’s woman just because?—

“Now that that’s cleared up,” Marcus says, “I’m obligated to ask: how do you know Kendall?”

Fuck. Did he just read my mind or something? “Emma didn’t tell you?”

And if she did, what did she say? That her friend had a one-night stand with me?

“No.”

I frown. “Don’t girls share shit like that?”

He shrugs. “Apparently, Emma has been pestering Kendall for over a week and hasn’t gotten any results. So whatever happened, it must’ve been very private.”

I give him a level stare. “I will neither confirm nor deny that.”

“Seriously?”

I shrug. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“A gentleman doesn’t. What does that have to do with you?”

I slam the locker door. “This conversation is over.”

“Fair enough. You’ll tell me when you’re good and ready.”

It will be a freezing day in hell when I do. “Since you brought her up, what do you know about Kendall?” I ask, and at his smug expression, I regret it instantly.

“Her family must be wealthy, or so I assume because Emma told me her parents pay most of Kendall’s bills,” he answers, smirking. “She’s a good friend to Emma. Does something in fashion. If you want to know more, I have a guy.”

He must mean the guy who put together a dossier on Emma for him. “No, thanks.” Since I know Kendall’s last name now, I can poke around on social media myself. And it won’t be a stalker move. At all.

“You’d make a great couple,” Marcus says with a bigger smirk. “Isn’t that what’s most important?”

“Fuck you.” I stride out of the locker room.

As I ride home in an Uber, I replay the cursed brunch in my head once again.

When I walked in, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve thought about Kendall often over the past three years, especially if you stretch the definition of the word “thought” to include “jerked off to.” And I’ve regretted listening to my sister and not looking up Kendall’s info at the gym right away. Three months after our one-night stand, in a moment of weakness, I caved and went to Essence to ask Gerald for her file—only to learn that the gym’s computers recently got a virus that wiped out nearly all of their data, client records included.

It was the most intense disappointment I’d ever felt, second only to discovering her gone that morning.

I told myself it was a sign that I needed to let go and forget her, to focus on other things. And I tried my hardest to do so, throwing myself wholeheartedly into my work, with the result that my business has taken off beyond my wildest dreams.

It’s possible that a part of me secretly hoped she’d come across my app or catch a glimpse of one of my media appearances and regret walking away from what we could’ve had.

And then there she was, sitting at the table with Marcus and his girlfriend, looking stylish as fuck and so beautiful it set my teeth on edge… and had other, more X-rated effects on one specific part of my body. The temptation to march over there and throw her over my shoulder so I could carry her off and demand answers—after first fucking her brains out, of course—was so strong I all but shook with it.

It took everything I had to walk over as if she meant nothing—and then to pretend like we’ve never met before. Because it was either that or cause a major scene.

As a bonus, acting the way I did seemed to piss her off.

Why did it piss her off, by the way? It was almost like?—

No. There’s no figuring out her mind. If there were, I would know why she ghosted me three years ago. Not that I haven’t developed a theory: it’s because she’s too fancy to date a lowly personal trainer, which is what I was back then.

I wonder what she thinks of me now that I’m wealthy and successful.

No. There’s no point in wondering. It doesn’t matter. If wealth and status are all she cares about, goodbye and good riddance. And if I’ve looked her up on social media a few times—okay, more than a few times—over the past week, it’s purely out of curiosity, nothing else.

My phone rings.

I check the screen and sigh. It’s Jordan, but she’s calling from her work number, meaning she’s about to talk to me as my CTO.

“Hey, sis,” I say, picking up.

“Don’t call me ‘sis’ when I call from this number. This could’ve been a conference call.”

“Sorry, Jordan . What’s up?”

“There’s a problem. The datacenter in?—”

“Let me stop you right there. You’re my top technical person, so you decide what to do.”

“But we have three choices. We can either?—”

“Have you made a wrong choice yet?”

“No,” she says sullenly.

“Well, then, there you go.”

Jordan has definitely contributed to my aforementioned wealth. Despite that, she still doesn’t have enough confidence in her decision-making ability.

“Fine,” she says with a sigh. “But don’t you dare question my decision if it ends up costing you a fortune.”

“I doubt I’ll be so lucky.”

She scoffs. “I’m not going to dignify that with a reply.”

“Your call.”

“So,” she says, switching to her casual sisterly tone. “Have you seen Kendall again?”

“No, and I won’t.”

Speaking of bad decisions, mine was telling Jordan about the cursed brunch.

“Yes, you will,” she says. “Your best friend and her best friend are getting serious. It’s only a matter of time before you bump into each other again.”

Fuck. I’ve been trying not to think about that nearly as hard as I’ve been fighting the urge to look her up.

At my silence, Jordan chuckles and says, “You know I’m right. Anyway, I have to run and deal with the datacenter issue that you don’t want to hear about.”

“Okay.” I hang up and blankly stare at the passing streets.

Meeting Kendall again.

It’s going to happen, no matter what I do.

And I can’t say I’m not looking forward to it.