Page 7 of His Dark Vices

"I'm jogging," he replies slowly, tilting his head down as if he's willing me to understand. I roll my eyes, and he lets out another easy laugh, enjoying himself. "I come here every morning."

"You do?" I look away from him, confused, and try to sift through my memories of joggers I've seen before. But that's useless, I soon realize. I don't pay attention to other peoplearound me, not really. I'm usually too busy spiraling in my thoughts or pushing my limits.

"You aren't the only one in the world, you know."

I groan loudly and cross my arms over my chest. "I know that!" I snap.

"Are you sure?"

I open my mouth wide to protest, but his laughter drowns me out.

"Come on, relax. I'm just teasing you."

"I also know that!"

Damn it. He's making me respond like a kid. Thankfully, he doesn't respond to me, but his eyes flash with amusement, silently mocking me.

"You know, I really feel bad about yesterday." My voice is high, nearly a whine, and the sound of it makes me feel even more upset.

His body language relaxes a bit, and I can see that he's taking me seriously. "I shouldn't have teased you, I'm sorry." He raises his hands in surrender.

I look him over warily, then after a few moments, I nod shortly. "Okay. I'm sorry, it really caught me off guard to see you here. I didn't think we'd run into each other so soon."

"Maybe that's my bad. I should have said something yesterday."

"About what?" I tense up, my eyes darting around as I try to think. "Wait, did you see me here in the park before?"

"I thought you recognized me," he says, his expression open and sincere. "We pass each other here from time to time. I recognized your curly hair, but maybe I'm just another guy to you." He looks a little abashed. "That sounds kind of creepy, now that I'm saying it out loud."

"It's not creepy!" I assure him quickly. "I'm the one who's oblivious to my surroundings, apparently." The feeling insideme suddenly makes sense, that weird feeling of familiarity. I must have recognized him subconsciously from the park. Relief washes over me, and I let out a little laugh.

"If you say so," he says, looking relieved himself. "By the way, I'm Sam Green." He shoots a hand forward toward me, and I leap at it, gripping it with my own.

"I'm Bree Perry, it's nice to meet you," I say.

He squeezes my hand, letting me taste his easy strength. He smiles warmly, and I can only return the gesture stiffly. This guy is too handsome.

"Nice to meet you, too. Anyway, I'll get back to?—"

"Yeah, me too!!" I cut him off, getting ready to jog away. "I didn't mean to hold you up for so long."

"You didn't. Got time after your run?" he adds.

"Right, I can get you a coffee after we're done jogging!" I chirp brightly, finishing his thought.

"Meet at the north entrance?" He jabs a thumb toward it, and I nod.

We both take off, and I feel quite a bit lighter. I can actually resolve this! And it seems like he's not mad about it. I wonder if he seemed kind of rude yesterday because he'd seen me around so much. Damn it, he was being friendly, not rude.

Way to misinterpret and assume, Bree!

I jog until I stop beating myself up, which surprisingly doesn't take long. When I don't have a negative emotion left in my body, just exhaustion, I drag my spent body to the north entrance, struggling to slow my breathing down. Another good workout! Companion buzzes to congratulate me when I turn off its workout mode and sends me a few hearts.

"Thanks, buddy," I say between breaths, genuinely feeling like I've been pat on the back. I guess I'm easy.

"You're not talking to me, right?"

When I look up, Sam is doing some light stretching. He's in a tight long-sleeved shirt and loose shorts. His defined arms momentarily steal my attention. I push away thoughts of giving them a squeeze and shake my head.

---