Page 9 of A Little Bit Reckless
Not standing for the shove, Thatcherattemptedto shove me back, but my ass was quick. I dodged it and our horsing around got the attention of one of our other friends who’d joined us today. His name was Bruno Sloane-Mallick, but we called him Bru.
Bru stopped his pullup after I dodged another attempted strike from Thatcher, his feet touching the ground. Bru was so tall he had to tuck his legs in tight just to make a pullup effective, but he started up again once he caught my eye. His gray sweatpants hung low on his hips, exposing his chiseled hip bones just briefly before his shirt covered them when he pulled up again.
Ignoring his next rotation, I shoved Thatcher, then got back to work. It wasn’t football season anymore, but Thatcher and I liked to stay in shape. We both played for the university’s team.
Our other friends, Dorian Prinze and Ares “Wolf” Mallick played for the university too, but they were having date night with their girls. It was weird to think they were shacked up considering what whores we all had been in high school. My buddy Thatcher had a serious girlfriend too, but she was a celebrity cellist. Currently, Aspen Davis was on tour, but that didn’t mean we all didn’t hear about her. My pal Thatch was in love, which was crazy.
I was happy for him. I was happy for all my friends, but it did leave gym days and general hangouts without one (or several) of my best friends. This particular gym day, I only invited Thatcher out, but Bru tagged along. He didn’t play football. He hadn’t since high school, but the dude liked to stay jacked.
Bru dropped from the pullup. He was a brunette who resembled Clark Kent in both looks and stature. I mean, he wasn’t as pretty as me, but he got eyes across campus just like the rest of our group.
That kind of came with the territory of being, well, us.
Bru maneuvered his way over to his water bottle and his gaze slid to me before he sprayed some water in his mouth. He swallowed hard, then wiped his brow with his cut-off tee. His core was just as strong and defined as his hips, and I shook myhead before lifting my dumbbell again. Nothing against the guy, but he hadn’t been invited today.
Nah, he hadn’t been invited.
I really pushed myself with my weights and made myself look at everything but the mirror. It gave me views of things other than my workout, which was priority.
“What’s your deal with Bow anyway? She’s a sweetheart,” Bru said from somewhere in the gym behind me. Did I mention that dude wasn’t invited? “You’re always giving her a hard time, and I don’t get that.”
He wouldn’t, would he? Dorian, Ares, Thatcher, and I had all been friends since we came out of our mothers. Our parents were friends in school too, so that’d been natural. Bru and his sister, Sloane, entered our group later. Because of that, he didn’t know my history with that “sweetheart.”
Again, Rainbow Reed had the world fooled.
Because Bruwasn’tinvited, I didn’t grant his question with a response. I just continued to lift my weights, and Thatcher nudged me again with his nasty wet bicep.
“He’s just not her biggest fan,” Thatcher said, which was nice of him. He didn’t particularly love that I had beef with his sister, but he got it. He understood. My beef also kept dudes away from her, so there was that, too.
Yeah, there was that.
Rainbow Reed didn’t deserve allies, let alone friends. She had none outside of our group, and that wasn’t because of anythingI’ddone. It was a byproduct of bullshit she concocted all by herself.
I didn’t feel bad for her, but, because Thatcher was like a brother to me, I did look out for her as needed. I did so for Thatcher.
Maybe Bru was about to ask something else about shit that wasn’t his business, but Thatcher got a text and I took that as myway out of the conversation. It also marked the end of my gym session, because the text was from his girlfriend, Aspen. He felt compelled to call her after. He wanted to hear her voice, and as much as I was happy for my friend, I wasn’t trying to hear all that. Their calls consisted of enoughbabysandsweetiesfor a lifetime.
No one was more deserving of an awesome girl than my buddy Thatcher, and Aspen was pretty awesome. She gave him a run for his money. She challenged him.
After gathering my things, I waved my goodbye to Thatcher, who nodded at me. He was so consumed in his call he barely even noticed I left which made me laugh.
I mumbled a short goodbye to Bru on my way out but that was all. I didn’t think anything else was needed, and I didn’t wait for his response before I headed to the showers.
I went there to get my head right.
I had a lot on my mind as I slid under the heat of the mist and one of those things was Bow Reed. Spending longer than necessary with her was the last thing I was trying to do, but she was brilliant. She could get me out of this scrape with my parents.
I only knew two people just as smart. One was Thatcher, who was completely consumed with his girlfriend. He’d offered to help with my situation, help me study, but I wasn’t going to bother him with my problems.
The other smart person I wasn’t going to think about. I refused, and, as I lathered my hair, I regretted not sticking around for a proper goodbye with Bru.
If I had, maybe he wouldn’t have approached me.
I smelled him before anything else, his scent like oak trees and freshly cut grass. He smelled like nature and campfires and probably didn’t actually smell like that last thing, but hereminded me of that, camping. He spent a lot of time outside. He liked to run and be around wildlife.
I knew too much about this guy, and, when he touched my shoulder, I should have shrugged him the fuck off. I should have tackled his ass down and told him to get the fuck away from me.
Instead, I let him squeeze my shoulder, his thick digits digging into my flesh. The lather from my shower gel ran over his firm fingers, and I growled.
