19
PARKER
“You’re no fun,” I said as Isabella dropped back into her chair at the far end of the conference table. “You know what? I’m not in the mood to play Pete and Repeat today. I’m going to go burn off some steam instead.”
It turned out that I’d been right about her crawling back into her professional armor once we got back. My Bella was nowhere to be seen, and Isabella had a fucking broomstick up her ass these days. A big one.
“You’re not going anywhere.” She stood up again and moved to block the door. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared me down as I shrugged out of my jacket and tugged at the tie around my neck to loosen it enough to pull it off. “Don’t you dare. We’re only just getting started.”
“Nah. We’re done for the day.” I finally managed to yank the tie off and dropped it over the back of the chair closest to me. “I need to get down there for a while. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
Undoing the top couple of buttons on my shirt as I spoke, I strode toward her, then brushed around her when she refused to move out of my way. “See you around, Isabella.”
Frustration and annoyance bubbled like acid in my veins. Even if we kept going, there was no way we were actually going to achieve anything today. Not with me feeling like a caged tiger who hasn’t been able to run for too long.
She’d been relentless since we’d returned from the trip, and while I was easily keeping pace with her, I really did need to blow off some steam. If I didn’t, I was just going to end up saying or doing things I would regret.
I just didn’t fucking understand her. She’d had fun with me in Italy. I knew she had. Since she seemed fine with having fucked me, even if she was lying to herself about not wanting it to happen again, something else seemed to have gone sideways.
I didn’t even think it was the fake engagement. It was just like something in her had snapped back into place while we’d been discussing it and now she was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that she had an actual personality that wasn’t clad in fucking iron.
The reason I didn’t understand it was because we’d still gotten all our work done in Italy. We hadn’t fallen behind because of the sightseeing, we hadn’t been knocked off track just because we’d had some fun, and we weren’t awkward with each other just because we’d now seen each other naked.
If anything, her sudden one eighty back to her former self seemed to be hindering instead of helping us get shit done. I got that her career was important to her.Jesus.
If anyone understood how important it was to her, it was me. We were cut from the same cloth, her and me. I knew that now, better than I knew my own name.So why the obsession with keeping things professional? Why the fear of coming out of the cage of her own making now that she knew we could work and still be ourselves?
There was something up with her. I just didn’t know what it was and it was driving me nuts. What I needed, more than anything, was to forget all about her. Even if it was just for a few hours.
The only way I knew how to do that was to hit the gym and to hit it hard. So hard that everything else just faded into the background.
On my way down to the locker room, I slid my phone out of my pocket and fired off a quick text on the group chat I had with Hunter and the guys. Not even thinking about phrasing, I just put the invitation out there.
Me: Anyone up for a hardcore workout? No whining allowed.
I tossed my phone into my locker and pulled out a fresh set of clothes I kept there. While I was changing, I kept my mind off Isabella by putting together the most strenuous set I’d done in ages.
Once I was ready, I didn’t bother checking my phone to see if anyone was interested in joining. If they showed up, they showed up. If they didn’t, I’d do this by myself.
My muscles were already burning by the time Chris, Cyrus, and Hunter arrived. They came to stand in a loose, semi-circle around me when I dropped out of my pull-up.
“Took you long enough,” I snapped. “Are you ready to do this or what?”
Hunter’s eyes widened before he lifted his hand and took a big step away from me. “Whoa. Someone sure poked the bear. What’s wrong, little brother? Who ate all your porridge?”
“Fuck off.”
Cyrus looked as surprised as Hunter by my shitty mood, but he shrugged it off. “We’re ready to do this. When you’re ready to tell us why you’ve turned into the devil with gleaming muscles, feel free to share.”
He took off before I could tell him to fuck off, too. Chris laughed, nodding at Cyrus’s back before he went after him. “We’re going to warm up. If we try to get stuck into whatever the devil has planned without getting ourselves ready, we’re not going to be able to walk for a week.”
“He’s not wrong,” I muttered. “Go with them. I’ll finish my set and join you over there when I’m done.”
My brother gave me a long concerned look but didn’t ask. “Yeah. Okay. See you soon.”
He joined the other two in the warmup area, and once I got there, they were finally ready to get started. No one questioned me when I pushed them to go harder than ever before. Unless I was imagining things, it even seemed like they liked it.
Then again, these guys never turned away from a challenge. It was part of the reason why they were who they were.