16. Garrett
Chapter Sixteen
GARRETT
H e ducked, narrowly missing Rainer’s right cross. He returned it with a quick jab, but Rainer danced away, crossing the mat that divided this corner of his home gym from the weightlifting gear.
He smacked his boxing gloves together. “And then she ordered me not to sneak into her room to smell her hair in the night. As if I would ever do that!”
Rainer snorted. “I hate to break it to you, but you already did exactly that.”
“ What ?” He dropped his hands, letting Rainer land a solid right cross.
“Afraid it’s true,” his friend insisted, gesturing in the direction of the entrance. “Just after dinner, you opened the door on the way out and held it for her. She turned to say bye to George. You leaned in and took a deep whiff.”
“Did not,” he muttered, not at all happy with the fact he’d regressed to a six-year-old.
He expected Rainer to continue mocking him, but the other man shook his head and sighed.
“Look, it’s obvious your mind is set on helping Emma out, but do you honestly think having her live with you is a good idea? ”
“In case you forgot, she got kicked out of her place.”
“Because of you,” Rainer added helpfully.
“Exactly. I owe her.”
Rainer blocked his uppercut. “And you could easily repay her by arranging for a new apartment. Hell, there are still some empty ones in this building.”
Gesturing to the clock, he began to strip off the gloves. “Do me a favor and don’t mention that to her.”
“Garrett.”
“I can’t do it, man,” he said, tossing down one of the gloves. “She gets such bad migraines, she needs supervision.”
“Maybe, but does it have to be you? Find her a roommate. Or better yet, she could find one herself. Because the woman I met yesterday seemed to have definite opinions on things.”
“I thought you liked her.”
“I do. And George loves her,” Rainer assured him. “I’m just worried by how badly you wanted me to like her.”
Garrett drew himself up to his full height. “A completely normal amount.”
Rainer scratched his head. “Your divorce was final ages ago, but then came the partying, and after that, you insisted on the two of us getting paramilitary training with Auric?—”
“That came in handy for you,” he interrupted, pointing the glove he’d removed at him.
“And so it did, but it was still a weird move for you.”
Rainer began to tug off his gloves so he could grab a couple of towels. He tossed one at him. “But the last few months it felt like you were coming down, starting to get back to normal.”
“I turned into a workaholic with no social life,” he groused.
Rainer shrugged. “You like your work and were making a killing doing it. Still are. But you also seem more centered. But now this thing with Emma is… I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do,” he said, making a get on with it gesture. “Spit it out.”
Rainer winced. “I’m not saying it’s going to blow up in your face… bu t when it does, it’s going to be catastrophic. Like H-bomb huge. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” He wiped his face with the towel, wondering if he should strangle himself with it. “I should offer her one of the places downstairs, shouldn’t I?”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do. But also, yes. Do that.”
Tossing the towel in the laundry chute, he grabbed his water bottle. “Fine. I will. And despite what a pain in the ass you are, I’m glad you’re concerned about her.”
His friend had what his grandmother used to call good moral fiber.
“With everything Emma has been through, I’m glad she has decent people in her corner. You know, just in case.”
“In case of what?”
His heart picked up, aware of how much he was revealing. “In case something happens to me.”
Rainer grimaced. “Garrett, man…”
“Yeah, I know.” He bit his lip, blinking against the sting burning his retinas. “But you didn’t see her before. Emma was a ballbuster who took no prisoners. She was going to burn down Wall Street. Now she can be sparring with me one minute, and then she’ll just crash and it’s…”
He shook his head.
Rainer leaned against the rail of his VersaClimber. “It’s hard for you to see her in pain.”
That was the understatement of the year. “Yeah.”
“Look, I’m not saying Emma doesn’t need a hand. But it’s not like the ballbusting is in the past. She was giving you shit like a pro last night, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, she was.” And he had loved every second of it. “But I still worry.”
Rainer threw in the towel. Literally. He closed the laundry chute door after tossing the sweaty one inside.
“I know what that means. You’re obviously dead set on keeping Emma next door, for her sake. But I gotta tell you, man, she’s not the one I’m concerned about.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I know. And I get it. This could get ugly.”
With that rousing pep talk still ringing in his ears, he headed back to his room to shower. Only to run straight into Emma coming out of hers.
She was wearing a towel and nothing else.
Dear God, I take it back. Not ugly. The opposite of ugly.