“What did I do? Are you mad at me?”
I smile softly. God, I love Cami. “No, silly. I need to talk, and I need to get on the treadmill, so we might as well do both at the same time.”
“I don’t want to.” Her voice is just a little whiny.
“Come on. It’ll be fun. And you’re my person, and I need to talk.”
“You have three other persons, Addie. Riley likes the gym.”
“I want you. I need to talk about Jake.”
“Jake?” That perked her up. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen.”
“YOU KNOW, YOU have a membership to this gym,” I remind Cami as we begin walking side by side on the treadmills. She’s glaring at hers, as though it’s an evil entity.
“I know. And I came here, once.”
“Once?” I chuckle and increase my speed.
“I had these horrible side effects. I got sweaty. I was out of breath. My legs were shaky. I’m pretty sure that all means that this is not good for me. I mean, I couldn’t breathe, Addie.”
“You are a hot mess.” I laugh loudly as I increase the speed to a slow jog.
“Okay, I’m on this machine of destruction. Talk.”
“I spent the night with Jake last night.”
Cami stumbles, almost falling off the back end of the treadmill, then coughs hysterically. The hot guy at the customer service counter watches with concern, his finger hovering over the speed-dial button for 911, I’m sure.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You had sex with Jake Knox?”
“No.”
She frowns. “Wait. What?”
“He stayed with me last night, but we didn’t have sex.”
“What did you do? Play Parcheesi?”
I relay the story of Jeremy cornering me at my car last night, but leave out the part about Jake saving me from having my first black eye.
That’ll only freak her out, and it didn’t happen. He’s gone. Probably already moved on to the next poor girl.
She can have him.
“I knew I hated that guy.”
“Yeah, I should have listened.”
“So how did you end up with Jake?”
“He followed me home to make sure I was safe.”
“Hello, swoon,” she says with a sigh. “And then?”
“And then he held me most of the night.”
She stares at me for a long minute. “And that’s it?”
“Yep.”
“And you let him hold you? You’re not a snuggler.”
“I know. It felt good.” I shrug and wipe the sweat from my forehead. “I don’t remember the last time I snuggled with someone.”
“That’s because you’re not a snuggler,” she says again. “I’m quite sure you’ve always been anti-snuggle.”
Yeah, because that was before I’d been snuggled by Jake.
“He wants to see me again.”
“Good.”
“Not good.”
“I’m so confused.” Cami shakes her head, her honey-blond hair bouncing as she walks quickly beside me. “Why is it bad? You enjoyed the snuggling. He rescued you from the ex–douche bag. He’s nice to you, Addie. This is a good thing.”
“He’s too good at it. He made this morning easy and funny and relaxing.”
“That bastard! You’re right. Stay away from him.” She rolls her eyes.
“Look, smart-ass, I’m saying that he’s too good at it. Like, he’s good at it because he’s done it so much already. I’m not special. I’m just another woman that he’s woken up next to.”
“Okay, number one, that’s kind of a bitchy thing to say. He didn’t have to go to your place at all. And he certainly didn’t have to stay the night. Just because he didn’t want this morning to be weird doesn’t mean that he does it every day.”
“Except, he’s a rock star, so he probably does.”
She glares at me for a minute. “He’s an ex–rock star. He hasn’t been in the limelight for five years, Addie. People change a lot in five years. And that leads me to number two. He’s a good guy. He’s always really nice to all the staff at the restaurant. He’s quick to give a sweet compliment, but he’s not overly flirty. Except with you.”
I frown, listening to Cami, and thinking about how Jake has been over the past month. She’s right, he’s kind, but not superflirty.
“I really think you’re overthinking this.”
“You’re not the first person to say that to me.” I slow the pace down to a quick walk now. “I guess it’s in my nature to overthink.”
“Of course it is. You’re a woman.” Cami also slows her pace. “Holy shit, look at that.”
Across the room is a man lifting weights. His muscles are crazy big. He’s not bad on the eyes at all.
“I’m telling you,” Cami says, her eyes still on Mr. Beefcake. “They should have an observation deck here, where we can sit with a glass of wine and watch the show. I’d come to the gym every day.”
“I can get behind this idea,” I reply thoughtfully. “We should put it in the suggestion box.”
“I’m totally gonna do that.”
“Great. Now that that’s solved, what am I going to do about Jake?”