Jax laughs.
I don’t. I drop my arm, letting the ball fly past me again. “Guys, I’m not in the mood for this today. I’m sorry,” I tell Madoc. “I gotta run laps or something.”
I have to get out of here and clear my head. I need silence.
“Amen.” Jax turns and starts walking past me as if he was thinking the same thing. “I’m going to swim some laps.”
Jared follows his brother. “I’m going home for cardio.”
I walk out after them, Madoc calling out behind us. “I thought you guys liked racquetball!”
I surprise myself with a smile. I love them; although, I feel bad not one of us are in the mood to indulge him. It finally feels like I’m home.
“See you tomorrow!” I shout back at him.
Bright and early.
Jumping onto the track, I mark the time and start jogging. I keep my pace steady and slow, my stride carrying me lap after lap in no time. Quinn rides a Peloton bike and meets my eyes once.
But not again. Every time I pass, she’s lost in her music or her workout, and I leave her alone.
The gym empties more and more as time goes on, and when I pass by again, she’s no longer on the bike. I find her at the leg machines, tuning into a cooking show on the TV while she works out.
Still learning. Forever curious.She sits on a leg curl machine, but she’s not working, her attention lost in the cake decorating show.
Eyes wide. Lips parted just slightly. I swallow, unable to not look at her as I cruise by. She’s beautiful. Just the view of her. And the things she says. It all culminates in thisworld according to Quinnthat I like living in.
There’s no way I’m fucking leaving her to live in the same town as Hugo Navarre and Green Street. She stays. They go.
“Lucas.”
I slow, popping my head up to see a woman just off the track in an Astrophysics black polo and black shorts.
Breathing hard, I reach her and stop, recognition happening almost instantly. “Sarah?”
Auburn hair, beautifully wavy, blue eyes, and freckles—still in shape as she always was. An ex-girlfriend.
She smiles, and I tense, about to move in for a hug, but I don’t. The last time we spoke she told me my life would be shit and then threw her milkshake at me where it splattered all over my car.
Glancing at her name tag, I see that she works here.
“I heard you got married,” I say, trying to catch my breath.
“I did.” She speaks gently. A lot kinder than the last time. “It didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We live and learn.” She looks me up and down. “It’s good to see you.”
I cock my head playfully. “Is it?”
She waves me off. “Oh, a lot’s happened since. I’ve cooled off,” she teases. “And I’ve grown up. You?”
We broke up because of me. I liked her, but I didn’t love her. I didn’t want to waste her time anymore.
But now…
I breathe out a sad laugh. “We’re never where we think we’ll be by a certain age, are we?”
