KENT
It was leg day at the gym. I had a series of exercises that I rotated through, and Wednesdays and Sundays were leg days. That meant a lot of load-bearing squats and clean and jerks surrounded by a bunch of other beefy guys who were equally interested in staying in shape. I had a few friends, and while I stayed focused on my workout, it was good to connect. It made going to the gym one of my favorite activities, even on a day as tedious as leg day.
I was on the leg extension machine when I felt a pop in my bad knee. Pain shot through my joint, forcing me to pause. I lowered the weight gently and eased my way out of the seat. One of the other guys looked over with a sympathetic expression.
“You okay?” He didn’t even have to wait for me to put a voice to the discomfort. He knew instinctively that something had gone wrong.
“My knee,” I ground out. “I think I’m done for the day.”
“Don’t push it,” a second gym bro advised.
I grimaced and nodded. Limping off the floor, I grabbed my clothes and headed back to the car. In the trunk, I had a stash of instant ice packs. I broke one open and sat down in the driver’s seat, taking a break for a minute. Pressing the cold compress to my knee, I felt some relief.
My phone buzzed, and I looked down distractedly. It was a text from Damien. What could that asshole want? I was seriously considering selling my portion of the partnership. I could ask for a buyout from Damien and Sean and use the money to start my own firm. Or I could go in with a couple of the guys from the gym. We were always talking about a new fitness lifestyle solution that would involve scripted workouts and dietary suggestions. People would pay big money for that type of thing, especially coming from an ex-NFL player.
I ignored Damien’s text. It was cryptic anyway. He wanted me to stop by his house. We weren’t that kind of co-workers. I had never been to his house, and I didn’t plan on starting that day.
He probably wanted to gloat about Meara. I wasn’t sorry that I’d kissed her, but I did recognize that it created a lot of tension. There had been tension beforehand, though, due to Damien’s relationship with the intern. I couldn’t get past the fact that I liked her and that I was jealous of both my partners. It didn’t make for a good work environment, and I had to consider that maybe it was time to get out.
The only thing I would be sad to leave behind was Meara. In the few short weeks I’d known her, I was definitely smitten. She was the ray of sunshine in an otherwise oppressive office. She was so kind, and even though she hadn’t extended that extraordinary kindness in my direction, I could see that she was one in a million.
I longed to stroke her hair, to kiss her without time limitations. I wanted to feel her body next to mine, to run my hands up and down her spine. She was intoxicating, and I was an alcoholic. I hated thinking of her with Damien. I knew that he was able to do all the things with her that I wanted to do, and for that, I could never forgive him.
I didn’t want to know what he had to say. And I definitely didn’t want to pay him a visit. As soon as my knee calmed down a bit, I drove home. Getting out of the car was painful, and walking inside was even worse. I would have to take it easy for a few days, but I didn’t think there had been any real damage done. The injury was old, and it flared up every now and then. I had some physical therapy exercises I could do to nurture it back to health, but at the moment, all I wanted was a shower.
Turning the water on, I kept the heat to a bare minimum. There were a lot of health advantages to a cold shower, especially with muscle injuries. I wanted a little bit of warmth to take the bite off but not enough to erase the medicinal effects.
After just a few minutes, I hopped out, feeling refreshed. I toweled off, put on some pajamas, and sat in front of the television. I wasn’t really good about downtime. Just watching a movie made me feel like I was slacking off. Instead, I put on the finance channel and educated myself about the projections for the coming week.
I elevated my leg so that the knee could rest and scrolled through emails on my phone. It was multitasking at its best. I had completely forgotten about Damien’s text when Sean reached out. His message flashed across the screen, interrupting my work.
You want to answer Damien’s text, the words read.
I ignored them too. I certainly didn’t want to answer Damien’s text. Not only was I not feeling up to physical activity of any kind, but I wasn’t about to start palling around with the guys from the office. They just weren’t my type.
It was late Sunday afternoon, and whatever they had to say to me could wait until Monday. I didn’t want to give the impression that we were friends. I’d had it up to here with both of them and the entitled way they flaunted Meara in front of me. I would deal with it in the morning. For the time being, I had enough going on to entertain myself. It didn’t even occur to me that Meara herself had requested my presence. If it had, I would have been off the couch and in the car in no time flat.