Page 35 of The Other Room

His eyes never moved to mine. They locked onto Jo’s and remained fixed there while his smile grew.

“Hey, Jo. Really nice to meet you,” he said. I watched him flex his pecs, his biceps tightening in an obvious show while he reached out to shake her hand.

The guttural growl echoed deep in my stomach and I struggled to keep it from rumbling out of my mouth.

“Hey,” she said, and I watched her face for signs she was impressed by this roided-up muscle head.

Nothing. Just her game face.

Good.

I’d seen Jo with her share of men over the years, and it stung a little every time. But I’d reminded myself we were just friends, and her happiness meant more to me than my own. So, I’d stood at her side while she dated different guys, and I’d comforted her when it inevitably went south. With Jo’s abandonment issues, her finding a guy who could hold on while she pushed him away had proved difficult. They didn’t know what I knew. That she was just testing them to see if they’d bail. Deep down she wanted them to stay, but she couldn’t help it. She pushed them away. Hard. And I was always there to lean on when they gave up the fight and left her.

If only they knew she just wanted to feel safe. To know they weren’t ever going to leave her and let her down like her father did. To be there for her every day, no matter what.

Like I was. And always would be.

“Rocks, paper, scissors for serving?” Jenna asked and Jo nodded.

The two sisters pounded their fists in the air, Jenna tossing a scissors to Jo’s paper.

“Ha! Already winning!” Jenna hopped up and down.

“Enjoy it while it lasts!” Jo taunted, and the two of them air boxed for a moment before busting into laughter.

“All right, Rocky.” I grabbed Jo by the hand and pulled her onto our half of the court. “Save it for the match.”

“Matt,” Jo whispered, “that dude is huge!”

A surge of jealousy churned inside me again.

Just friends.

“Yeah. He’s a beast.”

“But he’s a total dumbass meathead, and probably slow, so we just need to be quick and we’ve got this.”

Dumbass meathead? That’s not the kind of thing a girl says about a guy she’s hot for. Of course Jo wouldn’t go for a guy like that. I couldn’t suppress my smile.

“What?” she asked as we got into position.

“Nothing. Just pumped to win,” I said, my smile refusing to wipe away.

“We need a name.”

“Huh?”

“You and me. A team name. What are we going to be called?”

“Roomsters?” I shrugged.

Jo grinned and shook her head. “Roomsters are gonna kick some ass!”

We slapped hands and I still couldn’t tear the smile off my face. And this time it wasn’t because Jo had dissed ol’ Meathead. It was because we were here together. As friends again. She’d forgiven me and let me back into her life and I was back at her side. Right where I belonged.

Jenna served the ball and Jo leapt into action. The sound of her hand hitting the leather echoed through the summer breeze, and she sent the ball sailing back over the net. Blake lifted his giant hand and tapped it back over, and this time it was mine. Refusing to let that muscle-head score on me, I rose in the air, spiking the ball down with so much force my hand exploded in pain. For a second, I thought my palm was on fire.

“Yes!” Jo shouted, and she jumped at me, hands raised for a double-high five. We slapped palms, and the pain in my hand from my overly enthusiastic return seared through my skin. My grimace didn’t go unnoticed.