13. Evan
THIRTEEN
EVAN
Midweek, I pulled open the door to the gym and was hit with the familiar smell of rubber mats and cleaner mixed with a hint of sweat.
Low music thumped in the background. The back windows were open, pulling a crosswind through the space, and the low whoosh of cars on the street was all but drowned out by the heavy clank of weights.
As I signed in at the desk, I noticed a few guys squaring off and grappling on the mats, a few others hammering out push-ups.
Several other people I didn’t know, townspeople with a paid membership to the gym, I guessed, worked out on the machines, lifted weights, or stretched casually off to the side.
I was headed toward the back by the weights when the swish of a jet-black ponytail caught my eye.
With her back to me, Val was squared up with Scotty, circling him.
She was dressed in a tight tank top that left very little to the imagination and a pair of tiny black shorts that made her already long legs seem miles longer.
Scotty wore an Army T-shirt and athletic shorts.
Both were barefoot and circling each other.
Val grinned at him, a glint of intensity in her eyes.
Her training was apparent, even to me. She kept her eyes on her opponent, her shoulders squared and her center of gravity low. Her hands were up, and she kept a healthy distance from Scott’s long reach. The brawler in me knew a trained stance when I saw one, and she had it.
Like cat and mouse, they circled, neither willing to give in to the other.
She faked, but he didn’t take the bait, and a sly smile played at her lips.
Scott moved quickly, dropping low to shoot toward her.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, but she reacted just as quickly.
Val sprawled, leaning her body weight into him and never allowing him to gain control.
Fuck. She was good.
Unable to gain control, he lifted and they locked up at the arms. With several inches on her, she struggled to break free of his grasp. He left his ribs open, which any street fighter would have easily taken advantage of, but rather than shout out instructions, I continued to watch.
In a flash, Val broke free and went in for a leg. Surging forward, she pushed them both to the ground. When he twisted, it looked like she’d be done for, but somehow she used Scott’s momentum against him to regain control.
She was fast too.
Her legs were locked around his waist, feet locked.
He outmuscled her by at least forty pounds, but her agility combined with speed kept him tangled with her.
My heartbeat ratcheted higher at seeing her in a vulnerable position, but I stayed rooted to the ground.
She shifted her weight, twisting her torso to gain better access to his arm.
The muscles in her thighs rippled as she struggled against his attempts to break her hold .
A timer buzzed from the corner of the mat, and they both relaxed, collapsed. Val rolled off him and smacked the mat beside her. “Ah! I almost had you that time!”
Scott laughed, and when they stood together, exchanging a few quiet words, the sour taste of jealousy filled my mouth. As he spoke, she focused on the words and nodded. Scott bumped her on the arm, and she turned toward me just in time to catch me standing in the middle of the gym, staring.
When our eyes met, hers lit up, and a wide smile split her face. She was flushed, and a thin sheen of sweat coated her skin. Her black hair rioted against her half-loose ponytail as she trotted toward me.
Goddamn, she was a beautiful, sweaty mess.
“Hey, buddy . I didn’t know you were working out today.”
“Very funny. I wasn’t planning on it, but Marcus asked me to swap a shift with him, so I had a little time.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not yoga today,” she teased.
“No yoga for me today. I just came to lift weights. You looked good out there.”
“Thanks.” She was still a little breathless, and I fought to keep my mind out of the gutter. “I’m actually waiting on Gemma. Want me to help you warm up?”
When her eyebrow lifted and she smiled, I wasn’t sure if she was talking about lifting weights anymore. I still needed to maintain my distance if we had any chance of keeping our relationship strictly platonic. “I’m good.”
“Aw. You’re not afraid of getting beat up by a girl , are you?”
She was testing me, and I knew it. Something about that sly little smile made me unable to help myself .
“Hardly. It has nothing to do with you being a girl. You fight like someone who’s trained. I fight dirty.”
She stepped an inch closer, the heat from her skin seeping into me. “Is that so?”
My back tensed, every muscle on fire. It took every ounce of restraint I had to hold myself back.
I wanted to wipe that cocky grin from her face—throw her over my shoulder and drag her somewhere private, rip those tiny shorts down her legs, squeeze my hard cock in my hand, and spread her open until both of us couldn’t see straight.
It was torture to see my need reflected in her eyes. She wanted it just as badly as I did.
But we couldn’t. Not just because we were in the middle of the gym, with prying eyes all around us, but because it was the stupidest thing we could do. One word of us hooking up and we’d both be kicked out, left to fend for ourselves without any federal protection.
I couldn’t do that to Gemma, and I couldn’t do that to Val. Not with my brother Parker’s army of rats sniffing around.
But, fuck, Val was hard to resist.
“A warm-up.” I pinned her with a stare. “Between friends.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth to hide her smile. “Of course.” She slapped my back and skipped away toward an empty mat. “Let’s go, big guy.”
My restraint and sense of self-preservation were unraveling fast. A warm-up. Between friends. Friends could grapple and work out together, right? It didn’t need to be weird.
Only with any other friend I wouldn’t be thinking about rolling around the mat with them and touching every inch of silken skin. I wanted to do the right thing, but my willpower was threadbare. I was reaching my limit. A quick warm-up and I’d go to the back, lift weights, and be on my way.
Easy enough.
When we reached the center of the mat, she suppressed a grin. I slipped off my socks and shoes as she fixed her ponytail. Waiting for me, she widened her stance, bent her knees, and bounced lightly—her tits keeping time with my heartbeat.
Fuck.
With a smirk, she tipped her head to come get her.
She was strong and fast—I could give her that. But where her training kept her sharp, my experience in street fights allowed me to see things others couldn’t. A drop of the shoulder, one foot crossing the other—it was all an opportunity to attack.
We moved together and shifted. If I overpowered her, I’d let her up, and we’d square off again. If she had me tangled up in those long legs of hers, I could shift and move until we broke apart and went at it again.
Pure brawn helped me some, but there were times my muscles were more of a hindrance. I was far less flexible and lithe than Val, and she used that to her advantage. Her legs wrapped around my torso and her arm at my throat, she leaned in to whisper, “You’re holding back.”
My hips bucked forward, knocking her off-balance as I rolled.
I should have been able to pin her down, but she was fast. I surged forward and shoved her onto her back.
I sank my weight between her legs as she wrapped them around me and locked her feet.
I gripped her wrists and pinned them above her head.
Val didn’t push or struggle against me, but held my eyes with her own .
Every reason I couldn’t have her surged through my mind.
None of them mattered when she was right there, pinned beneath me on the ground.
My cock thickened between us, and I knew she could feel it.
Ever so slightly, she moved her hips—just an inch, just enough to let me know she understood exactly what I was thinking.
I pushed harder against her, her lips dropping open on an exhale.
My nose inches from her. I was a breath away from taking her mouth.
She laughed.
The sound ripped me from the fantasy, reminding me of where we were. I pushed off her, jumping to my feet to create some distance. Val felt good, too good, and I was high off her smell alone.
“Looks like you got me this time.” Val cocked a hand on her hip and smirked.
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head to try to ground myself. “Thanks for the warm-up.” I turned and stalked toward the weights without looking back at her.
Fuck. Being friends with Val was going to kill me.
I spent the next hour in a grueling workout, pushing every intrusive thought of Val out of my mind.
If she popped up, I punished myself with another set.
My guard was down when I was around her, and that was dangerous.
I was calm. Comfortable, too comfortable.
But despite my best efforts, thoughts of Val filtered in above the noise.
I knew I should leave well enough alone, but the feeling of ease I had whenever Val was around was like a drug.
I had to be careful. While I couldn’t deny that Val and I were connected in some way, the pain of my past and all the shit it brought with it wouldn’t go away simply because Val made me feel good.
There were so many ways this could go wrong. So many ways I could fuck everything up for the people I cared about. But my efforts to keep Val at a friendly distance were slowly turning into the slowest form of torture.