“I’ve been trying to get hold of this bunch all morning. I got the ‘see you at the gym’ text in the group chat and knew that there’d be chaos.” He gave Jake a pointed look. “Because someone still refuses to check the shared calendar.”
Jake grinned, zero shame, while someone behind him chuckled. “Old habits die hard.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “So do time slots when you steamroll them.”
Connor took a slow sip of coffee. “Let me guess, your girls are due in any second?”
“They’re already here,” Micah said, glancing at the clock. “Five minutes early, as planned.”
Connor winced. “Right. Okay. We’ll clear out.” Jake and Nate both looked like they wanted to argue, but one raised eyebrow from Connor shut that down fast, and the other guys were already walking toward him. “We’re not here to make enemies,” he added, turning back to me. “It was a miscommunication. Won’t happen again.”
Still seething, I stared at him, but I had to give him credit—he didn’t deflect or make excuses. He just took it. And maybe that annoyed me even more. I decided to just be grateful that he could wrangle these yahoo’s away from our gym for now. Technically, there was space for us to share, but that wasn’t the plan. Call me a control freak, I wouldn’t care; I needed something to stay on course for this week.
The door swung wide behind us alerting me of my squad’s presence. In streamed the rest of the Valkyries, all high ponytails and early-morning energy. Evie was first, headphones slungaround her neck, followed by Lola, already mid-laugh about something. Their chatter cut off the second they spotted the shirtless intruders.
“Oh,” Evie said, her eyes going wide, lip curling into a smile. “Well, good morning.”
Lola elbowed her. “You owe me five bucks. I said shirtless Knights before lunch.”
Jake, still unbothered, gave a mock bow. “What can I say? I’m a giver.”
Lola practically swooned. “Do you need a towel? Or assistance? Or a fan?”
Micah groaned beside me, muttering something under her breath.
Connor ran a hand down his face. “Jake.”
Jake raised both hands, grinning. “I’m being welcoming.”
“To the gym you weren’t meant to be in,” I shot back.
Jake winked. “Details, Captain.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, determined not to give him a reaction. “You’ve got ten seconds to relocate before I use that weight bar and shove it—”
“Copy that,” Nate interrupted wisely, and was already backing toward the exit, where the other guys had just ran out of.
Jake caught Connor’s eye and nodded, then grabbed his shirt too, following Nate.
“Sorry about them,” Connor said. “I’ll debrief with the team right now and personally make sure everyone has the calendar updated on their phones.”
“Connor O’Riley can debrief me anytime,” Lola muttered.
Evie fanned herself with a protein bar. “I suddenly believe in joint training.”
I turned slowly, eyeing the lot of them. “Glad to see feminism is alive and well this morning. All of you are on circuit for those comments.”
Their collective sounds of disbelief echoed around me, but I was still determined to make today a good day.
8
Connor
“Lads,” I groaned, scrubbing a hand down my face as we walked away from the gym, “could wepleasenot start week one by pissing the Valkyries off?”
Jake grinned like a man who’d absolutely do it again. “We were just… ruffling her feathers.”
“Her feathers?” I shot him a look. “Teddy’s theircaptain, not a pigeon.”
