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With his paid clients, he worked out of a gym, but exercise equipment had taken over almost half of the basement for his own use. He had a multifunctional cage with Olympic bars, two different benches, a freestanding pull-up bar, kettlebells, anything and everything he would need for his daily workouts.
“I like the quiet.”
“I think it’s weird, man. I can’t get motivated.” Jimmy tapped his phone a few times, and a Run-D.M.C. song blared out from its tiny speaker before he put it down behind them. “Mom said you’ve been going out every day.” He lay back down on the bench and started his second set.
Mike stepped up next to him to spot, ignoring the unasked question.
“Nothing? You’re not going to give me anything?”
Mike still didn’t answer.
“Not even about Sam?”
He held on to the bar, stopping his prying brother from another rep.
“Mom said she sees you two together, leaving for a walk. Where is it you two are going?”
“Are you going to join Mom’s book club too, so you can drink wine and gossip?”
Jimmy racked the bar and sat up. “Thought about it.”
Mike stepped a few feet away, chugging down some water.
“So?” Jimmy asked, raising his hands. “What’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing.” There was no way Mike was going to tell anyone, especially his loudmouth brother, about what he had going on with Samantha.
“Where do you go?”
“Nowhere.”
Jimmy rolled his eyes and wiped his forehead with his T-shirt sleeve. “Seriously? She’s been my friend since we were in first grade, and you’re not going to tell me if you’re fucking her?”
They’d only walked to the park and back every day. Eddie had a lot of energy, and Sam mentioned that it was her normal routine to go swimming at the local Y or for walks when the weather was good. She’d told him she usually walked for a few miles, and he suspected that if it weren’t for the pit stop they made at the tree on the far end of the park, where he would press her up against the trunk for a few minutes while Eddie ran himself in circles around the swing set, she’d be doing her usual miles. Except she couldn’t, not with the time they spent kissing. Although, it wasn’tthatbig of a deal.
Especially since they were both currently residing in their parents’ homes, and it made anything else difficult.
Mike avoided his brother’s question with his own. “If you’re such good friends, why don’t you ask her about it?”
“Because she won’t tell me. I asked her already.”
This piqued Mike’s interest, but he turned his back on Jimmy and reached up to hang on to the pull-up bar. With a deep exhale, he lifted himself up with his back and arms, his head rising above the bar. “Whatdidshe say?”
“That you guys are friends.”
Mike completed another pull-up.
“Is it true?” Jimmy pushed.
He did eight more reps before standing and blowing out a breath, tired from the physical exertion and this conversation. “That we’re friends? Yes. Why’re you so interested?”
“Because I see the way she looks at you, has looked at you since we were kids, and she’s—”
Jimmy stopped, and Mike hated to admit he wished this was one time his brother didn’t. He wanted to know everything about Samantha. He wanted to fill in the blanks.
“She’s been through a lot,” Jimmy finally said. “You have too. But…” He raised his eyes to meet Mike’s stare. “If you’re looking to work out whatever you have going on in your head, don’t do it with her, okay?”
For all his clowning, Jimmy did have a heart of gold, and Mike brushed off his assumptions. Jimmy was looking out for his friend. If only he knew that he had it backward. Samantha was the one who propositioned him.
