Chapter 10
Rhys
Katie was here. I’d seen the hesitation, knew she was thinking twice about my offer and shit, I might’ve too if I had to deal with Steve’s shit, but… I looked back over my shoulder from where I was leaning against the counter, watching her scroll through her phone. She came, and if this wasn’t a date, then I had to make a good showing and hope she’d be down for a real one later.
“My man.” Kosta was the owner of the burger bar and he knew me well. This place was my cheat meal go to. He held out his hand and I gave it a shake. “What can I get you this fine evening?”
I rattled off our orders, and he wrote them down, unconsciously shifting in time with the beat of the music. I remembered when he first set this place up and it looked amazing now.
“And to drink?” he asked.
“Two of your best chocolate milkshakes,” I replied.
“Coming right up.”
I paid for everything and turned around, my eyes instantly drawn to Katie. Of course, looking at her had me noticing the couple beside her. Were they giving her the stink eye…? My fingers dug into the counter, scratching at the black lacquer, but by the time I pushed myself away from it, Kosta had returned.
“Here you go, two chocolate shakes.” He glanced out on the floor. “Who you here with?” Before I could answer, he followed my gaze to Katie. “Damn, that’s a whole lotta woman.” I was spinning around to face him, straightening up, but he held his hands up to ward me off. “Ain’t making a big deal of it. She’s hot, but… you reckon you can handle her? Because if you can’t.” He straightened the seams of his t-shirt. “I’ll shoot my shot.”
“I’m just about ready to shove these drinks right down your throat,” I told him in a perfectly even tone. “And have you shitting chocolate milkshake for days.”
“Like that, huh?” Kosta grinned. “Well, alright, hope this pans out for you.” He winked at me. “Then I’ll cater your wedding.”
I gripped the shakes way too tightly, the plastic cups crinkling, but I turned and carried them over to the table.
“See me carrying drinks and not dropping them?” I said as Katie looked up. “Very mindful, very demure.”
“Oh my god!” she huffed and that was a mistake. If she thought that was going to put me off, she had another thing coming. It put a sparkle in her eyes, some colour in her cheeks, and that just had me wanting to pull her pigtails for more. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?” She threw her arms wide. “Toss the milkshake at me and then we’ll be even.” I wasn’t listening to what she was saying right now, because that baggy t-shirt was stretching tightly across her breasts. “Go on, throw it, and then we’ll be even.”
“These shakes are too good to use as projectiles.” I sat down and placed hers before her. “They put so much ice cream in them that drinking is like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.”
“So you promise to never ever bring up smoothiegate again?” she asked, tentatively stabbing her straw into the drink. “I need to know that you’ve recovered from the emotional damage.”
I hadn’t. She could douse me with a million smoothies if she kept staring at me. I’d replayed that moment in the gym over and over in my head, turning the memory into something bigger, grander, with each recollection. It’d been so long since a girl held my attention for more than two seconds. It felt like I was coming home to something I hadn’t realised I’d missed. Maybe that’s why I pulled my straw out, still dripping with milk and ice cream and dabbed her on the end of that cute little nose.
“There.” She looked so cute as she blinked and spluttered. “Now we’re even.”
That determined look, the way her jaw muscle popped as her eyes narrowed. Yeah, I was in fucking trouble. That last time I felt like this… Now, be here, I told my mind. This is where I need to be. That meant I caught the moment when she worked the straw around in her drink and then took a defiant sip.
“Oh my god…”
Shit, that groan of hers had me shifting in my seat. My brain was in overdrive, imagining what I could do to inspire the same sound. I’d pull that damn shirt off, then every other piece of clothing, before kissing every inch?—
“Two cheeseburgers.” Kosta appeared with a knowing smirk, placing each one of them before us, and I shot him a dark look. “Let me know what you think…” He looked expectantly at my girl.
“Oh, it’s Katie.”
Her hand went to her chest, and we both followed that movement, glad for an excuse to look at those tits.
“Lovely to meet you, Katie.”
Not a date, I told myself over and over as the prick offered her his hand. I watched her shake it and then pull away almost instantly. I thought I liked Kosta, but not so much now. A shout from the counter had him leaving our table, thankfully, leaving us to stare at the majesty before us.
“Damn…” she hissed, poking the massive stack of bread, meat and cheese. “How…? What…?”
“Like this.”
I demonstrated pulling the skewer out of the burger stack and then squashing it into something that might actually fit in my mouth. Damn, these were good burgers. Katie watched me chew my mouthful, then nodded, looking like she was ready to have a crack at it.
“Mmm…!”
She wanted to say something, but couldn’t with her mouthful. The burger was dropped back onto the plate, her hand going to her lips. The looks she was giving me made clear I’d made the right choice. Like she couldn’t believe she had something this good in her mouth, which just gave me ideas. Rather than scoop her up and rush her out to my car so I could whisk her back to my place, I reached out with a thumb and wiped the smudge of tomato sauce away. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, right as I licked my thumb clean. Fuck, I needed to seal the deal, get her to agree to come out on a date with me, stat. I’d take her somewhere fancy, where the waiters wouldn’t make eyes at my girl, and?—
“These are freaking amazing.” She stabbed a finger at the burger. “Like so, so good.”
“Told you,” I replied with a smug smile.
“Totally worth dealing with Steve’s shit,” she added and that’s when my heart sank. That fucking arsehole.
“Look, that should’ve never happened,” I said, my appetite deserting me. “I should’ve been there, stepped in before he even thought to interrupt you. We try to create a good vibe where everyone feels comfortable.”
“I guess he felt comfortable with the idea of giving me advice.” For some reason, she looked around at the rest of the diners before her focus returned to me. “You take the whole gym thing really seriously. What made you get into the industry?”
I didn’t want to talk about me. That it was a long line of fuck ups that got me where I was and there was no guarantee there wouldn’t be more. Instead, I gave her a pat answer.
“I was just a skinny little skater boy at school.” Her eyebrows jerked up. “And I really liked Maggie McGann. She was…” I traced the outline of that woman’s outrageous curves, but when I was approximating the shapes of her breasts, I dropped my hands. “I figured if I built myself up, got big and strong, she might look my way.”
“And did she?”
She asked that with a gentle smile.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “To say I haven’t been real successful with women is an understatement.” I shot her a meaningful look. “Some people think I’m a bit extra.”
“Noo…”
“Anyway, she went off with some dickhead with a big, shiny car. I think they ended up getting married or something.” I shook my head. “But the gym? The adrenaline surge, the pump I feel after a good workout? That was damn near addictive. After fucking my ankle one too many times skating, I figured I’d stick to the gym. Routine, physical exercise to burn off all that energy.” I shrugged. “It was either the gym or the army, and I’m not great with authority figures.”
She was smiling as she listened to my story. So far, so good, I thought, right before I ruined everything.
“So, what about you? What brought you to the gym? You used to come to use the treadmills, right?”
The burger landed back in the basket and she reached for a napkin, wiping her fingers clean. That smile, it was like a flame trying to spark to life in the midst of a rain storm, spluttering and then finally going out.
“I…broke up with someone.” She was staring at the food, but I was willing to bet she wasn’t seeing any of it. “No, not really.” When she did smile, it was a horrible thing, full of remorse. “It was supposed to be just a situationship. We’d get together, hook up whenever we were both keen.” I watched her lips firm up to a thin line. “No strings attached.”
When her eyes met mine, they felt like they stabbed into the core of me, but I had no idea what was coming.
“But he kept wanting the boyfriend experience, even though he didn’t want the commitment.” Whoever this fuck was, I would hunt him down and punch the ever loving shit out of him for hurting Katie. He was the one who put those shadows in her beautiful eyes, I was sure of it. “At his work Christmas party, I got a bunch of texts from the other ladies there. Come and get your man, they said.”
This was like watching a car crash happen in slow motion, except I was powerless to stop it from happening.
“Except he wasn’t my man. Dave asked me to pick him up after the party. I knew he’d drink and drive if I didn’t, so I said yes. Not to this, though. Not to walking in on him trying to shoot his shot with someone prettier…” She let out a long breath. “Skinnier than me. He acted all guilty when I walked in the door, and we had it out.”
When she blinked, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the one sitting on the other side of the table, he was. Katie sat up straighter and stared me in the eyes.
“I asked him what the fuck he thought he was doing.” Her voice grew harder, flatter. “How he could disrespect me like this, and he…?”
I didn’t want to know what the fuck said. He deserved to die a horrible death in an alleyway, and right then, I wanted to be the one to deliver that final blow.
“He said, what did I expect? We didn’t owe each other anything, that I couldn’t expect him not to shoot his shot, when she looked like she did.” Her hands flattened against the table. “And I looked like this.”