Tate, Jasper’s younger brother, was a sports psychologist, and on a couple of occasions when we’d been drinking, he’d offered up some unsolicited advice.
I gritted my teeth. It was the same thought that had played like a broken record in my mind over the past year, torturing me, questioning my judgement. But I knew. I felt it like a body blow, hard in my gut. “It isn’t. She was different. She was my one.”
He curled the stiff rim of his cap as he looked up at me with a questioning gaze, but he knew I wasn’t going to budge. “Okay then, what are you going to do if she’s with someone else?”
The idea of that was like a bullet to the chest.
Dig a hole for him.
I shrugged.
He pushed off the ground and stood up in front of me. “What do you want to do?”
There was no doubt in my mind. I’d lost her once, I wasn’t about to do it again. “I want to see her.”
“Okay, well, let’s go back and figure out how to do that without you coming across as a creepy fuckwit.” He punched me in the shoulder.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Come on, the girls will know what to do.”
An hour later we walked into the apartment, complete with a peace offering in the form of a giant box of the cupcakes Wolf and Freddie couldn’t seem to get enough of recently. Jas and Coop were in the kitchen, and Huck was on the sofa playing Xbox.
Cooper squeezed my shoulder. “How you doin’, man?”
“I’m okay.” I replied as I looked around. “Where are the girls?”
“They went for a nap, but will probably be awake soon.”
“I’m awake.”
I spun around to find Freddie coming toward me. I held the massive box of cupcakes in front of me and her eyes lit up.
“Are those for me?”
I nodded, opening up the lid. “Yes, and Wolf. I’m sorry I yelled.”
She peered in, musing, before picking out a red velvet and taking an enormous bite. She looked at me as she chewed, swallowing before she answered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about, you were in shock. We’d have all reacted the same way.” She pulled me into a hug. “It’ll be okay, we’ll make sure of it. This is exciting! It’s just the beginning.”
I took a deep breath. “I hope so.”
Jasper opened the fridge, taking out two sports drinks and handing them to Felix and me. “Do you know what you want to do?”
I downed half the bottle. “I want to see her.”
Freddie walked off down the corridor, returning with a sleepy looking Wolf who bee-lined straight to Jasper. He pulled her into his lap, stroking her belly.
Freddie passed her the cupcake box. “Okay, let’s figure out what to do.”
Huck joined us from the sofa, taking a seat on one of the bar stools. “What do we know about her?”
Freddie hopped on one of the other stools. “We looked up her classes while you were running. She takes the six a.m. rides on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And she also does a weekend class. They all look really hard; today’s was pretty intense, way harder than the one we usually take.”
“Did she look like she had a boyfriend?” Felix asked as he bit into a cupcake.
Cooper’s eyebrow rose. “What does that look like exactly?”
