“Where are Nash and Logan?” I asked when we took a break to catch our breath and hydrate between two circuits.
We were going at it hard, but I wasn’t trying to kill myself or them. A breather and water were necessities if we were going to keep going, and I wasn’t nearly done yet. “I thought they’d be coming as well.”
“Logan and Katie are on their way to India for a few days,” Chris said. “He and Saschin Patel are looking into some property development opportunity there and Katie went along to see if she could source some local fabrics from there for her new line.”
Cyrus managed to laugh even though he was still blowing hard. “Bullshit. Katie just didn’t want him to travel without her. Those two are always finding excuses to go everywhere together.”
“Says you,” Hunter teased, making a point of rolling his eyes at his friend. “You and Luna are practically joined at the hip. I keep expecting her to show up to work out with us.”
He shook his head. “That will never happen. My wife has children to run after when she’s not already working her ass off in the flower shop. She gets enough exercise.”
“Nash and Lennon are away too,” Chris said, getting back to my original question. “He had to go to Los Angeles because some celebrity was having a meltdown. As far as I know, he dragged Lennon with him to stay at their place in Malibu for a few days before they come back.”
I sighed. Absolutely everything they were saying just served as a reminder of their own stories. Of how their relationships had caught fire even while they were faking it. Mine was on fire alright, just not in the good way—and we hadn’t even really started faking it yet.What a fuck-up.
“Okay, well, if they’re not coming, we should get started.”
Three sets of eyes came to rest on me, all of them looking at me like I’d lost my ever-loving mind. It was my brother who voiced the thoughts they were all having. “Get started? Are you insane? We got started over an hour ago.”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting lazy on me,” I joked. “I’ve still got a whole bunch planned for us today.”
Chris groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have come. Is this hell week? It feels like hell week. Why did we volunteer for it again?”
“Some of us need to make sure we don’t gain any pregnancy sympathy weight,” Hunter said, patting his abs. “I can’t let the size of my stomach rival Hailey’s by the end.”
“Pregnancy sympathy weight?” Chris teased. “Don’t blame it on that, Holmes. It’s like Parker said. You’re just getting lazy.”
“Am not.”
“Are too,” he joked.
Cyrus put his arms out. “Boys, boys. Take it from me, sympathy weight is a real thing. Also, all the snacks to satisfy the random cravings that you have to keep stashed around the house don’t help.”
“Why do you keep it stashed around the house then?” Chris asked, frowning. “It seems better for everyone to just go pick something up when the craving hits.”
Cyrus snorted as he tried to hold back a laugh. “Have you tried to find a donut covered in yogurt at two in the morning? Because I have. It couldn’t be the week-old convenience-store type, either. Luna insisted on the donuts from the small shop around the corner from hers. It was that or nothing.”
“We’d better push harder then,” I said. “If Hunter is going to be packing away donuts at two a.m., we might need to make this a regular thing.”
My brother grinned. “Now that you’ve finally acknowledged that this kind of workout isn’t normal and before we start talking about you trying to take us out of action on a more regular basis, do you want to tell us why you’re in such a horrible mood?”
“Nope.”
“What’s up, Parker?” he asked again. “Whatever it is, give us a try. Bounce it off us. Maybe we can help.”
“You can’t.”
Cyrus scoffed. “We probably can. There aren’t many areas that none of us have no knowledge of or experience in.”
“You sound like a dick,” I said.
He shrugged. “Maybe, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Whether it’s business or personal, we’ve got you covered.”
“Not with this you don’t,” I said truthfully. “None of you have been in my position with what’s bugging me. I know that for a fact.”
Chris arched a brow at me. “I very much doubt that, but if you don’t want to talk, don’t. Eventually, you’ll realize that we might’ve been able to help and then you’ll tell us about it. Only, that may be weeks or months from now, and think about how stupid you’ll feel knowing that you could’ve just told us and gotten our take on it today.”
When he put it like that, I realized he was probably right. Since I was all about results, I didn’t want to waste time unnecessarily. “Fine, but don’t hate me for it. You guys are part of the problem, actually. It’s getting hard to see all of my friends so happy, getting married, and moving into the next phase of your lives while I’m the odd one out.”