Page 23 of Unbound
"Though you might want to consider increasing the weight. You're stronger than you think."
Something in the way he said it, the wicked glint in his eye, made me look at him sharply. He was smiling again, but this time it definitely wasn't about bench pressing.
"I should go," I said, standing on unsteady legs.
"Shower's that way." He nodded toward the locker room. “If you need to cool down?”
The memory of my ice-cold shower hit me like a slap. Friday night. After the bar. When I'd tried to freeze the arousal out of my system.
He knew. Somehow, impossibly, he knew.
I grabbed my towel and fled.
Wednesday afternoon, Rebecca and I claimed our usual table in the student union, textbooks and coffee cups creating a familiar fortress of academic normalcy. She was working on an education theory paper while I attempted to make sense of tort law. The low hum of conversation and the smell of overpriced coffee should have been comforting.
Instead, I kept looking over my shoulder.
"You're jumpy today," Rebecca observed, not looking up from her laptop. "Everything okay?"
"Fine." I turned a page with unnecessary force. "Just tired."
It wasn't entirely a lie. I'd been sleeping poorly all week, tossing and turning through dreams I couldn't quite remember but that left me waking with a flush of guilt and confusion. Father always said troubled sleep was a sign of a troubled conscience.
My conscience was definitely troubled.
"Jesse. Rebecca."
I looked up to find Adrian standing beside our table, coffee cup in hand, that now-familiar smile playing at his lips. He looked completely at ease, like running into us was the most natural thing in the world.
"Adrian," I said, his name feeling strange in my mouth.
Rebecca looked up from her laptop, and I watched recognition dawn slowly across her face. "Oh," she said, her voice carefully neutral. "You're the one from... that night."
My stomach dropped. Adrian's smile sharpened slightly.
"That's right. At The Harbour." He didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable about the reminder. "Small world."
"Very small," Rebecca agreed, her tone polite but wary. She glanced at me. "This is Adrian, from my Constitutional Law class."
"Mind if I sit for a minute? All the other tables are taken."
I glanced around quickly. There were at least three empty tables within sight. But Rebecca was already moving her bag to make room, though her expression remained guarded.
"So you're in Jesse's law program?" she asked.
"That's right. We've had some... interesting debates." Adrian's eyes flicked to mine. "Haven't we, Jesse?"
My throat felt tight. "Some."
Rebecca looked between us, clearly sensing an undercurrent she didn't understand. "What kind of debates?"
"Constitutional interpretation. Separation of church and state. That sort of thing." Adrian leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed. "Jesse has some very... traditional perspectives."
"Oh." Rebecca nodded, looking relieved to be on familiar ground. "Yes, Jesse's very committed to his faith. It's one of the things I admire about him."
Something flickered across Adrian's face—surprise, maybe, or calculation. "Is that so?"
"We both are," Rebecca continued, and I could hear the pride in her voice. "Our families have been friends for years. We're actually—"
