Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“Upper body.” And I shoot off.
“But we did that yesterday.”
I don’t stop, and he doesn’t argue.
Climbing on to the lat machine, I glance at Quinn in the mirror, seeing her about twenty feet behind me with the guys. She starts her reps, Noah next to her on a weight bench while the other one lingers behind her. What’s his name?
Quinn doesn’t look at me, her chin down.
But then…she lifts her head and locks on my gaze in the mirror. She flashes a small smile, my heart jolting.
I’d forgotten how her whole face brightens when she does that.
“So, what did you think of Fallstown?” Lance hangs in front of me, his hands gripping a bar over his head.
I shake my mind clear, trying to hide the pounding in my chest. “It was fun.” I let the bar rise and then pull down again. “Nice tracks.”
Fallstown. Thank goodness I’m not going to be here long enough to learn that new title.
Madoc let me do a few turns in his car. And then showed me how I was supposed to do it. Amusement pulls at the corners of my mouth, remembering how it felt when he taught me to drive when I was fifteen.
Actually, thirteen, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that.
“It was fun, and…” he teases.
I almost chuckle. My friend knows me. “And I’m glad they changed the name because it’s not the Loop anymore.” Quinn glances at me, followed by Van der Berg, no doubt overhearing. “Clean, scheduled, and corporate.” Instead of wild, chaotic, and exciting. “The Loop is gone,” I say a little louder than necessary. “It’s a shame.”
My ego takes over, and for some reason, things that never even occurred to me are now pissing me off. Like how she has people in her life who don’t even know who I am. And how I know more than they do about everything in this town, and I don’t like how they’re just fucking walking around without permission.
“Yeah, nothing like it used to be,” Lance offers.
I know I’m not thinking clearly. I’m being stupid. It’s just me feeling threatened and possessive of a life I no longer have, but I can’t shake it.
And I don’t care. Not really. It’s just possessiveness of my history here, which isn’t nearly as good as my life is now overseas. Things just always seem better than they were, in retrospect.
Quinn moves off the shoulder press and takes Noah’s place at the weight bench, Van der Berg and the other one helping adjust her weights.
“But we do have other things to offer,” Lance adds.
Noah moves behind her. “I’ll spot you.”
“Oh, I remember,” I reply, tipping my eyes up at my friend. “Small-town privacy, speed traps, and pancake suppers.”
Hard to avoid the interest of such a close-knit community.
“No, I can hear you,” Quinn says, and I watch the boys smile down at her as she listens to them over her ear piece.
“We have mystery.” Lance moves in, lowering his voice. “Every appetite can be satiated in a city, and no one cares. A small town is where you’re afraid to get caught. That’s where the fun is. Who’s having an affair with who? Who’s the secret love-child of the police chief?”
Who’s hiding a body…?
Yeah, I get the picture. I shake off the aggravation weighing on my shoulders.
“It’s the relationships in a small town that make everything messy…” he trails off.
“Thank you,” Quinn says, and I glance over, watching Van der Berg take the bar as she sits up.
“It’s the people you see every day that make your secrets more dangerous,” Lance tells me. “And more worthwhile.”
An earbud tumbles to the floor. Quinn sees it but continues her set.
I release my bar, replying, “Maybe I would’ve thought so before I came back and saw how developed the town is now.”
It’s not quiet anymore.
Bending down, I swipe up the ear piece and blow off any dirt or dust.
Approaching, I gently take Quinn’s ear and slide it back in. My fingers tremble at the feel of her soft skin and the strands of hair caught behind her lobe. I don’t touch too hard, almost like she’s fine china.
“The Loop used to be wet and dirty,” I tell Lance as I ignore the boys and feel Quinn go still as she clutches the bars in her hands. “Illegal and dangerous. What made it fun was that we were doing something we weren’t supposed to.”
She lifts her eyes to mine, the young men with her like statues in the corner of my eye. I can feel them watching us, and I hold her for another second—and then another—amplifying every moment she doesn’t shove me away, showing them that she knows me. Showing her that I’m still the closest man to her outside of blood.
“But the more the town grows, the more people fear losing what they have. The mystery dissipates in favor of shared preservation.”