Page 56 of Wild Card

The metal clinks loudlyin the cradle, and Ace smirks as he adds weight to the bar. “Time for the men to lift.”

“Asshole,” I mutter, resisting the urge to lay back and burn through another set of reps.

“Not me who aggravated an injury by showing out.”

“Not showing out—winning a game.”

“Are we going over this again?” Major settles on the bench I vacated. “This shit is never-ending.”

He’s not wrong. Major is the only one who doesn’t bust my balls at every chance. He starts his set while I grab the free weights next to Ford.

“How’s the pretty therapist today?” Ford asks.

“She’s spending the day studying.”

“When’s that test?”

“June. She has some things to wrap up before her graduation and then the boards.”

“You still in the friend zone?”

“Friend zone was never an option.” I fight my grin, thinking about last night.

Whatever happened at happy hour seemed to lean in my favor. Her messages began with a single picture of an empty martini glass with a small note?—

No peach vodka… had to settle for key lime martinis

As her night went on, her messages were short but informative.

Happy Hour has turned into more than an hour…

Damn you, Talon, you have a fan club…

Did you know Abraham Koch met his now fiancée as a patient?

This last bit of information was news to me, but definitely a plus. Her piss-poor excuse about keeping our lines was ending.

Then there was the Facetime call.

The second it connected, I knew it was a mistake. The screen filled with the overhead florescent lights and the edge of a glass with a greenish liquid. A hand came into the shot, lifting the glass and draining it, followed by a long sigh.

An unfamiliar voice came through loud and clear.“Okay, Wills, tell me about him.”

“Him who?” Willow asked flippantly.

“Don’t play coy with me. I know the look of a woman falling hard.”

“I’m hardly falling!” Willow argued with a little too much gusto.

“Mmhmm, denial is a surefire sign. Coupled with defense, we have a case of it bad.”

“I scarcely know the guy.”

“That’s her own fault. Talon has made his intentions obvious.” Bex giggled.

“Talon is his name?” the other woman asked.

“Yes, why?”

---