Page 50 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

I told Marc I’d call her, and since I can’t bear to go home just yet and sit alone, I find her number and hit dial.

I haven’t seen her since Oz and Lindsi’s wedding. The same night Riley and I first hooked up… It feels like a lifetime ago.

“Hello?” The world on her end is noisy. Grunts. Swearing. A baby crying. “Hey! Shut up!”

“Meg?”

“Andi! Hey, girl. No, you shut up!” She moves through a crowd of noisy people until the volume reduces fractionally. “Sorry, Andi. It’s crazy here. Hold on one sec.”

“Oka–”

“I’m gonna stand right here!” Her shouting reaches certain nerve endings inside my brain I wasn’t sure I even owned. She’s so loud, so cutting, I have to push the cell away from my ear. “Start stretching, you little bitches, because I’ll be back in a sec, and then we’re starting.”

“Starting?” A deep male voice makes me smile. “We didn’t even start yet? We’ve been going for ages.”

It’s like I can almost hear her eyeroll. “Andi.Baaaaabe.” A door slams and cuts off most of the noise. “What the hell is going on? I know your ass has been in town for a week, and you’re only just calling me now.”

“I’m sorry.” I lean my elbow on the car door and close my eyes. The sun is using my windshield as a type of magnifying glass, warming me despite the soft snow falling outside. “I’ve been a little busy.”

“Well duh! Marc told me he was over there last week. How is he?”

“Marc?”

“Riley, dummy!”

I knew who she was asking about, but finally speaking to a friend, someone who actually suggested at the wedding that Riley was dressed up for the night and keeping an eye on me, makes me emotional.

I’ve spent the last week staying in a home I’m not welcome in. Fielding glares for the microseconds that I’d see him each day, and getting updates from Kari and Luc – though Kari was careful not to reveal medical details.

“Andi?”

I cough to clear the lump from my throat. “He’s okay. Healing up, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Um, yeah… Ya know what?” I push my thumb against my eyeball to stave off the beginnings of a headache. “I actually don’t want to talk about Riley. He’s okay. He’s alive. Can we drop it for now?”

“Of course. Are you okay? Did you need something?”

“Just a friendly voice for a minute. I promised Marc I’d call you, but I’m only just getting to it now. I’m sorry. You sound busy, so maybe we’ll have to get a raincheck.”

“No! No raincheck. Come to the gym. We’re just hanging out.”

I open my eyes and study the glistening lake fifty feet away. We had so much fun in that freezing lake. So much passion.Way back when he still tolerated me.“The Rollin Gym?”

“Yes.” Like she’s cracked the door open again, the groaning and sounds of messing around come louder again. “I’m at the gym right now. Come here and see me, then we can hang out.”

“I don’t want to interrupt you–”

“I’ll see you in five minutes! Run like your ass is on fire.” The call clicks to silence, and pulling it from my ear, I smile. She hung up on me because she knew I’d argue.

Pushing my keys into the ignition, I pump the gas a little and start the car, and less than three minutes and one set of traffic lights later, I pull into a crowded gym parking lot and blow warm breath into my hands. The day is dropping degrees by the minute, to the point the sun is barely holding in there as gray clouds take over and threaten an eternal winter.

“Alright, Nacho. I probably should have mentioned you first, huh?” I’m not sure about the Rollers’ policy on farm animals in the gym, but just like at Lakeview, I vow to keep her in my bag and sneak her in. Pushing the car door open and slinging the satchel over my shoulder, I recoil at the heavy blast of cold air that stings my nose. Climbing out, I pat Nacho close and slam the car door closed.

Moving toward the front doors, I feel none of the nerves I used to feel coming here. I was a newb to the gym, but not a newb to all gyms, and despite my outerexuberanceand the fact no one would dare accuse me of being insecure, meeting new people still makes me nervous. Especially a gym full of champion fighters and all the muscle that implies.

Stepping up to five champion fighters,andtheir sexy wives can be somewhat intimidating when you’re not one of them.

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