We both glanced at the building.
“I’d love to check it out now that it’s empty,” Andrew mused, rocking back and forth on his feet.
“I still have a key, and knowing Mike, he hasn’t changed the locks yet.” I’d wanted it to come across like I was connected and knew more than he did, but I realized too late that it actually sounded like an invitation.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, then it’s not breaking and entering. Let’s go.”
Edith took off after Andrew despite the fact that I was offering her a piece of freeze-dried liver to ignore him, making me realize that I was going to have to work hard to sever the bond he’d just magically grown with her. I couldn’t have my new puppy mooning over the enemy.
Andrew leaned up against the doorframe of the empty space and grinned at me. “I hope she doesn’t have an alarm in there. I don’t want you getting all flustered again.”
I frowned as I sorted through my key chain, refusing to look at him. “Flustered? What made you think I wasflustered?”
He shrugged then squatted to pet Edith again. “It’s sort of your general aura, you know? Always tense. It’s that big brain of yours, overthinking stuff.”
How was it possible that the man could insult me and compliment me in the same breath?
“Well, you clearly don’t know how to read me. I was angry.” I met his eyes. “At you. Remember?”
That axis-tipping devilish grin again. “Honestly, I haven’t given that night another thought. Sorta busy setting up my empire, you know?”
I gritted my teeth and pushed past him into the dark warehouse. This was going to be quick or I might wind up making some content for a true crime podcast about women driven to murder by annoyingly egotistical men.
The more time I spent with Andrew the more obvious it became that I wasn’t going to be able to navigate the ridiculous training swap we’d agreed to. I was now convinced that I’d been flooded with ladder-lifting endorphins when we’d agreed to it and I wasn’t thinking like my normal, rational self. It was the only explanation why I’d willingly subject myself to him.
Because I couldn’t justbewith Andrew.
There was still too much between us that would never be resolved. I wasn’t sure how he could ignore it, because I felt like our history was an open, festering wound, too far gone to heal without surgical intervention.
Andrew turned in a circle, taking in the space that was almost as familiar to me as mine. Seeing it empty made me sad that Roz was gone but excited for what I could do with it.
“Roz seemed great, but I have to admit that I’m glad she’s gone,” Andrew said, walking around and staring up at the skylights. “I tried her cookies and I don’t know if I would’ve been able to resist them.”
“She told me. I’m in shock that you eat cookies now.”
“People change.”
I dropped Edith’s leash then jogged to the light switches, ignoring the comment. People might make surface changes, like packing on enough muscle to be a Marvel stunt double, but the core of a person never really does. Eating a few cookies didn’t mean that the Andrew prowling through the building was any different from the one who used to prowl the bars. And just because he was being friendly didn’t mean he was my friend.
I flicked on the lights and he let out a whistle.
“Whoa, the things I coulddoin here.”
He was striding around the space like it was already part of his kingdom. If anyone was going to make something of the place it was going to be me, he just didn’t know it yet.
“How so?” I wanted to let him talk, to reveal his plans so I could be ready for whatever he was going to try. I hadn’t readThe Art of Warfor nothing.
“I have a feeling I’m going to outgrow my space pretty quickly,” Andrew said, walking along the wall that separated his unit from the one we were in. He knocked on it. “I bet this could come down really easily.”
I bristled that he assumed he could just waltz in and start demolition before the ink was dry on his current lease, but I wasn’t ready to show my hand yet. The more I pulled out of him the more prepared I’d be in battle. “You’re not even open—how can you tell it’s not big enough for you?”
“Prebooking,” Andrew said, crossing his arms and eyeing me like he could tell what I was up to.
I leaned over and pretended to adjust Edith’s harness so he wouldn’t see my surprise. “You mean you’ve got people willing to sign with you sight unseen?”
“You know it,” he answered, miming swishing a basketball. “The artist’s rendering of the space on my website was a big help.” He paused. “Oh, and the Twitter shout-out from the Commanders’ starting lineup helped too.” He winked at me. “ESPN retweeted it.”
Of course he was going to succeed. Andrewalwayswon.
