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He sat up on the bench, his torso drenched in sweat, his T-shirt stripped a while ago and long gone. Even his sport shorts were soaked. He took the towel Mike handed him and wiped his face.
“You wanna talk about it?” Mike sat down on the bench beside Wes’s and faced him.
“What’s with you and all the touchy-feely stuff lately?”
“Since when is asking my brother if he’s okay considered touchy-feely?”
“Since now.” Wes grabbed his shirt from a nearby rack and shrugged it on over his head.
“I can’t remember the last time you worked out this hard.”
“I work out.”
“Not like this. This isn’t a workout. This is ‘throw weights around and run myself into the ground to avoid feeling something or to let off steam,’ and based on how you look, you’ve got a crap ton of feelings to deal with or some serious steam.”
“Who made you the expert?”
“Death. It’s inconvenient. It interrupts everything. It makes you angry and frustrated and sometimes all that helps is a few hours in the gym banging stuff around and listening to old-school hard tunes.”
“Mike, I’m sor…”
“Don’t.” Mike put up a hand. “Stop saying sorry. I don’t say that for sympathy. I say it because I want you to see that I understand. If you don’t wanna talk, fine. But based on how Noelle looked this afternoon when I dropped off Annalise at class, I’d say there’s something you might want to get off your chest. Not to mention you spending all afternoon in here.”
Wes’s heart sank. If she’d looked bad to Mike that meant she’d been upset not just that morning but all day and into the evening as well. Hell, he hated himself for that. Whether he grasped the reason or not, he was the cause of her pain and that didn’t sit well with him. Not one bit.
He swiped the towel over his head then wrapped it around his neck, his hands hanging down from each side. “I went over to her apartment this morning to have her show me how to make a damn pie. One minute we’re kissing in her kitchen, the next she’s crying and asking me to leave.”
“I’m guessing you’re missing an important detail in the middle.”
“We talked about the deal with Spellman.” Wes had told Mike everything, along with how he thought it a good idea for Marietta. Mike had agreed. However, Wes had left out that he hadn’t told Noelle his involvement.
“You said you thought it looked good.”
“It does! But she’s pissed I didn’t tell her sooner about having any knowledge of it.”
“Ah, the proverbial ‘is omission a lie?’ situation. That’s a tough one.” Mike leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.
“That’s just it. I didn’t omit anything. I didn’t know until recently enough to even say anything to her.”
“That sounds flimsy, even to me, and at this point, I’m on your side.”
“You’re my brother. You should always be on my side.”
“I don’t know. I think this is the girl for you and if so, and you’ve screwed up, my allegiance may be swayed. But in the end, it would be me on your side because you’d be happy.”
“Damn it, Mike. I’m beating myself up over this enough and I, honest to God, can’t figure out why she’s so pissed.”
Mike chuckled.
“What’s so funny? Keep laughing at me andI’mgonna be pissed.”
“You in love is entertaining.”
Wes thought of wiping his brother’s smirk off his face with the gross, sweat-drenched towel that hung from his neck. “I never said love.”
“Didn’t have to.” Mike shook his head. “It’s written all over your face. Not to mention she’s torn away the armor you’re so used to wearing. I know of no other female who’s been able to do that so far in your thirty-five years.”
“You weren’t around for the first few of those.”
