Page 5 of Fall Hard

Bryn looked up at that moment and our eyes met, her blue eyes going wide and her arms freezing mid-air as they reached up to fix her perky blonde ponytail.

Great. Now it looked like I’d been staring at her—which, yeah, I guess I kind of had been but not likethat.

She took a step forward, like she was going to come over and talk to me, and I quickly spun away, pretending to rummage in my bag on the floor for something and then busying myself with a sip from my water bottle.

“Amazing to see so many new faces tonight!” the instructor called at the front of the room, her smile so wide I felt like I could see every single one of her teeth. “We’ll start with a few warm-up stretches and then I’m going to put you in pairs just for the final stretching exercise, okay?”

A chorus ofOkays!sounded back at her and I jumped. Was this yoga or a pep rally?

She talked us through a series of stretches, nodding and smiling encouragingly as she walked between us, correcting form as necessary. Once she got back to the front of the room I felt like I breathed a little easier, having not enjoyed her walking around behind me.

She clapped her slightly orange hands together and closed her eyes. “Now let’s take a moment to breathe before we complete the final stretch.”

I shook my arms out before letting them hang loosely at my side, no longer feeling the chill of the room after the first ten minutes of the class. It had been a while since I’d done any yoga or pilates and my muscles were shaking a little already. We breathed out for five and in for five before the instructor opened her eyes and offered us all a smile.

“Right, get into your usual pairs then please girls and I’ll have my two new ladies together here at the front too.”

My heart felt like it stopped in my chest. She was talking about me. Me and…

Bryn.

Because, of course. Why would the universe give me a break for a single freaking second?

I walked over reluctantly and avoided looking at Bryn, instead focusing all my attention on the instructor as she talked us through the next movement and I felt myself pale. I looked to Bryn and she raised an eyebrow coolly at me.

“You want to go first? Or shall I?”

I held in a sigh and laid down on her yoga mat, keeping my hips squared as I lifted my legs and let her catch them. This was going to be awkward.

Her hands were warm on my calves and when she leaned forward I could see down her sports bra to the full chest I’d touched last night in the club. I looked away hastily, breathing out when she told me to as she pressed my legs towards my chest.

“Don’t forget to breathe, darling,” the instructor said as she paused next to us. There wasn’t a drop of sweat on her skin, so it was definitely only me that had felt the strain thus far.

I breathed out as Bryn pushed forwards again, stretching me, and gave the instructor a strained smile before she walked away, her long brown braid thumping cheerfully at the center of her back.

Bryn looked at me from the other side of my legs and our stare caught and held as her hands slid to hold my knees.

“Very good, now pull back and let’s form our V-shape before we try again.”

I could feel my cheeks heating as I parted my legs and Bryn watched me in silence, though her eyes seemed to darken as she stepped between them and pushed down until my feet were nearly by my head.

“Very flexible,” the instructor chirped as she walked up and down.

“Very,” Bryn murmured and I knew I had to look like a tomato as she finally put my legs down and we swapped positions.

If it had been awkward before, then it was nothing compared to how I felt now being the one standing over her—feeling the strength in her legs as I pressed into her and she pushed into me, creating a resistance that would hopefully stretch the muscles perfectly.

She stopped pushing when the instructor called for us to swap into the high-V position, and I nearly slumped forward into her at the absence of the weight pushing against me.

God, I was never going to a yoga class again.

* * *

Jamie thinks I slept with Bryn.Jamie thinks I slept with Bryn.It was the only thought I could seem to form. It shouldn’t have mattered, Jamie was with Ryan, she was happy and we were nothing more than friends. That was all we would ever be, and I knew that. Iacceptedthat. Yet, I’d still let her think something more had happened between Bryn and I than actually had. Or rather, I hadn’t worked that hard to correct the assumption when she’d made it after seeing Bryn leave here the other night anyway.

I wasn’t trying to make her jealous, exactly… because why would she care? She’d been practically purring when she’d thought Bryn had ‘seduced’ me. Of course, the truth was much more embarrassing—I’d kissed Bryn while I was wasted and called her someone else’s name. And I’d touched her boob.Thenprobably made her think I was a stalker by turning up to the same yoga class as her and touching her legs a bunch.

I scrubbed a little harder at the dishes Jamie had left in the sink. If I never saw Bryn again, it would still be too soon. But considering her brother was friends with Jamie’s boyfriend… I sighed as suds splashed up and soaked the front of my sweatshirt. I would just have to take a page out of Jamie’s book and own it. So what if I’d kissed Bryn? So what if I’d drunkenly begged her to stay the night with me like a kid afraid of the dark?

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