So maybe the gym is my way of punishing myself, along with a convenient way of avoiding Cam for the rest of the evening.
When I get to the gym, Sawyer’s truck is already parked out front. Hunter pulls in beside me not a minute later.
“Hey, man,” he says cheerfully with a smile. He slaps me on the back as we head inside. “It’s not like you to initiate a late-night gym session, everything okay?”
Damn it, when did he become so observant? “Yeah, fine. Just felt like getting some exercise, you know? It’s been a busy week with getting Cam out here.”
Hunter’s face falls into a sorrowful expression. “Oh, that’s right. Sorry dude, I forgot. That’s gotta be a lot to handle, for you and for her.”
I give him a quick nod as we set our stuff into lockers. “It is. But I’m fine.”
“And Cam?”
My shoulders lift and then drop back down. I don’t know how to answer that. “She will be, I hope.”
We go out into the main gym space, which is empty, except for my twin brother. Sawyer’s standing in front of the mirror, flexing, earning him an eye roll from me. Thankfully, his attention is so focused on himself, he doesn’t notice.
“Broskis! Get over here, let’s lift some shit,” he calls out as soon as he sees us.
Hunter jogs over and starts talking animatedly, while I move more slowly. Hunter may have had a moment of being observant earlier, but when it comes to reading between the lines and seeing all my secrets, no one does it better than Sawyer.
If I don’t want to face the third degree about me and Cam, I need to tread lightly. All the more reason that coming here tonight was a bad fucking idea.
“Becky-boo, you ready?” Sawyer slaps me on the back as I glare at him.
“Becky-boo? Fuck off with that, right now.”
Sawyer just laughs it off. Seriously, the guy is like a duck in water. Everything and anything just rolls right off him.
Thankfully, we all seem eager to just get to work. After twenty minutes on the treadmill to warm up, we head over to the weight benches and get started. But my reprieve is short-lived, as I discover when Sawyer spots me on a bench press.
“So, twin to twin. How is it really going with Cam?”
It’s a good thing I’m not lowering the bar down to my chest or I might have dropped it at his question. “Fine,” I huff, setting the bar back on the rack and sitting up. I grab my water and hope that he’ll let it go at that.
“Yeah? How long is she staying with you? That’s gotta get awkward after a while, her panties mixing in with your laundry, your snoring keeping her awake, and what about naked time?”
I stand up, already shaking my head at how ridiculous he’s being. “First of all, I don’t snore. You do. And second, naked time? What the hell, man.”
“Don’t tell me you never walk around your house with a nudey bootie. It’s the shit, man. Just freeball it and relax.”
I look at my twin in horror. “Remind me to never show up at your place unannounced again.”
Sawyer just shrugs, the asshole. “Whatever, not like we don’t look the same, dumbass.” He drops down onto the bench and lifts the bar off the rack. Automatically, I move to spot him as Hunter approaches from where he had been on the squat rack.
“Regardless, we don’t need to talk about Cam’s panties, or being naked around each other, because it’s not gonna happen. I told you, she’s just staying with me while she figures out her next move.”
“Think she’ll stay in Dogwood Cove long-term?” Hunter asks. “Kat seemed pretty excited about that possibility, said she really wanted to get to know Cam.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. Cam’s had to put her dreams and goals aside for so many years out of her sense of obligation and loyalty to her grandfather. Now that he’s gone, who knows what she’ll decide to do.”
“But you want her to stay here?” Hunter doesn’t know just how loaded his question is. Even Sawyer pauses in his lift to look at me.
“Sure, yeah, I guess,” I stammer out, but I feel the fucking heat rising in my cheeks. Why, out of all my brothers, did I have to be the one who blushes easily. And why now, of all times, when Sawyer’s already sniffing for blood in the water.
“Beck’s had a crush on Cam since they met. But she’s never let things go beyond friendship,” my twin oh-so-helpfully explains to our future brother-in-law. “That’s why I think her living with him is doomed. There’s no way our sensitive little Becky-boo can avoid catching feelings if he’s around her for too long.”
Swear to God, if he wasn’t my twin, I’d drop the fucking bar on him, all 235 pounds of it. And of course, Hunter being who he is, turns to me with a wide grin.
