I’m not welcome here anymore, under any condition, but I couldn’t exactly tell my mother that when she forced me home. Even Lance doesn’t know what happened.
And Madoc will never know.
Does Green Street cause him any trouble? If I’m seeing someone with a tattoo after only two days here, the group has to be thriving.
Neither of these fucking guys should be around Quinn.
Lance sidles up to my side, done with the treadmill. “Legs?” he asks.
I’d forgotten he was here.
I watch Quinn move to the shoulder press as her friends circle her.
“Upper body.” And I shoot off.
“But we did that yesterday.”
I don’t stop, and he doesn’t argue.
Climbing on to the lat machine, I glance at Quinn in the mirror, seeing her about twenty feet behind me with the guys. She starts her reps, Noah next to her on a weight bench while the other one lingers behind her. What’s his name?
Quinn doesn’t look at me, her chin down.
But then…she lifts her head and locks on my gaze in the mirror. She flashes a small smile, my heart jolting.
I’d forgotten how her whole face brightens when she does that.
“So, what did you think of Fallstown?” Lance hangs in front of me, his hands gripping a bar over his head.
I shake my mind clear, trying to hide the pounding in my chest. “It was fun.” I let the bar rise and then pull down again. “Nice tracks.”
Fallstown. Thank goodness I’m not going to be here long enough to learn that new title.
Madoc let me do a few turns in his car. And then showed me how I wassupposedto do it. Amusement pulls at the corners of my mouth, remembering how it felt when he taught me to drive when I was fifteen.
Actually, thirteen, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that.
“It was fun,and…” he teases.
I almost chuckle. My friend knows me. “And I’m glad they changed the name because it’s not the Loop anymore.” Quinn glances at me, followed by Van der Berg, no doubt overhearing. “Clean, scheduled, and corporate.” Instead of wild, chaotic, and exciting. “The Loop is gone,” I say a little louder than necessary. “It’s a shame.”
My ego takes over, and for some reason, things that never even occurred to me are now pissing me off. Like how she has people in her life who don’t even know who I am. And how I know more than they do about everything in this town, and I don’t like how they’re just fucking walking around without permission.
“Yeah, nothing like it used to be,” Lance offers.
I know I’m not thinking clearly. I’m being stupid. It’s just me feeling threatened and possessive of a life I no longer have, but I can’t shake it.
And I don’t care. Not really. It’s just possessiveness of my history here, which isn’t nearly as good as my life is now overseas. Things just always seem better than they were, in retrospect.
Quinn moves off the shoulder press and takes Noah’s place at the weight bench, Van der Berg and the other one helping adjust her weights.
“But we do have other things to offer,” Lance adds.
Noah moves behind her. “I’ll spot you.”
“Oh, I remember,” I reply, tipping my eyes up at my friend. “Small-town privacy, speed traps, and pancake suppers.”
Hard to avoid the interest of such a close-knit community.
