Page 41 of Gigi and the Gym Rats

June pouts. “You’ll join us when you’re back, right?”

“Sure. Won’t be a minute.”

I love dancing. And maybe mingling with the crowd I will have more chances of finding my man. Energized by my decision and renewed hope, I all but skip toward the bathrooms. I love it when I have a plan and I stick to it. When I’m working toward a goal and don’t fail in my resolutions. When I see the goal shining in the distance and I race toward it. My brain is rewarding me with a sort of diffuse pleasure.

I will make this happen. I will keep trying. That beta looked sweet and that’s what I’ve been looking for. Sweet and handsome and into sports, right? Fits right in.

I brush by people dancing, talking, laughing. The bathrooms are at the back and I’m almost there when I see a guy. He has his back to me, but it looks very familiar.

Wait, isn’t that…Ronin?

“Ron?” I whisper, confused. What is he doing, pressed to the wall like that, though the view of his backside—and generally his broad back—is admittedly magnificent every single time. “What are you…?”

Oh my God.

He’s not pressed to the wall, he’s pressed to anotherman, a cute beta man I happen to know.

The man I’ve been looking for.

The information works itself through me in degrees, in waves, in widening circles. It falls into me like a stone in a previously calm pond.

I take a step back. Then another. The stone punches through me, and every part of me recoils.

Turning blindly around, I start back toward the bar, my friends.

The exit.

I need to get out of here.

“Grey, wait!” Ronin calls out. “Grey! Don’t… What the hell?Gigi?”

Grey.That’s the cute beta’s name.

A beta who’s obviously Ronin’s boyfriend.

* * *

“Gigi, wait.” Now Ronin is following me through the bar, making a scene.

“Go away. Leave me alone.” I’m furious and I’m not even sure why. It’s as if… as if he cheated on me.

Which makes zero sense. We’re not together. We have never even kissed, let alone slept together. He’s certainly not my boyfriend!

So why am I so mad!

And why does every single one of my thoughts sound like it has an exclamation mark attached to it!

“Gigi. Dammit, stop and talk to me.”

“What!” Okay, I have to stop with the exclamation marks. With a sigh, I stop and turn around. “What?”

“Gige.” He’s scowling, as if he’s the one who’s mad. Why should he be? I mean, I walked on him kissing Grey, and Grey walked away and… Oh okay, maybe that’s why.

“Sorry I interrupted,” I say, injecting ice into my voice. “What do you want to talk about? You’re in a relationship with this beta, this…”

“Grey. His name is Grey.”

“Right. Grey.” A thought strikes me. “When I told you about him, when I said he mentioned you, you didn’t say anything.”

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