Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
After I walk for five minutes to cool down, I power the machine off and wipe my face with a towel. I grab my phone and water bottle and turn for the barbells, as today I’m working my chest and shoulders. Marek and Holt are already lifting, both defensemen who tend to focus on brute strength versus speed and stamina, so they’re less about running than I am.
“Have a nice run, princess?” Marek asks dryly as I set my stuff down near the bench press. They’re both at the squat rack today.
“I’m not the one who has to prove my manhood by how much weight I can lift,” I return with a sly grin.
“Yeah, well, your manhood is in a dry spell,” Holt says as he loads some weight onto the bar.
I know he’s making a point about this past weekend at the beach. Both Marek and Holt had a very good time with some of the local girls, and I got so much shit from them because I didn’t. While I certainly did my share of looking while we hung out at the beach, I didn’t touch at all.
Which, yes, is very weird and totally contradictory to my goal of experiencing one long fuck fest for the entire off-season.
But what can I say…I’ve got Josie on the brain, and as much as I’d like to say we’re just friends, the truth is I don’t want to be just friends with her. The thing I can’t figure out is how to have something else with her, and that’s mainly because I’ve given her the impression that I’m only interested in her as a friend.
Even more confusing is the fact that I don’t get anything more from Josie other than a friend vibe, and that’s driving me batshit crazy trying to figure out how to get around that. She’s the very first woman in my life who’s intrigued me in more than just a sexual way. That leaves me feeling off balance, because if it were just about physical chemistry, I’d have made a move long before now.
But not knowing if the chemistry is only one-sided has made it difficult to figure out where to go. I suppose I could man up and just ask her. Or I could make a move…
The only problem with either of those two solutions is that I’m afraid I’ll get shot down and then Josie will never be anything but a friend to me, and that thought just plain fucking sucks.
“Notice he doesn’t deny it,” Holt says to Marek. I don’t bother looking at either of them, content to let them have their fun while I load my own bar with weight.
“I’m thinking he’s got a very particular girl on the brain,” Marek says slyly.
“Yeah,” I respond in a bored tone. “And just who would that be?”
“That would be Josie, you fuck-wit,” Holt taunts me.
I glare at him for a moment before I pull another plate from the weight rack. “What makes you think it’s Josie?”
Marek and Holt both met Josie at the Cold Fury party the night Sutton went into labor. They both flirted with her shamelessly, which got my hackles up a bit. A few days after that party, I invited them to hang by the pool with Josie and me. They flirted with her some more, and she ate it up.
My hackles bristled hard but I didn’t say a word. If I was a betting guy—and I am—I think they were doing it on purpose just to get a reaction out of me.
Of course, having just spent a few days at the beach with them where I remained chaste and virtuous while they banged everything that moved was sort of an indicator, I guess.
“Dude, why don’t you just admit you got something for her?” Holt asks curiously, and it’s because there’s no teasing in his tone that I look back to him.
“So what if I got something for her?” I mutter. “She doesn’t feel the same.”
“How do you know?” he shoots back.
“Because we’re just friends and that’s all she wants.”
This time it’s Marek who presses me. “But how do you know?”
I shrug and then flip a leg to sit straddled on the bench. “It’s just a vibe from her.”
As I lie down on the bench and position myself under the weights to do some chest presses, Marek walks over to spot me. He looks down at me as I position my hands on the bar. “Make a move, dude.”
“What kind of move?” I ask him, and then don’t wait for an answer. I push the weight off and start my reps. Marek doesn’t respond but counts off my reps until I hit ten, then helps me guide the bar back onto the rack.
When I sit up to take a sip of water, Marek gives it to me. “Romance her, man. Dinner, candlelight, sexy music. Whisper sweet nothings. Send her flowers or some shit like that.”