Page 4 of Spar
“Are you out running?” Tori asked in disbelief.
“Yes, I guess you can call it that,” Claire answered between breaths. “I decided to go for a run to get away from a man at my apartment.”
“O-o-oh, do tell. Who’s the lucky guy?”
Looking around, Claire lowered her voice. “Remember Johnny Willard?”
“Brace-face Johnny from chemistry class?” Tori squealed and then covered her mouth and giggled like they were still in high school.
Claire nodded. “Yeah well, the braces are gone, but as for chemistry — I think he needs to go back to school for that one. Uh-oh, he’s calling. I gotta go. Call you later.”
She shook her head as Claire’s face disappeared from the screen. Looking around her empty apartment, Tori wasn’t sure what to do next. How long had it been since she’d had a Sunday afternoon to herself? She broke the deafening silence by turning on the TV and watchingThe Golden Girlsre-runs. A guilty-pleasure show, it made her laugh with the witty banter between the women. She only hoped that in thirty years she and Claire would still be that close. Only with men.
Tori woke witha start. An alarm and pounding from the front of her apartment filtered through her open bedroom door.
“Tori, open up!” A voice shouted from outside her apartment.
When she glanced at the clock, her foggy brain registered the numbers, and she groaned until the commotion outside and the faint smell of smoke made her sit straight up in bed, heart racing. A pile of clean clothes sat at the foot of her bed, and she grabbed a sweatshirt from the top. She tugged it over her head and grabbed her vibrating cell phone from the nightstand.
She hurried into the living room just as Jake kicked through the front door. It was something straight out of the movies, which made Tori smile in her sleep-induced state.
Her hazy smile was short-lived as she caught sight of the stern and serious look on Jake’s face. A local police officer and a friend of her brother’s, Jake also lived in the complex. Dressed in his crisp, black uniform, he entered the apartment without saying another word. He pulled her outside and led her to a crowd of people. The parking lot was filled with other residents, some standing quietly in groups, others in hysterics. Sirens blared in the distance.
“What’s going on?” she asked after Jake stopped and released his hold.
“There’s a fire in apartment 2A. It hasn’t spread, but we’re evacuating everyone until the fire department gets here. Do you want me to call your brother to come get you?” he said in his serious-police-officer tone. Judging by the way he stood surveying the situation behind her, she could see he was eager to move on and get in the action.
Her phone vibrated again, and she looked down at it. “Actually, he’s calling right now I should let him know I’m okay.”
“Heis right behind you,” came Ryan’s voice, tight and clipped.
Tori turned to see a pair of worried looks on the faces of the two men approaching. Chris and Ryan were dressed in their gym clothes — sweaty, sleeveless t-shirts and long athletic shorts. “What are you two doing here?”
Ryan pulled her into a hug, ruffling her hair from behind. “We were at the gym and saw all the commotion, so we walked over.” He pulled back and scanned her from head to toe. “You’re okay? You weren’t answering your phone. I was worried.”
“I’m fine as you can see.” She held her hands out to her sides but crossed them back in over her chest as she remembered she was sans bra. Sneaking a peek at Chris, she found him watching her, a pinched look on his face.He’s probably sad to see I didn’t go up in flames.
She followed Jake, who, after shaking hands with the guys, was headed in the direction of the emergency vehicles that had now arrived. “Jake, do you think it’s possible I can go back and grab a few things?” She gave him a pleading look, pointing down at her flip-flops.
Looking unsure, he nodded. “Yeah, I better come with you.”
“Thank you,” she squealed. “Let me just say bye to Ryan.”
She jogged back to her brother and gave him a quick squeeze. “Thank you for checking on me. I’m gonna grab a few things, and then I’ll come to the gym until things die down around here. Hopefully, I can get back in tonight, or I’m going to be shacking up at your place,” she joked, but cringed at the thought.
Chris’ eyes burned into her, but she kept her gaze carefully trained away from them and the disappointed scowl she’d grown used to him flashing in her direction. Jake led her back to her apartment and she surveyed the busted doorframe as she entered. She’d been right about the flimsy thing buckling under pressure.
Jake stopped in front of the door. “You’ve got two minutes. The fire department should be up here any second, and if anyone realizes I’ve let you back in, I’ll have everyone giving me hell.”
She nodded her head and walked feverishly around her apartment, grabbing anything she thought she might need for a night or two. Thankful for her procrastination, she grabbed the still-packed bag she’d taken for the weekend and added a couple sports bras and workout outfits to it. She slipped on her tennis shoes and snagged her phone charger from the wall.
Jake escorted her to her car as the firemen hustled into the smoke-filled building. After pulling away from the commotion, she drove the short distance to Fit Club, saying a silent prayer she’d have somewhere to sleep tonight.
The gym didn’t open for another hour, but Tori spotted the two familiar vehicles she already knew would be here. Her brother’s Mustang and Chris’ truck were parked on the far side of the lot. A thin layer of condensation covered them as if they’d been parked there for some time. She knew they liked to come work out early, but before this morning, she’d had no idea they were up atthishour.
Walking through the dark gym and upstairs to her office, Tori stopped halfway up and watched the figures in the ring below spar in rhythm to the loud, ‘80s heavy metal that blared through the building. Chris was bigger than Ryan by several inches and a good fifteen pounds, but her brother was holding his own. The murderous look that had been in Chris’ eyes the other night was gone. Maybe he separated his feelings depending on whom he was fighting. By the smile on his face as Ryan dodged a punch, it appeared Chris was having fun. Saturday night had been something else entirely, but he certainly hadn’t looked like he was having fun then.
Tori wasn’t sure what to make of him boxing in secret matches that no one knew about. She thought he had given all that up years ago when his construction company had started picking up.Maybe he hasn’t changed as much as I assumed. She smiled at the thought that, despite everything that had happened between the two of them, there might still be a part of him that was the determined teenage boy she’d once fallen for. With visions of that boy, she skipped up the remaining stairs to her office.
