Page 52 of Burnout
“Yep. Born and raised right here.” Knox slips his arm around the back of my chair, resting along my bare shoulders. I glance over at him. He flicks his gaze up quickly, almost disinterested, but then his knee knocks against mine under the table.
Thank you. I mouth the words, then take a deep breath for the first time since we sat down. I’m thankful to have the conversation out of the way and the attention on someone else. It soon turns back to gymnastics and I happily let Tristan dominate Kelly and Michael’s questions.
An hour passes relatively quickly. Kelly sips on the same glass of wine the entire time and, as I predicted, announces she and Michael need to get going.
“I need to answer some emails before I turn in, but the three of you stay if you want. Dinner and drinks are on me,” she insists.
We all stand to say our goodbyes. I hug Michael and then Kelly. Tristan does the same.
“We’ll see you both at the Valley U showcase,” Kelly says before pulling her phone out of her purse. “Knox, good luck next season.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“See you soon.” Michael nods to us.
“Bye.” I lift my hand in a wave.
As soon as they’re gone, Tristan looks to do the same. “Are you heading out, Ollie? I can give you a ride.”
“Uhh, no.” I glance at Knox. “Not yet.”
Tristan pauses like he’s waiting for me to change my mind. Eventually he clenches his jaw and nods. “Call me if you need anything.”
My shoulders sag in relief when he leaves. I survived. In no small part thanks to Knox.
“That was fun,” he says dryly.
I tilt my head to the side and give him a look of disbelief.
“What?” He laughs. “It was. I nearly made the Ken doll’s head explode when we walked in together. That alone was worth it.”
“You take a weird pleasure in pissing people off.”
“Not untrue.” He smiles, then motions with his head to the indoor part of the restaurant. “Do you want to grab something to eat?”
“I’m not very hungry.” My stomach is still working out the knots I tied it into earlier. A flash of what I think is disappointment crosses Knox’s face. Is he upset that I don’t want dinner or does he just want to spend more time together? I don’t believe for a second that he wants to “hang out.” Unless hang out means sex. And I can’t sleep with a guy I’m training every day. If it was bad, it’d be awkward after, and if it was good, then I’d be finding more reasons to rub up against him while we work out. Neither option is smart. I’m still dealing with the dailyrepercussions of facing the last guy I made out with. Two of them at the gym every day would be too much.
Our walk out to the parking lot is slow. Knox’s hands are in his pants pockets and he matches his pace to mine.
“Did you really break your wrist?” I ask him as we reach my Bronco. I hit the fob to unlock it and Knox opens the door for me.
“Yeah. I landed wrong during a practice and it just snapped.”
I wince.
“And the Ricky Carmichael advice?”
“I was paraphrasing. I think he told me not to do anything reckless for a while. But I listened and there weren’t many people I would have listened to then.”
“Or now?” I joke.
He huffs a laugh and nods in agreement. “I listen to you.”
“And I know how much it pains you.”
“What can I say, I like to be the one giving orders.” Knox’s eyes darken with a playful glint. His tone promising his words are somewhere between a taunt and the truth.
My stomach flutters and my thighs clench.
