I grabbed a cup of water from the watercooler by the door and took a weight bench next to where Brandon sat doing curls. “Hey. Sloan’s car broke down on us last night. Stranded us in a fucking parking lot in Skid Row.” I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees, holding my water cup between my legs. “And I hooked up with Kristen.”
Brandon finished his set. “Well, I can’t say either thing really surprises me.” He pivoted to face me and grinned, bouncing his eyebrows.
I took another swallow of my water. “She broke up with her boyfriend last night.”
“Good.” He started doing curls on his other arm. “Sloan’ll be happy.”
“Well, I’m glad someone’s getting what they want out of it. She doesn’t want to date me. Sex only.”
“Okay. What’s the problem?” He set his weight down with a thump. “I thought you didn’t want to date. Didn’t you blow off that yoga instructor?”
“This is different. I like Kristen. A lot. And we get along. We get along fucking great. And the weird thing is I know she likes me too—I can tell. Something doesn’t feel right.” I finished my water and crushed the cup, tossing it into the trash can by the towels.
“Hmm. How was the sex?” he asked.
I scoffed. “Fuck, it was the best sex I’ve ever had. Not even kidding.”
She’d pounced me like a hungry tiger that escaped its cage. The way she smelled, the way she tasted—even thinking about it made my dick twitch.
Shawn came through the door and tossed a gym towel onto the weight rack. “What up, fellas?”
Brandon and I nodded at him.
“Just ask her what her deal is,” Brandon said. “It’s probably because she just broke up with what’s-his-face. Kristen’s pretty blunt. I don’t imagine her not telling you exactly what she’s thinking if you asked.”
Shawn sat on the other bench next to Brandon. “You talking about Kristen? Sloan’s friend? She’s single now? She’s hot as fuck. I’d hit it.” He lay down and scooted under the weight bar.
I grabbed his towel and threw it at him. “Hey, asshole, she’s taken.”
Shawn laughed, dragging the towel off his face. “Not by you.”
“Yes, by me.” Sort of.
He paused with his hands on his barbell and looked over at me. “Damn! You’re crushing that? She’s gone slumming, bro!”
I gave him the finger.
Brandon chuckled. “Do you want me to ask Sloan?”
“No.” Kristen and Sloan would see that shit a mile away. “Don’t ask. Don’t tell her what I said, yeah?”
He picked his weight up and started doing curls again. “Just see how it goes. Give it a few weeks.”
Shawn grinned. “Can’t nail that shit down, huh?”
I ignored him and stood up to grab weights for my barbell. I wasn’t getting into this with him. Relationship advice from Shawn was the last thing I fucking needed. He’d had his car egged by girls so many times we’d had to start locking the gate to the fire station parking lot.
Shawn grunted through his set and put the bar back on the rack with a clang. “She probably wants to get back with the ex.”
“He reenlisted. It’s why they broke up,” I said, wanting to put that theory to bed. “He’s not coming back.”
Brandon spoke up. “Her idea to break up or his?”
“Hers. Or maybe his. I’m not sure.” He reenlisted knowing she’d leave him if he did.
I hadn’t thought of that. Even if she’d broken up with him, her hand had been forced. So in a way, he’d done the leaving.
Shit, maybe that changed things.
Shawn sat there catching his breath. “He’s gonna miss those care packages and titty pics and come begging. Trust me, dude. And in the meantime she’s gonna revenge fuck her way through her contacts list.” He reached down and grabbed his water bottle, taking a drink. “Looks like she just got to the j’s.”
Jealousy surged at the thought of Tyler trying to get her back. Now I wished I had brought him up earlier so I knew how she felt about it all.
Brandon chuckled and switched arms. “She probably just needs time, bud.”
Shawn snickered, scooting back under his bar. “She probably just needs the d, and not just yours.”
“Fuck you,” I said, tightening my weight on the bar.
Brandon laughed. “Come on, it’s been what? Twelve hours since they broke up? You can’t expect her to just dive right into another relationship, no matter how amazing you might be.”
Brandon had a point. But maybe Shawn did too. She’d been tied